Reading Room / Tales Twice Told TALES OF THE WATCHER "Why Won't They Believe Me?"

We presented the first version of this tale on Tuesday...

...now let's look at the expanded and enhanced rendition!

Scripted by Stan (the Man) Lee, penciled by Gene (the Dean) Colan, and inked by Paul (no nickname) Reinman, this double-length version of the story from the back of Marvel's Silver Surfer V1N3 (1969) has a lot more humor and a bigger build-up to the switch-ending than the original!
BTW, almost all the "Tales of the Watcher" that appeared during the Silver Surfer book's 48-page incarnation (which lasted for the first seven issues before becoming a "regular" 32-page magazine) were expanded remakes of shorter Atlas-era stories!
The exception was the first tale which was a re-vamp of the origin of the Watcher's race from the original run of Tales of the Watcher when it backed-up Iron Man in Tales of Suspense until a brand-new Captain America strip took over the second slot.

Reading Room / Tales Twice Told AMAZING ADULT FANTASY "Why Won't They Believe Me?"

Stan (the Man) Lee felt a good story...

...such as this one from Atlas' Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 (1961), was worth repeating...

Scripted by Lee and illustrated by his Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, the tale was typical of the "gotcha" snap-ending stories made popular in mass culture by Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone, but done a decade earlier in comics by the EC Comics horror and sci-fi/fantasy books (though usually with more gore).

Lee re-used (and expanded) the plot almost a decade later when he re-did it with another Silver Age legend, as you'll see Thursday...

Monday Mecha Madness CRAZY "Robert the Robot!"

Here's a long-lost tale from the era when MAD comic clones filled America's newsstands!

(Which bring up the question...does anybody under 30 even know what a "newsstand" is?)

While the story's not a classic, it's not bad, either!

The amazingly versatile Joe Maneely handled the art for this never-reprinted tale from this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Crazy V1N7 (1954), but the script is not by Stan Lee...who would've had his name on it if he had penned the story!

Maneely could do anything; sci-fi, horror, war, romance, western, even humor, as this story demonstrates!

If not for his tragic death falling from a New York suburban commuter train, he would have been one of the major talents of Marvel Comics in the 1960s.

Atlas had no less than three MAD clones going at once; Crazy, Wild, and Riot!

MAD themselves commented on the proliferation of clones, not only from Atlas, but virtually every other publisher with this opener for their spoof of the 1950s movie Julius Ceasar by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood...

When MAD converted to a b/w magazine, Atlas dropped the three color comics and launched the b/w Snafu,which only lasted three issues!

Atlas/Marvel would revive Crazy twice more!

First, in early 1973 as a reprint book of Not Brand Echh stories.

Then, in late 1973 as a b/w magazine going head-to-head with MAD, and surviving until 1983 for 96 issues!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody
Paid Link

Holiday Reading Room (a day early) EVERY DAY'S A HOLLY DAY "Labor Day"

With the Labor Market and the Entire Economy in the Most Tenuous State since the Great Recession...

...now is the time to see why we celebrate this particular holiday!

Why is this 1955 comic entitled "Every Day's a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day's a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day" in 1962), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!

We'll be presenting the other chapters on the dates they fall upon.

Watch for them!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Cartoon History of the United States
Paid Link

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Invasion from the Abyss!"

Alien Invasions of Earth are a Popular Story Concept...

...even when the "aliens" are from inside the Earth, rather than outer space!

This story from Avon's Strange Worlds #3 (1951) was a "Fleagle Gang" production.

The "Fleagles" were a group of artists including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and George Woodbridge who would help each other out on tight deadlines by doing a "jam" with individuals penciling and inking different pages and even different panels on a single page, producing some absolutely-amazing visuals!

Trivia: the group was named by EC Comics editor/writer/artist Harvey Kurtzman.

The idea of advanced beings living inside the Earth and invading/reconquering the surface was very popular in the early 1950s.

Richard Shaver and 1930s-40s pulp magazine editor Raymond A Palmer caused a media firestorm with a series of stories presenting a theory that combined the "civilization inside the Earth" concept with another pop culture phenomenon...flying saucers!

Numerous readers wrote in, claiming that they had actually seen creatures and vehicles exactly as described in the stories!

The "Shaver Hoax" (as it came to be known) influenced 1930s-50s sci-fi/fantasy ranging from the two-part pilot episode of the TV's Adventures of Superman "Superman and the Mole Men" to movie serials like The Phantom Empire and movies like Brain Eaters!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
Paid Link

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!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Official Jungle Jim Annual
Paid Link

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!

Support Atomic Kommie Comic

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel Masters of Suspense Omnibus

Volume 1

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Paid Link

Friday Fun / Trump Reading Room HILLBILLY COMICS "MacSleezys: New York AND Bust"

When Last We Left Don the Con's Typical "Deplorables"...

...heck, I'll let the writer present a synopsis of the tale for me...

Written and illustrated by Art Gates, this tale from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #2 (1955) was part of a brief trend in comic books during the Li'l Abner series' greatest popularity in the mid-1950s!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp
Paid Link