Monday, September 26, 2016

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Into the Abyss"

And things are about to get really desperate!

Is this...God?
Creator/writer/artist Russ Manning presents some interesting concepts in Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #21 (1968)!
Space!
Time!
Life!
Death!
Pretty "heavy" for a comic, eh?
Keep in mind, what you're seeing every week, the original readers saw every three months!
Imagine trying to keep track of this series of 4-page installments like that!
More than likely, many readers couldn't remember the details over that long a stretch, so these individual chapters would probably have an impact far out of proportion to their actual intent...which is pretty impressive at any rate!
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Sunday, September 25, 2016

20 Years Later...Mars STILL Attacks!

It's almost Halloween, and, in a fit of nostalgia, I searched the Net for info about the movie Mars Attacks. (I worked for Topps Comics when the film came out in 1996!)
Imagine my surprise to discover...thanks to the WayBack Machine, that the movie's site was operational until July of 2011, and still exists HERE!
If you want to see a classic example of pre-Web 2.0 site-making, have a look!
It's retro-kool!
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Mars Attacks!
The Art of the Movie

Saturday, September 24, 2016

I Love Zombies! You Love Zombies! Everybody Loves Zombies!

ZOMBIES!
Call them the undead, the unliving, reanimated corpses, or even the ultimate carnivores, zombies are HOT, HOT, HOT!
With The Walking Dead back on tv screens for its' final season, zombies have never been more popular!
But it, as well as all the other films and tv series currently featuring zombies owe a debt to the visual depictions of the shambling undead from the horror pulps and comics of the Golden Age (1930s-1950s)!
Like video games today, those periodicals were deemed so harmful to the psyches of impressionable youths that the government held hearings about possibly banning them altogether! 
The comics industry barely survived, but ended up toning down horror comics to a mere shadow of their blood-dripping selves, only recently, in the 1990s,  returning in all their gruesome glory!
Even with modern technology, today's zombie flix are hard pressed to match these classic comics for visceral visual thrills.
So, it's with pardonable pride that Atomic Kommie Comics™ re-presents some of the creepiest and koolest covers from those bygone days, digitally-restored and remastered, on a line of collectibles including mugs, hoodies, iPad/Kindle/messenger bags, and a 2016-17 12-month calendar!
If you're looking for a birthday or holiday present for a fan of the life-impaired (or a Halloween treat for yourself), why not combine one of our kool kollectibles with one of the books or DVDs available on-line or at brick-and-mortar stores?

Friday, September 23, 2016

Reading Room STRANGE JOURNEY "Space is a Secret"

Before you read this tale, go HERE...
..because this is the second version of this story!
Like almost all other comics publishers, Ajax/Farrell was hit hard by the Seduction of the Innocent witch-hunt of the 1950s.
They survived where many others didn't by kow-towing to the sometimes inane restrictions placed on them by the censor agency created by the industry itself...the Comics Code Authority!
This story, from Ajax/Farrell's Strange Journey #2 (1957) is a classic example of how extreme the Code took matters.
Every page has alterations, including changing the ending (in the original version, the Earthmen never escape)!
The final version, taken back to it's original level of horror...and beyond...can be found on our "brother" RetroBlog, Seduction of the Innocent!
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Thursday, September 22, 2016

Trump Reading Room LOOIE LAZYBONES "There's No Feud Like an Old Feud!"

Our story opens as we gaze upon a life-size statue of one of Don the Con's "deplorables"...
 ...as rendered by the legendary Frank Frazetta!
Created in 1943, Looie Lazybones floated around the Nedor Comics line as a "filler" strip until settling down in Thrilling Comics as of #56 (1946).
Young up-and-comer Frank Frazetta took over the art as of this issue, #67 (1948) bringing it amazingly-close in visual style to the strip's "inspiration", Al Capp's Li'l Abner, which had already become a media sensation, with a radio show, feature film and tons of merchandising!
So close, in fact, that Capp hired Frazetta to "ghost" Li'l Abner in 1954!
BTW, the writer is unknown.
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