Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON "Last of the Martians"

Meet Mxxptrm!
No, not "Myxzptlk"!

You can't get rid of this guy by getting him to say his name backwards!

And, though he's a Martian, he's neither little, nor green!

An interesting aspect of Space Squadron was that, unlike Speed Carter's Space Sentinels, the Squadron had members from every allied world, not just Earth.

"Max", who debuts here, becomes a valued (albeit temperamental) teammate, rather like Worf on Star Trek: the Next Generation.

Art from this never-reprinted final story from Atlas' Space Squadron #1 (1951) is by George Tuska who later became the final artist on the original Buck Rogers comic strip (1959-67) and then assumed the art duties for almost a decade on Marvel's Invincible Iron Man!

Support Small Business!

Visit

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Friday Fun / Humor in a Jugular Vein "Blechhula!" & "Night Gawker"

Here's two creepy classics from the 1970s that should've been comic books, but weren't!

Blacula

The Night Stalker

...as presented in our "brother" RetroBlog specializing in TV/movie/radio comics, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

Both were satirized in never-reprinted strips from Marvel's short-lived humor comics Spoof and ARRRGH!

Blacula never made it to comics, but Night Stalker has appeared under the Moonstone banner since 2002.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room / Halloween Horror UNCANNY TALES "Witch in the Woods"

 Since we posted a story about people blaming horror comic books for all the world's evils...

...we thought we'd run another tale by the same writer from the same period!

As Stan Lee's somewhat snarky script for this story from Atlas' Menace #7 (1953) points out, those beloved fairy tales were as mind-rotting as the comics Wertham and the others hypocritically tried to ban!

Joe Sinnott's clean and elegant renderings keep the story from being too grotesque, helping to sell Lee's point without the extreme gore some other publishers of the period (and even Atlas itself) occasionally went for!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order the OOP and HTF...

Horror Comics of the 1950s

Edited by Ron Barlow & Bhob Stewart

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Underground Ambush"

We Have Already Seen...

...do we really have to add anything?

BTW, if you want to see the earlier chapters, go HERE!

The Excitement Continues...

Next Wednesday!

Writer "Thorncliffe Herrick" and artist Graham Ingels don't identify where this story takes place during this tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #28 (1943), so we don't know what direction they're going!
They could be in Canada or Mexico for all we know...

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Planet Comics
Volume 7

(which reprints this tale)

Reading Room / Halloween Horror SUSPENSE "Raving Maniac"

People blaming pop culture (like movies and video games) for violence and evil in society is nothing new...

...as seen in this over 65-year old short story from Atlas' Suspense #29 (1953)!

Writer/editor Stan Lee is the model for the story's editor.

Though artist Joe Maneely doesn't use Dr Fredric Wertham's likeness for the screaming loon, the character is clearly based on the impression the "good doctor" made on comics industry workers whose livelihood he almost destroyed.

This was the final issue of the pre-Comics Code horror title which, initially, adapted stories from the famous dramatic radio show.

When the similarly-named Tales of Suspense debuted a couple of years later, it was a Code-approved science-fiction/fantasy title until the arrival of superheroes Iron Man and Captain America.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Ten-Cent Plague

The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America