Design of the Week--WereWolf? There, wolf!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week we take a one-liner from Young Frankenstein as our headline as we celebrate (Secret Chic-style) the remake of The Wolf Man!
This vintage cover art by Don Heck from the 1950s, when EC Comics' horror titles like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror dominated the newsstands, features a werewolf (but not Larry Talbot, the WolfMan) lurking in the foliage, blood dripping from his gleaming fangs!
He's available on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs, and a whole slew of kool kollectibles, but only on-line from us, and only for one week.
So order now, before the full moon rises...

ComicBookMovie.com...Not All I Hoped It Would Be!

I had previously plugged ComicBookMovie.com's fansites here.
It seemed like an ideal place for me to post historical articles and other goodies on a variety of subjects in a fannish way, including The Green Hornet, SuperHeroines, and Golden Age Heroes.
But, I'm afraid I have to change my mind.

I had posted several articles adapted from my blog entries for Green Hornet: Year One, Blue Bolt, Nature Boy, Air Man & RocketMan, and Friday Foster.
Audience response had been good, with a number of positive comments and "thumbs up"!
With great enthusiasm, I was preparing a number of pieces, going above the scope of what I had originally planned to do!

I logged on and was about to post the first of my Fantastic Femmes entries (Zoe Saldana!) on the Heroines fansite I created, when I noticed that my previous articles had...disappeared!
The site has some technical glitches, particularly in the "Articles" section. (I posted articles as "Features" because of their historical content, but they kept reclassifying as "News".) So I thought it was just a glitch that could be corrected, and the stories reloaded.

Not quite.

When I emailed the webmaster, I was told that the articles had been deleted...with no explanation or notification.
If I hadn't checked, I wouldn't have realized that they were gone!

I've communicated via e-mail with Jim Littler, who runs the site.
He sounds like a cool guy, doing his best under extremely trying circumstances, so this is in no way a put-down of him.
The problem, according to Jim, was that one of several new website editors deleted the articles without bothering to contact me with any questions he may have had.
Apparently, ComicBookMovies.com has no in-house log-on/tracking procedures for changes, nor any way to recover deleted material.
(Jim asked the editors and none of them has acknowledged doing the deletions.)

Sadly, I've decided that, until such matters can be corrected, I'll just post picture galleries into the three sites I have up, and won't be adding any more sites (I had planned several more for specific characters.)

While I will try to include info in the pic galleries, I could have done a lot more with the features, but I can't justify the time involved if things will just be deleted.

However, if you're comfortable with working within those parameters, feel free to join the community and participate.
It is fun, and a very responsive audience is there!

Tomorrow: back to business as usual with Design of the Week!

12-Month Calendars REDUCED from $19.99 to $14.99!

One of our favorite types of pop culture collectible here at the Atomic Kommie Comics™ offices are calendars, in particular the multi-page 12-month kind, with a different illustration for each month.

I have over a decade's worth of James Bond 007 movie poster calendars.
Each year the new one adorns the wall over my computer.
When the year is over, I cut it up and use the art the next year as mini-posters to decorate whatever vacation place I rent during the summer.
Besides 007, over the years, I've picked up, or been given, various Star Trek, Star Wars, DC, Marvel, and other licensed property calendars.
I've always enjoyed using them, and often thought of the person who gave them to me!

But, there are pop culture categories and subjects we've wanted in calendar form as presents for others (or for ourselves), but were never produced!
So, we decided to create them ourselves, using the wildest, rarest, kitchiest comic book, pulp magazine covers and movie posters we could find, each image digitally-restored and remastered from hi-rez scans of the original items, NO reprints or low-rez files! (Would we do that to you?)
And, to make it totally irresistible, we're lowering the price of any linked calendar from $19.99 to $14.99! That's 25% off!

Here are the Atomic Kommie Comics™ 12-Month Calendars (by genre)...

