Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CLAWFANG THE BARBARIAN

Here's a one-time World of Wonder for you before the New Year!

(BTW, isn't it weird how most fictional barbarians have a "hard C" or "hard K" name...Conan, Crom, ClawFang, Claw, Kull, Kothar, Kyrik, etc.)

We'll never know, since this was ClawFang's only published adventure!

A cool mix of sf/fantasy genres written and laid-out by Wally Wood with pencils and inks by Al Williamson, appearing in Harvey's Unearthly Spectaculars #2 (1966), part of a short-lived line of action/adventure comics produced by Harvey Comics in the mid-1960s.

Oddly, while there were numerous "jungle hero/heroine" strips and books with sci-fi/fantasy elements, Clawfang was only the second actual barbarian strip in comics history, after Crom...which was also from Harvey Comics!

Five years later, Marvel would launch Conan the Barbarian, and suddenly, an entire new genre bloomed in comics with almost every publisher launching at least one barbarian-themed comic!
Speaking of which...

The "barbarian in a post-apocalyptic future Earth" concept is an oft-used trope in sci-fi/fantasy...

...from ClawFang to Teenage Caveman to BlackMark to Kamandi to Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds to Lost World (from Fiction House's Planet Comics) to IronJaw, to Talos of the Wilderness Sea,  to Planet of the Apes (Yes, PotA qualifies since mankind is reduced to primitives) to Thundarr the Barbarian to Yor: Hunter from the Future, scantly-clad heroes using primitive weapons against super-science and/or sorcery in a devastated world has proven to be a popular trope in various media, not just print.

Join us next Wednesday as we begin our re-presentation of one of the best (though least-known) series featuring this concept...

Wolff the Barbarian

by

Esteban Maroto, Sadko, and Laurence James

Best of Reading Room FANTASY MASTERPIECES "Those Who Change"

During this holiday week, we're doing a couple of Reading Room re-presentations...

...to ease our workload, starting with this Stan Lee/Steve Ditko tale that takes the "if you time travel, don't change anything in the past or you'll screw up history" concept to an extreme!

This story from Amazing Adult (wonder why they left that out of the reprint credit) Fantasy #10 (1962) was actually a reworking of an earlier tale called "The Scientists" from Astonishing #9 (1952) which was longer and had additional plot twists!
You'll be seeing the original (ironically, never-reprinted) version on Thursday.
As for this particular short, since its' 1965 appearance in Fantasy Masterpieces #1, it lay unseen until 2005 when it popped up in Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko with additional reprintings in Amazing Fantasy Omnibus (2007) and Marvel 70th Anniversary Collection (2009).
NOTE: This was one part of a week-long re-presentation of the first issue of Marvel's Fantasy Masterpieces reprint anthology on the 50th anniversary of publication in 1965!
The comic was particularly notable for new material by Stan Lee introducing the stories!

Click on the titles to read the posts...

50 Years Ago...FANTASY MASTERPIECES!

"Beware! The Ghosts Surround Me!"

"I Found the Things from Nowhere!"

"I Became a Human Robot!"

"I Saw the Other World!"

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...

...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.

Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly.

(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)

Any suggestions?

Merry Christmas to All!

And Now, a Note from Santa Himself...

...from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

See you tomorrow with a long-unseen cover by a comics legend!

Design of the Week...REDUX! SANTA'S WORKSHOP IS A SWEATSHOP???

Normally, each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!

In this case, the response has been so overwhelming, we're going to keep the design up until Christmas!

(BTW, you'll note that the cover is dated January, 1939.

But it was actually on sale in November, 1938! 

Publishers used to cover-date comics and pulps two to three months ahead of the actual on-sale date to keep the books on the stands for as long as possible!)

Pick up this kool design on mugs, greeting cards, and other Yuletide collectibles NOW!

Christmas will be here before you know it!

Space Hero Saturdays JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

Sometimes "heroes" are everyday people...

...placed in unique situations, like colonizing a distant world, as in the tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Monday Madness MYSTIC "Help Wanted"

A Christmas tale that begins, weirdly enough, just before Easter...

...proves it didn't pay to be a Scrooge in the 1950s...or today!

Mort Lawrence illustrated this tale of Xmas justice from Atlas' Mystic #19 (1953) including a rather...unusual-looking...demon.

This proved a tad problematic when editor Roy Thomas made the tale the cover feature for an issue of Marvel's 1970s horror reprint anthology Vault of Evil!

Penciller Gil Kane and inker John Romita Sr followed the demon's design perfectly...but someone forgot to tell the cover copywriter what the story was about!

There's no story in #6 (1973) even vaguely-related to insects!

And detail-obsessed Roy Thomas is the last person you'd expect to allow such a mistake!

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Krampus

Design of the Week! SANTA'S WORKSHOP IS A SWEATSHOP???

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!

This week...go back 85 years ago, to November 1938 and see...when elves were part of the 99%!

(You'll note that the cover is dated January, 1939.

But it was actually on sale in November, 1938! 

Publishers used to cover-date comics and pulps two to three months ahead of the actual on-sale date to keep the books on the stands for as long as possible!)

And it looks like the elves aren't going to settle for sweatshop wages and conditions at the North Pole anymore!

Pick up this kool design on mugs, greeting cards, and other Yuletide collectibles NOW!

Christmas will be here before you know it!

Space...Hero? Saturdays WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Jumpin' Jupiter in 'No Soup' "

Mentioning writer/artist Basil Wolverton in last week's Space Force Saturdays post..

...compelled us to see if there was anything else space-oriented we could present here!

Behold...

Whether it's his ongoing SpaceHawk and Space Patrol strips or any of the numerous one-shot tales he did, Wolverton's Golden Age output was always instantly-recognizable!
This humor strip ran in #2 thru #5 of Key Publications' Weird Tales of the Future, along with several serious sci-fi/horror stories also written and illustrated by the amazing Basil!

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Creeping Death from Neptune
Life and Comics of Basil Woverton
Volume 1
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The Woman Who (Believe It or Not) LOVED Scrooge!

When you think of Ebenezer Scrooge, "lovable" is probably the last word you'd associate with him.
Yet, one woman gave her heart to him...was engaged to him...and had her heart broken by him!
Her name was Belle!
She appears twice in A Christmas Carol, during Scrooge's journey with the Ghost of Christmas Past.

First, we see how the young Scrooge choose between his love of money and love of her.

Second, we see how, after their breakup, she married a good man and together they raised a loving family, giving Scrooge a look at what "might have been" had he chosen to remain with her!

Almost every dramatic adaptation (radio/tv/movie) shows the first incident, but omits the second scene (usually due to time constraints), thus many people have never known how Belle's life turned out after Scrooge left her!

(You'd be surprised how many people never actually read the story, only seen or heard the tv, film and audio versions!)

Most of the illustrators of the many editions that have been printed over the decades have also bypassed the conclusion of Belle's plotline.

But not legendary illustrator Arthur Rackham!

He did not one, but two color illustrations in the 1915 edition just for the short conclusion to Belle's story in Stave Two!

And we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ just had to include both of them in our A Christmas Carol collection!

One, Belle & Children shows Scrooge's once-love playing with her kids.

The other, Belle's Family portrays the children crowding around their father (whom Scrooge could have been, had he chosen differently) as he comes home, laden with presents!

They're absolutely beautiful pieces, some of the best work Rackham ever produced!

Enjoy!

Reading Room UNLIKELY TALES "Time Machine"

When two Steves...a long-established pro and eager young up-and-comer...collaborate...

...you get this time-travel tale, set only 14 years from now, with a novel twist!

It's amazing what the comics creators of 1967 thought 70 years later would look like!

Considering that we Baby Boomers thought by 2000 we'd have bases on the Moon and flying cars, it's not unreasonable...

Written by up-and-comer Steve Skeates and illustrated by Spider-Man and Dr Strange co-creator Steve Ditko, this never-reprinted story from the Unlikely Tales anthology collection in Charlton Premiere #4 (1968) offers a surprise twist on the usual "time-traveler from the future may change history" concept.

Trivia:

Skeates wrote all the stories in this issue, a rarity for someone just starting out in the industry.

All the stories were both penciled and inked by their respective artists, also a rarity in a business where, in order to meet deadlines, creators usually either penciled or inked, but not both.

The artists in this issue included Ditko, as well as Pat Boyette, Jim Aparo, and Charlton mainstay Rocke Mastroserio.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Monday Madness FLASH GORDON COMICS "The World You WILL Live In" #1

In 1950, what amazing advances did we think the 21st Century would bring?

As shown in this uncredited (and never-reprinted) feature from Harvey's Flash Gordon #1 (1950), all five predictions have, in fact, come to pass...albeit in modified form.

This was one of three different new one-page features that appeared in all four issues of the series which reprinted the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip by Alex Raymond, reformatted for the comic book page, and new covers (not by Alex Raymond).

The others were "Stories Behind the Stars" (about the myths behind constellation names) and "know Your Planets" (about the other worlds in the solar system).