Sunday, December 11, 2016

Call Him "Kris Kringle", "Saint Nick", or "Santa Claus"...

DID YOU KNOW...the image of Santa Claus, as we Americans know it, is based on the work of two artists over 70 years apart?
1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
and
2) Haddon Sundblom, who took Nast's visual concepts, refined them, and used them to illustrate Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s
TRIVIA:
Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...
Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!
Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!

I'm not going to show it, but you can Google it with sundblom playboy...)

We at
Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a dozen different renderings of 'ol Kris Kringle which follow in the visual tradition of Nast & Sundblom, on a host of Cool Christmas™ collectibles ranging from tree ornaments to hot cocoa mugs to sweatshirts and hoodies for kids and adults!
While they range from paintings to comic book cover art (like the art at the top of this post), they all feature the "classic" image of Santa known to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials!
So give your "special someone", whether they're a spouse, lover, friend, or relative, a warm feeling this Christmas with a kool kollectible featuring the personification of the Christmas Spirit--Santa Claus!

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Holiday Reading Room: HUMBUG "A Christmas Carol"

Here's one of the koolest adaptations of Dickens' classic story...
...and most people don't even know it exists!
Note: the interior pages were two-color instead of the usual comic book-style four color.
The next-to-last page of the story is from the one-color inside front cover, while the final page was the four-color back cover of the magazine!
Illustrated by Arnold Roth, it's never been established who wrote this tale from Humbug! #6 (1958)!
It could be Roth, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, or even all of them in a collaboration!

Friday, December 9, 2016

Holiday Reading Room MAD "Comic Strip Characters' Christmas Party!"

This is one heckuva piece (scanned from the original art)...
...from EC's MAD Magazine #68 (1962), featuring most of the major comic strip characters of the day, most of whom are (sob) no longer being published in new material, only reprints!
Here's the complete list: Mr. Dithers; Dennis Mitchell; Henry Mitchell; Moonbeam McSwine; Dick Tracy; Hi Flagston; Lois Flagston; Joe Palooka; Steve Roper; Smitty; Archie Andrews; Ponytail; Tarzan; Minnie Mouse; Donald Duck; Gran'ma; Pigpen; Smokey Stover; Lucy Van Pelt; Sweetpea; Schroeder; Popeye; Simon Templar: the Saint; Daddy Warbucks; Little Orphan Annie; Sandy; Moon Mullins; Charlie Brown; Blondie Bumstead; Dagwood Bumstead: Hans Katzenjammer; Fritz Katzenjammer; Steve Canyon; Terry Lee; The Little King; Henry; Ferd'nand; Fearless Fosdick; Li'l Abner; Prince Valiant; Diana Palmer; The Phantom; Mandrake the Magician; Lothar; Nancy; Jeff; Alley Oop; Felix the Cat; Mary Worth; B.C.; The Lone Ranger; Summer Smith Olsen; Snoopy; Albert Alligator; Pogo Possum; Junior Tracy; Mr. Magoo; Miss Peach; Mark Trail; Rip Kirby; Dondi; Gravel Gertie.
BTW, we all know the illustrator, the legendary Wally Wood, but writer Gary Belkin is all but unknown to most comics fans...but not comedy fans!
He was an Emmy-winning writer for such shows as Carol Burnett Show, Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), Car 54, Where Are You?, Blondie (1968 series based on the comic strip), Ceasar's Hour (Sid Ceasar), and Sesame Street!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics at Christmastime!

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "How Santa Got His Red Suit"

Didn't you ever wonder...
Well, here's the answer, from Dell's Four Color Comics #61 (1944)!
After being published annually as it's own title in 1942-1943, Santa Claus Funnies became a Four Color Comics feature, publishing annually from 1944 to 1961.
This tale was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, before he created the classic comic strip Pogo.
Beginning with a two-part adaptation of the novel Gulliver's Travels in New Comics in 1935,  Walt began an almost two-decade run in comic books, almost all of it for Dell Comics, where his distinctive style quickly developed into the "house style" for humor and funny animal stories that other artists would try to emulate.
Walt was the primary artist on the ongoing Santa Claus Funnies and Mother Goose series, and, as we said, we'll be presenting quite a few of those stories this Christmas season.
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics This Christmas!