Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Holiday Reading Room: EVERY DAY IS A HOLLY DAY: "Independence Day"

From 1956, here's a never-reprinted tale from a unique comic...
...produced to promote, of all things, sugar!
Why is the Brevity, Inc comic entitled "Every Day is a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day is a Holiday"?
Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!
Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day"), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!
We'll be presenting the other chapters on the dates they fall upon.
Watch for them!

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Monday, July 3, 2023

Monday Mars Madness MARS ATTACKS "Saucers Blast Our Jets"

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Wally Wood, Bob Powell, and Norm Saunders

...the inhabitants of Mars decide to invade the Earth.
They send an armada of flying saucers who promptly destroy satellites (both manned and unmanned), then attack a military base!
but the fun's only starting...
Sadly, we never got to see our country's capitol immolated, since this was the final issue of the series!
This advertisement from the back cover is all the public ever saw of the next two issues!
The artist round-robin continued with this issue as John Hebert illustrates what turns out to be the series' swan-song!
With the similarity in art style, Hebert might have been the previous issue's "John Green", but there's no way to verify that theory!

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Sunday, July 2, 2023

The RetroBlog Summer Blogathon Begins with Tales of TWO Shadows!

When You Think of The Shadow...

...this is how you envision him, right?

Well, in the 1960s, Jerry (Superman) Siegel re-envisioned him for Archie Comics!
Oddly enough, this was a year before the campy Batman TV series debuted, so it wasn't done in response to the ensuing "Bat-Mania", as many today believe!
And, for heavens sake, who came up with the blue/purple and green color scheme?
Note: the first two issues of the comic...
...written by Robert Bernstein and illustrated by John Rosenberger, hewed much closer to the then-new Shadow paperback novels put out by Belmont Books which the guys who owned Archie Comics also owned (talk about "corporate synergy")...
...and put him squarely in the world of secret agents/spies popularized by James Bond books and movies!
But the book took an abrupt turnabout with the third issue, as Jerry Siegel and artist Paul Reinman took over the title for the remainder of the run!
Note: Siegel and Reinman also assumed creative duties on the entire Archie superhero line which included Adventures of the Fly/Fly-Man/Mighty Comics and Mighty Crusaders!
Join us tomorrow at...

...as we begin our weekly re-presentation of these never-reprinted comic (and comical) curiosities!
But wait!
There's more!
Each week, the day after the conclusion of the 1960s Shadow story, go to...
Crime and Punishment
...to see never-reprinted tales from The Shadow's 1970s DC run!
Compare and contrast, True Believer!

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN VIDEO "Dark Side of the Moon" Part 1

Captain Aero and Captain Midnight were not the only "captains" to journey into outer space!

Ed Norton's idol, TV's first Space Hero, takes on evil wherever it threatens Mankind, even the Moon!
From Fawcett's Captain Video #5 (1951)...

To Be Concluded...
NEXT SATURDAY!

Pencils by George Evans, inks by Martin Thall!
Sadly, the writer is unknown!
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Friday, June 30, 2023

Friday Fun YAK YAK "Hysterical Historical Quizzical Quiz"

Since it's the 4th of July weekend...
...we thought we'd go with a post with a historical theme and let writer/artist Jack Davis test your knowledge with this (astonishingly) never-reprinted feature from the first appearance of Yak Yak in Dell's Four Color Comics #1186 (1961)!
So, how did you do?

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