It's HERE! The FIRST Graphic Novel!

Today begins the BIG event in the 2017 RetroBlogs mini-blogathon...

The complete presentation of one of the first (if not the first) graphic novels!

Written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (as "Drake Waller"), illustrated by Matt Baker and Ray Osrin, the digest-sized 1950 one-shot from St John Publications is pulpish film noir at its' coolest!

Dark Horse Comics (which published a 2007 high-quality reprint available below) explained it thusly...

In 1950, writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, both attending college on the G.I. Bill, envisioned a sophisticated, novel-length comic tailored to their peers. Collaborating with comics art master Matt Baker, known for singularly defining the genre of "good girl art" on titles such as Phantom Lady, they crafted a film-noir inspired masterwork of romance, intrigue, and moral relativity. When cynical newspaperman Hal Weber reunites with old flame Rust Masson, he finds the beguiling widow of a mining magnate willing to do anything to undermine the local political machine--her only opponent for total control of Copper City!

Buckle up your seatbelts and begin the adventure at True Love Comics Tales...

Note: The thanks of a grateful nation go to Kracalactaka, who found the scans of the St John first edition in the wilds of the internet, cleaned them up, and made them available!

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It Rhymes with Lust

Deluxe Reprint Edition

Reading Room BLACK ZEPPELIN "The Strip"

Artist Gene Day was best-known for his work on Marvel's Master of Kung Fu and Star Wars books...

...but he had a rarely-seen humorous style as well!

After Gene passed away, his family went through his files and found a wealth of unpublished and uncompleted work, whch served as the basis for the anthology mini-series Black Zeppelin.
His brothers Dan and David, also talented artists, finished the incomplete tales, and his wife Gale served as editor for the project.
In addition, several stories Gene had plotted or scripted, but not drawn, were rendered by friends like Dave Sim and saw publication in the book.

Here's the intro by Gale to this tale...

We ran one of Gene's earlier tales HERE.

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Future Day

by Gene Day

Trump Reading Room aka the OutHouse HILLBILLY COMICS "Mountain Music"

Another tale of Don the Con's "Deplorables"...

...back when they were called "Hillbillies" and "rockabilly" music was all the rage!

Written and illustrated by Art Gates, this tale from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #1 (1955) was part of a brief trend in comic books during the Li'l Abner series' greatest popularity in the mid-1950s!

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Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp

When "Sexually-Suggestive" ISN'T!

I use Google AdSense on my various RetroBlogs.
I was recently sent a warning that states: "As stated in our program policies, we may not show Google ads on pages with content that is sexually suggestive or intended to sexually arouse.
This includes, but is not limited to: pornographic images, videos, or games, sexually gratifying text, images, audio, or video" with a link to the following page on my blog as an example... http://atocom.blogspot.com/2012/04/reading-room-pussycat-mirthful.html

I pointed out that it's NON-NUDE CARTOON CHEESECAKE sold to kids in the 1960s, no raunchier than MAD Magazine!
So far, no response from Google!
Have we regressed so far that satirical cartoons from the '60s are now considered "sexually-suggestive"?What next? Betty and Veronica in suwimsuits are "sexually-suggestive"?
Well, if the price of integrity is losing Google AdSense, so be it!

Reading Room: 3 ROCKETEERS

No, not this Jack Kirby-created team...

..but another trio with a slightly-different take on living "la vida stellar"!

(St John's Atom-Age Combat V1N2 [1952])

(St John's Atom-Age Combat V1N3 [1952])

Illustrated (and probably written) by Vic Martin, these never-reprinted strips featuring Dr Gastro, Rhonda, and Torpo appeared in the otherwise deadly-serious title Atom-Age Combat, one of several comics of the early 1950s that featured a near-future USA involved in atomic warfare with Commies...in this case, Asian (presumably Chinese) Communists!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta