Fly the Halloween Skies with Sky Wizard!

In the 1940s, superheroes were the primary genre in both comic books and pulp magazines. The skies seas, 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...
Though he hasn't yet appeared in either Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers (except in a pin-up in the collected edition) or Erik Larsen's Next Issue Project, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™thought 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 birthday or holiday gift (shirt, mug, blank sketchbook) for your pop-culture craving sweetie, you can't go wrong with Sky Wizard!

And, c'mon Alex, stick him in Project SuperPowers (The best Golden Age revival on the market! BUY IT!)!
Of course, then you'll have to decide which costume to put him in! ;-)

How Do You Spell "Adventure"? H-A-Z-Z-A-R-D!!!

Mentioning Airstrip 27 in my recent Green Lama post reminded me of their first revamping of a 1930s-40s pulp character...Captain Hazzard!
An interesting combination of elements from already-established characters: wealthy globe-trotting adventurer with team of aides (Doc Savage or Avenger), training in para-psychic abilities (Green Lama or Shadow) and tendency to kill opponents (Shadow or Spider); Hazzard (he doesn't have a first name as far as I can tell) can also communicate telepathically with his men and senses danger with a forerunner of Spider-Sense, due to the fact he was blinded, sharpened his senses, and then had his eyesight restored thru an experimental procedure, but kept the hightened abilities (Black Bat)!
He faced the "Python Men of Lost City", and...well, that's it!
He only made one appearance!
There was no second issue!
Pity, since he had a lot of potential.
At least he left behind a cool cover, which we've digitally-restored and remastered onto a plethora of products including shirts, mugs, etc. at Capt Hazzard: Adventurer for those with an Indiana Jones/high adventure yearning!
But that's not the end of the story...
Much like Alex Ross has done with old comics characters in Project SuperPowers, noted writer Ron Fortier is reviving the Capt Hazzard pulp series, both with a rewritten version of the original novel "Python Men of the Lost City" and a series of new novels.
The books are linked below, and they'd make a great gift set in conjunction with any of our Captain Hazzard collectibles!

Video Fridays: THE GREEN HORNET in "Crime Wave"

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Friday"...

It's a 1960s version of cybercrime as The Green Hornet faces a computer that can predict his crimes in "Crime Wave",  the fourth broadcast episode! (A neat trick since The Hornet is just pretending to be a criminal!)

There's double-crossing, a couple of elaborately-planned robberies, and a kool all-out fight scene as The Hornet and Kato take on several foes at once!

We also get to see The Black Beauty's built-in gas-guns in operation for the first time!
Side notes:

Despite being computer whizzes, the criminals in this episode can't construct a pistol-sized gas gun like The Hornet, and have to lug a huge canister of knockout gas around with them!
There's a costume party scene where a number of costumes contain elements (helmets, tunics, sidearms) from various Irwin Allen shows (Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)

Enjoy!
Next week: The Green Hornet meets The Shadow! (No lie!)

Ride the Halloween Night with The ORIGINAL Ghost Rider!

He began life in the late 1940s as The Calico Kid, a masked hero whose secret identity was a lawman who felt justice was constrained by legal limitations. (There were a lot of those heroes in comics and pulps of the 40s including our own DareDevil and Blue Beetle!)
But, with masked heroes in every genre doing a slow fade-out after World War II, and both the western and horror genres on the rise, the character was re-imagined in 1949 as comics' first horror / western character!

The Ghost Rider was not a supernatural being.
He wore a phosphorescent suit and cape, making him glow in the dark, appearing as a spectral presence to the (mostly) superstitious cowboys and Indians he faced.
Since the inside of the cape was black, he'd reverse it, and appear in the dark as just a floating head, usually scaring a confession or needed information out of owlhoots.
Note: some covers, like the one here, show the inside of the cape to be white! Chalk it up to artistic license (and face it, it looks damned cool).

BTW, the artistically-astute among you can tell that cover was by the late, legendary Frank Frazetta!
He did several of them, three of which are included in our collection!

In the series' early days the villains were standard owlhoots or, like the Rider, people pretending to be supernatural beings.
That changed around 1952, when he started facing real mystic menaces including Indian spirits, vampires, and even the Frankenstein Monster (though not the one from Prize Comics.)
Unfortunately, it was about this point in time that Dr. Wertham began his crusade against comics in general and horror comics in particular...
By 1954, the Ghost Rider had lost his series. The next year he disappeared entirely.
But, over 50 years later, Atomic Kommie Comics™ brought him back, digitally-restored and remastered on a host of kool kollectibles to go with our other masked Western heroes including The Lone Rider, The Red Mask, The Black Phantom, and The Masked Ranger.

