Preview--KATO: Origins #6 Cover

Moody cover by Francesco Francavilla for #6 of the companion comic mini-series to Green Hornet: Year One, detailing the 1940s origins of The Green Hornet & Kato.Of all the Green Hornet series from Dynamite, these two are easily the best!

Design of the Week--Modesty Blaise...in Japanese!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...the Swinging 60s come to life with the astounding-campy adventures of Modesty Blaise!
Initially a very successful comic strip by Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway about a "bad girl" gone good, Modesty Blaise was produced as a feature film in 1966 starring Monica Vitti, during the spy film craze spawned by the James Bond films.
Unfortunately, the film's producers went the "camp" route, producing one of the first "spy-spoof" films!
O'Donnell, who had done the first draft of the flick's script was so displeased, he took his version of the script and turned it into a prose novel, which sold very well (and received praise by critics and fans alike, unlike the movie)! This launched a second career for O'Donnell, who continued to script the comic strip and penned more novels both adapting the strip storylines and doing new tales, which were then rewritten into the comic series!
After the first movie, there was a tv pilot which turned the character into a generic private eye, and in the 1990s, an origin tale, My Name is Modesty, which went straight to video.

Time has been kind to the first Modesty film, and the campy style which turned off 1960s audiences who expected a more accurate portrayal of the character, has become an attraction to 21st Century viewers who now look upon it as ironic deconstruction of the heroic concept!
Go figure!

We'll go with the flow, and offer one of the best poster images from the film (and one of the few with her looking like the comic strip version!) on a kool kitschy kollection!
Plus, all the text is in Japanese, for an added layer of koolness!
With all due modesty (ouch), we think you'll just snap these goodies up!

"Tales from ComicCon" Redux

On July 24th, 2010; reality became far more frightening than fantasy when fanboys clashed and blood drawn at the San Diego ComicCon! Invoking the "injury to the eye" motif, crazed fans proved Dr Wertham right...comics DO cause Juvenile Delinquency!
Sadly, nerd-on-nerd crime is becoming a more common problem in our society than most people realize!
It is THE Threat to Our Way of Life that Dare Not Speak It's Name...mostly because people would roll on the floor laughing hysterically.

But this is NO laughing matter, citizens!
To draw attention to this growing menace to our way of life, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have added larger image (up to 11" x 17") shirts to this line of kool kollectibles for you to display so that this incident is not quickly forgotten by a jaded populace eager for the next cheap thrill!
We were warned!
We didn't listen!
We paid the price!
Remind everyone!
DR WERTHAM WAS RIGHT!

NEW! Dark T-Shirts and collectibles (including a "cutting board" [kitchen use ONLY, please]!)

NEW! Light T-shirts

The Green Hornettes!

Now, this is one of the reasons I'm sorry I missed SDCC!

These green-clad beauties were promoting the upcoming Green Hornet film starring Seth Rogan and Jay Chou.

You'll note the new poster promoting the 3-D version...

Uhhh...guys...the poster...

And here's another group of them handling out Green Hornet swag, which will probably be on eBay for a ridiculous amount by the weekend!

No "headlights" jokes, people, This ain't Seduction of the Innocent!

"Kill Bond...NOW!"

 "It took almost fifty years, but we will have the last laugh, Mr. Bond!"

A feature article in the Financial Times makes dire predictions about the fates of the film versions of James Bond 007 and The Hobbit(among others)...
"Its most prized property – James Bond – has been left to stagnate, a casualty of the uncertainty about MGM’s future.

Sam Mendes signed on to direct the next film in the series, which reignited spectacularly with Daniel Craig as the new Bond in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace – films that generated a combined $1.2 billion (emphasis mine) at the box office.
But the series is in limbo, postponed indefinitely by the Broccoli family of producers, which shares the rights with MGM, because of the uncertainty surrounding the studio".

It's a pity, because interest in the character is higher than it's been in years, thanks to the Ian Fleming Centennial celebration, with books literally flooding the stores!
Among them, a reissue set of the original Fleming novels both in hardcover and paperback with an incredibly-kool cover design motif based on the 1967 Casino Royale movie poster concept...

Sadly, they're only available in England, or (as in my case), thru the NY branch of a British SF/comic chain...
"Hee-hee-hee" he chortled ominously as he stroked the cat on his lap.