Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Reading Room: INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Space Trap" Conclusion

Tanya, the Space Siren, attacks a space liner, but doesn't steal anything!
Why?
Captain Bruce Warren of the InterPlanetary Police is briefed that she's looking for a supply of Atovar, a new fuel more powerful and efficient than Uranium!
Word is leaked that the Star Queen will be transporting the fuel to Venus with the intent that Warren and his brother, Officer Terry Warren, will capture the Space Siren when she attempts to steal it!
The Siren hijacks the cargo, and returns to her secret base with the InterPlanetary Police trailing behind.
As the cops land on the planetoid, the Siren's men open the containers to discover...
When we rejoin Bruce and Terry next issue, the Mars situation is already cleared up and they're on their way back from Venus!
This never-reprinted story from Buster Brown Comic Book #29 (1952) was written by Hobart Donovan, penciled by Ray Bailey and Reed Crandall, and inked by Ray Willner.
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Reading Room: INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Space Trap" Part 1

Tanya, the Space Siren has another cunning plan...
...and only Bruce Warren (and his little brother Terry) can stop her nefarious scheme in this tale from Buster Brown Comic Book #29 (1952)!
 What do they find?
(We know, but we ain't talking!)
You'll have to be here tomorrow to discover the startling secret!

The eagle-eyed among you will notice a redesign of the police uniforms and spacecraft from the previous story.
Reed Crandall, who finished the pencils over Ray Bailey's layouts, revamped them in a more "Flash Gordon" style rather than the utilitarian "Space Cadet" look they initially had.
Crandall took over full penciling as of the next issue.
Written by Hobart Donovan.
Penciled by Ray Bailey and Reed Crandall
Inked by Ray Willner.

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Monday, January 16, 2012

Martin Luther King, Jr--the Comic Book

On the day we honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr, the gang at Atomic Kommie Comics™ thought it only appropriate to present this item, the first comic book dramatizing his historic efforts.
From the website's intro to the comic...
Most sane thinkers consider MLK to be an important and historic larger-than-life icon, but how did that happen?
Especially given the marginalized press coverage of blacks in the 50s, how was his message galvanized among southern minorities and then spread as a single statement beyond the black community -- and how was it focused so specifically to such seemingly ignorable or boring local incidents as one black woman's refusal to give up a bus seat and a following small-town bus boycott, as well as the concept of Passive Resistance?
Without any need for hyperbole, this comic book is one of the reasons.


Produced by the Fellowship of the Reconciliation and sent very surreptitiously throughout the South (it was dangerous for many to own a copy), then translated, re-drawn, and distributed once again throughout the entire SOUTHERN CONTINENT through Mexico, into Central and then South America, this comic tells the story that established the myth of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks at the time that it mattered, mere months after news events occurred.
Intended for adults, but shown in comic book format for the largest possible distribution and audience and instruction.
It was also produced as a comic because more adult seeming publications and newspapers were often destroyed by white businessmen and other violent types bent on continuing segregation's grip on the South.
But that does not mean people found distributing copies of this comic were not given their fair share of beatings and harassment, nor does it mean thousands of copies were not often destroyed.
Why? This comic is and was dangerously honest.
Featuring the Klan (lynching, bombs, burning crosses), Jim Crow laws, and the entire concept of Nonviolent Protest.
This pamphlet offered advice and instructions on how to use passive resistance and massive non-violent resistance against segregation, just as these ideas were fresh --and it also established a clear connection of MLK to Gandhi, a public connection that continues on to today.


A copy of this comic is held in the Smithsonian and many Civil Rights leaders recognize this as one of the most important AND PERSUASIVE items of the 50s in establishing or explaining their cause to the world, as well as giving many black youths the courage and direction to hold their own political protests.
Many notable sit-ins and demonstrations link to this comic book getting into the right hands - and it did get around, literally devoured by black college students at the time.
We're DELIGHTED to offer you not just the American version of this comic but also the SPANISH edition, of which maybe two or three copies are known to exist.
After extensive effort and search, we were able to find a copy in Uruguay.
Not joking. Completely redrawn and translated, click back and forth to compare art, some of the differences between the two are great.


Ever wonder how much influence and power a small press or self-produced item can have?
This is one of the best examples you'll ever see.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Design of the Week--Captain Steve Savage

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...During the Korean War, Captain Steve Savage patrolled the skies protecting us from comic book Communists.
Now he's back to save us from the new threat of Kim Jong-un!
Check out his limited-time, limited-edition collectibles HERE!