Reading Room RADIO BOY "Part 1"

Here's a never-reprinted 1987 manga/anime spoof...

...in, of course, glorious black and white!

Manga (and its' Korean counterpart, mahnwa) seem "weird" when colorized.

To be concluded and finished...Thursday!

Loosely-based on Osamo Tesuka's Astro Boy, which had achieved success as a translated anime in the early 1960s and opened the door for a flood of Japanese cartoons on American TV that continues to this day.

Note: Though Astro Boy is best-known in the US as a tv cartoon series, it began as a wildly-successful manga in 1954.

The premise of Radio Boy is that the creator himself did the translations for this edition, resulting in a mish-mash of syntax and tenses as well as some literal translations of Japanese phrases.

As a collector of foreign videos (including Japanese and Chinese DVDs), I can attest that the English subtitles on them often do read like the captions and copy in this spoof.

I suspect writers Chuck Dixon (yes, that Chuck Dixon) and Jim Engel had also seen some mis-translated films/videos, and wanted to re-create the experience on the printed page.

Please Support
Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Manga

the Complete Guide

Monday Mars Madness STRANGE ADVENTURES "Science-Fiction Convention on Mars!"

You gotta ask: how can three of the best creatives of the Silver Age of Comics...

...make such an exciting concept so dull?

Writer Gardner Fox, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Joe Giella (together and separately) produced some of the koolest tales of the Silver Age!

Yet, this story from DC's Strange Adventures #73 (1956) almost put me to sleep!

The premise is great, the concepts are well-thought out, but the rendering of it is...well...drab!

Why aren't the Martians more visually-interesting?

They're just bald guys!

Couldn't they be using disguises (either masks or holograms) while on Earth and then reveal themselves to be Martians when the convention-goers arrive on Mars?

It's not like penciler Gil Kane has any problem with rendering kool-looking humanoid aliens, as shown HERE!

And would it have killed them to give the creatives an extra page?

Jamming in all that exposition into the last page really limited Gil into what he could present.

(Remember, DC worked "full script", so Kane knew how much room the captions and dialogue balloons needed to take!)

Using two pages for that last sequence would've helped enormously!

And what about the weird rays that destroy any spaceships?

Natural?

Artificial?

We'll never know...

In comparison, this tale from Dell's Four Color #1288: Twilight Zone has a less-epic, but much more "fun" feel to it!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Showcase Presents

Strange Adventures

Volume 1

(which reprints this tale...but in black and white)

HOLY CAMP CLASSICS!!! Are You Ready for the Next RetroBlog Blogathon Entry?

Go back 55 years when BatMANIA swept the country, and join us as we relive...

...a Batman adventure unlike any other!

Scripted by pulp/paperback/comic book writer William Woolfolk under the pen-name "Winston Lyons", it's a fascinating mash-up of the TV and comic versions of the Caped Crusader, Robin the Boy Wonder,  and a trio of arch-villains!

You might note that The Riddler (who was the TV Batman's premiere nemesis, isn't in the story.

That's because the book was written before the show aired, and the Prince of Puzzles had appeared in only three comics stories before 1966!
He wasn't considered a major nemesis by comics fans or creators until after the show began!
Start the adventure now by clicking HERE!

Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Meteor Menace" Part 1

Who would've thought that this never-reprinted, lost comic series classic appeared in...

...of all things, Buster Brown Comic Books?

THEY BLEW UP YANKEE STADIUM!!!

Of course, it's actually Yankee Stadium II, but readers in 1952 didn't know that...

Be here next

Saturday

for the planet-shattering (literally) conclusion!

(One spoiler...the Space Siren doesn't destroy any more historic stadiums!

Relieved?)

This short-lived series (only five stories) ran in Buster Brown Comic Book, a free giveaway anthology comic published quarterly from 1945 to 1956 to promote Buster Brown Shoe Stores.
Strips ran anywhere from three to twenty-four issues.
Since there were no letters pages, there's no way to tell how the popularity of the series was judged.

This tale in BBCB #28 (1952), written by Hobart Donovan and drawn by Ray Bailey, is the premiere, setting up the premise quickly and efficiently, adapting elements from various other space opera series including Buck Rogers and Space Patrol, and getting to the action post-haste.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Disaster Averted...

 ...but no time for a post today!
We WILL be back on Saturday!
Promise!