Reading Room VENUS COMICS "Little Man Who Wasn't There!"

What is "real" and what is "fiction"?

That's the basis for this story which would have qualified as "metafictional"...if the word had existed in 1951!

The writer for this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Venus Comics #14 (1951) is unknown.

Pity, since it's a clever little tale...though it would've benefited from being given a couple of additional pages to flesh out why the "creator" decided to suddenly alter the character's personality and actions so radically.

Perhaps the "creator"  in the last panel (artist John Tartaglione) was, himself, being manipulated by a creator who was going insane...

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Monday Madness STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL "Five Sinister Statues"

Does "madness" lie within a tale...

...where the kool Bill Everett-rendered cover illustration doesn't match the interior art by Richard Doxsee?

The statues in this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Tales of the Unusual #11 (1957) resemble Indo-Chinese (Siamese or Laotian) sculptures, unlike the ones on the cover, which look decidedly-Chinese!

Makes you wonder which came first, and how long it was between the cover and the story actually being drawn!

Sadly, we'll never know the answer, since none of the creatives involved are still alive!

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Sin City & Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

It's the 20th Anniversary of Sin City, and the 10th Anniversary of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For...

...but do I really need an excuse to run these kool, rarely-seen pix?

In alphabetical order, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Clive Owen, and Bruce Willis.

And if you can't tell who's who, you're reading the wrong blog, bunkie!

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Sin City & Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

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Space Hero & Heroine Saturdays ALIEN: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY

On our fellow Retroblog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™, we presented the original, 1979 version of the classic movie adaptation graphic novel by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.

Yes, there were comic book and magazine adaptations (You've seen a number of them on Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™), but this was a one-shot trade paperback of all-new material based on a movie!

Officially called Heavy Metal presents ALIEN: the Illustrated Story, it was a major hit for the infant Heavy Metal publishing group spun off from National Lampoon.
And if Ripley, Dallas, Parker, Brett, Kane, and Lambert don't qualify as Space Heroes/Heroines, nobody does!
There's a new edition of this landmark, long-out-of-print, graphic novel, scanned and mastered directly from the original art still in Walt Simonson's possession, and you can order it below...

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Alien: the Illustrated Story

(Remastered)

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Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO "Justin Tyme the World's Best Grocery Clerk in 'Gorilla My Dreams' "

In Japan, manga about people in everyday jobs are quite common...and popular!

Here in America, they're rarely successful, no matter how well-done!

Illustrated (and possibly written) by Charles W Winter (as "C W Winter"), this feature from St John's Abbott & Costello Comics #8 (1949) was Justin Tyme's second, and last, original appearance>
(The story was reprinted later in A&C's run.).
The idea of having to do something silly if you get an incorrect answer on a game show started in radio, and carried over to TV, where it continues to the present day!