New Computer Being Installed...

(And, yes, it's an iMac!)
...so, no posting today!
Lots of configuring and upgrading (like adding the cloud-based Adobe Suite) to do...

Enjoy Graphic LUST at ChristmasTime!

If you've been a faithful reader of this blog, you're well aware we have a section in Atomic Kommie Comics™ called Seduction of the Innocent™ featuring risque pop culture subjects in both comix and film. In that vein, we present today's tawdry tale...
"She was greedy, heartless and calculating.
She knew what she wanted and was ready to sacrifice anything to get it"
Before Gil Kane's Blackmark, before Will Eisner's A Contract with God, there was It Rhymes with Lust, considered by many to be the FIRST Graphic Novel!
Created in 1950 by writers Arnold Drake (Doom Patrol, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Leslie Waller (numerous crime novels) under the pseudonym "Drake Waller" and artists Matt Baker (Phantom Lady) and Ray Osrin, the digest-sized b/w comic was a pulp noir potboiler about a steel-producing town (like Pittsburgh) and a manipulative woman named Rust who will use ANY means to control it. (It's a rather adult book, though not pornographic! Think "soft R" rating!)
Trivia: Leslie Waller, besides writing numerous crime novels, also penned the novelization of Close Encounters of the Third Kind!
The "Picture Novel" series (Lust was the first title) published by pulp/comic company St. John Publications, only ran for two books before being cancelled due to poor sales.
The book has been reprinted twice in recent years, first by Fantagraphics in the magazine The Comics Journal #277, then, in it's original format by Dark Horse Comics with a new intro by Arnold Drake. Both are available at your local comic shop or online.
Why do we tell you all this?
Because we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ believe that other companies occasionally produce kool collectibles, and in the Spirit of Christmas, we want to promote stuff that we ourselves would want under the tree. (Significant Other, please take note...)
Of course, the fact that we ourselves also produce It Rhymes with Lust collector's items like mugs, mousepads and mens'/women's clothing that would make great accompanying items in a themed gift package for a loved one who's into Graphic Novels this Yuletide never occured to us!
Nope, never!
Didn't even cross our minds! ;-)

Reading Room: WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the Space Beagle encounter Coeurl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion with the addition of tentacles.

But this is not a friendly housecat!

It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but deceive...

This tale from issue 5 of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

It's based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).

You can read the complete short story HERE.

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with later short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Trivia: The Space Beagle's name is a tribute to Charles Darwin's ship, The Beagle.

Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of both "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet".

Fox settled out of court.

Visit

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Reading Room: WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Part 1

A 1930s pulp story adapted into comic form in the 1970s...

...and a clear inspiration for aspects of movie and tv science fiction ranging from Forbidden Planet and Alien to Star Trek and Space: 1999 (among others)!

Will Coeurl deceive the crew and return with them to Earth?

Or will he simply kill the humans and commandeer the ship?

Find out tomorrow, and read some kool background info about the original story!

This tale from issue 5 of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

It's based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).

Support Small Business!

Visit

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Call him "Claus", "Nick", or "Kringle"...

DID YOU KNOW...the image of Santa Claus, as we Americans know it, is based on the work of two artists over 70 years apart?

1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
and

2) Haddon Sundblom, who took Nast's visual concepts, refined them, and used them to illustrate Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s
TRIVIA:
Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...
Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!
Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!
I'm not going to show it, but you can Google it with sundblom playboy...)

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a dozen different renderings of 'ol Kris Kringle which follow in the visual tradition of Nast & Sundblom, on a host of Cool Christmas™ collectibles ranging from tree ornaments to hot cocoa mugs to sweatshirts and hoodies for kids and adults!
While they range from paintings to comic book cover art (like the art at the top of this post), they all feature the "classic" image of Santa known to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials!
So give your "special someone", whether they're a spouse, lover, friend, or relative, a warm feeling this Christmas with a kool kollectible featuring the personification of the Christmas Spirit--Santa Claus!