Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "Creatures of Jarga"

Time to lighten up a bit with some spacemen vs monsters action...
...illustrated by one of the artists who also did Space Western Comics!
So much for a "non-interference directive"...
From Charlton's Space Adventures #5 (1953), this art by John Belfi was done during the same period he was illustrating Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in Space Western Comics.

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Monday, June 11, 2012

Reading Room: JOE WORKER & THE STORY OF LABOR Conclusion

With union-busting becoming bigger than ever, we should take a look at the past...
...to avoid it becoming our future!
NOTE: contains scenes of racism and religious/ethnic oppression in a historical context.
May be considered NSFW today, but this comic was distributed to schoolchildren in 1948.
With both corporations and local (state and city) governments trying to destroy the gains made for union members over the past hundred years (as shown in Wisconsin), it pays to see what was done before, and how history is on the verge of repeating itself.

Written by Malcom Atler under the pseudonym "Nat Schacnner", illustrated by Jack Alderman.
You'll note that each page is a self-contained tale.
They were originally prepared and formatted as half or full-page b/w comic strips to run in union newspapers/newsletters, then recompiled (with color added) for this comic book.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Francesco Francavilla's Kool Tributes to Ray Bradbury!

...comparing it to the published artwork from the story's first appearance in 1943's Weird Tales!
and a second page with art portraying a Bradbury tale adapted on the original Twilight Zone, plus a famous movie based on a Bradbury plot written for the screen (not adapted from a previously-published story)...
Trivia:
The unused alien makeup concept from this movie was used as the Metaluna Mutant in This Island Earth!
Bradbury's original plot for this film, along with several alternative versions, was finally published in the now hard-to-find book It Came from Outer Space from Gauntlet Press in 2004!
Copies go for anywhere from $90-$300 each (and that was before Bradbury passed away)!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Summer of RetroBlog™!

From July 4th to Labor Day, there will be MUCH MORE MUST-READ stuff...
...on your favorite RetroBlogs™ this summer!
Each week one of the RetroBlogs™ will be going daily with a themed five-day posting!
It could be an extra-long story broken into chapters!
It could be several different stories with a common element!
It could be a grab-bag of kool stuff!
Plus, we'll be introducing a new RetroBlog™ with a week-long celebration of cross-postings across the entire line of blogs!
(Bet you can't figure out how we can link everything from romance to war to sci-fi!)

Friday, June 8, 2012

Read the Sequel to Ridley Scott's Prometheus...

At Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™, we're presenting the original, 1979 version of the classic movie adaptation graphic novel by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.
Yes, there were comic books and magazines adapted from movies and tv shows (and you've seen a lot of them on Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™), but this was a trade paperback of all-new material based on a movie!
Officially called Heavy Metal presents ALIEN: the Illustrated Story, it was a major hit for the infant Heavy Metal publishing group spun off from National Lampoon.

Now's the time to look back at Ridley Scott's classic that spawned a franchise including four other films (including Prometheus), two crossover films, numerous books, comic books, and toys.

There's a new edition of this long-out-of-print graphic novel, scanned and mastered directly from the original art still in Walt Simonson's possession, out now!
You can order it from Amazon in either Deluxe HardCover or Trade Paperback format.

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