Atomic Kommie Comics

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Frankenstein Reading Room: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN Spirit of Frankenstein "A Monster is Born"

There have been several ongoing series that combined horror and sci-fi...

...such as the series which premiered with this tale from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #5 (1949)!

The "monster" here is not Frankenstein's Monster, nor are any of the scientists members of the Frankenstein clan.

Writer Richard Hughes and artist Charles Sultan invoked the "spirit" of the Frankenstein Monster concept with a creation run amok and ran amuck with it for several issues from #5 to #16!

Note: We originally ran this back in 2013, but since we'll be running some more chapters of the series as part of our Frankenstein-themed October posts, we thought it best to re-run this one to bring new readers up to speed!

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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Clock Strikes NEVER!"

Here's another never-reprinted tale...

...from the period when Atlas Comics was transitioning into Marvel Comics!

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko, this story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) has some intriguing concepts, including the idea that nothing can travel back before its' creation date, which would rule out time travel into the distant past!
But my big question is...who is "Fate"?
He pops up at the beginning of Page 4 and remains lurking in the background for the rest of the story, becoming a second narrator!
Besides looking visually-kool, what's his purpose?
He doesn't interfere...or even warn/advise the protaganist!
Since the story's narrator refers to Fate in the third person, we know the blue guy is not the one hosting the tale!
In addition, Fate never shows up in any other Atlas/Marvel story!
Like the identity of the story's writer, it's a mystery that'll never be solved...

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Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Frankenstein Reading Room GHOST RIDER "vs Frankenstein!"

When Titans Clash!

And, it was the cover-featured story for Ghost Rider #10 (December 1952), though not illustrated by Frank Frazetta as were some of the earlier covers!

This particular one was by interior artist Dick Ayers, who illustrated almost all of stories in Ghost Rider.

BTW, as a matter of fact, this book was the Halloween issue!

(Comics were cover-dated 2-3 months ahead of their actual on-sale date, so this issue was on-sale in October, 1952!)

And now, on with the tale...

Aw, shucks, it wasn't really the Monster of Frankenstein!

This was, more often than not, the modus operandi used by baddies (and the hero) in Original Ghost Rider tales.

What seems to be supernatural, is just sleight-of-hand.

However, there were a couple of tales where things were, in fact, what they appeared to be, such as League of the Living Dead!

Enjoy!

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Monday, October 3, 2016

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Incredible Jewel"

The adventures of Johner and his Ploovian allies enter the surreal...

...as creator/writer/artist Russ Manning takes us where no comic strip has gone before!

"Did"...what???

This tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #22 (1968) proves that even the best creator can have occasional problems working within the 4-page limitation!
This is a concept that deserves at least a solid 8-10 page chapter to clearly-explain, but with half that, it's a bit of a muddle.
Hopefully, the next chapter will clear things up...

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