Sunday, May 5, 2024

It's Cinco De Mayo!!!

 Let's show how Mexican-American writer/artist Gus Arriola told about the holiday in his newspaper strip, Gordo...
...by the way, this is from the original art for the Sunday page on May 5, 1946!
A couple of years earlier, Cinco de Mayo fell on a weekday, and Gus made the holiday part of a week-long run of daily strips...
...which were reprinted in United Feature's Tip Top Comics #100 (1946).
Running from November 1941 to March 1985, Gordo was the first nationally-syndicated newspaper strip to title-feature a Mexican character!
While the characters initially followed many Hispanic ethnic stereotypes of the era (never going over the line into offensiveness), Arriola downplayed and eventually eliminated them over time.
By the 1960s, the strip was earning praise from both the Mexican government and the California State Legislature for its promotion of tolerance and understanding between ethnicities.
Charles (Peanuts) Schulz described it as "probably the most beautifully drawn strip in the history of the business."
You can read more about Arriola and his creation HERE, HERE, and HERE!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays STAR WARS the Lost Comic Books!

Since today is May the 4th Be With You Day...
...we're showing the covers of the only Star Wars comics that have never been reprinted in their original format!
Blackthorne's three-issue mini-series from 1987, Star Wars 3-D!
The stories are new tales by Len Wein, Patrick Zircher, Jim Nelson, and Caesar MacSombol!
While these comics have been reprinted (as shown below), the reprints aren't 3-D!
Would you like to see the 3-D versions?
Let us know!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...
(Which reprints the issues shown above...but in 2-D!)
Paid Link

Friday, May 3, 2024

Friday Fun BLAST-OFF "Danger! Atoms!"

Some stories need little extrapolation...
...such as this never-reprinted short by writer/artist Howard Nostrand from Harvey's Blast-Off! #1 (1965)
Cute, eh?
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Reading Room WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Survival of the Fittest"

Fiction or prophecy?
This is only 8 years away!
Consider recent developments in Artificial Intelligence and prepare for the possible (if not probable) mechanical Armageddon!
The penciler of this never-reprinted story from Key's Weird Tales of the Future #1 (1952) was a young Ross Andru, but the mediocre inking is clearly not his soon-to-be-partner Mike Esposito!
The identity of the embellisher, as well as the scripter remain a mystery to this day...
Please Support Atomic Commie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURE COMICS "SWORD OF THE DEAD!"

Here's a never-reprinted tale of "HIGH adventure"...
...written and illustrated by Gil Kane during the same period he was producing his landmark graphic novel BlackMark!
Simple.
Visceral.
Effective.
Now, THAT'S the way to tell a story!
This tale appeared in DC's Adventure Comics #425 (1972-73), when it was, briefly, an anthology between the departure of Supergirl into her own short-lived title and the debut of heroine Black Orchid!
BTW, BlackMark will be coming to Wednesday Worlds of Wonder this summer!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...
One of the first true graphic novels