Design of the Week--Super Circus!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
"Be a clown! Be a clown! All the world loves a clown..."
A bright, cheerful image of a clown from the long-running 1950s live-action tv show.
Perfect for tykes, toddlers, and preschoolers!

Interestingly, since it was broadcast in black-and-white, the only time kids saw the performers in color was on ad posters, magazine photos, or on licensed products!

FREE Back to school BONUS: Downloadable episode of the series available here! See what enthralled your parents and grandparents before YouTube!

What will the Marvel / Disney merger produce? (part 2)

Another piece submitted by Jack "King" Kirby to Craig Yoe's book The Art of Mickey Mouse.
This one, believe it or not, was NOT used in the book!
I'm not sure if it was a case of only one contribution per artist or lack of space, but it's as kool (if not more so) than the previous piece!
This piece by another comics legend, Wally Wood, was used in TV Guide back in 1966-67 for an article about superhero cartoons dominating the previously funny animal-oriented Saturday morning cartoon schedule due to the success of the live-action Batman tv series!
(Remember when there WAS a Saturday Morning cartoon schedule?)
Note the Marvel characters get the primary focus.
Oddly, while Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four both had Saturday morning cartoons, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, (along with the Hulk in the background) were actually part of the Monday-Friday Marvel Super-Heroes show!
Plus, Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman were just segments in the Superman / Aquaman Adventure Hour (Come to think of it, where is Superman? Aquaman can be seen between Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch...)
And, you'll note the ONLY funny animal / humor character not fleeing in terror is Mickey Mouse!

What will the Marvel / Disney merger produce?

Behold...the coming of...Marvel Mouse!
(Mighty Mouse was already trademarked)

Jack "King" Kirby was indeed a visionary!
This was done, tongue-in-cheek, for a book in 1991 called The Art of Mickey Mouse edited by Craig Yoe, but seems extremely prophetic now!

Disney Buys Marvel Comics!

Official Press Release
Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK, Aug 31, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Acquisition highlights Disney's strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value
Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion!
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Ike Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

My opinion...
With Disney's control of tv networks ABC, ABC Family, and Disney Channel, and of course, experience in theme parks, I think we can finally expect to see Marvel multi-media properties developed properly. (Remember the MarvelMania restaurant chain?)
Time-Warner's synergy with DC Comics has resulted in major media successes in film, tv, and theme parks! Disney should be able to match that easily!

Captain V aka the Puppeteer

OK, see if you can follow this one...
Alan Hale is a professional puppeteer. He's also a direct descendant of Nathan Hale.
Alan has a pet bald eagle named "Raven"
Raven can talk.
Raven can also play a pipe organ (with his claws, obviously).
Whenever Raven senses danger, he plays the opening chords of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. (FYI, the chords match the dot-dot-dot-dash pacing of the Morse Code letter "V" [for "Victory"]. It was an extremely popular musical motif in movies and dramatic radio shows of the 1940s to denote particularly patriotic events. I'm not going to explain Morse Code. Google it...)
This magically transforms Alan into the red-white-blue garbed superhero Captain V who then goes forth to battle saboteurs and spies with super-strength and the ability to emanate energy in the form of red-white-blue "V-Beams" which he travels upon!
The good Captain ran thru All-Top Comics for it's entire super-hero run, but never made the cover.
He finally made the cover for the one-shot Book of Comics, after which he moved to Bomber Comics, where he shared the covers (but not interior stories) with Wonder Boy. Curiously, he was renamed The Puppeteer, but kept the patriotic costume and abilities. (And, one of the Bomber Comics covers showed both him and Wonder Boy manipulating criminals like puppets!)
He also appeared in several other one-shots like All-Good Comics, but never made the cover again.

He is NOT, as some have speculated, V-Man, another patriotic character with a similar costume, but a different identity, powers, and origin!

While Alex Ross has given V-Man a rather prominent role in Project SuperPowers, Captain V has been given rather short shrift so far, being confined to flashbacks, and implied to be one of the heroes who make up The American Spirit, a composite of the souls of deceased super-heroes!

No matter what his name, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have also restored Captain V to the ranks of flag-draped super-heroes by digitally-restoring and remastering his lone Golden Age cover appearance as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line of kool kollectibles!
So, we're running Captain V up the flagpole to see if anyone will salute!

And, just a gentle reminder to pick up the Project SuperPowers comics, on sale now!
They're the best Golden Age revival books out there!