EXTENDED...25% OFF Exclusive 2016 Pop Culture 12-Month Calendars!

Because it's become the most popular sale we've ever run, we're giving you one more week to get the  
Atomic Kommie Comics™
2016 12-Month Calendars 
at a 25% discount!
Perfect for office, dorm, or bedroom!
The IDEAL gift for the hard-to-please pop culture fan in your life (or yourself)!

Sherlock Holmes: the Greatest Sleuth of All!™

Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes!™

WereWolves and Vampires™

Vampires of Pulps and Comics™

Werewolves of the Comics and Pulps™

Zombies of Comics and Pulps™

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!
And, until January 8, 2016, they're FIVE BUCKS CHEAPER!
Normally $19.99, they're only $14.99!
Order now...before time runs out, because we're not extending the sale again!

Coming Monday: SILVER SURFER by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Unseen by the public since 1980...

...this final Lee/Kirby co-production is considered Marvel's first original graphic novel.

It starts as a retelling of the "Coming of Galactus" storyline from Fantastic Four #48-50, but set in a reality without any of the myriad characters that inhabit Earth and the solar system of the Marvel Universe.

No Fantastic Four.

No Watcher.

No Alicia Masters.

However, there is Norrin Radd, who becomes the Silver Surfer, as well as Shalla Bal, his true love, and their home world, Zenn-La.

After stranding the Surfer on Earth, the story goes off on a totally-new tangent and introduces new characters, the golden Ardina (whom Galactus uses to emotionally-manipulate the Surfer), and Master of Guile, a manifestation of Galactus' "Dark Side" who advises the planet-eating alien!

It's a unique take on the character, and, as we said, the last joint project by the two guys who co-created most of the Marvel Universe!

As to why, unlike most of Marvel's Silver and Bronze Age output, it's never been reprinted...

According to Bill Bagnall at T'aint the Meat... It's the Humanity, the basis of the graphic novel was a never-used story for a Silver Surfer movie rock musical that would've featured Olivia Newton John as Ardina!
In addition, the copyright to the graphic novel is not Marvel's, but jointly-held by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby!
Between those two factors, there's probably enough legal red tape to keep the book from ever seeing print again.
As of January, 2016, it's only available as a HTF hardcover or paperback.
But, in the interest of historical research, we're going to re-present it in serial format on this blog starting Monday.
Don't miss it.

RAUMPATROUILLE "Angriff aus dem All" (Attack from Outer Space)

Let's kick the tires and light the fires...

...as we present the first episode of Space Patrol!
(BTW, it's the third tv series to use the name, after the 1950s American broadcast-live show and the early 1960s British puppet series.)

Meet Commander McLane and his rowdy "gang" (as their commanding officer refers to them), learn why they're being disciplined (again), and see why, despite various infractions against both civilian and military authorities, they're not doing life sentences in an interplanetary brig.

Also witness the introduction of the series' main villains, "Frogs", sentient energy beings who want to conquer the universe.

There's a lot to cover, so click on the screen and dive in...

(Note: It's German with English subtitles.

I've tried to set them up before creating the link, but you may have to click on the "gear" icon to implement them manually.)

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "What Happened?"

It's a question I've groggily-asked on more than one New Year's Day...

...but here it's the title of an example of classic Ditko storytelling!

Most likely scripted by Joe Gill, this taut tale from Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957) is one of those fun "gotcha" shorts in the vein of both EC Comics' sci-fi line and, later, TV's The Twilight Zone.

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve, and be here tomorrow for the 50th Anniversary debut of Europe's Star Trek, Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (or Space Patrol: the Fantastic Adventures of the Starship Orion)

Reading Room WEIRD ADVENTURES "Man Who Lived Backwards"

What if someone tried to prevent you from reaching tomorrow...

...and the only way you could move forward was to kill him in the past?

Check out this never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' one-shot Weird Adventures #10 (1951) for the answer!

So, even though Paul had a change of heart, and tried to save David, his rival for Peggy died anyway, and Paul ended up with the woman they both loved!
What's the moral?
You can change history, even if you don't intend to?
Being good, even if it may be to your personal detriment, will be rewarded in the end?
Ah, well, I guess there are some things we're not meant to understand...
It may be just as well that both the writer and artist are unknown.