Atomic Kommie Comics' NEW Poster/Print Galleries

A couple of days ago we told you about a new poster print of the ultra-rare Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall poster from 1972.
Now, we are unveiling even more ultra-rare material from our archives, now made available to you as collector's item prints in the Atomic Kommie Comics™ Art Gallery!
There are three sub-galleries...

Theatrical Posters 

 (which includes movie, tv, Broadway and genre convention material)

Golden Age 

(HTF comic book covers from the 1930s to 1950s)

 and Odds and Ends

(pop art / pop culture stuff that doesn't fit into either category)

Over the next few days, we'll be going into detail about each gallery.

These prints would make ideal dorm or bedroom decor for students or game-room decoration for pop-culture-oriented teens!

Keep in mind we're just getting started. There'll be a lot more images placed in the galleries over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow: Theatrical Posters!

DETECTIVE COMICS' "Skeleton Cases" Gets Pulp-Style Artist!

It's always a pleasure when someone you know makes a career breakthrough.
I'm pleased to say that noted artist Francesco Francavilla (whose Green Hornet and Zorro work I'm constantly plugging) is bringing his pulp/noir-stylings to DC Comics' flagship title...Detective Comics!
He'll be handling the new backup feature "Skeleton Cases", featuring Commissioner Gordon.
Personally, I think it's just a matter of time before they give him the lead strip as well!

MARVEL-ous Evening with Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall--the Poster!

Face Front, True Believer!

Here's a digitially-remastered and restored print based on the HTF poster from January 5th, 1972, the MARVEL-ous night when Stan Lee and the Marvel Bullpen filled Carnegie Hall with song and story!

From the Bullpen Bulletins that ran in all July, 1972 Marvel comic books:
"ITEM: January 5, 1972! Mark that date in your memory-book, faithful one - 'cause that's the night the batty Bullpen got it all together at Carnegie Hall, in the hectic heart of New York City!
As we told you last month, the whole magilla was called 'A MARVEL-OUS EVENING WITH STAN LEE' - and it was a way-out compendium of music, magic, and madcap Marvel mayhem!
Smilin' Stan himself was Master of Ceremonies - presiding over the frantic goings-on while images of mighty Marvel superheroes flitted across a giant movie screen.
A trio of our titanic artists got into the act, too, as Jazzy Johnny Romita, Happy Herb Trimpe, and Big John Buscema did sensational sketches of Captain America, ol' Greenskin, and Thor - which in turn were projected onto that selfsame screen. (There was a passel of our cavortin' characters in actual attendance, too, including Spidey, Daredevil, Doc Doom, and even J. Jonah Jameson himself!)
The standing-room-only crowd exploded with applause, also, at the roster of famous names who had gathered to pay homage to the madness that is Marvel: World-famous film director Alain Resnais translated a few of Silver Surfer's soliloquies into his native French; and there were also a few pungent paragraphs about our heroes which were intoned by radio personalities Alec Bennett and Earl Doud, by actors Rene Aberjonois and Chuck McCann (you've seen the latter a zillion times as the 'Hi Guy' neighbor on the other side of the medicine cabinet in those Right Guard commercials), and neo-journalist Tom Wolfe, resplendent in red, white, and blue as he read about - you guessed it - Captain America.
As for the music mentioned about, most of it was provided by the far-famed Chico Hamilton and the Players - but some more Marvel Madmen got into the act, too, as Hectic Herbie and Bashful Barry Smith plunked a couple of wild electric guitars while Rascally Roy Thomas belted out a rousin' rocker or two!
Then, for the grand finale, just about everybody in the blamed Bullpen crowded onto stage to sing the Merry Marvel Marching Society theme-song - while, not to be outdone, dozens of cheering fans rushed onstage as well, and the show closed amid a revel of handshaking and autograph signing all 'round.
And that was that!
All in all, it was a wildly successful evening - and not necessarily the last of its kind, either!

