Saturday, February 10, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB "Death of the H-Bomb!"

When an atomic bomb launched from the Moon hits Earth, the Atomic Sub is hastily-converted to an atomic spaceship.
The Atomic Commandos journey to the Moon, where they discover a race of humanoids angry at Earthmen since other Earthmen (specifically Russians) built an atomic missile base there, killing curious lunar inhabitants who tried to communicate with them!
Sentenced to death by the leader of the Moon Men, the unarmed Commandos face a huge lizard, while the sub is about to be destroyed by atomic plasma fire!
However, aboard the sub is a young "Become a Junior Atomic Commando Contest" winner...who's developed a telepathic transmitter/receiver!
Whatta guy!
So now the kid's a full-time member of the Atomic Commandos.
Has anybody told his parents???
This never-reprinted tale from ACG's Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub #3 (1954) was produced by series creators Richard Hughes (writer) and Sheldon Moldoff (illustrator).
A minor plot point: Submarines are designed to keep intense exterior water pressure from crushing them.
Spacecraft are designed to keep pressurized atmosphere from escaping outward into the vacuum of space.
Since their structures perform totally-different functions, they would be all but useless outside of the environments they were specifically-built to withstand!
Yeah, I know these stories were written for 8 to 14 year-olds, but still, that's no reason to be scientifically-illiterate!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Friday, February 9, 2024

Friday Football Fun BABE "and the Chicago Crushers Football Team..." Conclusion

...she was demonstrating her proficiency on the gridiron!
One of writer/artist Boody Rogers' wildest creations, Babe: the Darling of the Hills, was another hillbilly series "inspired" by the phenomenal success of Al Capp's Li'l Abner!
Babe Boone derived her abilities from "lightning juice" which was fermented from the bark of trees struck by lightning!
When it and Rogers' other ongoing series, Sparky Watts, were cancelled, Boody retired from commercial art and comics, opening a pair of art supply stores!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Conquered Earth"

Ever wonder if Steve Ditko could do Jack Kirby-style epic star-spanning storytelling?
Well, wonder no more, True Believer!
Illustrated by Ditko, written, most likely, by Joe Gill, this tale was tucked in the back of Charlton's Out of This World #4 (1957), which featured three Ditko-rendered stories out of four tales!
Ah, those were the days...
When the story was reprinted in Charlton's Space War #31 (1978), it was finally cover-featured, with the cover for a different (and still never-reprinted) Ditko-illustrated tale...
...which we re-presented a couple of days ago, as shown HERE!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WOLFF "Manuscript of Rep-Tah"

...(except for Thundarr) rescued from wolves by a woman who calls herself GaladraWolff joins her on a quest...
From New England Library's Dracula #6 (1972), the Luis Gaska (aka Sadko) & Estaban Maroto series just gets weirder and even somewhat psychedelic!
It also looks like somebody lost track of who's who!
Galadra looks remarkably like Rulah, who enchanted Wolff, turning him into a werewolf!
Was it a error by translator Laurence James? 
(The original version of this story was in Spanish!)
Note: this tale concludes the six Wolff stories included in Warren's Dracula TPB.
The remainder of Wolff's adventures were never published in America, but we'll be presenting them here over the next few weeks.
BTW, here's the cover to this issue by Enrique Torres (aka Enrich) using horror icon Barbara Steele as Rulah/Galandra!
If his style looks familiar, he did a lot of covers for Warren Magazines in the 1970s!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Reading Room STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES "One Last Chance"

A never-reprinted, Ditko-rendered, Silver Age tale...
...is the sort of thing we delight in presenting to our blog's loyal fans!
I rather like the idea that the protaganists will never know if they succeeded in saving the future...or inadvertently destroyed it!
Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories V3#2 (1968) was written entirely by Steve Skeates, though the stories in the anthology were illustrated by different artists.
Apparently editor Dick Giordano had planned to allow a single writer to carry each issue, with Denny O'Neil penning all the stories in the first issue and Skeates scripting the the tales in the second one.
Giordano's departure to DC scuttled the concept, and from the third issue onward, a variety of writers would fill the pages.
BTW, though the tale was never reprinted, the cover was...
...to represent a different Ditko-illustrated story reprint in Charlton's Space War #31 (1978)!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...