Saturday, February 25, 2017

COMING: Holiday Reading Room featuring Walt Kelly's EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE

Lent begins this coming Wednesday...
...and during Lent, we'll be bringing you some classic Walt Kelly tales and features from the annual Easter with Mother Goose issues of Dell's Four Color Comics, many of which have never been reprinted!
This centerfold from Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) is a splendid example.
Can you find the bunnies, chicks, and eggs hidden in the art?
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Friday, February 24, 2017

Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Doorstep"

We've shown aliens who land on Earth who's the boss for centuries...
...but this is one time that may not have been the best approach!
Adapted from a short story by Keith Laumer, this tale from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #2 (1973) has a kool "Twilight Zone" twist ending, but couldn't have been adapted for the show due to the crudeness of tv special effects work at the time.
OTOH, writer Gerry Conway, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Tom Sutton had no such constraints, and they do EC Comics' writers and artists proud with a tale that would have fit right in with Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, or the merged Weird Science-Fantasy books!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...
(featuring "Doorstep")

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Reading Room CALVIN "Deadman's Hill"

Winter's already becoming a fading memory....
...so let's have a winter-themed tale to remind us of what we missed this year!
Written and penciled by Kevin Banks and inked by "NT", this backup story from Marvel's Li'l Kids #12 (1973) ended a brief, 3-issue run of stories that seemed recycled from vaudeville routines and 1940s-50s animated cartoons.
What makes the strip somewhat more fascinating is the identity of the little-known writer-artist behind it.
"Kevin Banks" was not a pseudonym, but the name of a staffer at Marvel in the early 1970s!
Even the ever-amazing comics researcher Nick Caputo could find little about the mysterious Mr Banks, as seen HERE.
What Banks did after working at Marvel is unknown.
Did he work in advertising?
Become an art instructor?
Switch careers and become an accountant or fireman?
We may never know the answer...
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Trump Reading Room REAGAN'S RAIDERS "...Back to Zero!" Conclusion

...he and his cabinet were about to deliver a can of whup-ass to a group of terrorists!
You'll note a cameo by a certain eyepatch-wearing, cigar-smoking soldier usually seen in ripped shirts.
The never-reprinted Solson's Reagan's Raiders #1 (1986) was written by Monroe Arnold, and illustrated by Dick Ayers, Rich Buckler, and Jason Rodgers.
Monroe Arnold was a character actor with numerous tv/movie appearances in the 60s-80s.
His best-known genre role was in the unsold pilot for Dick Tracy (1967), produced by Batman's William Dozier.
BTW, the film Monroe was listed above as writing/directing, Diary of a Terrorist, was never completed.
He suffered a heart attack after shooting a proof-of-concept reel and was unable to continue the project.
Solson Publishing was run by Gary Brodsky, son of Marvel's first Production Manager and occasional inker Sol Brodsky.
One of the many companies created during the b/w comics craze of the 1980s, it was legendary for producing parody/swipes of more successful b/w books and somewhat tasteless books about how to draw women.
Reagan's Raiders was one of the few original titles in the lineup, and it lasted only three issues.
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Trump Reading Room REAGAN'S RAIDERS "...Back to Zero!" Part 1

Let's look in on a 31 year-old comic that, substituting today's senile old Republican for the 1980s model...
...could be published today!
Be here tomorrow as the mayhem from the never-reprinted Solson's Reagan's Raiders #1 (1986) ensues and we present background info on writer/co-creator Monroe Arnold and his unusual connection to comics, as well as this little-known comic company with an amazing pedigree!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...