And, if there were a few bleary eyes and sore throats among the Bullpenners come the morning of the 6th - well, that's show biz, people!" 
With astounding art by Merry Marie Severin, this poster is a funky composite of major Marvel stars as of 1972!
Top Row: Captain America, DareDevil, Mr. Fantastic, Ant-Man
Second Row: Dr. Strange, Information, Spider-Man, Thor
Third Row: Falcon, Invisible Girl, Hulk, Sub-Mariner
Forth Row: Dormammu, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Human Torch
Bottom Row: Black Widow, Thing, Silver Surfer, Conan

Available as a magnificent high-end print here.
The perfect centerpiece to your comics library or bedroom!

Or, if you're looking for something a bit more discreet (and less expensive), there's always a t-shirt emblazoned with the image...

Before Scott Pilgrim was...Cutie Honey!

Scott Pilgrim vs the World got me to thinking about other films derived from comics/graphic novels/manga that utitlized not just the storytelling aspects that comics/graphic novels/manga derived from movies, but the particular visual bits created for the printed page that teleported to film versions.
In America, the Batman tv series and first Hulk film are the most obvious aspects, with sound effects spelled out, and the screen broken into panels.
But I always felt the movie creators were holding back, as if they were somewhat embarrassed about using those print-based elements.
OTOH, foreign movies based on print properties are the place where filmmakers go totally bonkers in adapting those visual cues on a massive scale.
Case in point...Cutie Honey!

Also based on a print comic/manga (Cutey Honey created by the lengendary Go Nagai) this flick is just as lunatic, just as filled with visual cues derived from comics/manga and video games as Scott Pilgrim!
Cutie Honey is a weird, wild, film.

 If you liked Scott Pilgrim, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Design of the Week--Captain 3-D Redux

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...due to popular demand (and pretty good sales), the first superhero created specifically for 3-D...Captain 3-D!

In the early 1950s, "3-D" using red and green prints of simultaneously-shot movie footage from cameras a couple of feet apart. (note: sometimes blue was used instead of green, but the stereotype of 3-D is a red / green lens juxtposition.)

When a viewer wore glasses like these they would perceive the two projected images as a single 3-D image!

Taking comic book line art and modifying it to produce a similar 3-D effect was technically simple, so almost every company attempted at least one 3-D book between 1952-55.
Most were 3-D versions of existing comics including Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, Tor, even Katy Keene.
However, Captain 3-D was the Simon & Kirby team's attempt to jump on the 3-D bandwagon with NEW material.

A disheveled, stranger stumbles into a seedy used bookstore.
He hands a book and pair of weird glasses to the young clerk, warns him to never sell it, just as a gunman comes in and shoots the stranger, disintegrating him.
The clerk, Danny Davis, disarms the gunman, who flees and is shot by an associate waiting outside.
Danny puts on the glasses and looks thru the book, which is blank except for an illustration of a costumed man which jumps from the page and stands in front of Danny.
Before another word is said, the associate gunman returns...with allies!
The costumed man defeats the group with ease and tells Danny to look at them thru the strange glasses.
Danny sees the attackers as cat-people!
As it turns out, the costumed man is the last survivor of an advanced civilization wiped out in a war against the Cat People 50,000 years earlier.
Placed in the book by advanced technology, he is brought to life by the holder of the book and glasses to battle the Cat People, who were all but wiped out, but who now have sufficient numbers to try to conquer the world again!

A cool premise and nice set-up, playing up the use of glasses to both empower the hero and perceive villains. (The movie They Live! used a similar gimmick)

Unfortunately, a legal battle involving the 3-D process all but killed the financial viability of producing 3-D books, and, though material was already finished, there was never a second issue of Captain 3-D!

Due to your interest, Captain 3-D will be a permanent part of the Atomic Kommie Comics™ lineup.
The only question being; where do we put him?
First appearing in 1953, he's definitely after the Golden Age (1938-1949), but a couple of years before the earliest of the Silver Age (1955-1969) heroes!
Or, since we're doing an entirely-new section dedicated to 3-D in movies and comics, we'll put him there! (Oops! did I say that out loud?)