Sunday, April 18, 2021

The Soda Pop That Never Was...KOOBA COLA!

In 1940, Victor Fox, publisher of WonderWorld ComicsMystery Men ComicsWeird Comics, and other titles featuring The Blue BeetleSamsonThe Flame, among others, conceived an audacious marketing scheme.
Inspired by the success of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, he decided to promote Kooba Cola, "The World's Newest and Best-Tasting Soft Drink!" in ads in his entire line of comic books.
It was also "Delightfully Refreshing and Contained 35 USP units of Vitamin B-1 for the Sake of Health and Nutrition!"
When Fox's The Blue Beetle starred in a short-lived radio show that summer, he was sponsored by Kooba Cola!

Wait a second...
What's that?
You've never even heard of Kooba Cola?
That's because it didn't exist, except as a logo, a couple of mocked-up bottles used as props in ads and some art reference for illustrators.
(You'll note they couldn't even figure out what the color scheme for the label was!
It changed from ad to ad!)
Fox thought he could create a demand for Kooba, then license the name to one of the big soft drink companies, let them do the work of actually creating, bottling, and shipping the stuff, then he'd rake in royalties on the name!
It didn't work.
The "buzz" never developed.
The soda pop was never actually produced.
Even Kooba's "sponsorship" of The Blue Beetle radio show was just part of the show's script, not paid ads! (One of the reasons the show only lasted four months!)

But, such visionary hucksterness should not be forgotten!
(Besides, the ads were rather kool.)
So we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ decided to re-present the Soda That Would Not Die on collectibles ranging from Beachwear to mugs, messenger bags (and the irony of doing bags with "Kooba" on them hasn't escaped us!) and hoodies at KoobaCola 1 and KoobaCola 2!

So celebrate what could have been one of the bubbliest success stories of soft drink entepreneurship, but instead fizzled out and fell flat!
(You just knew we were gonna do a pun like that, didn't you?)  ;-)

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON "Menace of the Martians"

What happens when a strip ignores it's own backstory...
...and changes an alien race's entire history...for no reason at all?
This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Space Squadron #4 (1951) contradicted the Space Squadron #1 tale that introduced Max in several ways!
Notably, that Martians, who were as scientifically and intellectually-advanced as Earthers (though with extremely-short tempers), are now simply savage beings who wish to slay anything living that's not them!
There's no reason I can think of, except that it's likely the anonymous writer of this particular tale was new and unfamiliar with the series!
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Friday, April 16, 2021

Friday Fun CRAZY "Robert the Robot!"

Here's a long-lost tale from the era when MAD comic clones filled America's newsstands!
(Which bring up the question...does anybody under 30 even know what a "newsstand" is?)
While the story's not a classic, it's not bad, either!
The amazingly versatile Joe Maneely handled the art for this never-reprinted tale from this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Crazy V1N7 (1954), but the script is not nu Stan Lee...who would've had his name on it if he had penned the story!
Maneely could do anything; sci-fi, horror, war, romance, western, even humor, as this story demonstrates!
If not for his tragic death falling from a New York suburban commuter train, he would have been one of the major talents of Marvel Comics in the 1960s.
Atlas had no less than three MAD clones going at once; CrazyWild, and Riot!
MAD themselves commented on the proliferation of clones, not only from Atlas, but virtually every other publisher with this opener for their spoof of the 1950s movie Julius Ceasar by Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood...
When MAD converted to a b/w magazine, Atlas dropped the three color comics and launched the b/w Snafu,which only lasted three issues!
Atlas/Marvel would revive Crazy twice more!
First, in early 1973 as a reprint book of Not Brand Echh stories.
Then, in late 1973 as a b/w magazine going head-to-head with MAD, and surviving until 1983 for 96 issues!
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Thursday, April 15, 2021

Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Doorstep"

We've been showing aliens who dare to land on Earth "who's the boss" for centuries...
...but this is one time that may not have been the best approach!
Adapted from a short story by Keith Laumer, this tale from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #2 (1973) has a kool "Twilight Zone" twist ending, but couldn't have been adapted for the show due to the crudeness of tv special effects work at the time.
OTOH, writer Gerry Conway, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Tom Sutton had no such constraints, and they do EC Comics' writers and artists proud with a tale that would have fit right in with Weird ScienceWeird Fantasy, or the merged Weird Science-Fantasy books!
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(featuring "Doorstep")

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Fake News!"

..."HAPPEN DID NOT!
FORGET IT, YOU MUST!"
Is Don da Con...a VoltaMan?
Could they be referring to themselves?
Did writer "Thorncliff Herrick" and artist Lily Renee know something in the 1940s that the rest of us didn't?
Discover MORE Amazing Factoids...
Next Wednesday!

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