Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Reading Room FLASH GORDON "Even Legends May Die"

I'm a fan of literally everything relating to Flash Gordon...
...and this never-reprinted short from the HTF fanzine Heritage (1971) is one of the best Flash stories ever!
You can tell writer/artist Estaban Maroto is a serious Alex Raymond fan, right?
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Monday, August 3, 2020

Monday Madness / CoronaVirus Comics MORLOCK: 2001 "Coming of Morlock!" Conclusion

...actually, we haven't seen this, because the cover (which features Morlock's human and monster forms together) is symbolic!
In the Fahrenheit 451/1984-style world of 2001 (as seen from 1975), the government controls everything!
When the lab of a rebel scientist is discovered and destroyed, the only things salvaged are a couple of plant-like pods plus notes and chemicals related to them.
One of them contains a sentient humanoid who can turn humans to shrubbery-like vegetables simply by touching them!
Seeing the potential for a lethal and untraceable weapon to keep the populace in line through terror, the government officials brainwash the humanoid, now code-named "Morlock" after the creatures in HG Wells' novel The Time Machine to serve them as a killer...
Written by Micahel Fleischer, penciled by Al Milgrom and inked by Jack Abel, this premiere issue of Atlas/Seaboard's Morlock: 2001 (1975), presented some interesting concepts, but, since the company folded after only three issues were published, never really-developed the concepts...
Will Morlock Return?
It's Up to YOU!
Let us Know!
Bonus Material
The original, unused cover, inked by Jack Abel instead of the Dick Giordano-inked final cover above!
The cover of the Australian reprint
(Note it's rated "adult readers only", despite passing the rather strict Comics Code Authority in America!)
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A "Lost" Graphic Novel about Dystopia

Friday, July 31, 2020

Friday Fun TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS "Tin Pan Folly"

"Tin Pan Alley" was the name for a group of influential music publishers/licensors...
...mostly located on West 28th Street between 5th and 7th Avenues in NYC due to the cheap rents at the time.

This Joe Edwards-written and illustrated story from Archie's Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #5 (1962) points out many in the music industry thought rock-and-roll was just a fad.
Yet here we are in 2020 and rock-and-roll, though altered and enhanced, is still the predominant form of popular music!
It also shows that music companies thought (and still think) performers are interchangeable!
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