Design of the Week--Deep Thrust!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...it was the 1970s, and...
1) controversial X-rated movie Deep Throat was one of the hot topics of the day!
2) Kung-fu mania was in full-swing!
Naturally, some marketing genius decided to combine the two...

An American film distributor took the kung-fu flick Lady Whirlwind, did the usual hysterically-bad English dubbing job on it, retitled it Deep Thrust, and produced a poster showing leading lady Angela Mao in a sexy exposed-cleavage / bare-legged look she never actually had in the film, or ANY other film she appeared in!
(At left, you can see the Hong Kong release poster showing how she actually looked in the flick!)

Angela was one of the few established female martial arts movie stars, with numerous credits, including Enter the Dragon, Lady Karate, and Lady Kung Fu.
She's also listed as Mao Ying, Angela Mao Ying, and Mao Fu Ying.
She was, in fact, an expert martial artist, trained in kung fu, hapkido, and tae kwon do!

Needless to say, Deep Thrust was a hit, playing the grindhouses for several years!
(I saw it several times on 42nd Street as part of various double and triple features.)
I remembered the distinctive poster, and when I finally acquired it, photographed it, and made a t-shirt emblazoned with it.
While I wanted to add it to our Pop Art Martial Arts™ collection, some friends expressed misgivings about incorporating it into the kid-friendly section, since the title was similar (but not related) to a classic porn film!
I say, let the fans decide!
If you show your support for the poster at Design of the Week, we'll move it to Pop Art Martial Arts™  when it's one week stint ends!
Will Deep Thrust prove popular, or will it redefine "limited edition"?

YOU decide!

If Archie was Black, he would have been Fast Willie Jackson!

Though it looks like it, Fast Willie Jackson was not published  by Archie Comics, but by Black-owned publisher Fitzgerald Publications who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history.
Fast Willie was their entry into the mass-market comics market.
Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.
Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.
We've incorporated Fast Willie into our Classic Comix collection featuring digitally-remastered and restored oversized (up to 11 x 17) vintage images emblazoned on sweatshop-free American Apparel and Anvil Knitwear shirts and tote bags.
Can you dig it?

San Diego Comic Convention Official Book Special Offer!

Remember when comics conventions were all about...COMICS???

(Above: poster for the 1973 SDCC)

Relive those days!
The Official SDCC 
40th Anniversary 
(1970-2010) book
Available from SDCC for $40.00!
Available thru us for as little as $5.24!

The SECRET Marvel Comics WebPage!

For several years, Corbis (a photo agency owned by Bill Gates) handled licensing Marvel Comics images for editorial and advertising use.
It apparently didn't work out too well, since the partnership no longer exists, nor does the link (which was still operational until late last year).
However, Design Commission, the company who designed the really kool web interface for the partnership's pages have a functioning mockup of the Corbis/Marvel webpages on their corporate website.
"Corbis selected Design Commission to create a unique experience using Flash and XML, where users could explore a wide, yet deep, snapshot of Marvel’s archive in a fluid and engaging environment."
Admire and enjoy a lost piece of Marvel history!

More Than Just Archie Comics--Tippy Teen & Bunny!

To most people, the 'tween / teen comics scene begins and ends with the Archie Comics line.
Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest seem to be the only non-super powered teenagers in the four-color world!
But it wasn't always that way...
Others rose to challenge Archie's domination of the genre!
Even DC and Marvel have attempted teen-themed series, but none had the staying power of the red-head from Riverdale!
In the 1960s, when comics companies big and small flourished in the era of Pop Art and "Camp", every company had teen-age characters side-by-side with superheroes and spies!
Two companies in particular, Tower and Harvey, had teen lines headed by female leads, rather than males!

Tower's character, Tippy Teen, was not an Archie clone.
She didn't have two boys fighting over her, as Betty and Veronica did over Archie, but a number of her supporting characters seemed like close relatives to some of Archie's pals and gals.
It's not surprising, since a number of Archie writers and artists were also doing work for Tower, including Dan DeCarlo and Bob White!
Interestingly, Tippy was the longest-lasting title at Tower, running five issues longer than the now-legendary T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents!
Tippy also had several spin-offs including Tippy's Friends Go-Go & Animal and Teen-In, which serves as the basis of our Tippy line of kool kollectibles!

Harvey's female teen character, Bunny, was a doll...literally!
1n 1966, a toy company wanted to launch a line of Barbie-type dolls, with the added kick of a comic book tie-in to boost public awareness!
Much like the way the 1980s GI Joe series was co-conceived by Hasbro and Marvel, Harvey's writers and artists worked with the toy company's staff on character development and storylines for the comic and toys.
Like most Harvey characters, Bunny had an ongoing obsession--in this case with teen fads and trends...clothing, dances, hairstyles, etc! Presumably, this was to encourage doll buyers to pick up the newest clothing and accessories the manufacturer could produce after seeing them in the comic!
The Bunny line also had what would have been the first African-American fashion doll character, her best friend Marcy, beating out Barbie's "Colored" Francie by a year! (The character was a major part of the comic series, including performing in an all-Black band called SOULar System which had it's own backup strip!)
However, before a single doll could roll out of the factory, the toy company collapsed!
The Harveys, deciding not to let all the already written and drawn pages go to waste, decided to publish the comic anyway.
It sold well enough to keep going for several years and produce a spin-off, Rock Happening, which, like Tippy's spin-off, serves as the basis for our line of Bunny goodies!

We'll be adding to both the Tippy and Bunny collectible lines as we acquire more of these hard-to-find books. (It is convention season...)