Monday Holiday Madness EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hot Cross Buns"...TWO WAYS!

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly liked a nursery rhyme so much...he used it twice!

Such is the case with this one...first from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946), and then, with an extra rhyme, in Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)

You gotta admit, if there's anyone who can do a classic nursery rhyme and make it appear fresh both times, it's Walt!

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE WESTERN COMICS "Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in 'Death from U-235' "

As we promised earlier...

...here's another exciting, never-reprinted adventure featuring cowboys and aliens from Charlton's Space Western Comics #40.

Ah, for the days when a cowboy's devotion to the good 'ol USA overrode living in luxury on another world with a beautiful space princess...

(Never thought you'd read that sentence on the 'Net in 2025, eh?)
Scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson, and illustrated by an unknown artist!

Don't worry, owlhoot.

There's lots more space-spanning, six-shooting action to come, so keep us bookmarked!

Friday Holiday Fun EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Humpty Dumpty"

 An Easter-themed combination of a pair of classic nursery rhymes...

... courtesy of legendary writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly...who really knew how to freshen up an old concept!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose (1948) expands on the nursery rhyme with a new adventure of the accident-prone ovum!

Walt Kelly also used Humpty in other Mother Goose comic stories.

Oddly, the cover, also by Walt Kelly, features a radically-different version of Humpty...

Weird, eh?

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Goldilocks and the Baby Bear's Basket"

Here's a classic fairy tale everybody knows...

...adapted, with a couple of twists, for the Easter season by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

A never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947) demonstrates how Walt Kelly could take even a tale you didn't think would work in this context and make it seasonally-appropriate!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Shorts"

Several one-pagers by Walt (Pogo) Kelly...

...from various issues of Dell's Four Color Comics' Easter with Mother Goose annual issues!

Note, none have ever been reprinted!

From Dell's Four Color Comics #103 (1946), #140 (1947), #185 (1948), and #220 (1949)

Enjoy!

Friday Holiday Fun / Easter Reading Room TICK-TOCK TALES "Koko and Kola Meet the Red Easter Bunny!"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly didn't have a monopoly on Easter-themed stories...

...in fact, Magazine Entertainment's Tick Tock Tales #4 (1946) presented both a cover and several stories (including this one) featuring it's ongoing characters teamed-up with the Easter Bunny!

The artwork is by Leon Jason Comic Art Studios who supplied funny-animal art to numerous publishers including Magazine Entertainment, Spotlight Publishing, Novelty Press and EC Comics (before they did horror) during the 1940s and '50s.

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Egg Hunt with Mother Goose"

Here's a never-reprinted example of Walt (Pogo) Kelly's superb art (and puzzle-creating skills)...

...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)!

Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!

Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-2 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!

Would've kept the 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!

Friday Fun / Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Ten Little Easter Eggs"

This year, Easter Egg hunts are likely to be scaled down...

...due to scarcity and expense of the lovingly-hand colored items!

So we're providing this Walt (Pogo) Kelly written/illustrated short published in Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) to show today's young ones what they're missing this year!
In addition, this "gentle" little piece is a classic example of innocently-violent, yet kid-friendly material rarely-seen today.
(And please, no politically-correct comments about the "Two little Easter eggs playing with a gun" rhyme.)

Friday Fun MARGIE COMICS "Elusive Valentine!"

Here's a never-reprinted Valentine's Day treat...

...from almost 80 years ago years ago, featuring a teen humor character from the company that later became Marvel Comics!

Until the mid 1970s when Archie Comics became the sole "teen humor" publisher, every company had several titles with wacky teenage protagonists.
Margie, created/written/illustrated by Morris Weiss was typical of the genre...

• Irresponsible, impulsive teen (of either gender)!
• Usually-clueless object of affection!
• Constantly-irritated parents!
• An annoying younger sibling (usually of the opposite gender to the protagonist)!
• Various eccentric friends!

Initially a backup strip that floated to whatever humor comic needed a 5-6 page filler, she finally got her own title by taking over Timely's Comedy Comics in 1946 as of #35 and holding on to it until #50 in 1950, when the book became Reno Browne: Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
Margie went back to being a floating backup strip for another year before disappearing completely, never to be seen again!
This particular tale (one of the few comic tales I could find with "Valentine's Day" in the title that didn't deal with the famous gang-war massacre!) is from Timely's Margie Comics #37 (1946).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Monday Madness OUT OF THIS WORLD "Xondu the Eternal"

A never-reprinted 1950s sci-fi tale by legendary Black artist Matt Baker...

..with a Twilight Zone-style twist ending!

OK, it's more a "Third from the Sun" than "To Serve Man" ending, but still, it's fairly effective!

(And kudos to those who didn't have to click on the links to understand what I was talking about!)

Penciled by Matt Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #15 (1959) unfortunately suffers from both Colletta's rushed inking and the poor printing Charlton was notorious for.

(Unlike other comics companies, Charlton had their own printing press, which had been designed for packaging...including breakfast cereal boxes...not newsprint!)

The writer is unknown, but many believe it to be Joe Gill, who was rapidly making a name for himself with an impressive, and varied, body of work.
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He's also our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!

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