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!

Friday Fun DUNC AND LOO "Loo and Strongboy Stoop in 'Muscle Bound' "

Let's return to an unusually-urban humor comic series...

...with this never-reprinted short from Dell's Dunc and Loo #8 (1963)!

Trivia: The book was originally-titled Around the Block with Dunc and Loo, but was shortened to just Dunc and Loo as of #4.
(Apparently suburban and rural readers use "corner" or "street" instead of "block" when referring to addresses, so the original title confused them!)
You'll note two major differences from most teen humor tales we present here...

1) the art doesn't mimic the Archie Comics "house" art style, which became synonymous with "teen humor" in the late 1950s!

2) the series is set in a big city with apartment houses and other urban elements.

(Most "teen humor" series are set in suburbs/small towns!)

Written by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams (the series' co-creators).

It was one of three "teen humor" series created for Dell by Stanley, including Kookie and Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) for Dell.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Thirteen Going on Eighteen

by John Stanley

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Jet-Heeled Prom" and "Zingbats"

Like most comics of the era, Jetta of the 21st Century had text stories...

...to qualify for second-class (magazine) mailing rates!

The text stories featured other characters from the "Jetta-verse"!

Written by "Dixon Wells" (a pen-name used only for Jetta text stories), this never-reprinted piece from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) would've made a pretty good comic story.

Perhaps it was scripted by Dan DeCarlo?

Also included in this final issue of the series was this one-pager totally-unrelated to the "Jetta-verse"...

No credits are available for this short, which probably was meant for one of Standard's sci-fi comics, Lost Worlds or Fantastic Worlds!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Friday Fun AROUND THE BLOCK WITH DUNC AND LOO "Loo in 'TV or Not TV' "

Those under 40, used to today's high-tech communications won't relate to this situation...

...which was all-too common in the pre-internet/wi-fi/cable/satellite dish days!

You'll note two major differences from most teen humor tales we present here...

1) the art doesn't mimic the Archie Comics "house" art style, which became synonymous with "teen humor" in the late 1950s!

2) the series is set in a big city with apartment houses and other urban elements.

(Most "teen humor" series are set in suburbs/small towns!)

This never-reprinted story from Dell's Around the Block with Dunc and Loo #1 (1961) was written by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams (the series' co-creators).

It was one of three "teen humor" series created for Dell by Stanley, including Kookie and Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) for Dell.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Thirteen Going on Eighteen

by John Stanley

Friday Fun HARVEY "Beauty and the Beach"

When summer vacation comes, comic book teens run for, where else...

...the beach!

This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Harvey #5 (1972) was the penultimate issue of their last attempt at "teen" humor.
Written and penciled by Stu Schwartzberg and inked by Henry Scarpelli (clearly imitating Dan DeCarlo's art style which became the "look" of Archie Comics), this book and Millie the Model ended in 1972-73, leaving Archie and his spawn standing alone (except for occasional one-shots) in the teen humor genre to this day.

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics PATSY WALKER "Great Idea!"

Due to the return of Covid-19 and the Dreaded Deadline Doom...

There used to be lots more to teen humor comics than just Archie and his friends with every comics publisher from the late 1940s through the early 1970s doing them! 

Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Timely's Miss America Magazine #2 (1944).

Redheaded Patsy Walker, parents Stanley and Betty, boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and rich, raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1944 through 1967 in various teen humor anthologies as well as several self-titled comics.

Trivia: Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt: Outlaw) were the only titles published continuously by Marvel from Timely in the Golden Age, through Atlas in the 1950s, to Marvel in the  Silver Age!

Patsy, Buzz and Hedy are all part of the Marvel Universe from Marvel's Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) when Patsy and Hedy attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!

Patsy later became the superheroine HellCat, and Buzz was revealed to be the supervillain Mad-Dog!

Patsy (and HellCat) appeared on the NetFlix series Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Defenders, making her part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Written and illustrated by the versatile Al Jaffee (before he moved over to MAD Magazine) , this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Patsy Walker #36 (1951) promoted contributing to the charity created in 1946 by newsman Walter Winchell (best known today as the narrator of the 1960s TV show Untouchables) to honor his friend, writer Damon Runyon, who died of cancer!

The charity, now called Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, still exists!

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "What a Specimen"

To celebrate the long (and well-deserved) holiday, it's futuristic fun with Dan DeCarlo's Jetta!

The 21st Century ain't what they thought it would be in 1953...

"Leaping Electrodes!"

"Now we're cookin' with uranium!"

"Go atomize yourself!"

"This is simply electronic!"

Why aren't we all talking like this?

This tale from Jetta #6 (which was actually the second issue) was written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo, but it may not have been inked by him.

Check out the

Jetta of the 21st Century™

Comics Collectibles Shop

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics WALLY "Give 'Em the Acts"

Not all "teen humor" comics looked like Archie (though most of them did)!

This never-reprinted story from Gold Key's Wally #4 (1963) demonstrates what a different "look" (but similar plotting/scripting) could be like....

Apparently the "different from Archie" approach by writer Herb Rogoff and illustrator Paul Robinson, didn't sell since the next issue was the final one, and the characters haven't been seen anywhere since!
BTW, you'll note the "contagious disease" subplot with measles that warrants our "CoronaVirus Comics" label...which we had hoped we'd be able to retire by now!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Rabbit and Cat's CoronaVirus Jokes for Such a Time as This

Volume One