Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Reading Room WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Engine That Came Though Time!"

Is it ethical to trick someone...
...if a good result occurs because of that trickery?
Read this tale, then decide!
Was Ranu justified in doing what he did in this tale from Key Publications' Weird Tales of the Future #4 (1952), by illustrator Eugene Hughes and an unknown writer?
You tell me...

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Monday, January 22, 2024

Monday Moon Madness ASTONISHING "Menace from the Moon!"

We're planning to send humans back to the moon in the next few years.
Is that really such a good idea???
OK, this tale from Atlas' Astonishing #5 (1951), written by Hank Chapman and illustrated by Cal Massey is a tad silly.
They claim the ship was lost five years earlier, yet speculate the crew was still alive and coming home?
C'mon, even a kid in the 1950s would find that concept...well...DUMB!!!
(And that's being polite!)

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Sunday, January 21, 2024

Kool Retro Comic Book-Themed Valentine's Day Gifts!

Comics aren't just about spandex-clad heroes and heroines in battles of cosmic import!
They also tell intimate tales of heartbreak and true love, betrayal and redemption, and misery and sheer joy!

With than in mind, Valentine's Day is coming!
And what says "True Love" better than a kool, kitchy gift from TRUE LOVE COMICS TALES™? (Plus, it's both longer-lasting AND cheaper than a dozen roses!)

Choose from over 50 heart-rending designs in categories including...

(The ORIGINAL LonelyHearts Columnist)
(from the 1960s)
(or is that Love in School?)
(from the 1970s)

...on greeting cards, teddy bears, calendars, shirts/tops/intimate wear, diaries, and many other kool kollectibles!

A public service announcement for all lovers and would-be lovers from your BFFs at Atomic Kommie Comics™

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Space Heroine Saturdays GALE ALLEN OF THE WOMEN"S SPACE BATTALION/GIRL'S PATROL/GIRL PATROL

Ever see spaceships with...propellers???

Well, here they are, in the premiere appearance of one of the longest-running Space Heroine strips of the Golden Age!
Gale Allen's introductory tale (by currently-unknown creatives) from Fiction House's Planet Comics #4 (1940) sets the series in an unspecified future where interplanetary travel is accomplished by spaceships with wings and propellers!
My impression is that it was conceived as a "day after tomorrow" war strip, but was re-scripted as a futuristic sci-fi series...without modifying the art to match the script!
Oddly, Fiction House's Planet Comics #5 (1940), with art by Bob Powell, revamps the vehicles to look like spaceships, but turns the strip Earthbound, as an alien invasion force with a foothold in Europe and Africa attempts to conquer the rest of Terra...in the year 1990!
You'll also note an alteration in the second tale of the "balance of power" between the sexes, as a suddenly-competent Jeff Allen rescues Gale!
The next story, in Fiction House's Planet Comics #6 (1940), also illustrated by Bob Powell, ignores the fact the aliens still have the female pilots hostage...
With Blaga Daru (temporarily) imprisoned, the series will take yet another turn, as you'll see in a near-future post!
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(Including Gale Allen!)
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Friday, January 19, 2024

Friday Fun GET LOST! "Robin the Hood"

One of the better-quality MAD comic book clones of the 1950s...

...(and there were a lot of them) was Get Lost, edited and packaged by comic creatives Ross Andru and Mike Esposito!
In case you're wondering why this story from MikeRoss' Get Lost #2 (1954) was about Robin Hood, the answer is that the character was experiencing a revival in popularity due to several feature films, including a Walt Disney flick, The Story of Robin Hood starring Richard Todd, a re-release to theatres of the Errol Flynn swashbuckler classic Adventures of Robin Hood, several other new b-movies, and a new TV series starring Richard Greene as Robin!
Magazine Enterprises gave Robin his own comic book (based on the TV series), Quality Comics did Robin Hood Tales, while DC featured the character in an ongoing strip in Brave and the Bold.
Oddly, Atlas Comics (later to be known as Marvel), who were notorious for jumping on pop culture trends, didn't do anything Robin Hood-related!
As for this particular story, the writer is unknown (but is likely Andru or Esposito),and the artist is versatile illustrator Paul Hodge, who worked for a number of publishers, including Ziff-Davis, St John, Dell, and Atlas during the 1950s until the Seduction of the Innocent "comics cause juvenile delinquency" scandal almost wiped out the comics industry!

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