Sunday, June 28, 2015

Design of the Week: ASIAN MONSTER / DINOSAUR!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another.
This week, we ask the question: What kid doesn't love dinosaurs?
The idea of being a huge, unstoppable creature rampaging, devouring, and stepping on everything and everybody in your path has an undeniable appeal to little ones, who usually feel helpless in a world too big for them! (Why do you think the new Jurassic World flick had such a great opening day or that Godzilla is still going strong after 50 years?)
This week we say...
Dinosaurs!
Once they ruled the planet!
Now they'll dominate your wardrobe!

Snap them up...before they snap you up!

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Coming Monday...the Return of MANHUNTER 2070 in "Never Trust a Red-Haired Greenie"!

The third (and final) tale in his never-reprinted Showcase run...
...with an ending you won't believe they dared publish!
To entice you further, here's a never-reprinted extra, which we forgot to run when we re-introduced the character HERE...the very first appearance of Manhunter 2070 from Showcase #90 (1970) which also synopsizes the series' concept...
See you 55 years from now on Monday!

Friday, June 26, 2015

RIP Patrick Macnee (1922-2015)

Remember the kool British spy tv series The Avengers and the team of Steed & Keel?
"Wait, you mean 'Steed & Peel', right?"
Nope, I meant "Steed & Keel"!
That's how the series was meant to be!
Read about how the show would never have "crossed the pond" if it had stayed with it's original, somewhat dull, concept HERE.
If it hadn't, we wouldn't be mourning the passing of actor Patrick Macnee, who made the somewhat stereotypical character of John Steed the distinctive cult icon he is today...

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Reading Room COLOSSUS COMICS "Colossus A.D. 2640" Conclusion

Note; Colossus never wears this garb in the story.
...in 2640, Plantaliens invade the Solar System, heading for Earth.
Meanwhile, Dr. Blitzmann claims to have perfected a growth hormone safe for humans and injects volunteer test subject Richard Zenith with it.
Unfortunately, Blitzman's lab assistant (and daughter) Eve mis-computed the dosage, making it 200 times stronger than planned.
Zenith grows to a height of over 2,000 feet, but the injection has also mentally-unbalanced him.
Proclaiming himself "Colossus", Zenith heads for Urbania, the capital of United Earth (as well as the Tri-Planetary Federation), to make himself the planet's ruler.
Meanwhile, the Plantalien fleet draws closer...
There was no second issue of Colossus Comics.
Pulp magazine company Sun Publications (whose titles included Golden Fleece Historical Adventures and 10-Story Book), abandoned their attempt at a comic book line after publishing this and one other title, Sun Fun Comiks.
Sun Publications went out of business two years later.
According to the blurb at the end of the story, Reinsberg (no first name known) and Bernie Wiest intended a sequel (where, presumably, Colossus would don the armor shown on the cover), but it's unknown as to whether the tale was ever drawn...or even scripted.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Reading Room COLOSSUS COMICS "Colossus A.D. 2640" Part 1

When you see how sophisticated (in terms of story and art) most of today's "graphic novels" are...
...it's hard to believe this is how the format began!
Published in Sun Publications' Colossus Comics #1 (1940) and produced by Reinsberg (no first name known) and Bernie Wiest, it reads like a dream as told by a third grader!
Tomorrow: things get weirder (really)!