Mystery / Crime
Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes!™

Mr District Attorney™


Horror
Horror Comics of the 1950s™


Camp / Kitsch
Seduction of the Innocent!!™

Jungle Girls™

Good Girl / Bad Grrrl™


Romance
True Love Comics Tales™


Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Martians, Martians, Martians!™
 
Thrilling Science-Fiction Tales™


Golden Age SuperHeroes
Captains of the Comics™



Classic Green Hornet

Heroines!™

Classic Phantom Lady

Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™

Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics Team-Ups™

1st Appearance Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™

Flag-Waving Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™

Classic Amazing-Man

Classic Black Terror

Classic Blue Beetle

Classic Captain Future

Classic Cat-Man

Classic Dare Devil

Classic Doc Strange

Classic Fighting Yank

Classic Flame

Classic Green Lama

Classic Monster of Frankenstein

Classic Owl

Classic Samson


Western
Western Comics Adventures™

Real-Life Western Comics™

The Cisco Kid and Pancho™

Masked Western Heroes™


Military
Captain MidNight™

Aviators of the
Golden Age of Comics™

NOT available in stores, only on-line! Order now...before time runs out! ;-)

Sub-Zero Man--the Coolest Hero of All!

Since cold weather currently is currently playing havoc with most of the U.S., I thought it appropriate to present the "coolest" hero of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™--Sub-Zero Man!
Debuting along with Blue Bolt in Blue Bolt Comics #1, Sub-Zero (as he was usually referred to) was actually a Venusian astronaut!
His spaceship hit an asteroid made of frozen gases that froze the crew solid. Uncontroled, it crashed on Earth near Salt Lake City.
Somehow, the un-named Venusian survived the freezing phenomenon that killed his crewmates, but left him in an icy condition that enabled him to freeze anything he touched, or even stared at! (Ice-Vision?)
By using his atomic pistol on himself, he was able to "thaw" out for brief periods, which grew longer as the series progressed.
Realizing he was marooned, he decided to help fight evil, which had become non-existent on Venus, a planet where everyone was of the highest moral character!

Created by Bill Everett (HydroMan, Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, Amazing-Man, Conqueror), his first cover appearance was Blue Bolt Comics #4 (shown above) where Everett's propensity for aquatic action was put on display yet again!
Though he only appeared on the cover a couple of times, he was one of the steadiest back-up features in Blue Bolt Comics' long run.

He never got back to Venus!
But, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have given him a new home as part of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collection of (dare we say?) kool kollectibles including t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other nifty stuff!

He's also cameoed in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, and hopefully, we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future!
After all, Earth is now his home...

Return of the WolfMan...

In anticipation of a screening this Tuesday of the new WolfMan film, I spent Super Bowl Sunday reviewing the previous Universal flix in the Wolf Man Legacy (note, it's two words, not one as in the new film) box set issued in 2004. (BTW, congrats to the New Orleans Saints!)

While it does emphasize the then-current Van Helsing film (and it's werewolf) in the extras, the set includes the only solo film (The Wolf Man) featuring Larry Talbot (all the others were "team-ups" with other Universal monsters), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (the first of the monster "team-ups" and not included in the Frankenstein Legacy set), WereWolf of London (featuring a different werewolf and origin), and She-Wolf of London, which is more Cat People than Wolf Man.
A new documentary, Monster by Moonlight, covers the history of Universal's various werewolves, including Talbot.
Considering reports that the new film adapts elements of not only both Wolf Man and WereWolf of London, but Hammer's Curse of the WereWolf (ironically, distributed in the U.S. by Universal) as well, I'd suggest catching all three before you see the new one to contrast and compare!
(I'll be watching Curse on Monday night...)

It's been fun immersing myself in Universal's werewolf lore once more.
Did you know that the Wolf Man is the only Universal monster to by played by the same actor in every appearance (even when meeting Abbott & Costello!)?
I hadn't seen all these films together since the Film Forum's summer Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror festivals! (I used to arrange my vacation days from work to do all-day shows and party with my friends!)

Happy Hunting!

Teaser: KATO by Francesco Francavilla

Another kool piece by Francesco Francavilla, the artist who's coloring the interiors and providing alternate covers for the Green Hornet: Year One mini series from Dynamite!
(You can read his previous blog entry about his work on the series here!

