Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Reading Room: BLAZE BARTON "and the World of the Future"

You think global warming is bad now, wait until 50,020 AD...
...when only Blaze Barton and his scientist friend Prof Solis stand between mankind and total annihilation!
Though the Core-Men remained an ongoing threat, the strip quickly changed emphasis to outer space as Blaze and associates began traveling to other worlds.
You'll see his entire 13-story run on this blog over the next few months.
While the writer of this premiere tale from Quality's Hit Comics #1 (1940) is unknown, the artist was Henry Kiefer, a craftsman with over 400 comics stories and covers from 1935 to 1954 including numerous Classics Illustrated adaptations.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Alien Raiders"

When interstellar crime occurs, there's only one man to call...
...as this exciting tale from Avon's Strange Planets #3 (1951) demonstrates!
This second Kenton story is Joe Orlando and Wally Wood's first work on the strip (Joe Kubert illustrated the character's first appearance).
Orlando and Wood would subsequently do all but the last Kenton tale, despite a very hectic schedule in 1951, including other Avon Comics work, illustrating the ongoing Captain Science strip plus miscellaneous short stories for Youthful Publishing, and numerous EC Comics assignments in various genres, before going exclusively to EC for a couple of years.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

2013 12-Month Pop Culture Calendars Now Available!

There are pop culture categories and subjects we've wanted in 12-month calendar form as presents for others (or for ourselves), but weren't available!
So, we decided to create them ourselves, using the wildest...rarest...kitchiest comic book, pulp magazine covers and movie posters we could find, each image digitally-restored and remastered from hi-rez scans of the original items, NO reprints or low-rez files!
(Would we do that to you?)
Only $19.99 each!

Here are the  
Atomic Kommie Comics
2013 12-Month Calendars 
by genre

Mystery / Crime
Sherlock Holmes: the Greatest Sleuth of All! 
Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes!
Mr District Attorney


Horror
WereWolves & Vampires
Horror Comics of the 1950s
Vampires of Pulps & Comics
(shown above)
Werewolves of the Comics & Pulps
Zombies of Comics & Pulps

Camp / Kitsch
3-D Movies
3-D Comic Books
Seduction of the Innocent!!
Jungle Girls
Good Girl / Bad Grrrl


Romance
True Love Comics Tales


Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Martians, Martians, Martians!
Art of Barsoom 
Thrilling Science-Fiction Tales 
Bugs & Creepy Crawlies of Comics & Pulps
Dinosaurs of the Comics & Pulps™ 

SuperHeroes
Captains of the Comics
Heroines!
Classic Phantom Lady

Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics Team-Ups
1st Appearance Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics
Flag-Waving Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics

Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics vs HITLER
Classic Captain Future

Classic Green Hornet
Classic Monster of Frankenstein 

Classic SuperSnipe

Western
Western Comics Adventures
Real-Life Western Comics
The Cisco Kid and Pancho



Military
Captain MidNight
Aviators of the Golden Age of Comics
WAR: Past, Present & Future
Classic Korean War Comics

NOT available in stores, only on-line! Order now...before time runs out! ;-)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Reading Room: CAPTAIN SCIENCE "Traitors to the Earth"

It's only his second story, and already Captain Science has his hands full...
...any way you look at it, it's a helluva way to begin your career!
Cap destroyed a threat by humans (including Adolf Hitler) using alien tech and picked up a hot babe in the process!
Not bad for the first day on the job.
Note, though it's only mentioned in a caption, it takes Gordon Dane months to prepare for his new career (though it's never explained how a guy on a teacher's salary can afford to cobble together the equipment he needs)...
The art on this never-reprinted story from Youthful's Captain Science #1 (1950)  is by Gustav Schrotter.
The writer is unknown.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Holy Cream-Filled Pastry! Is This the End of Hostess?

With Hostess Baking closing, a chapter of comics history ends...
This wonderfully-looney series of ads featuring all the major comics characters from Archie to Wonder Woman appeared in comics for almost a decade, featuring some of the best artists in the business including Neal Adams (above with Dick Giordano), Gil Kane, Johnny Romita (Sr), Curt Swan, Jim Starlin, and Frank Miller doing the rendering!
You can see a complete set of them HERE!
Bonus: the original art for this ad...

BTW, if you're curious as to who's to blame for this sad turn of events, the company's explanation is HERE and the union's explanation is HERE.
The NY Times offers it's viewpoint HERE.