Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "I Was Stranded in Space"

In 1959, one of the hot shows on TV was a new sci-fi/fantasy anthology series called Twilight Zone...

...which specialized in surprise endings, turning everything topsy-turvy at the climax, much like this never-reprinted short story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959)

Probably written by either Stan Lee or his brother Larry Lieber and illustrated by Joe Sinnott, the tale's not bad, but the over-written explanations in the last few panels make the city's residents seem like a bunch of sadistic, smug SOBs...

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

BARSOOM! (You call it "Mars")

He's 110 years old, but not only was he the basis for a recent big-budget sci-fi / fantasy film, his multi-volume high-adventure saga is the inspiration for almost every major space opera in print or on-screen since his debut in 1911*!
He's John Carter!

The first pulp adventure/scientific romance series created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (predating Tarzan by several months). the six-part serial "Under the Moons of Mars" detailed how soldier-of-fortune John Carter, mortally-wounded by Indians while prospecting for gold in 1870s Arizona, somehow projects his consciousness to Mars, where it is reincarnated in a body identical to his Earthbound form.

BTW, Burroughs suggests that Carter (on Earth) was immortal.
In the opening pages of "Under the Moons of Mars", the author reveals that Carter can't remember his childhood, having always been a man of about thirty years old.
Generations referred to him as "Uncle Jack," but he always lived to see all the members of the families grow old and die, while he remained young.

In Mars' lesser gravity, Carter's normal-human strength is, literally, superhuman!

He can lift over a ton, and can leap over a quarter of a mile!

And, yes, he can breathe, because the Barsoomians operate atmosphere-generating facilities bringing the oxygen content of the air to near-Earth levels.

He rescues and falls in love with the beautiful princess of the city/state Helium, Dejah Thoris, and joins with her in battling tyrannical enemies in a world filled with hidden cities, exotic creatures, and advanced technology (sometimes disguised as "magic").

It's the prototypical "high adventure" series, and its' concepts and tropes can be found in most later sf/fantasy from Flash Gordon to Captain Future to Star Wars.

Probably because of heavy special-effects requirements, there were no film or tv adaptations of John Carter stories until 2009, when a low-budget direct-to-video version of A Princess of Mars was released.

Legendary animator Bob Clampett attempted to produce an animated version in 1936, going so far as to produce an illustrated bible and test footage. But no studio wanted to bankroll the project, believing "realistic" animation wouldn't sell. Several years later, the Fleischer Studio produced the classic Superman cartoons, proving them wrong.

Kerry Conran had just finished the first all-CGI movie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and wanted John Carter of Mars to be his next project!

You can read about the regrettable fate of Clampett and Conran's attempts HERE!

With public interest in Mars peaking over the past year, Atomic Kommie Comics™ feels it's the right time to re-present some of the best art of past versions of Barsoom and John Carter and offer our fans the chance to acquire collectibles in our Martians! Martians! Martians!™  collection including mugs, t-shirts, and an Art of Barsoom 2022 12-Month Calendar!featuring comic book and pulp magazine art!

With Christmas coming, any of our collectibles combined with one of the books, comics, or dvd/blu-ray as a gift set would make a great Christmas present for the pop-culture/high adventure/sci-fi fan in your life!
(Hey, everybody else is already promoting Christmas gifts!)
For the remainder of November, we'll be presenting never-reprinted John Carter/Barsoom comic stories!
Don't miss them!

*Though The All-Story magazine the first chapter of "Under the Moons of Mars" appeared in is cover-dated February, 1912, the magazine was actually on sale in November-December 1911. 

Cover-dating fiction magazines (including pulps and comic books) 3-4 months ahead of the actual release date was standard practice until the 1990s.

SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Headless Horseman Rides Again" Cover

Here's the cover from the never-reprinted 1973 story we ran this week HERE and HERE...

...and here's the original art by penciler Gil Kane and inker Ernie Chua aka Ernie Chan!

Bonus: here's the Gil Kane layout that Chua/Chan lightboxed to produce the final art!

The creative process is an absolutely beautiful thing, eh?

Happy Halloween!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Stranded on the Sands of Mars"

Since it's Halloween Eve we're offering a preview of our next Saturday feature...

...this strip, which was the first of numerous unrelated series in various media to use the title "Space Patrol", including three different TV series!

Nobody could combine horror and sci-fi like Wolverton...as we showed HERE!

The multi-talented Basil wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this wild tale from Amazing Mystery Funnies #23 (1940).

I'd love to see someone animate these classics of surreal storytelling.

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Creeping Death from Neptune

Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton

Volume One

Friday Fun MADHOUSE "Going-Going-Real Gone!"

What if Casper the Friendly Ghost was a middle-aged specter...

 ...encountering live teen "hep cats"?

This tale takes the concept to a literally-surreal level!

BTW, see how many pop-culture references you can understand without Googling them!

The Iger Comics Studio produced this tale for Ajax-Farrell's MadHouse V1N4 (1954), showing teen/young adult hipsters/hepcats encountering ghosts (apparently of middle-aged/older people) who didn't realize their attempts at creating ugly art and terrifying music resulted in cutting-edge popular culture!

When MAD became a surprise hit in 1953 (after the early issues lost money!) other comics publishers were quick to jump onto the bandwagon, eventually bringing out more than a dozen imitations with titles like FLIP, WHACK!, NUTS, EH!, UNSANE!, MADHOUSE/BUGHOUSE, and GET LOST!

These copiers realized that Will Elder’s cluttered “chicken fat” layouts were a major part of MAD’s success, and their pages were also densely-packed with all sorts of outlandish and bizarre gags!

Trivia: While most companies (like Ajax/Farrell) published just a single MAD imitation title, Atlas (the predecessor to Marvel) dove head-first into the fad, with no less than four titles, Snafu, WILD, RIOT, and Crazy!

These “parody comics” are uniquely 1950s catching the popular culture zeitgeist through a dual lens: not only reflecting '50s culture through parody but also being typical examples of that culture...ironically, in a way that MAD wasn't!

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The Sincerest Form of Parody

The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics