Atomic Surgery

Friday, March 5, 2010

The First Batman (1956) by Bill Finger & Shelly Moldoff

Cover by Sheldon Moldoff

Whoa! Bruce Wayne really became Batman because his Father was the first Batman to put on the iconic costume and catch bad guys? Why isn't this in current continuity?

Pretty convenient, as well, to find a film (with sound!) showing Wayne, Sr., in action!

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Detective Comics #235 (Sept. 1956) © DC Comics
Script by Bill Finger; Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff; Inks by Stan Kaye

Monday, March 1, 2010

The Vanguard (1977) by Alex Toth

The return of The Fox to the DC universe has drawn attention to the great Alex Toth version of the character> that briefly ran for too few stories in the ill-fated Red Circle comic line back in the late 1970’s. I seem to remember that the following Vanguard story published in Sal Quartuccio’s ‘ground level’ (remember that term?) Hot Stuf was reworked by Toth from an unpublished Fox story.

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The Vanguard © Alex Toth from Hot Stuf #4, 1977
Art & Story by Alex Toth

Sunday, February 21, 2010

We Were 20th Century Cavemen! (1959)

Cover by Bob Brown

The 1950’s was a great time for Sci-Fi movies featuring lost worlds (e.g., The Land Unknown, 1957), resurrected dinosaurs (e.g., The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, 1953), and scientists reverting to cavemen (e.g., Monster on The Campus, 1958).

In fact the Rhedosaurus from ’20,000 Fathoms’ turns up on page 6 and the helicopter from The Land Unknown brings in the troops on page 7 of this long forgotten tale.