Don Winslow: the Clean-Cut All-American Hero!

Perhaps the first comic strip to be created as a military recruiting tool, Don Winslow U.S.N. was launched in 1934 to encourage enlistments in the U.S. Navy, which at that point had reached an all-time low.
A clean-cut role model for American Youth, Don battled spies, saboteurs, and criminals on the home front, and even made brief forays to both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war!

The strip proved to be a big success, not only improving Naval enlistments, but launching a series of novels, comic book series from several publishers, a dramatic radio show, and two movie serials (Don Winslow of the Navy & Don Winslow of the Coast Guard)!
Don finally retired from service in 1955.

Atomic Kommie Comics™ has returned Don Winslow to active duty as part of the War: Past, Present & Future™ line's enhanced World War II section of classic cover art collectibles which also includes Women of World War II and Aviators.
Any of the shirts, fridge magnets, mugs, or other kool kollectibles in these series would make fun retro-style 4th of July gifts for the veteran in your life!
(I sent a set of all four Don Winslow mugs to my Dad, a retired swabbie! He loved them!)

A Free 4th of July bonus from us to you: downloadable mp3s of the Don Winslow dramatic radio show!

Fantastic Femmes--Marsha A Hunt

This page was updated (with new pix) 

HERE

Icon of the Golden Age of Comics: Monster of Frankenstein

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is both introducing a NEW line of Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collectibles, Icons of the Golden Age of Comics, AND thanking our kool kustomers and blogwatchers for their unswerving support!

We're posting the newest link only here on this blog to a special storefront to enable those who click on it to buy items at discount from today until July 6th!
Save up to 50% per item on this titan of terror ...
Monster of Frankenstein Icon
PLUS: Each Monday, we'll be listing one or two MORE Icons ALSO at discount for a week before being offered to the general public at regular prices!
(We show the normal prices next to the item titles on these special pages)

Perfect for streetwear, beachwear and / or conventionwear!

And don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, to see his genetic successors, The F-Troop, in action! ;-)

Beware the Black Owl (both of them!)

We already covered The Owl here, but there was another hero (actually two of them in the same costume) based on the wise bird of legend.
The first Black Owl debuted in Prize Comics #1 as K the Unknown, but became Black Owl in #2. He didn't get a cover appearance until Prize Comics #7, which also featured the comic book intros of pulp hero Green Lama and literary character Monster of Frankenstein!
Now stop me if you've heard this one...
Bored millionare playboy Doug Danville decides to battle cowardly, superstitious criminals as a fearsome creature of the night.
Utilizing his personal fortune, he creates a masked identity with various non-lethal armaments and takes on the criminal element for several years.
Sounds like a whole slew of heroes of the period, eh?
But there's a twist, folks!
When World War II breaks out, he enlists in the Army!
(Most heroes remained on the Home Front battling spies and saboteurs.)
Realizing it would be best for the city he protects if The Black Owl was still believed to be fighting crime, Doug passes on his costume and equipment in Prize Comics #34 to another man...
The second Black Owl was Walt Walters, father of a pair of patriotic teen superheroes, Yank & Doodle whom Doug Danville had teamed up with on several occasions, most notably Prize Comics #24, when they, Green Lama and several other characters, took on the Monster of Frankenstein!
Once Dad became a superhero, the kids became his sidekicks, but remained Yank & Doodle, instead of renaming themselves something avian to match their father's motif!
(Luckily, their color schemes matched!)
When Walt is shot and wounded in Prize Comics #64, he retires from active crimefighting, serving as a non-costumed assistant to Yank & Doodle until their series is cancelled several months later.
Note: we never learn what became of Doug Danville after he entered the Army...

Alex Ross has now incorporated both Black Owls (and Yank & Doodle) into his Project SuperPowers Golden Age revival series, with one of the BOs somehow becoming a living black hole!

While we won't go that far, Atomic Kommie Comics™ has incorporated both Black Owls into our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, even giving them their own section featuring the first cover appearance as well as the best cover art for each Black Owl on t-shirts, mugs and other goodies!

So, whether it's The Owl or The Black Owl, we have something on WHOOOever (sorry, couldn't resist) holds your interest!

And buy Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival series on the market!

OTHER Patriotic SuperHeroes (& SuperHeroines)

With all the tzimmis over the Return of Steve Rogers as Captain America (and who didn't know that was coming?), you might want to have a look at the other star-spangled heroes introduced during the Golden Age of comic books!

You did know Captain America was not the first superhero to wrap himself in the "colors that never run", didn't you?
The very first flag-wearing hero was Archie (then MLJ) Comics' The Shield who predated Cap by over a year!
Then, between 1940 and 1945, dozens of stars & stripes-wearing heroes (and heroines) flew, leaped, punched, kicked, and flipped thru the four-color newsprint world of comic books!
(Technically, Superman wore red, YELLOW, and blue, so he wasn't visually a flag-waving hero.
But Wonder Woman's Amazon garb was meant to show alliance with America's values and beliefs!)

In that virtuous vein, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ want to tell you about a plethora of patriotic pummelers at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ in our Flag-Draped Heroes line of kool kollectibles!

We're talking about
American Crusader
American Eagle (now Burning Eagle)
Captain Battle & Captain Battle Jr
Captain Courageous
Captain V (illustrated above)
The Conqueror
The Eagle & Buddy
The Flag
Major Victory
Man of War
Miss Victory
Stars & Stripes
Super-American
Unknown Soldier (now Soldier Unknown)
U.S. Jones
V-Man
Yank & Doodle
Yankee Doodle Jones & Johnny Reb
on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other goodies!

(We'll be doing individual Hero(ine) Histories of each of them over the summer. Watch for them!)
Most, if not all of them have recently been revived in the new series Project SuperPowers and it's spin-off titles. (Pick them up at your local comic book store TODAY!)

So fly the flag (or The Flag himself) this 4th of July with Flag-Draped Heroes ONLY at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!