Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "Lost Kingdom of Athala"

Here's a tale that would make a great "popcorn" CGI action flick!
It's hokey, doesn't make much sense, but boy, it's loaded with action and it looks great!
Written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Joe Orlando & Wally Wood, and inked by Wood, this fast-paced story from Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951), would make a great Saturday afternoon flick, thanks to current state-of-the-art special effects!
EXTRA: Here's the b/w inside cover for this issue, which featured an illustrated preview of all the stories in the issue by Wally Wood.
Note the heavy use of "craftint" texturing which Wood used to create a distinctive "look" for his art...
The script was re-used, almost verbatim, in 1970 by Eerie Publications, but the artwork for the retelling was nowhere near as good.
You'll see that version on Thursday!

Monday, July 18, 2022

Monday Maternity Madness MAD "Mad's All-Inclusive Do-It-Yourself Abortion Newspaper Story"

With minor updating, this never-reprinted two-page feature...
...written by long-time contributor Frank Jacobs from EC's MAD Magazine #324 (1994) could be used today!
Sad, isn't it?

Sunday, July 17, 2022

The RetroBlogs Summer Blogathon Kicks Serious Butt...

...with the OOP Street Fighter: the Battle for Shadaloo (1995) comic adaptation beginning on Sunday at...
Secret Sanctum of Captain Video
...and continuing Monday at...
Pop Art Martial Arts

Don't Miss It
or M Bison will be really pissed at you!
(And you don't want that!)

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Space Hero Saturdays SPACEHAWK "and the Uncanny Underwater Tank!"

As we saw last time, SpaceHawk was reassigned by Uncle Sam himself to protect Earth......specifically, the United States of America, from harm...as you can tell from the strip's new sub-head!






Here's where the problem begins!
It's clear the underwater tank's crew are unfamiliar with rocket ships!
But the SpaceHawk strip was set in the future, where the entire solar system (including Earth) utilized advanced technology!
The previous story offered no indication that SpaceHawk was in the 1940s instead of his own time, but this tale from Novelty's Target Comics V2N3 (1941), showing an American fleet of battleships with smoke-spewing engines, and crewmen of an underwater tank who don't know about rockets, is a pretty clear indication our Space Hero is now in the "present day" (1940)!
BTW, the fact the underwater tank exists isn't proof the series is still in the future!
Pop culture (including comics, pulps, movies, and radio shows) showed both the Allies and Axis using advanced weaponry during WWII (as shown HERE and HERE)! 
In review the remaining SpaceHawk tales, we see our hero remains Earthbound for the remainder of the run, thus, he's no longer a "Space Hero"!.
So it is with a heavy heart that we'll be discontinuing his adventures after one final appearance two weeks from now!
But why are we waiting?
Be here in two weeks to see!
X

Friday, July 15, 2022

Friday Fun TOM CAT COMICS "Dog Daze"

It's hard to believe the Comics Code Authority OKed this rather violent and vicious tale!
But, apparently, having "funny" animals do it to each other renders the violence acceptable!
The identities of the writer and artist(s) of this tale from Charlton's Tom Cat Comics #4 (1956) have been lost to the mists of time, which may be just as well...