Space Secret Agent Saturdays MYSTERY IN SPACE "Operation Phobos"

We presented the first Interplanetary Investigations tale from the Swinging Sixties HERE...

..now here's their second, final, never-reprinted adventure from DC's Mystery in Space #102 (1965)!

Note Sean Connery-lookalike Damos appears again.

Also note (from the ad at the end of the story), this month also saw the Strange Adventures premiere/origin of "The Man with the Animal Powers" who would morph a couple of issues later into superhero Animal Man, who's still active in DC's comics and tv series over 50 years later, unlike the secret agents of Interplanetary Investigations!

Written by Dave Wood, illustrated by Gil Kane, the series had a lot of potential.

Jan and Davos could've been a futuristic Man from U.N.C.L.E./Wild, Wild West/I Spy duo...

Ah, what could have been...

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Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

Space Secret Agent Saturdays MYSTERY IN SPACE "Secret of the Double Agent"

It was 1965, and secret agents were everywhere...

...even DC's Mystery in Space, whose 100th issue, introed a cover-featured "space spy" series!

(With a cover by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff!)

Written by Dave Wood, illustrated by Gil Kane, and guest-starring a Sean Connery-lookalike, an ongoing Interplanetary Investigations series seemed like a sure bet, but it disappeared after only one more appearance two issues later!
(BTW, neither of them have been reprinted!)

Instead, a new character, Ultra: the Multi-Alien took over the book until cancellation with #110!

Pity, since the Interplanetary Investigations strip showed such promise.

Considering DC had the rights to James Bond (which is why there were no comic adaptations of any of the 007 flicks after Dr No, which didn't do well due to being released months before the movie came out), could you imagine what Gil Kane could've done illustrating any of the other pre-Roger Moore Bond movies?
Sadly, we'll never know.
Two notes:
1) The comic rights to 007 eventually lapsed and Marvel did two movie adaptations in the 1980s, For Your Eyes only and Octopussy.
Neither were big sellers.
2) DC released Doctor No as part of the Showcase tryout comic as shown HERE.)

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

Happy Birthday, Mr Bond! Now Die...

It's Sean Connery's 83rd Birthday...

Inside cover of Showcase #43

...so why not celebrate by visiting our "brother" blog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™ where you can read the never-reprinted DC Comics adaptation of Sean's 007 debut in Doctor No!

Before you say "But, that's a reprint of the Classics Illustrated version available only in England!", I'll point out that numerous changes (which are compared in the blog posts) were made by DC in both text and art!

And, while the Classics Illustrated version has been translated and printed all over the world, the DC version has never been reprinted!

Because Showcase #43 came out months before the movie debuted in America, it sold poorly, and DC didn't exercise their 10-year option to do more James Bond tie-ins!

Ironically, in 1972, DC realized they were about to lose the rights to do 007 comics and considered doing an entire series of one-shot movie adaptations up to, and including, the current film, but Sean Connery's announcement that Diamonds are Forever would be his last film in Bondage (ouch) put the kibosh on those plans!

That's why there were no comic adaptations from Gold Key or Dell (who were doing comics based on every movie and TV show they could get their hands on) during the height of '60s Bond-mania!

Telling the T-Man Tale Twice...with Tweaks!

The Comics Code Authority was supposed to "clean up" comics after the Seduction of the Innocent scare of the 1950s, but sometimes they took it to ridiculous levels!
Over at our brother blog, Crime & Punishment™, we presented a tale of a secret agent in Iran as shown HERE.
Pretty standard stuff, nothing too violent or sexy.
No blood, gore, or gratuitous "headlights".
We noted it had been reprinted a couple of years later, so we checked the reprint to see if the printing was cleaner on that version.

Imagine our surprise to discover numerous alterations to both text and art in the reprint (as well as a nifty new cover)!
The original had been published in Quality Comics' T-Man # 3 (1952), the reprint in T-Man #31 (1956).
The original was pre-Code, the reprint was post-Code.
So we decided to present both versions, albeit a week apart due to an already-scheduled Sherlock Holmes story.
HERE's the annotated reprint.
Contrast and compare for yourself!

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G-Men, T-Men & Spies

Comic Collectibles Shop

Spies, Secret Agents, and SuperCrooks!

Along with OSS 117, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is returning a number of 1960s superspies to active duty for use on t-shirts, tote bags and other beachwear, including fumetto hero / villain Diabolik in Danger: Diabolik (see above)...

...and Bulldog Drummond, in not one, but two movies, Deadlier than the Male (above) and Some Girls Do (below).

Order them a size larger than you usually wear and they'll make the perfect sun top for either male or female!

OSS 117 is back!

During the 1960s, one of the hottest competitors to the James Bond series was the OSS 117 series of flix.
"Who?"
OSS 117!
"Never heard of him!"
Predating 007 in books (1949) and movies (1956), secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath was as popular in Europe and Asia as James Bond, but didn't make an impact in the USA.
Until 2008, when the film series, which ended in 1971, was revived and reformatted as a campy spoof featuring a overly-confident, but surprisingly-competent hero.
The first flick, Cairo: Nest of Spies, turned into an arthouse and dvd rental hit in the US!
The newest film, Lost in Rio is already out on dvd, but you should catch it in the theatre while you can.

And when you do, go "secret chic" and wear this shirt, with it's retro graphics taken from the poster for 1968's No Roses for OSS 117 starring John Gavin (who was almost James Bond in Diamonds are Forever)!

Lurking under the Christmas Tree--G-Men, T-Men & Spies!

In our continuing quest for cool Christmas presents for the pop culture aficionado in your life, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ wish to offer you yet another exciting possibility for gift-giving...
Secret agents have been a part of pop culture for centuries, but spying didn't really become a glamorous profession until World War I.
Since then, the image of the spy has been of a heroic figure fighting off foreign evildoers while holding a girl in one arm and a martini (shaken not stirred) in the other...
In that stylish vein, we offer a line of collectibles that present our government's heroic G-Men, T-Men & Spies on classic comic covers.
Note: "G-Men" is slang for "Government Men" or F.B.I. agents. "T-Men" were Treasury agents.

Protecting us from threats both internal and external, these brave fictional American men (and women) fought enemies ranging from Communists, to the Mafia, to Iranians (perceived as a threat even in 1955!), and looked good doing it!
(The most famous spy in fiction, James Bond, isn't American!
He's a member of MI-6, the British Secret Service!)

Choose from 9 different designs including Cloak & Dagger, Date with Danger, Atomic Spy Cases, Al of the F.B.I. (later Al of the Secret Service), T-Man, and GangBusters!
Make it a Merry Christmas for your loved one...and the entire Free World!