Thursday, March 11, 2010

Kooba Cola: the Drink That NEVER Was...

In 1940, Victor Fox, publisher of WonderWorld Comics, Mystery Men Comics, Weird Comics, and other titles featuring The Blue Beetle, Samson, The Flame, among others, conceived an audacious marketing scheme.
Inspired by the success of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, he decided to promote Kooba Cola, "The World's Newest and Best-Tasting Soft Drink!" in ads in his entire line of comic books.
It was also "Delightfully Refreshing and Contained 35 USP units of Vitamin B-1 for the Sake of Health and Nutrition!"
When Fox's The Blue Beetle starred in a short-lived radio show that summer, he was sponsored by Kooba Cola!

Wait a second...
What's that?
You've never even heard of Kooba Cola?
That's because it didn't exist, except as a couple of mocked-up bottles used as props in ads and as art reference for illustrators.
(You'll note they couldn't even figure out what the color scheme for the label was!
It changed from ad to ad!)
Fox thought he could create a demand for Kooba, then license the name to one of the big soft drink companies, let them do the work of actually creating, bottling, and shipping the stuff, then he'd rake in royalties on the name!
It didn't work.
The "buzz" never developed.
The soda pop was never actually produced.
Even Kooba's "sponsorship" of The Blue Beetle radio show was just part of the show's script, not paid ads! (One of the reasons the show only lasted four months!)

But, such visionary hucksterness should not be forgotten!
(Besides, the ads were rather kool.)
So we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ decided to re-present the Soda That Would Not Die on collectibles ranging from Beachwear to mugs, messenger bags (and the irony of doing bags with "Kooba" on them hasn't escaped us!) and hoodies at KoobaCola 1 and KoobaCola 2!

So celebrate what could have been one of the bubbliest success stories of soft drink entepreneurship, but instead fizzled out and fell flat!
(You just knew we were gonna do a pun like that, didn't you?)  ;-)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Classic Captain America Art Gallery

Today we're presenting a gallery of Captain America art from the Silver Age by Jim Steranko (above) and the character's co-creator Jack Kirby (all the rest).
Why?
Because I love Silver Age art and I felt like it
Y'know I don't plug my collectibles everyday! Just most days...  ;-)
Click on the art to enlarge
Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Aviators of the Golden Age of Comics Cover Gallery

An amazing assortment of aviators who flew thru the four-color pages of the Golden Age of Comics including AirBoy...
...The Black Commander (who appeared with AirBoy in Air Fighters Comics!)
...Captain Aero...
...Captain Flight...
...and Captain Wings!
BTW, did we mention that ALL these covers (and seven more including Captain MidNight) are available on our Aviators of the Golden Age of Comics 2010 12-Month Calendar? ;-)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Fantastic Femmes--Zoe Saldana IS Neytiri Dis'kahan Mo'at'itey

Too bad Fantastic Femme Zoe Saldana wasn't nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Neytiri.
If you just think of it as "digital makeup" rather than animation, it's as award-worthy as any performance in makeup (like John Hurt's performance in The Elephant Man)!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Green Hornet Movie Poster Gallery

The first movie serial starring Gordon Jones as Britt Reid / Green Hornet and Keye Luke as Kato.
One of the better serials of the period, faithful to the source.
The second serial with Warren Hull replacing Gordon Jones, but Keye Luke back as Kato.
And the early 1970s film compilation of tv series episodes with Van Williams as Britt Reid / Green Hornet, and the late, legendary Bruce Lee as Kato.