Saturday, December 12, 2009

Design of the Week--Sherlock's Silhouette!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...perhaps THE most recognizable silhouette in fiction, based on the man who is to Sherlock Holmes as Sean Connery is to James Bond...Basil Rathbone!
No lettering!
No words!
Simple, effective, visual shorthand that tells you...Holmes, Sherlock Holmes!
Even if you're a fan of the new Robert Downey jr version, you've got to admit, it's an effective icon!
Wear it with pride!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Lurking under the Christmas Tree--G-Men, T-Men & Spies!

In our continuing quest for cool Christmas presents for the pop culture aficionado in your life, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ wish to offer you yet another exciting possibility for gift-giving...
Secret agents have been a part of pop culture for centuries, but spying didn't really become a glamorous profession until World War I.
Since then, the image of the spy has been of a heroic figure fighting off foreign evildoers while holding a girl in one arm and a martini (shaken not stirred) in the other...
In that stylish vein, we offer a line of collectibles that present our government's heroic G-Men, T-Men & Spies on classic comic covers.
Note: "G-Men" is slang for "Government Men" or F.B.I. agents. "T-Men" were Treasury agents.

Protecting us from threats both internal and external, these brave fictional American men (and women) fought enemies ranging from Communists, to the Mafia, to Iranians (perceived as a threat even in 1955!), and looked good doing it!
(The most famous spy in fiction, James Bond, isn't American!
He's a member of MI-6, the British Secret Service!)

Choose from 9 different designs including Cloak & Dagger, Date with Danger, Atomic Spy Cases, Al of the F.B.I. (later Al of the Secret Service), T-Man, and GangBusters!
Make it a Merry Christmas for your loved one...and the entire Free World!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Hardly Abominable SnowMan!

Along with Santa Claus and Scrooge, our frosty friend is one of the most recognizable symbols of Winter and the joyous Christmas Season!
The songwriting team of Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson took the folk-tale of a snowman coming to life and playing with children, only to melt at the end of winter, and adapted it into a song they sold to Gene Autry. who was looking for a follow-up to his previous hit; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Like Rudolph, Frosty the Snow Man turned out to be a major hit single and was adapted to other media as well, including several cartoon versions, the first of which was a short "music video" version of the song itself!
It is that version, and the subsequent books and comic books of the 1950s that we draw our kool retro-style imagery for our line of holiday goodies including greeting cards, collectibles, infant/toddler/kidswear and adult clothing (sweatshirts and hoodies)!
So come play with the SnowMan! We promise he won't melt!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Give DILLINGER for Christmas--or else!

Few criminals have been fodder for dramatization more than John Dillinger!
Many noted actors including Martin Sheen, Mark Harmon, Warren Oates, Robert Conrad, Nick Adams, Ralph Meeker, and Lawrence Tierney have portrayed the notorious gangster in tv and films! Dillinger even appeared in episodes of Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman and NightMan!
The recent biopic, Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp, has just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
There are numerous novels and historical texts about and including him!
He's even been the star of his own comic book!

Atomic Kommie Comics™ proudly offers not one, not two, but six different Dillinger designs on various kool kollectibles!
Three
classic movie posters, a classic "teaser" logo (see above) and two Golden Age comic covers!

Why not combine one of our Dillinger items (including mugs, hoodies, and messenger bags) from Real-Life Criminals, with a copy of the Public Enemies DVD or Blu-Ray to make a dynamic Dillinger gift set for Christmas?
The Dillinger or Depp (or both) fan in your life will thank you for it!

PLUS: A FREE Christmas bonus from us to you: From Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine (an incredible blog! Subscribe to it NOW!), here's "The True Story of John Dillinger"!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

"The Cisco Kid Was a Friend of Mine..."

The Cisco Kid was the first Hispanic multi-media superstar, featured in books, movies, radio, comic books, newspaper strips, and eventually, television, predating Zorro in each media (except Zorro never had a radio show)!

