Summer Fun on RetroBlogs!

Every summer we run mini-marathons on the various RetroBlogs...

At Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, we'll present no less than three different, never-reprinted comic versions of this legendary Ray Harryhausen film, one of them featuring art by the late, great, John Buscema!

(but we're not going to tell you which one!)

In a cross-over between War: Past, Present, and Future and Hero Histories, there will be never-reprinted tales of two World War I aviator-heroes from the 1960s!

Hero Histories will also feature the final, never-reprinted tale of the campy Silver Age version of The Shadow...

...and the first (also never-reprinted) story of the Silver Age Plastic Man by Gil Kane!

War: Past, Present and Future will also present another never-reprinted story published in the 1960s, Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos in...ready for it?...KOREA!

What's summer without a good "beach read"?

And there's nothing better than a never-reprinted Gothic Romance at True Love Comics Tales!

Justice doesn't take a holiday during the summer, as the 1950s hard-boiled saga of private eye Johnny Dynamite receives a re-telling at Crime & Punishment!

Don't think we've forgotten

Western Comics Adventures

Heroines!

Seduction of the Innocent!!

We just haven't finalized the plans for them...yet!

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...actually we haven't seen this...nor will we!

It's a "symbolic" cover, designed to hook you into reading the comic.

And, hoo boy, does it work!

On a post-apocalyptic Earth several centuries from now, a rescue team checks up on a scientific research outpost that went mysteriously silent.

They find one mutilated survivor, and the group splits up to search for others...

Wow!

Now THAT'S an introduction!

Up-and-comer Mark Schultz created, wrote, and illustrated this tribute to dinosaurs in general and EC Comics of the 1950s in particular.

Dennis Kitchen, editor-publisher of Kitchen Sink was so sure of the potential for this series, he didn't even wait to see how the sales were on Death Rattle #8, as shown by this ad in the back of the book...

The book ran for 14 issues, and sold well.

There was also a one-shot 3-D issue adapting earlier stories to the 3-D format.

Problem was that Mark Schultz, like Dave Stevens, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and a number of other creatives, though incredibly-talented, was also exceedingly sloooooowww, so the book went from bi-monthly to quarterly to semi-annually.

Kitchen Sink tried using back-up tales (overseen by Schultz) by other writers and artists while Schultz did the lead stories, but the book always had trouble keeping a regular schedule.

Even with that, the series built up a devoted following and tie-in merchandise like t-shirts, action figures and other goodies were grabbed off comic store shelves as fast as they were stocked.

Marvel's Epic imprint reprinted the early tales in color under the name Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.

Interest from licensees in this version resulted in mainstream media tie-ins including a popular arcade game, home video console games, and an animated tv series...which resulted in its' own comic series from Topps that did new stories based on the tv show and sequels to Xenozoic Tales comic stories!

The stories continue to be reprinted (most recently in an IDW "Artists Edition"), and there are rumors of a feature film that could lead to an ongoing franchise!

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Part 1

With one simple, invented word and a passion for dinosaurs and EC Comics...

...a young writer-artist named Mark Schultz created one of the more successful comic series of the 1980s!

What has Jack discovered?

Find Out...

TOMORROW!

Plus, we'll toss in some background about both the series and the creator!

Esteban Maroto's WOLFF is Back!

As we promised...

Wolff-themed cover art for New England Library's Dracula #6 (1972) by Enrich!

...the saga of Esteban Maroto's post-apocalpytic barbarian continues HERE with the last tale published in America!

But fear not!

The remaining chapters that never made it to our shores will be presented this summer at our "brother" RetroBlog, Hero Histories!

Reading Room: FLASH GORDON "Chapter 4.1: the Man Who Would be Ming!"

We Have Already Seen...

...all you really need to know is Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless are finally about to meet face-to-face!

A classic high-adventure tale by writer Mark Schultz and illustrator Al Williamson, little-seen in either its' first publication in Marvel's Flash Gordon #2 (1995) or the reprint in the HTF Flesk Publications' Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: a Lifelong Vision of the Heroic (2009).
We have more rarities coming up, so watch for them!