Monday, March 7, 2011

Design of the Week--"...fill my f@#%ing gas tank!"

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week..express your outrage at rising gas prices!
If you share my depression / outrage / fear over the economy, voice your opinion visually with a bumper sticker, shirt, tote bag, key chain, mug, or other kool kollectible showing it takes selling the world's most expensive baseball card (Honus Wagner T-206) just to fill your gas tank!
(OK, it's an exaggeration, but the way things are going...)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Reading Room: Alien Invasions: Man O' Mars

With Battle: LA opening this week, we thought we'd present some of the more memorable alien invasion-themed comic stories of the Golden Age.
First up...the lead story from a 1953 one-shot that combined all the great cliches of space opera in one tight ten-page tale...
These days, this story would be a six-issue mini-series with tie-ins to several other titles.
The rest of the book was made up of unrelated reprints from earlier issues of Planet Comics.
While the interior artist is unidentified in the Grand Comics Database, it looks, IMHO, like either the pencils or inks were by Mort Meskin.
The cover was done by Maurice Whitman, one of Fiction House's more prolific artists.
When the book was reprinted in 1958, yet another cover was done (see left), featuring totally different-looking characters and flying saucers that appeared nowhere in the story!

We included the original cover as part of our Martians! Martians! Martians! retro collectibles line including mugs, t-shirts and other nifty stuff.
There's lots of vintage alien invasion-themed stuff there, as well as at SpaceMan Jet and the SpaceBusters (whom we'll also be presenting in the Reading Room this week), and Quatermass: the Man Who Inspired the X-Files!
Keep checking back for more alien fun!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Before Beastly was Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast

 Once Upon a Time...
Before lovely Vanessa Hudgens fell for that tattooed guy, there was a classic movie based on the legendary fairy tale.
Here are five magnificent, HTF posters advertising that film!
Available on mugs, t-shirts, bags, and many more kool kollectibles!




Friday, March 4, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Proof of Treason" Conclusion

When last we left our heroes...
Why does Mayoral candidate Wilkes Sherman hire criminals to bomb the home of nuclear scientist Professor Baldwin?
When the police track down the bomber, an assassin ends his life before he can talk.
The Green Hornet, who had followed the police, trails the murderer back to Sherman, and discovers the politician is a Commie spy!
In addition, he learns Professor Baldwin is a former Communist now working for the US, and the Commies want him brought back behind the Iron Curtain!
When The Green Hornet enters the meeting, the assassin tries to shoot him and is KOed by the Hornet's gas gun.
The Hornet then makes a deal to grab the professor and turn him over to Sherman for $5,000. (It was 1953, remember?) As a free bonus to Sherman, he'll "get rid" of the unconscious murderer (whom he turns over to the police.)
This b/w page was the inside back cover.
Curiously, though both stories in this issue are adaptations of radio episodes, this was published a year after the radio series was cancelled!
Art on both stories is presumed to be by Frank Thorne, but there are influences of several other artists, including Don Heck and Frank Giacoia, so it's possible they performed uncredited penciling and/or inking assists to meet the deadline.
The Hornet and Kato didn't appear again in comics until early 1967, when the first issue of their Gold Key series, based on the tv show starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was published.

Thanks for visiting the Reading Room. Come back soon!

And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Proof of Treason" Part 1

Last time we presented The Green Hornet's final Silver Age tale.
This time, here's his final Golden Age tale, the second of two from Dell's Four Color Comics #496, a series of one-off appearances of various characters to test sales potential.
Tomorrow: the conclusion of the Golden Age Green Hornet's final battle!
And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon