Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Election Day 2023 Remember...YOUR VOTE IS VITAL!!!

And there came a day unlike any other day, when heroes banded together to battle a menace so overwhelming no single hero could stand against it...
,,,unless not enough of those heroes actually go to vote!
Here's a handy (very) basic guide...
Illustrated by Warren Kremer and Al Avision, this one-shot published by Harvey Comics in 1952 (71 years ago) was offered for only a couple of pennies a copy to anyone who wanted to utilize it to get out the vote!
Amazing how it's both generic and pertinent even decades later!
Note: Out gratitude to the ever-amazing Kracalactaka for the scans of this ultra-rare comic!
Now, unless you want things to stay as they are (or get worse)...if you're over 18 and under 110...

Monday, November 6, 2023

Monday Madness BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Colorama"...Before and After the Comics Code!

One of the most notorious stories in 1950s comics went thru some changes...
Art by Howard Nostrand
 ...when it was reprinted after the Comics Code Authority came into existence!
Actually, the theory that "Black" has all the colors together is true only in printing!
It's called "subtractive color", and when you combine all the inks in four-color printing (CYANMAGENTA, and YELLOW) as solid colors, they DO produce a BLACK effect on the printed page!
However, the effect that light produces when it's reflected from objects around you (or generated from a tv or computer screen) is called "additive color" and when all the colors are added together, they produce WHITE!
But, at the point where this story appeared in Black Cat Mystery #45 (1953), there were no computer screens and what little commercial tv existed was almost totally b/w!

When the story was reprinted in Black Cat Mystery #61 (1958), the Comics Code insisted on some alterations, beginning with the cover...
Art by Bob Powell from Page 1 with additional art by Howard Nostrand
...adapted from the first panel on Page 1, but featuring a character not seen in the story itself, and with the protagonist shown in the rear-view mirror wearing glasses he doesn't wear until the end of the story!
Quite frankly, there's nothing too gross or disgusting about the original cover, so why it wasn't used is unknown...
Page 1 in the reprint is unaltered.
Page 2 has only one minor change; the policeman's less-snarling expression in Panel 5...
There are no changes on Page 3
Page 4, on the other hand, has a major change...the optometrist survives!
And the final page is unchanged.
Script and art are by Golden Age great Bob Powell.
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Sunday, November 5, 2023

November: the Month Betty Boop Returns...

Legendary cartoon character Betty Boop returns to pop culture prominence in a big way...

(Hey, it worked for Little Orphan Annie!)
Photo: Mark Seliger
Starring Broadway veteran Jasmine Amy Rogers as the embodiment of Betty,
the show looks like an absolute hoot!
With award-winning creatives handling writing, directing, and production
(including effects like transitioning the cast and sets from black and white to color on stage), the production should appeal to old (who remember the cartoons) and young, who will be introed to the pop art icon!
As for us, we're turning our "sister" RetroBlog, Heroines, over to Betty for November, beginning tomorrow with Betty's first comic strip...which wasn't really her strip!
(Don't worry, we'll explain tomorrow!)
The week of November 13th, you'll see the appropriately-entitled 1990 one-shot comic...
by comics pros (and major Betty-philes) Leslie Carbaga, Joshua Quaqmire, and Milton Knight!
Finally, starting the day after Boop! the Musical's November 19th premiere, you'll see the first couple of months of Betty's actual comic strip!
Check Out
Heroines!
starting tomorrow
and, if you're in the Chicago area over Thanksgiving, see
Boop! the Musical!

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Peril on Venus!"

Alien "space raider" Jagga had already encountered (and lost to) Earth's greatest defender, Captain Midnight...

...now the Sovereign of the Spaceways is about to encounter the Scoundrel of Space again!
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Writer Otto Binder and artist Leonard Frank continue the battle with Jagga (who's gone from Caucasian skin-tone to grey in his second appearance) in this tale from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #53 (1947).
He'll turn green (though not with envy) in later appearances!
Note that the then-current science of 1947 theorized Venus might, in fact, be habitable.
The idea that Atlanteans would've migrated there centuries earlier, when their continent sank beneath the waves, was unique.

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Friday, November 3, 2023

Friday Fun TRUMP "Toys Realistic in Every Detail!"

Since brick-and-mortar retail stores began running Christmas sales before Halloween...
...we feel we're actually behind schedule running this classic feature about one of the most important aspects of the Yuletide season...TOYS...illustrated by Al Jaffee and likely written by Editor Harvey Kurtzman from Playboy Press' Trump #1 (1957)!
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