Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Perfect Crime!"

More never-reprinted tales from Journey into Mystery...

...this time a crime story that veers into science fiction!

You'll note the last two panels are re-lettered.

I suspect the Comics Code Authority felt it was too cruel to allow the criminal to die for something he technically didn't commit!

This was one of the two tales backing up Mighty Thor's very first appearance in Marvel's Journey into Mystery #83 (1963).

Don Heck penciled and inked the tale.

Stan Lee plotted it, but experts are not sure if he scripted it.

Lee usually signed the later shorts he scripted, but only Heck's signature is here.

Just about everything Lee didn't script at this point was handled by his brother Larry Lieber.

(Stan's birth name is Stanley Leiber. He used "Stan Lee" on his comics work because he wanted his real name on the Great American Novel he planned to write.

When he finally realized he would be forever known for his comics and not any prose novel he might write, he legally changed his name to "Stan Lee".)

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Thor Masterworks
Volume 1 
featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we're presenting!

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Behind Locked Doors"

As we finish the year...

...we're running more of the never-reprinted short stories that backed up the early Mighty Thor tales in Journey into Mystery!

We're so patriotic, even our machines defend our country!

Today, since almost all our products are manufactured overseas, this story wouldn't make sense!

Penned by Stan Lee and rendered by Steve Ditko, this tale from the back of Marvel's Journey into Mystery #88 (1963) is truly a product of it's time!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
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Thor Masterworks
Volume 1 
featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we're presenting!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...

...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.

Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly, which is why I'm running it again, only a couple of years after first presenting it.

(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)

Any suggestions?

Merry Christmas to All!

Holiday Reading Room CHRISTMAS WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Night Before Christmas"

It's Christmas Eve, and what better way to celebrate than with...

as re-told (and enhanced) by writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly?

Hard to believe this cool version of the classic tale from Dell's Four Color #126 (1946) aka Christmas with Mother Goose, has been reprinted only once, and that was 27 years ago!

I echo Santa in saying "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!", and we'll see you Monday!

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Ticky Tack the Littlest Reindeer"

You know all about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...

...but I'd bet you've never even heard of this guy!

This story from Dell's Four Color #205 (1948) aka Santa Claus Funnies, is an original tale by writer/artist Walt (Pogo) Kelly, who mostly did adaptations of stories modified to fit the Christmas season or straignt-out re-tellings like tomorrow's "Night Before Christmas".

There have been other "Littlest Reindeer" tales, but none with this particular plot or characters (besides Santa and the rest of the classic reindeer, of course!)!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories