Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Reading Room: DAN HASTINGS "Radium Raiders from Earth's Core"

Originally a Flash Gordon clone, even using Alex Raymond art swipes....
...by the time the wandering strip took up residence in Scoop Comics, it had gotten away from interplanetary adventures to intraplanetary tales!
I suspect this tale from Dynamic's Scoop Comics #1 (1941) was meant to be an interplanetary adventure with several panels redrawn/relettered to make it a "civilization at the earth's center" story.
Both writer and artist(s) are unknown.
Originally proposed as a newspaper strip packaged by the Harry A Chesler Studio in 1937, Dan Hastings was reworked into comic book format when comics using new material instread of strip reprints took off in 1939!
The series went thru several different publishers, starting at Chesler/Dynamic, moving to Centaur, then MLJ (later Archie), finally back to Chesler/Dynamic, with minor modifications to cast and premise at each company.
This tale was the first of his final run at Chesler/Dynamic, where he faced more Earth-bound foes, including thinly-disguised Axis surrogates (with more advanced tech than the real-life Germany and Japan).

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Reading Room: JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Pardon My Power!"

It's January 1st, 2013, so it's time for FOOTBALL!
...or football as shown in the "future" (our present), as presented in 1952!
If the art style of this tale from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953) looks familiar, it's the work of Dan DeCarlo, who helped establish the iconic "look" of Archie Comics!
Dan actually started at Atlas Comics (the 1940s-50s predecessor to Marvel Comics) doing a variety of humor strips before beginning a long-term run on various Archie titles in 1951.
Even then, he continued to work for a number of other publishers, including Standard Comics, who asked him to create, write, and illustrate a teen-humor series.
(Every publisher had at least one of them!)
Exactly whose idea it was to set it in the "far future" of the 21st Century is unknown, but the resultant strip, though extremely derivative of Archie, was unique in the teen-humor genre for it's Jetsons-style setting and "futuristic" slang.
To see more of Jetta go HERE!

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Power Themes 90 Vids featuring Gerry Anderson

The remix album Power Themes 90 featured a lot of Gerry Anderson shows...
...as you can see from the following videos:
Thunderbirds Are Go!
(which features other Anderson shows' music)
Stingray MegaMix

Mysterons Rap (Captain Scarlet)

Gerry Anderson's UFO

Enjoy, and remember the guy behind the curtain!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

25% Off Calendars for New Year!

From now until Jan 2, 2013, all calendars are discounted from $19.99 to $14.99!
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
Werewolves of the Comics & Pulps
Zombies of Comics & Pulps
(shown above)

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! ;-)