Wednesday, November 12, 2008

It's Crime Time at Christmas Time!

Ah, Christmas.
What do we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ think of?
Peace on Earth!
Good Will towards Men!
25-to-Life at Sing-Sing!
What...?
Yep, you heard right!
For a subject-specific gift for the lawyer, or other legal professional in your life, the crew at Atomic Kommie Comics™ suggests you have a look at the Daring District Attorneys and other Legal Eagles section of our Crime & Punishment™ collection, featuring the long-running radio/tv character Mr. District Attorney!
Inspired by the racket-busting exploits of New York City DA Thomas E. Dewey (who later became New York's Governor), law student-turned radio writer Ed Byron created a nameless "everyman" DA who maintained law and order in an unnamed Big City (implied to be NYC).
The stories, while rarely based on actual cases (like rival show GangBusters) followed actual legal procedures to the letter, even introducing CSI-style "lab boys" to analyze evidence and present testimony during courtroom sequences!
A couple of kool trivia items:
The narrator was known as "The Voice of the Law" who defined both the DA's case at the beginning of the episode and pronounced the criminal's sentence at the end of the show. (A conceit picked up by rival radio / tv show Dragnet!)
Though several actors played Mr. District Attorney, the DA's secretary, Edith Miller, was played by the same actress, Vicki Vola, for the entire run of the show both on radio and tv (1939-1953)!
The comic book series, from which we draw our imagery, was packaged by the Bob Kane comic book studio. Bob Kane was the co-creator (with Bill Finger) of the most famous fictional detective of the 20th Century--The Batman!
We offer four different classic comic book crime-busting covers on items ranging from mugs to mousepads to t-shirts.
And, if attorneys aren't your thing, we also have Real Life Criminals, Police--the REAL Heroes!, Sherlock Holmes, Top Secret--Images without Words, All-True Detective Cases, Crimes by Women, Gangsters, Private Dicks, and G-Men T-Men & Spies!
Use them responsibly this Yuletide season, citizens!

BONUS: A FREE Christmas present, to you, our faithful readers: mp3s of the Mr District Attorney radio show!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Travel down Lovers' Lane this Christmas!

You may think it strange that we're doing a piece on romance comic-related stuff as part of our suggested Christmas presents list.

But we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ believe that romantic love is just as prevalent at Xmas as it is on Valentine's Day, a
nd that True Love Comics Tales™ collectibles are just as nice to find under the tree as any of the other pop culture collectibles we offer!
And romance comics include a wide assortment of genres & topics including Westerns, medical dramas (like the Lovers Lane issue at left), war, law & crime, high school & college life, big business, and of course, soap-operas!

As we say... comics aren't just about spandex-clad characters in battles of cosmic import!
They also tell intimate tales of heartbreak & true love, betrayal & redemption, and misery & joy!

So, if your loved one is both an incurable romantic and a fan of pop culture kitsch, you can't go wrong with one of our funky collectibles! Besides the usual t-shirts and tchochkies, we also offer matching intimate tops & bottoms and other cute clothes for the fairer sex!

So give us a look at True Love Comics Tales™!
Then give her a kiss under the mistletoe for us!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Friday Foster--the FIRST Black Comic Strip Heroine

