Monday, November 18, 2024

Russkie-Smashers PLASTIC MAN "Dazzla, Daughter of Darkness!"

Behind this cover by penciler Charles Nicholas and inker Chuck Cuidera...

...lurks a pretty kool tale of Commie menace written and illustrated by Plaz's creator, Jack Cole!
This story appeared in Quality's Plastic Man #53 (1955).
But it's actually a reprint, since the tale first appeared in Quality's Plastic Man #30 (1951).
There's no re-working/re-editing required by the Comics Code as was done to some other Plaz tales such as the one shown HERE!
So why did we run the reprint?
Because the tale wasn't cover-featured during initial publication, but was the second time around!
There is method to our madness!

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Monday, November 11, 2024

NoKo Crushers COMBAT CASEY "Atomic Warfare"

Since it's Veteran's Day...
...let's look at how our comic book military viewed a possible atomic war in the 1950s against the Communist NoKos (aka North Koreans)!
WTF???
Admittedly, in 1954, when Combat Casey #19 was published by Atlas (later Marvel), scientific analysis of actual a-bomb explosions was limited, but I find it hard to believe that this was the cutting-edge of nuclear knowledge as presented in this never-reprinted story by artist Robert Q Sale and an unknown writer!
Then again...maybe it was, as detailed by this legendary character...

Monday, November 4, 2024

Russkie-Smashers CRUSADER FROM MARS "Death in the Soil"

Lars of Mars wasn't the only Jerry Siegel co-created character to battle Russkies!
..There was also this guy, who was the Red Planet's only felon in half a century!
Illustrated by Henry Sharp, and written by editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel, the second story from Ziff-Davis' Crusader from Mars #1 (1952) continues the theme that the major example of "Evil on Earth" Tarka and Zira must battle is Communism!
BTW, isn't it a shame there was never a Lars/Crusader crossover?
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Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju TALES OF SUSPENSE "Power of the Colossus!"

When Last We Left Commie-Crushing Kaiju Colossus...

...the Russkies, unable to stop the rampaging kaiju through "normal"military means, decide to use a nuclear bomb...
Judging by the closing caption, this story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #14 (1961) was apparently meant for Journey into Mystery!
At any rate, it received enough reader response that a sequel appeared in Atlas' Tales of Suspense #20 (1961)...
...though it only involved Commies at the beginning, when they shipped the statue off to America for an international exposition, not realizing the aliens who animated it would return, only to be beaten by good ol' Yankee ingenuity!
BTW, please don't think that Colossus didn't have the cover to himself, but the splash pages were so kool that we didn't want to use them as the post headers as we usually do in multi-part presentations...
Here's Tales of Suspense #14 (note they mis-colored him orange on the cover)...
...and here's the cover (by Herb [Incredible Hulk] Trimpe) from his reprinting in Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #17 (1972)!
A year later, the character, whose reprints had sold better than other issues of MotP, was given a brand-new ongoing series, continuing the storyline from the end of the second appearance!
Since no Communists were involved in any of those tales, we're nor presenting them here!
But, there's one thing we'd like to mention...

Fellow Commie-Clobbering Kaiju Fin Fang Foom made his first new appearance since his original Strange Tales story (which we showed HERE and HERE) over a decade earlier, in the final two issues of Colossus' series!
(Can you tell it was during the Kung-Fu craze of the early 1970s?)
Next Week, We Return to Our Usual Russkie-Smashing Fun!

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Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Commie-Clobbering Kaiju TALES OF SUSPENSE "The Colossus Lives!"

It's a story as old as time.
Sculptor is ordered by evil rulers to create tribute to their "greatness".
Flying saucer crashes nearby.
Alien pilot, seeking shelter until rescue, enters statue to protect itself.
Evil rulers' troops arrive.
Alien, believing they are after him/her/it, lashes out!
As they used to say in TV Guide, "hilarity ensues!"

Things get even wilder when this tale concludes...
TOMORROW!

Plotted by editor Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this cover-featured story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #14 (1961) is prime "giant monster" material...except for a really kool, alliterative name like, say, Fin Fang Foom!
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