Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Reading Room: MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS "World Where I was King!"

We could call this "The Challenge that Made a Man Out of Bill Jones..."
...since it's a plotline out of the Charles Atlas ads that used to appear on the back covers of comic books, but with a fantasy twist!
This tale of alpha males on other worlds from Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #3 (1957) was illustrated by the legendary Steve Ditko and an unknown writer (who could be Ditko himself or Joe Gill)!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Reading Room: EERIE "Man Hunters"

...today we present one of his last tales, done during the period Warren Publishing was dabbling in color inserts in their normally black-and-white magazines.
Published in Eerie #60 (1974), this tender tale was scripted by Gerry Boudreau and illustrated by Wally Wood with some assistance from his studio crew.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Pop-Culture-Themed 2014 12-Month Calendars

Plus MANY MORE!
Classic comic book and pulp magazine covers and movie posters, scanned from the originals and digitally-remastered and restored!
NOT available in stores, only on-line! Order now...before time runs out! ;-)

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES "Deal to Die"

Here's a never-reprinted short tale with a Twilight Zone-style ending...
...from the final issue of Ziff-Davis' sci-fi anthology Amazing Adventures!
I wonder if Zoro's husband, Space Captain Ventra was as big a SoB as Bernice's spouse, Harold Longton was...
Illustrated by the relatively-unknown Lawrence (Louis) Dresser, this story from Amazing Adventures #6 (1952) has no credited writer.
Too bad, because it's a memorable piece for a shorter-than-usual filler.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES "Cosmic Brain"

Here's a cool tale about a nuclear energy-produced mutant...
...linked to the bombing of Hirsohima in 1945.
Look carefully at the artwork, because someone you might not realize apparently contributed to it...
The Grand Comics Database lists Leonard Starr as the artist for this tale from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #3 (1951).
But the "camera angles" and figures don't look like his work from the period. as seen HERE and HERE.
IMHO, the layouts were done by none other than Jack Kirby!
Everything fits Kirby's layout and figure-posing style and Starr was doing occasional work for the Simon & Kirby studio at the time.
Starr might have been unfamiliar with the genre and asked Kirby to do layouts to help him, paying Kirby in cash from his own pocket (If Kirby even took money for the work. I've heard he helped other artists out without renumeration on a number of occasions.)
Either way, I think this is another "lost" Kirby Klassic!