Atomic Kommie Comics

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Best of Reading Room: COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Now, that's a synopsis!

(For the record, the "saucer" still looks like a doughnut!)

On with the story...

I could see the editorial conference now...

"OK, guys, for our first issue we have..

3-D (sort of) effects!

An atomic sub!

Evil aliens!

A "flying saucer"!

The underwater city of Atlantis!

A giant sea monster!

Did we leave anything out?"

Find out tomorrow in the pulse-pounding conclusion!

Script by Richard Hughes, the Stan Lee of ACG who wrote practically everything during his tenure as editor/writer!

Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Odgen Whitney and others.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Best of Reading Room: COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB Part 1

Travel back to the 1950s, when atomic power was all that stood between us and flying saucers...

...although how an atomic submarine will do it is something to behold!

So, buckle your seatbelts and dive in!

Oddly enough, the "flying saucer" looks more like a flying doughnut...or the 1950s concept of a space station as seen in then-contemporary films like Conquest of Space!

Script by Richard Hughes, the Stan Lee of ACG who wrote practically everything during his tenure as editor/writer!

Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Odgen Whitney and others.

Be here tomorrow for Part 2 when we'll see who's behind the "flying saucer"...

Sunday, April 27, 2014

COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB are returning...

While preparing files for our 3-D Week series a couple of years ago, I came across this title in my archives...

..which doesn't use 3-D, but a pseudo-3-D process called...

BTW, only the first issue used the TrueVision gimmick.

The 1954 seven-issue series, Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub from American Comics Group, had a lot in common with the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series and the Voyage to the Deep comic series, emphasizing wild science fiction storylines with the occasional spy/anti-Commie tale.

Be here tomorrow when we re-present the never-reprinted #1, which features the origin of the sub, the assembling of the crew and their first mission!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Best of Reading Room: SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Pirate Planet"

The 1950s, when heroic astronauts fought for Truth, Justice, and the American Way...

...in outer space, as seen in this premiere tale from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #1 (1953)!

Written by Hank Chapman, illustrated by Joe Maneely.
Maneely was Stan Lee's go-to artist during the early 1950s with the ability to handle any and every genre with equal speed and versatility.
Unfortunately, he was killed in a commuter train accident in mid-1958 at the age of 32.
Had he lived, Joe would probably have been one of the creative mainstays, along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck in Marvel Comics' ascendancy in the Silver Age.

Speed Carter: Spaceman was Atlas Comics second try at an ongoing space opera series when a short-lived Space Squadron comic bit the dust after six issues.

Speed fared no better, logging a half-dozen editions before disappearing into the infinite, but we've presented all his never-reprinted tales right HERE!