Read Christmas Comics on Christmas Day!

After You've Opened Your Presents, Enjoy These Yuletide SuperHero Tales...

GIANT SUPERHERO HOLIDAY GRAB-BAG
"Tis the Season..."

CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES
"Plot Against Christmas"

GREEN LAMA
"Turn of the Scrooge"

WITHIN OUR REACH
"Spider-Man in 'A Wolf at the Door"

Merry Christmas!

(We're taking New Year's Day off, but we'll be back to Russkie-Smashing on January 8th!)

Holiday Reading Room WITHIN OUR REACH "Spider-Man in 'A Wolf at the Door' "

Here's a never-reprinted Yuletide classic starring the ol' Web-Head that very few of you have ever seen...

...since it didn't appear in a Marvel comic!

Plotted by David Ross, scripted by Roy and Dann Thomas, and illustrated by by Jeff (Green Hornet) Butler with assists by Gary Kato, this tale appeared in Star*Reach's Within Our Reach (1991), a Christmas charity benefit book with proceeds going equally to AmFAR and Sempervirens.

The cover was by Norm (Batman) Breyfogle, the only time, AFAIK, he's ever professionally-illustrated Spidey!

The book was also Star*Reach Publishing's final project under their own imprint.

The company continued as a packaging studio for various comics publishers through the 1990s.

Holiday Reading Room GREEN LAMA "Turn of the Scrooge"

How does a Buddhist clergyman celebrate Christmas?

Why not sit back with a cup of hot cocoa and find out?

This story from Spark Publications' Green Lama #7 (1946) was scripted by Green Lama creator Kendell Foster Crossen and illustrated by Mac Raboy, using Craftint paper stock to create the line effects.
If the effect looks familiar, it's because a number of artists including Wally Wood, Al Williamson and Reed Crandall used it extensively on their work for EC Comics' Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Weird Science-Fantasy.

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Holiday Reading Room CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES "Plot Against Christmas"

He's not a captain in the Kree starfleet (or his son) or the other, female, Human/Kree Captain...

...or even the Silver Age android who briefly bore the name.

This is the original guy, the one who yelled "SHAZAM!", starring in a Christmas tale about a miser who...well read it for yourself...

This Yultide tale from Fawcett's Captain Marvel Adventures #42 (1945) was illustrated by Pete Costanza with touchups by C C Beck.

The writer, who owed a great deal to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", is unknown.

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Shazam
Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal

Holiday Reading Room GIANT SUPERHERO HOLIDAY GRAB-BAG " 'Tis the Season..."

As your Christmas gift from us this year...

...we offer a never-reprinted story from Marvel Treasury Edition #13 (1976) featuring a slew of superheroes and superheroines...in a tale unseen for two generations!

Segue into a reprint of Marvel Two-In-One #6 (1973) "...as Those Who Will Not See!" featuring Spider-Man and the Thing.

After that, we return to the narrative...

Cue the reprint of Avengers V1N58 (1968)..."Even an Android can Cry!", which features the Vision joining the Avengers!

Then back to the snowball fight...

If you think we're about to do another "flashback" involving a reprint, specifically "He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer!", the Hulk story from Tales to Astonish #93 (1967), you'd be correct, True Believer!

But, after the not-so jolly green giant relives the adventure in his head...

...as a reprint of "Once Upon a Time---the Ox!" from Daredevil #86 (1972) which featured Matt Murdock breaking up with his then-girlfriend Karen Page and hooking up with Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow demonstrated!

Speaking of Natasha...

It's a very cleverly-done "framing sequence" to tie the reprints together.

In fact, it's so clever that, when it was reprinted (in Spanish) in Grandes Herois Marvel #2 (1983)...

...the story was presented as a self-contained tale...without the reprints!

The book used different Yuletide-themed reprints after "'Tis the Season!"!

(So, technically the story was "reprinted", but since it wasn't in English, and my audience is 99.99% English-speaking, I consider it "never-reprinted")

BTW, it did use the Treasury's front cover by Gil Kane, John Romita, and Joe Sinnott...

...but not the back cover...which we present here!

And, just to show you our hearts are filled with the Joy of the Season, here's the inside covers, which feature new John Romita/Frank Giacoia art...

Don't say we never gave ya nothin'!

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

To paraphrase what they say at the end of the James Bond movies...

Hero Histories WILL Return...

Can you fit a not-so-jolly Green Giant under your evergreen?

Pre-dating the "Ho-Ho-Ho-ing" frozen vegetable spokesman by over a decade, a radically-different, costumed, Green Giant appeared in (what else?) Pelican Publications' Green Giant Comics #1 (and only) in 1940!

The emerald hero was secretly Mr. Brentood (no first name given in the tale), who beat Marvel's Henry Pym at the size-changing game with a costume which enabled him to grow to between 15-150 feet (depending on who illustrated the story)!

Less than a dozen copies of this incredibly-rare comic, which was distributed only in the New York City area, and valued at several thousand dollars each, are thought to still exist!
But you, dear reader, can peruse his one (and only) story HERE!

Atomic Kommie Comics™ has incorporated him into the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, in the Solo Heroes section, where characters with only one cover available to us (at the moment) go!
If you're looking for a retro-style Christmas gift for a Golden Age of Comics fan in your life, why not bundle one (or more) of our Green Giant goodies with the Project SuperPowers hardcover or trade paperback for a kool, kollectible present?
It's what I'd want, if I didn't already have it! (one of the few perks of working here) ;-)

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Project SuperPowers

Fly the Yuletide Skies with--SKY WIZARD!

In the 1940s, superheroes were the primary genre in both comic books and pulp magazines.
The skies and streets of pop fiction were filled with people in capes, cowls, leotards, or some combination thereof.
And, of course, a superhero had to have a super-power or gimmick that would set him (or her) apart from the crowd.
Which leads us to our feature character today...
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™thought highly-enough of Sky Wizard that we added him to the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ lineup without hesitation!
Why?
1) He's "the Master of Space"! Catchy, eh?
2) He's a scientific genius! (Funky weaponry and modes of transport a speciality!)
3) He can't make up his mind about what costume to wear!
He wore a different costume in each of his four cover appearances!
No fashion victim he! (And you thought Marvel's Janet Van Dyne-Pym and Henry Pym had bulging wardrobes!)
4) He appeared in Miracle Comics! ("...and if it's a good comic, it's a Miracle! Thank you! We'll be here thru Sunday! Try the veal...")
With a name like that, you know we had to find a spot for him, and his book, in our kitchy lineup!
So, if you're looking for a unique, Golden-Age superhero-oriented gift (shirt, mug, blank sketchbook) for your pop-culture craving sweetie, you can't go wrong with a Sky Wizard gift under the tree (or maybe above it)!