As created by legendary writer O Henry, in the short story "The Caballero's Way" in 1907. the Kid was neither Hispanic nor a hero!
A 1914 silent movie of "The Caballero's Way" altered the character to the version that's became famous...a wandering hero, called "The Robin Hood of the Old West", who, with his sidekick, righted wrongs without killing (but with lots and LOTS of shooting) just like the Lone Ranger!
Over two dozen more films followed, as well as a long-running radio series, a newspaper strip, several comic book series, and a 156-episode tv show famous for being the FIRST American tv series filmed in color!
Some of the films and tv series episodes are on dvd.
Note that not all dvds have color tv episodes, some have have b/w versions!
(All the movies were b/w!)
In the 1990s, Jimmy Smits and Cheech Marin starred in a very well-done tv-movie pilot for a new series that, unfortunately, wasn't picked up (and isn't available on dvd).
But, there's talk of a new big-budget film version of the character sometime in the next couple of years!

Just in time for Christmas, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ are proud to reintroduce the classic Western character to a new audience in our Western Comic Adventures™ line.
Just go to The Cisco Kid & Pancho for a look at 6 different designs, including his 1st comic appearance on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags and other goodies including a kool 2010 12-month calendar!
They'll have you going "Oh, Cisco!" "Oh, Pancho!" just like Duncan Renaldo & Leo Carrillo did in the classic tv series!

And, to make a really kool Christmas gift set, why not add one of the NEW Cisco Kid graphic novels from Moonstone Books?

Feliz Navidad, amigos!

For our faithful fans...a FREE early Christmas present...over 200 episodes of the radio show!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Put the "X" back in Xmas! (well, sorta...)

Believing that Christmas gifts can have a somewhat risque side, here's a kool, retro, 1950s comic cover image from our somewhat-naughty Seduction of the Innocent™ section.
Quick side note: Seduction of the Innocent was a book written in the 1950s by Dr. Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist who postulated that, because juvenile delinquents read comic books, comics caused juvenile delinquency! (Psychiatrists today claim the same thing about video games!)
So our collection's title is tongue-in-cheek and somewhat snarky, not prurient!
As we put it..."Proudly show the stuff your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!"

This particular image is a cutting commentary on the belief that New York City is a den of sin, a modern Sodom (if not Gomorrah), and that only MidWestern small-town values are the RIGHT values!
It's available, along with eleven other comics covers and almost TWO DOZEN naughty movie posters, on a variety of items including mugs, messenger bags, t-shirts, tops, and other goodies, not to mention a couple of kool 2010 12-month calendars; Seduction of the Innocent and Good Girls & Bad Grrrls!
So, let's put the "X" back in Xmas! ;-)
It's good to be bad at Christmastime!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Space; the Final Frontier...for Christmas Gifts!!!

Since the 1890s, and the heyday of Jules Verne & H.G. Wells, science fiction-themed presents have found a place under the Christmas tree and in Xmas stockings for the young (and young at heart)!
Continuing that entertaining tradition, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is proud to offer our line of retro-design sci-fi/fantasy collectibles, The Future WAS Fantastic!™, for both kids AND adults!
We're talking 12-month calendars, messenger bags, mugs, magnets, t-shirts, sweatshirts and other goodies featuring some of the niftiest illustrations from the comic books, pulp magazines, and movie posters of the 1930s-1960s, all digitally-restored and remastered!
Spaceships with wings and big fins!
Ray Guns that zap an army in a flash!
Slimy Aliens!
Killer Robots!
Heroes in bubble-helmeted tight spacesuits!
Heroines in even tighter space suits!
Never did the future look so...stylish!
If you're looking for something in the vein of Star Wars or Star Trek (You did know that George Lucas wanted to remake Flash Gordon, but King Features didn't want to trust a young director whose biggest credit at that point was American Graffiti, didn't you?), here's some of the stuff that provided the visual inspiration for today's hi-tech flights of fantasy!
Enjoy, and may your rocket tubes never overheat...