Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Reading Room: SUPERSNIPE "Kidnapping of Mary Lou"

Yeah, we're fanboys (and fangirls) here at Atomic Kommie Comics™...
...but even we are mere poseurs compared to Koppy McFad, aka SuperSnipe!
In one of the first comics metafictions, Koppy was a kid who read comics and then daydreamed about being a superhero himself, including interacting with other comics characters, who were fictional characters in his world, as well as real-life villains like Adolf Hitler!
Debuting in the back pages of Shadow Comics, he appeared briefly in Doc Savage Comics, then transferred to Army & Navy Comics, becoming so popular that the book was retitled SuperSnipe Comics as of #6!
In fact his appearance in Army & Navy Comics #5 (1942) was so important, it featured the only time Doc Savage and The Shadow appeared together (albeit in a cameo) in any story before the 1990s...as you can see below!
The Shadow and Doc Savage are holding up SuperSnipe. Can you name the other heroes? If you can, you're a real fanboy/girl!
BTW, you'll note that Koppy didn't start wearing the trademark red underwear (as seen in the cover at the top of the entry) until he gained his own title...
Ironically, SuperSnipe outlasted most of the superheroes who inspired him, with his title's run ending in late 1949.
Story and art by George Marcoux, an underrated master of humor comics with over 200 stories and covers to his credit.
In an amazing feat, Marcoux was the only writer or artist to render SuperSnipe during his run!
(How many characters have that distinction outside of a mini-series?)
Curiously, his adventures haven't been reprinted, resulting in his comics being among the most expensive on eBay and other venues!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Salute the Troops on Memorial Day!

A sincere Thank You to those who protect us now and in the past.
My father and big brother both served in the military and both saw combat.
Though I didn't serve, I see how it both affected and benefited them.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Design of the Week--Love at the Beach

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...with the beginning of the season of fun at the beach, here's a kool retro romance comic design on everything from beach blankets to t-shirts, to tote bags!
Summer's gonna be hot, Hot, HOT!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

DC announces one of their existing characters is gay...

 C'mon, you were thinking it...
The intolerant group One Million Moms thinks so...as seen HERE!
What I've done (and suggest you do) is click on the e-mail link on their page, but change the text of the letter to express your honest viewpoint.
Use their own e-mail for your opinion, not theirs!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Reading Room: "Women to Love" Conclusion

A sordid story of love, lust, and larceny...
...that was so multi-genre, we ran it in four different blogs!
So go and read those posts (if you haven't already), then continue here...
Don't ya just love a happy ending?
The comic book version appeared in Avon's Complete Romance #1 (1949)
...the one-shot Avon Realistic Reprint Women to Love (1953)...
...and IW/Super Comics' Realistic Romances #9 (1958)...with a totally-unrelated cover.

Why did Avon Comics do this particular book?
Because their parent company, Avon Books had the rights to the novel!
(The book's cover is at the top of this post.)

Illustrator Myron Fass became something of a legend in the comics industry...but not as an illustrator.
After the near-death of the comics industry in the mid-1950s, he talked William Harris (inventor of the web printing press) into financing a line of magazines including girlie, news tabloid, and one of the first b/w monster magazines, Shock Tales.
In the 1960s, Harris' son Stanley became Myron's partner, and the magazine line continued, adding a short-lived line of comic books, MF Publications, in the mid-1960s which included the second Captain Marvel and more horror magazines under the imprint Eerie Publications.
After Stanley Harris and Fass had a falling-out in the aerly 1970s, Harris founded Harris Publications, which bought out Warren Publications and continued their line of b/w horror titles as both magazines and color comics!
Meanwhile, Fass continued publishing literally anything that could make a buck including one-shot magazines about history, disasters, scandals, the paranormal, celebrities, etc, at one point publishing almost 1/4 of the total number of newsstand magazines available in the USA!