Wednesday Worlds of Wonder JUNGLE JIM "Winged Fury"

In the 1960s, the usually-staid Jungle Jim series jumped into high adventure/fantasy...

...with lost civilizations, mutants, aliens, even mystical menaces, threatening the Don Moore/Alex Raymond-created hero!

Scripted by Bhob Stewart, penciled by Steve Ditko and inked by Wally Wood, this never-reprinted (in color) tale from Charlton's Jungle Jim #27 (1969) was a classic example of how to update a series properly, unlike say, DC's attempt to make the 1940s aviators, the Blackhawks, into super-heroes from that same era!

Trivia: Though the cover looks like just a modification of Ditko/Wood's art on Page 5, panel 1, its actually a redraw by editor Sal Gentile, a pretty good artist in his own right!

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Official Jungle Jim Annual
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Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "I Couldn't Stop the Runaway Comet!"

Some people believe we're entering the Biblical End Times!

Well, we here at Atomic Kommie Comics don't believe that!

We believe the End of the World be something more like this scientifically-inaccurate, never-reprinted tale about death by extreme heat from Atlas' Strange Worlds #5 (1959)!

There's also a really kool Easter Egg within the story!

See if you can find it!

No, we're not going to explore whether God exists or not.

Though popularized as fireballs in bad science fiction, the fact that comets were really composed primarily of rock and ice which vaporized as they approached the Sun, creating the "tail", was known as far back as Issac Newton's time.

So the whole idea of the comet generating heat like a star was ludicrous...even in the 1950s!

Though the writer is unknown, the artist was Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko.

That fact is crucial for understanding the Easter Egg...

The name "Victor Sage", used here for the extremely-fallible protagonist, later became "Vic Sage",  the secret identity of one of Ditko's more durable creations...Charlton's The Question!

Besides becoming a DC mainstay with his own title and spotlighted appearances in the Justice League animated series, the character was the basis for Rorschach in Alan Moore's "reimagining" of classic comic character archetypes in Watchmen!

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Marvel Masters of Suspense Omnibus

Volume 1

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
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Remake Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Gargoyle From the 5th Galaxy!"

Is this a kool cover, or what?

But, this sandals-wearing Jack Kirby-Christopher Rule scarlet alien isn't inside the comic!

Instead, we get a more humanoid, less "traditional" gargoyle-looking green alien!

To be fair, he does breathe fire, like the guy on the cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber and superbly-rendered by Don Heck, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) was actually a re-do of an earlier story (illustrated by Jack Kirby, no less), which we'll present Thursday!

BTW, though the story was reprinted in the 1970s, the cover has never seen the light of day since its' original publication!

Pity...

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4
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The RetroBlog Summer Blogathon Concentrates This Week on HEROINES!

What's Better Than a Heroine?

A whole TEAM of them!

We've been presenting their complete, never-reprinted, exploits from the Swinging Sixties which will, sadly, end this week with the last of their 4-page tales and the one-shot book-length story that finishes their run...but left it open-ended!
Trivia: Though the last two issues of Gold Key's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. were reprints of earlier Napoleon Solo & Illya Kuryakin stories, the Jet Dream tales were new!
You'll be seeing everything this week between RetroBlogs Heroines! and Crime & Punishment!
Meanwhile (as they say in comics) here are the previously-re-presented stories...
Heroines: "Spy in the Sky" "Spider and the Spy" "Ting-a-Ling--Enemy Agent" "Powder-Puff Derby Caper" "Splash-Down to Death" "Day of Infamy" "Captive Jet" "Call to Freedom"
Crime & Punishment: "Super-Tiger of Targan!" "Death Plunge" "Set-Up Sultan" "Farmer Brown Fiasco"
True Love Comics Tales: "Achilles Heel"

As they say in the trading card business...
Buy Them!
Trade Them
Collect Them All!

Friday Fun KOOKIE "Playmate"

John Stanley & Bill Williams' Short-Lived Strip About 1960s Urban Eccentrics...

...featured not only the 18 to 25 "young adult" crowd, but older, equally-eccentric characters!




