Holiday Reading Room LIFE OF CHRIST "Christmas Story" Part 1

Did ya know Mighty Marvel published Jesus Christ's origin story, true believer?

You didn't?

Well, here's where we correct that lapse in your knowledge of literature...

So where's the title character?

Find Out on Thursday!

After all, it's

Christmas Eve!

Marvel/Nelson Comics' Life of Christ #1 (1993) was one of several titles in a joint publishing venture between Marvel and Thomas Nelson Publishers, one of the largest publishers of Christian-themed materials.

Between 1992 and 1994, the imprint published Christian-themed comic books including one-shots like this and a short-lived super-hero series, Illuminator.

The project ended due to low sales.

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BibleForce
(the new graphic novel from Thomas Nelson)

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room MAD "Comic Strip Characters' Christmas Party"

This is one heckuva piece (scanned from the original art)...

...from EC's MAD Magazine #68 (1962), featuring most of the major comic strip characters of the day, almost of whom are (sob) no longer being published...now only available in reprints!

Here's the complete list: Mr. Dithers; Dennis Mitchell; Henry Mitchell; Moonbeam McSwine; Dick Tracy; Hi Flagston; Lois Flagston; Joe Palooka; Steve Roper; Smitty; Archie Andrews; Ponytail; Tarzan; Minnie Mouse; Donald Duck; Gran'ma; Pigpen; Smokey Stover; Lucy Van Pelt; Sweetpea; Schroeder; Popeye; Simon Templar: the Saint; Daddy Warbucks; Little Orphan Annie; Sandy; Moon Mullins; Charlie Brown; Blondie Bumstead; Dagwood Bumstead: Hans Katzenjammer; Fritz Katzenjammer; Steve Canyon; Terry Lee; The Little King; Henry; Ferd'nand; Fearless Fosdick; Li'l Abner; Prince Valiant; Diana Palmer; The Phantom; Mandrake the Magician; Lothar; Nancy; Jeff; Alley Oop; Felix the Cat; Mary Worth; B.C.; The Lone Ranger; Summer Smith Olsen; Snoopy; Albert Alligator; Pogo Possum; Junior Tracy; Mr. Magoo; Miss Peach; Mark Trail; Rip Kirby; Dondi; Gravel Gertie.
What could be more appropriate for the last Monday Madness entry before Christmas?

BTW, we all know illustrator, Wally Wood, whose ability to do dead-on renderings of everybody from realistic adventure characters to "big foot" cartoons was incredible!
But writer Gary Belkin is all but forgotten to most comics fans.
However, he's still fondly-remembered by tv comedy fans!

Belkin was an Emmy-winning writer for such series as Carol Burnett Show, Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), Car 54, Where Are You?, Blondie (1968 series based on the comic strip), Ceasar's Hour (Sid Ceasar), and Sesame Street!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Whether You Call Him "Kris Kringle" or "St Nick" or "Santa Claus", He's the Embodiment of the Christmas Spirit!

DID YOU KNOW...the image of Santa Claus, as we Americans know it, is based on the work of two artists over 70 years apart?

1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
and

2) Haddon Sundblom, who took Nast's visual concepts, refined them, and used them to illustrate Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s
TRIVIA:
Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...
Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!
Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!
I'm not going to show it, but you can Google it with sundblom playboy...)

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a dozen different renderings of 'ol Kris Kringle which follow in the visual tradition of Nast & Sundblom, on a host of Cool Christmas™ collectibles ranging from tree ornaments to hot cocoa mugs to sweatshirts and hoodies for kids and adults!
While they range from paintings to comic book cover art (like the art at the top of this post), they all feature the "classic" image of Santa known to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials!
So give your "special someone", whether they're a spouse, lover, friend, or relative, a warm feeling this Christmas with a kool kollectible featuring the personification of the Christmas Spirit--Santa Claus!

Space Force Saturday SPEED CARTER "Half-Horrors of Hyades!"

We skipped last Saturday to present a tribute to the late, great writer/artist Richard Corben...

...but we're back with a never-reprinted story that gives new meaning to "split personality" from Atlas' Speed Carter: SpaceMan #2 (1953).

This tale takes several cliches, including hero/heroine tied to a buzz-saw and the idea that, since different sides of the brain control different aspects of memory and personality, physically dividing it would result in different personas and mixes them together.

It's an interesting concept, but doesn't quite work.

Written (as are all the Speed Carter stories) by Hank Chapman and illustrated by Joe Maneely.

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Friday Fun / Holiday Reading Room: RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER "Rudolph's Swelled Head" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Red-Nosed Reindeer (you know who)...

...It's Christmas Eve, Santa has to get moving, and an apologetic Rudolph is ready to rejoin the crew...

And that's how Santa introduced licensed toy promotions into comic books.

Written by Sy Reit and illustrated by Rube Grossman, this 1950 annual was the first of a series that ran until 1963.

The concept was revived in the tabloid-sized "Treasury" (10" x 14") format in 1972 and was published annually (except in '75 and '77) until 1978.

(Both DC and Marvel experimented in the 1970s with the over-sized format.

They were much bigger than normal comics with cardstock covers, though the interior pages were printed on the usual comic book newsprint.)

The series was a more-or-less sequel to the original story (which we presented HERE.) and song.

(The animated TV special that tells a totally-different version of the tale didn't appear until 1964.)

We're skipping the next two Fridays since they're Christmas and New Year's Day!
Fear not!
Friday Fun will return in 2021!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics this Christmas!

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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

75th-Anniversary Edition

(a replica of the original 1939 book which is quite different from the TV special and its' sequels!)