Friday, October 30, 2009

Mars Attacks! LIVES!!!

It's almost Halloween, and, in a fit of nostalgia, I searched the Net for Mars Attacks. (I worked for Topps when the movie came out!)
Imagine my surprise to discover...thirteen years since the movie played (all too briefly) in theatres, the Mars Attacks movie website is STILL up!
If you want to see a classic example of pre-Web 2.0 site-making, have a look!
It's retro-kool!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Design of the Week--The Cartoon Crimes of BIG TOWN!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
One of the coolest of our vintage Big Town / Illustrated Press designs is this one, showing the staff cartoonist illustrating a plot to kill the newspaper's racket-busting editor! (Why they couldn't just write it down is beyond me, but it makes for a great visual, eh?)
Note: the art is by the legendary Gil Kane (BlackMark, Green Lantern, Warlock, Spider-Man, etc.), who apparently used himself as the model for the artist!

Makes a great birthday or holiday gift for the graphic artist or art student in your life! (Not that we're suggesting they should plot to cause the demise of anyone..)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

I'm Mooning over Moon Girl!

She was the princess of a far-off land, come to America after winning an athletic tournament!
She was super-strong, near-invulnerable, and could fly for short distances!
Equipped with exotic weaponry, she battled evil and constantly rescued her non-super powered boyfriend!
And, she wore a red-yellow-blue costume with a revealing top and VERY short blue shorts!
Sounds like Wonder Woman, doesn't it?
But, it's NOT!
It's MOON GIRL!
"WTF!!!" you may exclaim! "Who's 'Moon Girl'?"
Well, I'll tell you...
A young European aristocrat, known to all as Moon Girl or Princess of the Moon, is told of her family's legacy of woman warriors who can only marry men who defeat them in battle. She is also given a magic jewel (a moonstone) which enhances her already-considerable athletic abilities.
When Prince Mengu from an adjacent kingdom is smitten by the beautiful princess, he attempts to win her hand by defeating her in combat.
Good luck, Chuck!
She kicks his arse, but is herself smitten by his studliness.
Having learned Mengu went to America to get over his failure and heartbreak, she followed him to a private school where he took a teaching job under the name Lionel Manning. Moon Girl assumed the name Claire Lune, got another teaching job at the same school and reunited with Mengu / Lionel.
She agreed to help him toughen up in order to win her, and the two together romped around the city in matching tights getting exercise by battling evil menaces from gangsters to giant robots! (Beats doing laps at the gym!)

The origin tale you just read about was a backup story in the humor comic The Happy Hooligans #1. After another appearance in another humor comic, Moon Girl was given her own title.
That comic book was originally called Moon Girl & the Prince.
As of #2, it became just Moon Girl as Prince Mengu disappeared from all but the lead story in each issue.
When #7 came out, it became Moon Girl Fights Crime, the Prince was gone entirely, and the backups became true-crime tales narrated by Moon Girl. The lead stories were still Moon Girl adventures.
Two issues later (#9), the book became a romance title, A Moon, A Girl, Romance! (The final Moon Girl story appeared in the back.)
Finally, as of #13, the book shifted gears into science fiction and became Weird Fantasy!
Curiously, though almost all of EC's output over the years has been reprinted in both comic and book form, AFAIK, Moon Girl has yet to appear, except as a footnote in Weird Fantasy reprints!

Well. Atomic Kommie Comics™ is here to fill the void!

While we're not reprinting the comics (the copies we have are slabbed), we ARE offering some kool collectibles with two of Moon Girl's best covers emblazoned on them!
And if the demand is great enough, we'll offer the other six, as well!

Get in on the ground floor with Moon Girl...before she kicks YOUR butt!