John Stanley (script/layouts) and Bill Williams (pencils/inks) did three humor series for Dell in the early 1960s, Kookie, Around the Block with Dunc & Loo (later shortened to just Dunc and Loo) and Thirteen Going on Eighteen.

While the first 9 issues of the last (29-issue) series have been reprinted in a superb collection (see below), neither Kookie (2 issues) nor AtBwD&L/DaL (8 issues) has ever been reprinted...which is a great loss to pop culture as far as I'm concerned!
Note: Though Stanley did the layouts on the stories, the painted covers to Kookie were entirely Bill Williams' work!

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Thirteen Going on Eighteen

by John Stanley (& Bill Williams)
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Friday Fun MARVIN MOUSE "Not-So-'Honest John' "

The creator of Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, Bill Everett, was an amazing writer/artist...

 ...who could do almost anything he was asked to do.

Unfortunately, funny animals, weren't exactly his "cup of tea"!

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Marvin the Mouse #1 (1957) was scripted by Stan Lee and illustrated by the aforementioned Bill Everett.

I believe Everett was instructed to make the characters as different as possible from other cartoon mice such as Mickey and Mighty, which resulted in rodents who looked more like rats than mice!

Bill had shown a knack for humor as shown HERE and HERE, but this was a major disappointment!

A caption at the end of the book read "And remember, every issue Marvin Mouse magazine brings you the best in laughs, adventure, and fun ... don't miss a single issue!"

No problem!

The book ended up a one-shot and the already-completed stories intended for #2 became filler in the backs of other humor titles.

(Editor Stan Lee was very frugal and didn't let anything go to waste!)

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Sincerest Form of Parody

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Friday Fun COOL CAT "See You in the Funnies"

We Love it When Comics Go  (Sorta) "Meta"...

...in this case, characters being spied upon by a comics creative with his own ulterior motive!

This never-reprinted tale from Prize's Cool Cat V9N1 (1962), written and illustrated by Jack O'Brien may confuse many readers younger than Baby Boomers (1946-1966) who don't realize the extensive variety of subcultures that existed during the 1960s.
Cool Cat's parents are beatniks.
Cool Cat himself is a hipster/slacker.
The cartoonist, though a creative, is a square, supposedly not as "artistic" as a beatnik or hipster.
Note: there are no hippies at this point.
They didn't come along for another several years.
Trivia: Though this is V9N1, it's the second of only three Cool Cat issues, none of which have ever been reprinted in any form!
The numbering was continued from Black Magic, created by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon in 1950.
Writer/artist Jack O'Brien began his comics career in 1943, doing work for everyone from Charlton to Parents Magazine Press to Dell to Harvey to Timely (Marvel's predecessor).
His first work for Prize was in 1952, and he continued freelancing for them until 1965, switching over to their b/w MAD magazine clone SICK when the four-color comic line was cancelled in 1963.
His new last work appeared in 1976.

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ACTION COMICS "Superman in '100 Years...Lost, Strayed or Stolen!' "

We Don't Usually Run Superman Stories...

...but this never-reprinted Silver Age Superman tale (yes, there are a few of them) under a Carmine Infantino laid-out/Neal Adams penciled-inked cover, from DC's Action Comics #370 (1968) is so truly unique that it stuck in my head ever since I read it brand-new, plucked from a candy store comic spinner rack!
(And no, I'm not telling you how old I am!)

And here's the really-kool part!
It's not a dream!
Not a hoax!
Not an Imaginary Story!
In fact, it was canon...until Crisis on Infinite Earths!

With reviewers comparing the new Superman movie to a really-good Silver Age comic, now is the time to read this time-lost mini-epic that, if done today, would be a six-issue mini-series and at least a couple of one-shot tie-ins!

Enjoy a unique World of Wonder...

Yeah, there are a couple of leaps in plot logic and amazing coincidences, but it's an absolutely-amazing bit of science-fantasy by writer Cary Bates, penciler Curt Swan and inker Jack Abel that holds your attention start-to-finish!
And isn't that what you want when you enter a World of Wonder?

See Superman the Movie!