Sunday, March 5, 2017

Easter Basket Goodies!

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) and Harrison Cady (Peter Rabbit) contributed art to them?
Believing that there's always room for more classic comics collectibles, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a line of goodies 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, nursery clocks (like the one above) and a plethora of kool kollectibles including organic clothing from American Apparel!
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!

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Candy Egg"

Here's a (literally) sweet, never-reprinted Walt (Pogo) Kelly short...
...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1948)!
Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!
Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-3 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!
Would've kept the 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!
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Friday, March 3, 2017

Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Zzutak: the Thing that Shouldn't Exist!!" Part 2

Sci-fi magazine cover artist Frank Johnson, desperate to top his previous efforts, tries out a set of "three-dimensional paints" offered by a mysterious sttanger, that cause whatever he draws to not only exist as a three-dimensional object...but also to come to life!
Accepting the paint set as a gift, he is suddenly-compelled to journey to a remote part of Mexico, where he paints his greatest monster of all, Zzutak, on a giant canvas!
But...why?
Now all shall be revealed!
You'd think the colorist of the cover for Atlas' Strange Tales #88 (1961) didn't communicate with the colorist for the story itself, since he transposed the coloring for Zzutak and his unnamed adversary...
...except the two colorists were the same guy, Stan Goldberg!
I can only speculate the cover and interior were colored at two different times and, in the confusion, someone lost track of who was orange and who was green!
When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Fear #3 (1971), the unknown colorist got the second monster right, but still got Zzutak wrong!
 
When the story was reprinted in Germany, a new, painted cover got Zzutak's color right, though not all the details of his design/anatomy!
Poor Zzutak is postitively unreocognizable on his most recent reprint appearance in Marvel's Monster Menace #3 (1994), even though he's rendered by the guy who inked his story back in 1961...Steve Ditko!
(And he's portrayed correctly in the "character box" in the upper left corner of the cover!)
As you may have guessed, Zzutak is the cover-featured monster on the current issue of Marvel's Monsters Unleashed with this superb Francesco Francavilla cover...
Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
Monsters Unleashed: Prelude
(which, sadly, doesn't include Zzutak's premiere appearance!)

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Zzutak: the Thing that Shouldn't Exist!!"

What could be kooler than a Kirby Kreature tale?
Answer: a Kirby Kreature tale inked by Steve Ditko!
Since plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Steve Ditko ended this chapter of the two-parter from Atlas' Strange Tales #88 (1961) at this point, we'll pause until tomorrow before continuing!
As you may have guessed, Zzutak is the cover-featured monster on the current issue of Marvel's Monsters Unleashed!
And. is this a great Francesco Francavilla cover, or what?
Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
Monsters Unleashed: Prelude
(which doesn't include Zzutak's premiere appearance!)

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Reading Room ATOMIC SPY CASES "Operation H. M."

Think we're paranoid about "the enemy" discovering our secrets?
Look at how nutso we were back in the 1950s!
(BTW, the "Based on TRUE Stories" caption is a total lie!)
The lead story from this Avon Comics 1950 one-shot (with a Norman [Mars Attacks] Saunders cover) exemplifies the "Commies under the bed" paranoia that's making a comeback today...except it's "Islamist Terrorists under the bed"!
Regrettably, neither the writer nor artist(s) are known.
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