Reading Room ALIEN ENCOUNTERS "Earth Invasion"

There's a twist ending to this alien invasion tale you won't see coming...

...if you're under 35!

I'm serious!

Ah, video arcades...

Kids today have no idea how important those darkened chambers filled with video consoles and pinball machines were to us in the pre-XBox/PlayStation/Nintendo days...and how much money we spent, quarter-by-quarter, in them!

Yeah, there's still Chuck E Cheese, Dave & Busters, and their ilk, but those are kiddie venues!

Written by Larry Shell and illustrated by Steve (Swamp Thing) Bissette, this never-reprinted tale from FantaCo's Alien Encounters one-shot (1981) captures the long-lost era perfectly.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics LAST OF US "ART OF..." & "AMERICAN DREAMS"

With the release of the sequel videogame Last of Us Part II...

...it behooves us to explore the post-apocalyptic, but still pandemic-ridden world the series takes place in!

The game stars Ellie...

...a teenage girl who carries the disease, but hasn't yet "turned" into one of the "Infected"...

...who have been mutated into mindless killers by an extremely-contagious fungus!

The game is unique in that one of the two playable ongoing protagonists, Ellie's traveling partner and protector, Joel...

...is unstoppably killed during the events of the new game!

There's a kool article at the New York Times that provides more background, as well as detailing the events in Part II!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Art of The Last of Us

(detailing the creation of the original game and prequel graphic novel)

and/or

Art of The Last of Us Part II

and/or

Last of Us: American Dreams

(the prequel graphic novel)

Trump Reading Room BEDLAM "Earth Invasion"

Trumpanzees should read this kick-butt piece...

...and then we'll witness if they feel like going out and shooting someone, like their fellow Trumpanzee did in El Paso!

Well?
Ready to grab those AR-15s and slaughter the local populace?
Why not?
Wackadoodles have used the "pop culture" causes violence trope for over a half century, from the "comics cause teen crime" insanity of the 1950s to the "violent videos" of the 80s and 90s, to the video games of today.
If violent video games (supposedly) cause people to become insane killers, why do countries like Japan, with far more violent video game content, have far less crime (including shootings) than America?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Video Game Debate

Unravelling the Physical, Social, and Psychological Effects of Digital Games

Before PIXELS...there was ATARI FORCE!

The new flick Pixels plays nostalgia of the first generation of video games for laughs...

...but for those of us who were there, it was an exciting time as a new entertainment medium was born.

Much like the Golden Age of Comics in the 1940s, it was a period of experimentation.

Atari tried to tie the various unrelated games together by incorporating the concepts for the games into a digest-sized comic book series available included in the cartridge packages...

DC Comics produced five issues of Atari Force in this format, with each one using themes from the game they were packaged with as the basis for their plots.

Creators for these never-reprinted issues included Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Dick Giordano, and Gil Kane.

Apparently, they were successful enough that DC then published a regular comic-sized sequel series that featured a "next generation" Force made up of children of the original crew plus new, alien, team members.

That version ran almost three years before being cancelled under murky circumstances, despite being one of DC's better-selling titles.

(Many believe it was due to Atari's being broken up and sold off by DC's parent company, Time-Warner after a major collapse in the video game industry in the mid-1980s.)

Recently, Dynamite Publishing announced they'd be doing licensed reprints of the original comics as well as new stories based on them.

We re-presented the first issue on our "brother" RetroBlog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, a while ago.

While we won't run any further tales since they'll soon be available in print again, you can see the complete first issue by clicking HERE.

Fantastic Femmes--Aria Prasad

Back in September, we brought you an entry about a kool (and frightening) new on-line game called The Curfew.
Among the reasons for checking it out was: "the captivating Aria Prasad (a future Fantastic Femme) as Aisha: the Immigrant! Yeah, I'm a sucker for a pretty face."
Well, after several months of searching for info on the talented and beautiful actress, I came up with; some interesting theatre work, and her sole film-tv credit: an ep of MI-5 (aka Spooks) VideoClip HERE! That's it!
We want to see MORE of her!

Genre appearances include...

MI-5 aka Spooks "Episode 8.7" (Yasmin)

The Curfew (The Immigrant)

Check out...

Aria's Acting Resume Page

One of her theatre appearances in Wasted

Design of the Week--Dante's Inferno

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...Youse tink just because we're pop culture aficionados, we ain't got no class?
Youse tink just because we're inta video games, that we're uncouth?
Hell, we got couth comin' out the wazoo, pal!
Youse want proof?
Look here!
We have whatcha call your classic Dante Alighieri image right outta da Middle Ages (like around 1900 or so)
And, it was originally cigar box label art, so you know it's classy! Not like a cigarette package! (Cartoon camels? Gimme a break...)

Now, Dante wuz one o' da greatest writers of all time!
He wrote BOOKS, some of 'em witout pictures, even!
He wrote The Divine Comedy (I ain't sure why he called it dat, 'cause it sure ain't funny!), which described what Hell would be like (sorta like Staten Island witout da cute chicks you see on da ferry dat never talk to ya!)
And now it's been made into both a video game and an animated flick!
(Dey don't do dat for just ANY book, youse know!)

So pick up a t-shirt or mug wit Dante's mug on it!
Impress yer buds!
Impress da ladies!

Dante's Inferno

Youse tink just because we're pop culture aficionados, we ain't got no class?
Youse tink just because we're inta video games, that we're uncouth?
Hell, we got couth comin' out the wazoo, pal!
Youse want proof?
Look here!
We have whatcha call your classic Dante Alighieri image right outta da Middle Ages (like around 1900 or so)
And, it was originally cigar box label art, so you know it's classy! Not like a cigarette package! (Cartoon camels? Gimme a break...)

Now, Dante was one of the greatest writers of all time!
He wrote BOOKS, some of 'em witout pictures, even!
He wrote The Divine Comedy (I ain't sure why he called it dat, 'cause it sure ain't funny!), which described what Hell would be like (sorta like Staten Island witout da cute chicks you see on da ferry dat never talk to ya!)
And now it's being made into both a video game and an animated flick!
Dey don't do dat for just ANY book, youse know!

So pick up a t-shirt or mug wit Dante's mug on it!
Impress da ladies!