Tuesday, June 9, 2020

CoronaVirus Comics ACTION COMICS "Three Aces vs the Serum Stealer"

Not every feature in DC's Action Comics has been Superman-caliber material...
...including this series featuring middle-aged aviators!
This never-reprinted tale about opportunism during a medical emergency from DC's Action Comics #39 (1941) resonates today since some individuals and businesses are taking advantage of shortages of equipment (like masks and hand sanitizer) and medications during the Covid-19 pandemic!
Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Chad Grothkopf, it's a solid, simple tale, just not very "flashy" as compared to the lead feature (You-Know-Who).
Despite that, they had a fairly long run in Action from #16 through #63.
BTW, The Three Aces constantly-state (as in this tale) that they flew in "the World War".
Since America hadn't entered World War II as of the time of publication, it was a clear reference to World War I (15 years earlier), which would have made the youngest of them in their late-30s, at least!
As of Action #47 (1942) they rejoined the military, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt (Theodore, not Franklin).
Note: there wouldn't be a real aircraft carrier named "USS Theodore Roosevelt" until 1986!
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Monday, June 8, 2020

Monday Madness / CoronaVirus Comics THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS "Prologue: the Circle Opens" Conclusion

...oh, and a car containing a scientist on the run, his wife, and their child just crashed into a gas station...
(BTW, the "Captain Trips" of the title is nickname of the disease!)
Marvel needed six mini-series from 2008 to 2012 to adapt the 1990 revised and expanded edition of the already-massive 1978 novel!
Trivia: Randall Flagg, a character who appears in many of King's stories, unifying them into one "multiverse", makes his debut in The Stand novel.
But, in comics, he premiered in Marvel's Dark Tower adaptation, which was published before The Stand!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
Collecting the entire five-issue Mini-Series
or
collecting all six miniseries and the SketchBook plus an exclusive Companion in one huge HTF and OOP two-volume slipcased set!

Sunday, June 7, 2020

With CoronaVirus Infection and Death Numbers Dropping in Areas that Kept Social DIstancing...

...we'll be ending the CoronaVirus Comics Blogathon...
...across the RetroBlogs family as of Saturday, the 4th of July, since most of America will be in recovery mode.
Mind you, we have more than enough material to run through Labor Day, but, with the pandemic diminishing, It's time for us, like the USA to start to return to normal!
And now a word for charity...
...is a work of art and, at the same time, a result of civil commitment and a testimonial to a historical moment.
Lockdown Heroes is a portfolio that collects illustrations of female "essential workers" done by noted Italian good-girl fumetti artist Milo Manara as high-quality frameable prints on fine paper, with Manara's signature on a dry stamp, inside a folder contained, in a slipcase.
Plus: there's a dossier written by Italian pop culture expert Vincenzo Mollica, and an interview with Milo Manara.
A charitable donation from the sale of each copy of Lockdown Heroes will support the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, the University Hospital of Padua and the Domenico Cotugno Hospital in Naples.
Click HERE to Order!

Saturday, June 6, 2020

As America Reopens...

...go out and enjoy yourself!
Afterwards, relax and read free comics of fictional epidemics/pandemics destroying America (or Earth) in the past, present, and future...Mon-Fri here on this blog, and weekly / bi-weekly on our other RetroBlogs, including our newest one...
...Medical Comics...
...plus...
...the aptly-named
(You'd be amazed at how many romance comics stories revolve around disease!)...
...Seduction of the Innocent...
...Secret Sanctum of Captain Video...

...Hero Histories...
...Heroines!...
...Horror Comics of the 1950s...
...War: Past, Present and Future...
...Western Comics Adventures...
...Crime & Punishment!
Besides the daily posts here at Atomic Kommie Comics, there'll be at several new ones spread out among the various RetroBlogs each week!
Don't Miss Them!

Friday, June 5, 2020

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics PATSY WALKER "Great Idea!"

There used to be lots more to teen humor comics than just Archie and his friends...
...with every comics publisher from the late 1940s through the early 1970s doing them! 
Created by writer Stuart Little and artist Ruth Atkinson, Patsy Walker first appeared in Timely's Miss America Magazine #2 (1944).
Redheaded Patsy Walker, parents Stanley and Betty, boyfriend Robert "Buzz" Baxter, and rich, raven-haired friendly rival Hedy Wolfe appeared from the 1944 through 1967 in various teen humor anthologies as well as several self-titled comics.
Trivia: Patsy Walker (along with Millie the Model and Kid Colt: Outlaw) were the only titles published continuously by Marvel from Timely in the Golden Age, through Atlas in the 1950s, to Marvel in the  Silver Age!
Patsy, Buzz and Hedy are all part of the Marvel Universe from Marvel's Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) when Patsy and Hedy attended the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm!
Patsy later became the superheroine HellCat, and Buzz was revealed to be the supervillain Mad-Dog!
Patsy (and HellCat) appeared on the NetFlix series Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Defenders, making her part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Written and illustrated by the versatile Al Jaffee (before he moved over to MAD Magazine) , this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Patsy Walker #36 (1951) promoted contributing to the charity created in 1946 by newsman Walter Winchell (best known today as the narrator of the 1960s TV show Untouchables) to honor his friend, writer Damon Runyon, who died of cancer!
The charity, now called Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, still exists!