If you're a fan of horror, masked heroes, Westerns, or all three genres, take a long, lingering look at The Ghost Rider!
You'll not see his like again!

"Om Mani Padme Hum!" So Speaks...the Green Lama!

In the 1930s-40s The Shadow was big!
I mean REALLY BIG!
We're talking "Harry Potter"-level popularity here!
Between a bi-weekly magazine (and hardcover reprints), a radio show, b-movies (and a serial), a newspaper comic strip, a comic book, big little books, and lots of collectible merchandise, He Who Knows What Evil Lurks was one of the FIRST multi-media and merchandising phenomenons!
It was inevitable that rich playboy-turned-cloaked avenger imitators would pop up.
Some were obvious and blatant like The Whisperer.
Some were obvious, but had a really distinctive style, like The Spider.
And some were...well...unique, like The Green Lama!

The Green Lama was rich playboy Lamont...I mean Jethro Dumont who spent a decade in a lamasery in Tibet learning how to become a Buddhist priest (or Lama).
This training gave him amazing mental powers including the ability to cloud mens' minds. (This is not to say all Buddhist priests go around doing that sort of thing. Jethro apparently took some extra-credit courses.)
Jethro also picked up radioactive salts which gave him physical enhancements as well, including super-strength and enabling him to fly.
Upon returning to America, Jethro resolved to use his abilities to right wrongs, punish evildoers, and in general, fight crime.
Like The Shadow, who had several other identities besides "Lamont Cranston", Jethro also used the identity of "Dr. Pali" to go places rich playboy Dumont couldn't.
Unlike The Shadow, he never used a gun, instead depending on his mental powers (and, if necessary, his physical prowess) to deal with villains.

That's his fictional "origin".
The creation of The Green Lama in the real-world was a little less exciting.
Experienced pulp writer Kendell Foster Crossen was hired by pulp publisher Munsey Publications to create a character to compete with The Shadow on the newsstands.
He conceived The Green Lama and penned, under the name "Richard Foster", over a dozen tales about him for the Double Detective pulp magazine from 1940 to 1943.
(While The Lama was always the cover feature from his first appearance onward, he never had his own pulp, like The Shadow.)
The Lama also appeared in comic books, first in Prize Comics from #7 in 1940 to #34 in 1943, then moving into his own comic for eight issues until 1946.
Crossen wrote most of the comics, which were illustrated by Mac Raboy, one of the best artists of the period! (Raboy was the only choice to take over the Sunday Flash Gordon strip from creator Alex Raymond and Mac continued it until he passed away!)
Three years later, the character was revived in a summer-replacement dramatic radio show which ran only 11 episodes starring Paul Frees, who sounded eerily-similar to Orson Welles, who had played The Shadow on radio!

In all these incarnations, efforts were made to portray Buddhism sympathetically, if not always accurately.
For example, The Lama's primary incanation to invoke his powers; "om mani padme hum", is a mantra used while praying or meditating, not going into battle!

After the radio show ended, the Lama faded away except for the occasional reprint...until 2007, when Alex Ross revived the character as one of the major players in the new Project SuperPowers line of comic books using long-lost comic book characters.
In addition, Dark Horse Publishing recently published high-quality hardcover reprints of his long out-of-print comic!
And Moonstone Publishing will be including Jethro Dumont's emerald alter-ego as one of the characters in new stories in the upcoming comic book anthology title Return of the Originals.

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ want to do our part in re-presenting The Green Lama to the pop culture world with a line of kool kollectibles including t-shirts, mugs, even a Classic Green Lama 12-Month Calendar for 2011!

So have a look at The Green Lama, today!
And "om mani padme hum" to you! ;-)

BONUS! A pre-Halloween "treat" for our faithful fans: a link to FREE mp3s of some of the Green Lama radio episodes!

And remember...pick up Project SuperPowers, where The Green Lama LIVES!

Note: I'm reminded by writer Adam Garcia that modern pulp publisher Airship 27 is releasing NEW Green Lama prose tales both in short story anthologies and full-length novels! You'll find them below!