Monday, April 23, 2012

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Invisible Death"

The second sci-fi character to use the name Space Ace returns...
...in a tale of greed and avarice on both sides of the conflict!
"..a full pardon for any...er..crimes I may have committed here and there!"
Helluva hero, that Space Ace!
The extremely-Wayne Boring-style art in this tale from Jet #2 (1951) is by little-known artist Lawrence Woromay, whose comics career spanned the 1950s and 1960s and various genres including sci-fi, war and horror.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Design of the Week--Captain Future Logo

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...It's the logo of the hero of Big Bang Theory's Sheldon and Leonard, hanging in a place or honor by the front door of their apartment!
He's the Wizard of Science!
He's been the subject of pulp magazines, comic books, even an anime series!
He's Captain Future, and now you can wear him on shirts, bags, cellphone & e-reader cases, and other kool stuff!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Our Newest Blog...HEROINES!

The female entries at Hero (& Heroine) Histories™ have proven so popular, we've decided to spin-off the women into their own weekly blog.
The first entry features the relatively-unknown character Aurora of Jupiter...
...who only appeared once, in the HTF Captain Rocket #1 (1951)!
Note: We're continuing the ongoing Phantom Lady and Jet Dream strips in Hero (& Heroine) Histories™, but any other femme-oriented material is now slated for Heroines™!

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Friday, April 20, 2012

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Desert Devils"

We jump forward three years in real time and centuries in fictional time...
..to bring you the totally-different, all-new (at the time) Space Ace!
Compare this with the previous version of Space Ace, and you'll really see the differences!
And people bitch about Marvel and DC's now-constant rebooting of their characters!
It's been going on since comics began, just not on such a large scale!
After the last Space Ace strip in Manhunt #7 (1947), the name was revived for a new strip appearing in a new sci-fi themed title...Jet #1 (1950), with few elements (like the Mars colony setting) retained, but moved several centuries further into the future, and with a new, freelance crimefighter instead of a policeman with sidekick.
And, you'll note the almost-medieval clothing and armor most of the colonists now wear and buildings that look like stone castles, as opposed to the high-tech garb and structures in the previous tale!
They also decided to  play up the fact that humans would be almost super-human under Mars' lower gravity, resulting in some very Superman-esqe panels!
Speaking of Superman, the extremely-Wayne Boring-style art is by little-known artist Lawrence Woromay, whose comics career spanned the 1950s and 1960s and various genres including sci-fi, war and horror.
But this version of Space Ace wouldn't even last as long as his predecessor!
His next (and last) appearance will be presented Monday.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Harp of Death"

This is the last story of the first of three incarnations of Space Ace by the same publisher...
...none of whom have any relation to the 1980s video game character!
While it's not confirmed as to who wrote the tale from Manhunt #7 (1947), it's clearly illustrated by Fred Guardineer, creator of numerous Golden Age characters including Zatara, Tor the Magician (both of whom spoke their incantations backwards), Blue Tracer, Alias the Dragon, and Moon-Man.
This 1930s-40s Buck Rogers-style character ran in the first seven issues of Magazine Enterprises' Manhunt anthology comic, which featured law enforcement officers past, present, and future.
As of #8, Ace was replaced by a Western hero, Trail Colt, and the ManHunter of the 21st Century wouldn't be seen for a couple of years.
When he did reappear, he was (literally) a new man...as we shall see tomorrow...

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Emergency

Due to an emergency regarding construction of our new bathroom, there's no post today.
Be back tomorrow,  I hope.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Reading Room: PUSSYCAT "Madly Mirthful Misadventures of a Lively Little Lass!"

If Austin Powers had a sister in the Swingin' 60s, she would have been...
...our favorite, funtastic, femme Agent of S.C.O.R.E.!
This tale originally appeared in Male Annual #4 (1966), but this is from the one-shot PussyCat (1968) that reprinted her stories from the various "laddy" magazines published by Martin Goodman, who also owned Marvel Comics at the time.
The writer is officially-unknown, but the scripter is probably Stan Lee or Larry Lieber, and the artist is pretty clearly good-girl legend Bill Ward with inking by Bill Everett.

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Monday, April 16, 2012

Francesco Francavilla's the Black Beetle Cometh...

Our old friend, Francesco Francavilla, has a new series out this week...
...with a decidedly retro-kool flair!
Note that the cover above is one of two for the anthology title Dark Horse Presents #11.
But, of course, we'd want the Black Beetle cover...

Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Battle of Riverdale!

All is not peaceful in Riverdale...
Art by Mark Matcho
...as fighting among the second generation of owners of Archie Comics hits new highs in nastiness even as Archie Andrews and his ensemble hit new heights in popularity, as seen in a feature New York Times article HERE!
(Ironically, I was on-staff at the only other family-run comics company, Harvey Comics, during their final collapse and dissolution in 1988-91, and while it didn't hit quite the levels seen in this article, it was lively as the children of the three founding brothers fought and squabbled among themselves while the staff [myself included] kept our heads low and produced the books.)
Read the article, it's wild!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

YouTube Wednesday on Saturday: TItanic on the TIME TUNNEL!

