Monday, January 16, 2023

Monday Madness FLYING SAUCERS x FOUR #3 "I Know the Secret of the Flying Saucer!"

Last Monday, Jack Kirby demonstrated why he was THE KING...
...now Spider-Man co-creator "Sturdy" Steve Ditko shows us his unique approach to the same plot!
Presented in the back of Atlas' (later Marvel'sTales of Suspense #11 (1960), this Stan Lee/Steve Ditko collaboration takes the twice-told tale (as we showed you HERE and HERE) and adds Ditko's more personal/less cosmic storytelling approach, playing up emotions of wonder and fear, taking the story closer to its' horror comic origins...but without the devouring of humans.
It's not better or worse, just different.
Next Monday, the final version of the tale...
...from
another
Silver Age stalwart!
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Sunday, January 15, 2023

You'll Just Love...LOVE DIARIES and LOVE LETTERS for Valentine's Day!

Until the intro of messaging apps, blogs, and podcasts, the main way people kept track of their love lives was thru Love Letters and Love Diaries!
In fact, they made up one of the most popular sub-categories of romance comics, with literally dozens of titillating titles!

Let our selection of the best of these these kitchy, campy (and very kool) classic comics covers help you express your true feelings on the Most Important of Days--Valentines Day on greeting cards, teddy bears, mugs, and even "naughty" undies!

And, if they can't assist your love-life, perhaps something from one of our other sections at True Love Comics Tales™ including...
(or is that Love in School?)
...will help get your point across on the Most Important of Days!

Saturday, January 14, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith in the Battle of the Earth Against the Martian Ogres"

One of the longest story titles ever leads into our "When Last We Left Our Hero" synopsis...
...so buckle up your space-safety belts, 'cause now the action is non-stop!
An epic space battle worthy of feature-film treatment in only six pages!
Try doing that in today's comics!
BTW, isn't it odd how these Martians from Fox's Fantastic Comics #2 (1939) don't resemble the ones seen in Space Smith's previous adventure?
Some call Fletcher Hanks the "Ed Wood of comics", but there's no mistaking the sheer imagination behind the primitive art.
>When comic books featuring new material (they were initially comic strip reprints) first appeared in the late 1930s, it was an "anything goes" market as publishers would run whatever they could lay their hands on from both comic strip and pulp magazine professionals and talented (read "cheap") amateurs.
Some, like Siegel & Shuster, Simon & Kirby, and Finger & Kane created what would become American icons.
Others. like Hanks, were like mayflies, briefly appearing...then disappearing, leaving little behind.
Even comics geeks had forgotten about Hanks' material, which sat un-reprinted for over half a century, until Fantagraphics produced a couple of books collecting his work from the various anthologies it appeared in!
We'll be running the entire Space Smith series over the next year, including both Hanks'  work and the later, more conventional tales by others.
Watch for them...
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Friday, January 13, 2023

Friday Fun DIPPY DUCK "Dangerous Dave"

...now here's a short from another such one-shot by Stan and artist Joe Maneely!
Much like Everett did with Marvin Mouse, who looked more like a rat than a mouse, Joe Maneely tried to do a totally "non-Donald" duck!
Sadly, the end result didn't look much like a duck!
The versatile Maneely could do humor, as shown HERE, but this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Dippy Duck #1 (1957) shows even he had his off-days!
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Sincerest Form of Parody

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Reading Room COLOSSUS COMICS "Colossus A.D. 2640" Conclusion

Note; Colossus never wears this garb in the story.
...in 2640, Plantaliens invade the Solar System, heading for Earth.
Meanwhile, Dr. Blitzmann claims to have perfected a growth hormone safe for humans and injects volunteer test subject Richard Zenith with it.
Unfortunately, Blitzman's lab assistant (and daughter) Eve mis-computed the dosage, making it 200 times stronger than planned.
Zenith grows to a height of over 2,000 feet, but the injection has also mentally-unbalanced him.
Proclaiming himself "Colossus", Zenith heads for Urbania, the capital of United Earth (as well as the Tri-Planetary Federation), to make himself the planet's ruler.
Meanwhile, the Plantalien fleet draws closer...
There was no second issue of Colossus Comics.
Pulp magazine company Sun Publications (whose titles included Golden Fleece Historical Adventures and 10-Story Book), abandoned their attempt at a comic book line after publishing this and one other title, Sun Fun Comiks.
Sun Publications went out of business two years later.
According to the blurb at the end of the story, Reinsberg (no first name known) and Bernie Wiest intended a sequel (where, presumably, Colossus would don the armor shown on the cover), but it's unknown as to whether the tale was ever drawn...or even scripted.
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