Number 364


Venus' Box of Doom!


This is a story originally published in Atlas Comics' Venus #19, but reprinted and scanned from the reprint comic, Weird Wonder Tales #16, from 1976.

I was going to post a couple more of these classic Bill Everett Venus stories, but Hairy Green Eyeball beat me to them! Check them out here.

Number 363


Airboy and the battle of the magicians


A really fine Airboy story, from Airboy Vol. 5 #5, June 1948, drawn by Fred Kida.

This is yet another from the Pappy tearsheet box. For those new to Pappy's, about 30 years ago I was given a box with hundreds of pages cut from comic books of the 1940s.

The owner was a man who wanted to pursue a career in comics. As far as I can tell he never worked in comics, but he knew and liked various artists, bought the comics, and cut out their work. I took the hundreds of pages and assembled them into stories.

In the meantime, though, you can check out the only other complete Kida Airboy story I have to offer here.

Number 362


My favorite Ditko


As a Steve Ditko fan from way back, I thought some of his best work was on these fantasy stories for Atlas, later Marvel Comics. He did a lot of them, and at the time I looked for them. He also drew for Charlton Comics, and I bought a lot of otherwise crappy comic books to get his work. I felt they didn't seem to have the same flair as what he was doing in stories like "I Captured the Abominable Snowman."

You might have seen this story before, because it's been reprinted a couple of times in various Marvel comics. It comes from Strange Worlds #1, from 1958. It was the first comic book published under an agreement by publisher Martin Goodman with DC Comics to have them distribute his comic books, after the Atlas Comics implosion of 1957 which temporarily suspended the line.

Number 361


Dudley is no dud


Boody Rogers tried his hand at an Archie-style strip with Dudley. It lasted three issues, which shows his readers probably preferred his funny take on super-heroes with Sparky Watts, or Babe, Darling of the Hills, his bizarre version of Li'l Abner.

This is story number one from Dudley #1, Nov.-Dec. 1949

I love looking at Rogers' artwork. Dudley has the Boody beauties, the cuties he drew so well. The only thing I don't like about this strip is the attempt to make it unique with some made-up teenage jargon: "Gosh from Oshkosh!" and "Sam from Alabam!" Otherwise he hewed pretty close to the Archie template, with his versions of Reggie, Veronica, et al. But Dudley had that Boody Rogers artwork, instantly recognizable, even without his signature.

Number 360


Sing along with Syr-Darya!


Here's a story from Web Of Mystery #13 (1952), with a kinky comic book panel, shown above. A guy getting whipped and a girl yelling, "Dog! Take that!" gets my attention. It is drawn by Lin Streeter.

Great stuff, and I love the coloring on this story.