The pilot episode of the short-lived Time Tunnel (1966) featured...The Titanic!
 ...with guest star Michael Rennie (Klatuu in the original Day the Earth Stood Still) as Captain Edward Smith!
 There's lots of Titanic miniature footage but there's debate as to whether it's from 20th Century Fox's Titanic (1953) or Rank's A Night to Remember (1958)

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Rennie had performed the previous year on another Irwin Allen series, Lost in Space, in the series' only two-parter "The Keeper", as the title character!
It's two of the best episodes during the show's first season, before it went to color and became the "Will & Dr Smith & Robot" show!
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Friday, April 13, 2012

Reading Room: HAND OF FATE "Night of Friday the 13th"

For centuries, this date was 24 hours of sheer terror...
...amazingly, there are relatively few comic stories about it, and most of them are humor tales!
But not this one...
This bit of pre-Comics Code fun is from Hand of Fate #22 (1954), illustrated by Lou Cameron, who did over 200 stories and covers in every conceivable genre during his time in the comic book business!
His best-known work is a number of genre tales for Classics Illustrated including War of the Worlds, Time Machine, and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde!
He gave up illustrating and became a Western novel and non-fiction writer.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

The Titanic!

Exactly one hundred years ago...DISASTER!
From Funny Pages #V2N3 (1937), this is the first of a number of comic book features and stories about the legendary tragedy, probably written and drawn by unknown creators who were probably children or teens when it occurred 25 years earlier!
The quality's not great because this is a scan from microfiche rather than a printed page, but it's a historically-important piece of pop culture, so...
BTW, I've never seen a copy of this comic book that wasn't "slabbed" (encased in lucite!).

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Obama...Uhura, Uhura...Obama!

You may agree (or disagree) with his politics...
...but you gotta admit, Barack Obama's got good taste when it comes to women and tv shows!
Read all about it HERE!
Is it just me or is this the happiest President Obama's looked in a long time?

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Reading Room "Heritage of the Titanic"

Who says comics aren't educational?
Bet you didn't know that!
Interestingly, there is speculation that this "fact" was just a piece of made-up publicity by Sarnoff himself.
(He was working at the telegraph station during that period, but may have been the supervisor for the actual telegraph operator.
Records on who-did-what are non-existent, so it's just anecdotal info.)

Regrettably, the writer and artist of this informative piece are unknown.
This one-page feature originally-published in the Ziff-Davis one-shot Captain Fleet (1952) was reprinted twice, in High Adventure #1 (1957) and Top Adventure Comics #1 (1958)
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Monday, April 9, 2012

Mike Wallace (1918-2012) & The Green Hornet

Did you know 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace began on radio as the announcer for...
In 1941, a young announcer named Myron Wallace was working on a number of programs at WXYZ in Detroit, including handling narration on several live shows including The Green Hornet, as heard in this episode "Murder Across the Boards" from 7/5/41. (click HERE or the title to open and listen to the complete episode!)
Oddly, while the actors aren't identified on-air, the announcer (Wallace) is!
BTW, though it's believed Wallace also did occasional announcing duties on the Hornet's grand-uncle's show, The Lone Ranger, he never did!
Did Britt Reid's thrilling exploits inspire Mike Wallace to become a hard-hitting reporter?
The answers are in the ether...

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Art by the legendary Walt Kelly
Time for our annual Feast of the Marshmallow Peeps and the Devouring of the Chocolate Bunnies (always start with the ears)!

Our thanks to all of you who ordered goodies from Atomic Kommie Comics™ line of retro-design collectibles in our Exciting Easter section!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Bunny, James Bunny

With a new James Bond movie (SkyFall)coming soon and Easter tomorrow...
...why not combine the two with James Bond hightlights as performed by animated bunnies...
Much MORE Bunny action HERE!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Apologies

Hectic day dealing with some major problems, so I couldn't post today.
Will return tomorrow...

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Reading Room: SAGAS OF THE SEA "Titanic"

With the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic coming up...
...we thought it appropriate to present one of the surprisingly-few comic book versions of the sad tale of the "unsinkable" super-ship!
This tale from Seven Seas Comics #2 (1946), illustrated by Robert Webb, is derived from newspaper accounts of the disaster.
Seven Seas Comics was the longest-lasting of Leader Publications/Universal Phoenix Features' titles, publishing six issues of high-quality work by such notables as Matt Baker, Alex Blum, and a pre-EC Comics Al Feldstein!
The main feature was South Seas Girl, a jungle-girl strip featuring superb Good Girl art by Baker!
Robert Webb is best-known as one of the primary artists on the long-running Sheena: Queen of the Jungle for Fiction House.
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