Goodies for Your Easter Basket!

Back in the 1940s and '50s, comic book companies produced a prodigious number of holiday annuals and one-shots.

For example, a multitude of Christmas-themed comic books flooded America's magazine racks every November and December!
(In fact, a large part of our popular Cool Christmas collection is based on them.)
But, did you know that several publishers also did Easter-oriented books?
And, that noted comics illustrators including Walt Kelly (Pogo) contributed art to them?
Believing that there's always room for more classic comics collectibles, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ added a new line of goodies to our Happy Holidays section entitled Exciting Easter!
Yes, it's eggs, bunnies, chicks, and other fuzzy animals galore digitally-restored and remastered from Baby Boomer-era classic comics covers on baby bibs, infant creepers / onesies, toddler and kid t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs, and a plethora of kool kollectibles!
They make great Easter basket stuffers! (And they won't rot your kids' teeth like marshmallow chicks or chocolate bunnies!)
So click over and see what's in our basket!

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Return of the Martian!"

Yesterday we brought you "The Martian Who Stole My Body"...

...and now, we continue his saga with a never-reprinted adventure!

Hmmm.

A seemingly-invincible Martian invader who had no resistance to our Earthly diseases.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, those Martians.

And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians--_dead_!--slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth.

For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded our minds.

These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things--taken toll of our prehuman ancestors since life began here.

But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle, and to many--those that cause putrefaction in dead matter, for instance--our living frames are altogether immune.

But there are no bacteria in Mars, and directly these invaders arrived, directly they drank and

fed, our microscopic allies began to work their overthrow.

Already when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even as they went to and fro.

It was inevitable.

--War of the Worlds by HG Wells

So, plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers, took a concept that had been done to death by the time this story appeared in Atlas' Journey into Mystery #58 (1960).

By all rights, it shouldn't work.

And it almost doesn't.

But Kirby's artwork saves it, gives it enoough OOOMPH to allow you to overlook the cliched ending.

Oddly, though Zetora's previous tale had been reprinted in the 1970s, this sequel has never been reprinted!

(Which might be just as well, since it'd be hard to explain him coming back from the dead...)

Perhaps to make up for that oversight, Marvel's Monsters Unleashed #3 does, give him a beautiful Francesco Francavilla cover...

Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!

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Monsters Unleashed: Prelude
(which doesn't include either of Zetora the Martian's stories!)

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Martian Who Stole My Body!"

The new Monsters Unleashed miniseries continues this week...

...with a Klassic Kirby Kreature who appeared twice!

Poor Zetora.

Not only did this tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #57 (1960), reprinted in Marvel's Fear #7 (1972), not get a cover appearance either time, neither did the sequel story, which we'll present tomorrow!

However, Marvel's Monsters Unleashed #3 does, finally, give him a beautiful Francesco Francavilla cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, it's an average story greatly-enhanced by Kirby's superb visuals.

Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!

FindAComicShop.com

Comic Shop Locator!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Monsters Unleashed: Prelude
(which doesn't include either of Zetora the Martian's stories!)

Reading Room KING OF FUTURIA "To the Futur(ia)"

Can a 20th Century man prove superior to his 30th Century descendants?

Read on..and discover the startling answer!

Much like Buck Rogers, Dick Devens used his military skills (long forgotten in the future) to assist the humans of the time period he was now trapped in.

After this debut tale in Nedor's Mystery Comics #1 (1944), Dick Devens would appear in the remaining three issues of the title, then transfer with a number of other features to Wonder Comics when it dropped super-heroes in favor of sci-fi/fantasy.

We'll be presenting the entire run of the series, so keep an eye on us.

BTW, sadly, nobody can identify the writer and/or artist of the strip.

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Reading Room AMAZING ADVENTURES "Adonis 2-PX-89"

Our Valentine's Day entry is a weird combo of sci-fi and humor...

Art by Allen Anderson

...which was probably written by the man who created the Clark Kent/Superman/Lois Lane love/hate triangle...

This cover story from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #4 (1951) was illustrated by Henry Sharp who, during his decade in comics, illustrated only sci-fi or war stories!

Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was the editor of the Ziff-Davis comics line, and wrote many of the stories that appeared in it, so it's not unreasonable to assume this tale, which contains many plot aspects common to those tales of Superman and Lois Lane, was scripted by the same writer!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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