Fantastic Femmes PixPost: Dorothy Dandridge IS Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba

In her only genre role, Dorothy Dandridge played Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba in 1951's Tarzan's Peril.

An original story, not based on any of Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories, the film was the third of five movies starring Lex Barker as Tarzan and it was directed by Byron Haskin, who went on to A-list genre films like 1953's War of the Worlds.
It was also the first Tarzan film to have scenes shot on location in Africa.
(Previous films used existing stock footage from other movies.)

One of the scenes from the film is recreated in the biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge starring Fantastic Femme Halle Berry as Dorothy playing Melmendi.
Here's a comparison between a scene in the original film and the biopic's version of it.

Melmendi, nor her tribe, the Ashuba, have appeared in any Tarzan story (in any media) since...

Note: technically, this is a Pix Post, but it's also a Hero(ine) History and Fantastic Femme entry!

More Green Hornet: Year One Previews...

A couple of sample pages pencilled & inked by Aaron Campbell and colored by Francesco Francavilla for the upcoming new version of the origin story (previously told here).
Check out his blog entry here.
Britt's dad was an amateur entomologist?
Of course it doesn't explain why The Green Hornet uses a gas-gun instead of some sort of hard-edged sting.
Hornets don't use gas.
Now, if he had become The Green Stinkbug...

Design of the Week--Easter with Mother Goose!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!

Since Easter is coming, we thought we'd present an absolutely adorable piece by the legendary Walt (Pogo) Kelly featuring a puppy, kitten, and bunny with surprised looks on their faces as the egg they're painting hatches, producing yet another cute animal...a chick!

You just don't see stuff like this anymore!
So, why not order some kidswear, or even holiday greeting cards with this one-week-only graphic?
Everyone who sees it will go "Awwww."

Green Hornet Classic Cover Gallery

Some of my favorite Golden Age Green Hornet covers from my collection...

The final issue of his Golden Age run, a one-shot from Dell Comics!

Issue #33, featuring his primary 1940s weapon, the Gas Gun!

Issue #31, with both the Hornet and Kato dashing to the rescue!

Issue #13, in Berlin against the Nazis!

Issue #43, "typical" 1940s teens and 'tweens talk about the Hornet! Gosh!

Issue #29, a powerful symbolic cover (and the first Golden Age comic I owned)!

And, finally, the first issue of The Green Hornet Comics from Holyoke (who published issues 1-6)
Note he's wearing the same outfit in the first and final issues and a modified version on the issues in-between! And they're the only painted covers of the entire run!

BTW, did we mention that ALL these covers (and five more) are available on our Classic Green Hornet 2010 12-Month Calendar? ;-)

Fill Your Easter Basket...with Atomic Kommie Comics' Goodies!

It's Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, so it's time to talk about...Easter! (It's only 40 days away!)

Back in the 1940s and 50s, comic book companies produced a prodigious number of holiday-oriented annuals and one-shots.
For example, a multitude of Christmas-themed comic books flooded America's magazine racks every November and December!
(In fact, a large part of our popular Cool Christmas collection is based on them.)

But, did you know that a number of publishers also did Easter-oriented books?
And, that noted comics illustrators, including Walt (Pogo) Kelly, contributed art to them?

Believing that there's always room for more classic comics collectibles, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ added a new line of goodies to our Happy Holidays section entitled Exciting Easter!
Yes, it's eggs, bunnies, chicks, and other fuzzy animals galore, digitally-restored and remastered from Baby Boomer-era classic comics covers on baby bibs, infant creepers / onesies, toddler and kid t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs, and a plethora of kool kollectibles!
They make great Easter basket stuffers! (And they won't rot your kids' teeth like marshmallow chicks or chocolate bunnies!)
So click over and see what's in our basket!