Beginning on January 18, 1970, Friday Foster was the FIRST mainstream syndicated comic strip to star a Black woman. (Jackie Ormes' legendary Torchy Brown was, unfortunately, limited to black-owned newspapers which had relatively-limited circulation.)
It was also the FIRST mainstream syndicated comic strip to star a Black title character! (Quincy by Ted Shearer debuted later in 1970.)
Writer Jim Lawrence was no stranger to adventure strips, having previously written Captain Easy and Joe Palooka, and, after his stint on Friday, Buck Rogers! (He also penned the '70s paperback series Dark Angel about a Black woman private eye.)
European artist Jorge Longaron had done a number of strip projects unseen in the US. Friday was his American strip debut.
The series was a combination of adventure and soap-opera, about former fashion model-turned-photographer's assistant (and later professional photographer) Friday Foster.
Supporting characters included photographer Shawn North
(her boss and later business partner) and millionare playboy/romantic interest Blake Tarr.
The series lasted until '74, with some of the final strips illustrated by Dick Giordano and Howard Chaykin!
Besides the strip, there was a one-shot comic book in 1972, and a feature film in 1975 (a year after the strip was canceled) starring action-movie goddess Pam Grier as Friday,
Thalmus Rasulala as Blake Tarr, Yaphet Kotto as Detective Colt Hawkins, plus Eartha Kitt, Jim Backus, Godfrey Cambridge, and in one of his earliest roles, Carl Weathers, as an assassin! While there was a soundtrack album, curiously, I've never seen a novelization (and they did novelizations of movies that weren't even released in the US)!
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ proudly present her a part of our Heroines™ line which also includes Jane Arden: Crime Reporter, Cave Girl, Jet Dream & Her Stunt-Girl CounterSpies, Miss Fury, Miss Cairo Jones, Miss Masque / Masquerade, Molly O'Day: Super Sleuth, Annie Oakley, Phantom Lady, Tiger Girl, and UnderCover Girl!

If you're looking for a cool Christmas gift for the Black History aficionado or grrrl hero fan in your life, you can't go wrong with a Friday Foster mug, bag, shirt or other goodie!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Santa & the Elves' Labor Union Strike!

You think the economic situation is bad now?
Go back 73 years ago, to November 1938 and see...elves were picketing Santa's WorkShop for better pay!
(You'll note that the cover is dated January, 1939. But it was actually on sale in November, 1938! Publishers used to cover-date comics and pulps two to three months ahead of the actual on-sale date to keep the books on the stands for as long as possible!)
Thus do we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ present another retro-styled collectible for your Christmas gift-giving consideration, and offer you a bit of media history at the same time!
In this case, we proudly present one of our Christmas in the Comics line from our Cool Christmas collection: six different digitally-remastered comic covers featuring classic characters celebrating Christmas, including The Green Lama, SuperSnipe, Dick Cole, and The Lone Ranger, as well as two long-out-of-print versions of The Big Man, Santa, himself!
Available on a multitude of memorabilia including greeting cards (with FREE personalized messages on ANY 10 or 20 card sets), mugs, hoodies, and other goodies, these pop-art collectibles are NOT available in any brick-and-mortar stores, only on-line thru us!
And don't forget our Santa Claus--the Man Himself, A Christmas Carol starring Scrooge, the Hardly-Abominable SnowMan, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians lines!
There's something for everyone under the tree at
Atomic Kommie Comics™!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

G-Men, T-Men & Spies Lurk under the Christmas Tree!

In our continuing quest for cool Christmas presents for the pop culture aficionado in your life, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ wish to offer you yet another exciting possibility for gift-giving...Secret agents have been a part of pop culture for centuries, but spying didn't really become a glamorous profession until World War I.
Since then, the image of the spy has been of a heroic figure fighting off foreign evildoers while holding a girl in one arm and a martini (shaken not stirred) in the other...
In that stylish vein, we offer a line of collectibles that present our government's heroic G-Men, T-Men & Spies on classic comic covers in our Crime & Punishment™ collection.
Note: "G-Men" is slang for "Government Men" or F.B.I. agents. "T-Men" were Treasury agents.
Protecting us from threats both internal and external, these brave fictional American men (and women) fought enemies ranging from Communists, to the Mafia, to Iranians (perceived as a threat even in 1955!), and looked good doing it! (The most famous spy in fiction, James Bond, isn't American! He's a member of MI-6, the British Secret Service!)
Choose from 9 different designs including Cloak & Dagger, Date with Danger, Atomic Spy Cases, Al of the F.B.I. (later Al of the Secret Service), T-Man, and GangBusters!
Make it a Merry Christmas for your loved one...and the entire Free World!