Fantastic Femmes of LOST

Yunjin Kim (Sun-Hwa Kwan)

Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana)

Bai Ling / Ling Bai (Achara)

Marsha Thomason (Naomi Dorrit)

Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia Cortez)

Design of the Week--Dante's Inferno

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...Youse tink just because we're pop culture aficionados, we ain't got no class?
Youse tink just because we're inta video games, that we're uncouth?
Hell, we got couth comin' out the wazoo, pal!
Youse want proof?
Look here!
We have whatcha call your classic Dante Alighieri image right outta da Middle Ages (like around 1900 or so)
And, it was originally cigar box label art, so you know it's classy! Not like a cigarette package! (Cartoon camels? Gimme a break...)

Now, Dante wuz one o' da greatest writers of all time!
He wrote BOOKS, some of 'em witout pictures, even!
He wrote The Divine Comedy (I ain't sure why he called it dat, 'cause it sure ain't funny!), which described what Hell would be like (sorta like Staten Island witout da cute chicks you see on da ferry dat never talk to ya!)
And now it's been made into both a video game and an animated flick!
(Dey don't do dat for just ANY book, youse know!)

So pick up a t-shirt or mug wit Dante's mug on it!
Impress yer buds!
Impress da ladies!

The Reason I want to see Percy Jackson & The Olympians...

Rosario Dawson as Persephone

Give True Love (Comics Tales) to YOUR True Love!

Comics aren't just about spandex-clad heroes and heroines in battles of cosmic import!

They also tell intimate tales of heartbreak and true love, betrayal and redemption, and misery and sheer joy!

With than in mind, Valentine's Day is coming!
And what says "True Love" better than a kool, kitchy gift from True Love Comics Tales™? (Plus, it's both longer-lasting AND cheaper than a dozen roses!)

Choose from over 50 heart-rending designs in nine categories including...

All You Need is Love...

Confessions

Dear Beatrice Fairfax 

(The ORIGINAL LonelyHearts Columnist)

Diaries and Letters

Lovers Lane

School of Love 

(or is that Love in School?)

WarTime Love

Weddings

Western Love

on greeting cards, teddy bears, calendars, shirts/tops/intimate wear, diaries, and many other kool kollectibles!

A public service announcement for all lovers and would-be lovers from your BFFs at Atomic Kommie Comics™

The FIRST Black Comic Strip Heroine: Friday Foster

On January 18, 1970, Friday Foster became the FIRST mainstream syndicated comic strip to star a Black woman as the title character.
(Jackie Ormes' legendary Torchy Brown was, unfortunately, limited to black-owned newspapers which had relatively-limited circulation.)
It was also the FIRST mainstream comic strip to star a Black title character, male OR female!
(The humor strip Quincy by Ted Shearer debuted later in 1970!)

Writer Jim Lawrence was no stranger to adventure strips, having previously written Captain Easy and Joe Palooka.
(After his stint on Friday, he scripted a revived Buck Rogers comic strip based on the 1980 tv series!)
And, he penned a 1970s paperback novel series, Dark Angel, about a Black woman private eye!
Artist Jorge Longaron had done a number of comic strips in Europe, but was unknown in America. Friday was his Stateside strip debut.

The series was a combination of adventure, soap-opera, and social commentary, about former fashion model-turned-photographer's assistant (and later professional photographer) Friday Foster.
Supporting characters included photographer Shawn North (her boss and later business partner) and millionare playboy/romantic interest Blake Tarr.

The strip lasted until late 1974, with some of the final sequences illustrated by DC Comics legend Dick Giordano and a then up-and-comer named Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, The Shadow)!

Besides the strip, there was a one-shot comic book in 1972, and a feature film in 1975 (a year after the strip was canceled) starring action-movie goddess Pam Grier as Friday, Thalmus Rasulala as Blake Tarr, Yaphet Kotto as Detective Colt Hawkins, plus Eartha Kitt, Jim Backus, Godfrey Cambridge, and in one of his earliest roles, Carl Weathers, as an un-named assassin!
While there was a soundtrack album, curiously, I've never seen a novelization (and, in the '70s, they did novelizations of movies that weren't even released in the US, just shown overseas)!

If you're looking for a cool gift for the Black History aficionado or grrrl hero fan in your life, you can't go wrong with a Friday Foster mug, bag, shirt or other goodie from Atomic Kommie Comics™!

Note: only the comics graphic at top is available on products from us. The poster isn't.