Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July with the Living Legend of World War II!

Art by John Romita from the 1976 Marvel Bicentennial Calendar!
A classic image featuring Captain America before the Declaration of Independence!
(Courtesy Rip Jagger's Dojo)
Art by Jack Kirby & Frank Giacoia from Captain America's Bicentennial Battles
 Captain America and Uncle Sam!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Flag-Draped Super-Heroes!

On the day before July 4th, here's some Patriotic Heroes...
Captain V
The Conqueror
Captain Courageous
Super-American
American Crusader
American Eagle
V-Man
U.S. Jones
The Flag
and, of course...
 Uncle Sam, himself!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

When Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield...

...wait a sec! He doesn't have a shield!
He's got a gun!
This "too kool for skool" shirt features the poster art for the 1940s movie serial Captain America, who didn't have a shield!
Or a kid sidekick named Bucky!
In fact he wasn't even scrawny recruit Steve Rogers!
He was "two-fisted District Attorney Grant Gardner"!
(The actor, Dick Purcell, died from the strain of performing the role!)
There was no Red Skull!
(But the created-for-the-serial villain, The Scarab, was played by classic b-movie baddie Lionel Atwill at his snarling, sneering, smarmy best!)
The heroine, Gail Richards, was played by one of b-movies hottest ladies, Lorna Gray (who usually played villainesses)!
For more info about the serial, we presented a classic article about it HERE!
As for the highly-collectible shirt itself, it's available in a variety of colors, including patriotic red (shown), white, or blue!
Just the "secret chic" thing to wear to a screening of the new Captain America flick!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Celebrate the 4th of July with Don Winslow!

Perhaps the first comic strip to be created as a military recruiting tool, Don Winslow U.S.N. was launched in 1934 to encourage enlistments in the U.S. Navy, which at that point had reached an all-time low.
A clean-cut role model for American Youth, Don battled spies, saboteurs, and criminals on the home front, and even made brief forays to both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war!

The strip proved to be a big success, not only improving Naval enlistments, but launching a series of novels, comic book series from several publishers, a dramatic radio show, and two movie serials (Don Winslow of the Navy and Don Winslow of the Coast Guard)!
Don finally retired from service in 1955.

Atomic Kommie Comics™ has returned Don Winslow to active duty as part of the War: Past, Present & Future™ line's enhanced World War II section of classic cover art collectibles which also includes Women of World War II and Aviators.
Any of the shirts, fridge magnets, mugs, or other kool kollectibles in these series would make fun retro-style 4th of July gifts for the veteran in your life!
(I sent a set of all four Don Winslow mugs to my Dad, a retired swabbie! He loved them!)

A Free pre-4th of July bonus from us to you: downloadable mp3s of the Don Winslow dramatic radio show!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Reading Room: RACE FOR THE MOON "Garden of Eden"

From the final issue (#3) of Race For the Moon comes a tale with spectacular Jack Kirby/Al Williamson artwork combining both realistic 1950s spacesuits and architecture and way-out technology and alien costuming.
Note that the female, Anizaar, looks a lot like Zsa Zsa Gabor in the then-current flick Queen of Outer Space, but in a kooler costume than the simple ones shown in the movie! Trivia: Zsa Zsa didn't play the title role! "The Queen" was Laurie Mitchell!
The story itself is a clever reworking of several science-fiction tropes common to the era (1958).
See of you can identify them all...
I dunno...while I'm certainly on the humans' side, that last panel sounded like a rather nasty threat...