Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATARI FORCE Part Four "Conclusion"

In 2005...

...humanity, spearheaded by the Atari Force, explored multiple dimensions of the Multiverse to prepare to colonize them since Earth's biosphere is rapidly-decaying!
However, some species, such as the Malagon, are hostile to the intruding humans, but Atari techs developed the Phoenix starfighter to defeat them...if the pilot knows the correct strategy!
Note that the combat technique shown here was actually the way to win the video game!
As shown last week, when this digest-sized comic was reprinted in standard comic size as an insert in a couple of DC's ongoing books, the rather nasty-looking Malaglon...
...became almost-too cute-to-shoot frogs...
...not that something like that would ever stop a trigger-happy human pilot!
Liberator was the Atari arcade game which utilized the Atari Force comic's characters and graphics to greatest effect...
...from the advertising/promotion material...
...to the arcade console itself!
The Atari Force WILL Return!
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Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Reading Room / Tales Thrice Told STRANGE WORLDS "I Am the Last Man on Earth!"

One thing Stan Lee was really good at was recycling plots (with minor variations)...
...as demonstrated in this first of three tales based on the same premise!
Plotted (and probably scripted) by Stan Lee, this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Worlds #1 (1958) was illustrated by Silver Age mainstay Don Heck.
Yes, it's the "Adam & Eve begin a new Earth in the future/past" tale, which has become something of a cliche in sci-fi/fantasy.
But, it's some of the details that carry-over from one story to another that make this particular variation's multiple versions interesting.
Be here Thursday to see what I mean...
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EXCELSIOR!
Amazing Life of Stan Lee

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Monday, May 13, 2024

Monday Madness MYSTICAL TALES "Man Who Saw Too Much!"

Here's one of those stories that make you scratch your head and ask...
..."what were they smoking/drinking/ingesting whan they created this?"
What's the "speed of time"?
How would it alter the composition of a piece of metal never designed to be played as a musical instrument by a human to allow it to be played. much less to transport the player through time?
Perhaps it's just as well we don't know who scripted this weird story!
The Grand Comics Database attributes Ed Winiarski as the sole artist for this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956), but there are clear aspects of long-time Atlas-Marvel artist Werner Roth's style in there as well.
Did he re-draw panels or did he pencil the entire story with Winarski just inking it?
So many questions, so few answers...
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Sunday, May 12, 2024

ROGER CORMAN 1926-2024

Roger Corman and Vincent Price

One of the most influential filmmakers from the 1950s onward, Roger was one of the greatest "hyphenates" (writer/director/producer/occasional actor/etc) in history.
He gave career-starting jobs to numerous future cinema icons from Francis Ford Coppola to Pam Grier to James Cameron to Jack Nicholson to Martin Scorsese to Peter Bogdanovitch.
He revived the slowing careers of numerous 1920s-1950s performers, and made some of them (like Vincent Price and Joan Crawford) pop culture icons!
Plus, Corman brought numerous foreign movies to America that no other US studio wanted to invest in, like Fantastic Planet, The Tin Drum, and Cries and Whispers.

Roger's works are a major part of the entertainment side of my life...and always will be.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go rewatch Gas-s-s-Or-It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It, Corman's final film for AIP!
You'd be surprised how timely it still is!
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How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime
(Roger Corman's Autobiography)

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays FLASH GORDON "Monster Men of Tropica!"

Probably the Last Artist You'd Think of Illustrating Flash and Dale on Mongo...

...would be sword and sorcery/gothic fantasy artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones!


But, Jones was a serious Alex Raymond/Flash Gordon fan, so this work in Charlton's Flash Gordon #13 (1969), while a bit rough, showed enormous love and enthusiasm for the character.
And Charlton's notoriously-bad printing didn't help showcase Jones' art!
Written by Bill Pearson. Penciled and inked by Jeff Jones (as they were known then).
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