Conan Vs The Undead

Switching gears with Conan the Barbarian, here in two issues of Savage Sword of Conan with painted covers by Earl Norem (#39 from April, 1979 and #55 from August, 1980), with Conan facing off against zombies in the land before time!

Celebrating Artist Boris Vallejo

Celebrating the career of noted fantasy artist, Boris Vallejo on his birthday (January 8, 1941) with some rarely looked at covers from the era of the Marvel magazines....the first four issues of Tales Of The Zombie featuring Simon Garth.

Tales of the Zombie #1 and #2 (October, 1973)

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Tales of the Zombie #3 and #4 (January and March, 1974)

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Boris also did other Marvel magazine covers, such as Frankenstein's Monster for Monsters Unleashed, as well as Savage Tales, and his work is incredible to behold.

Atom vs. the Zombies

"Atom vs. The Zombies" ... sounds like a 1950s horror movie, right?


But, surprisingly, the Mighty Mite did face off against a few legions of undead during his days in comics!

Back To the 1960s

With the last issue of the Atom's regular series, Atom #38 (August-September, 1968 by Frank Robbins, Mike Sekowsky and George Roussos), Atom dealt with legions of undead during a "Sinister Stopover...Earth"! 

It was really aliens called the Physalians who were possessing human hosts to take over nuclear power plants to harvest their energy. 

In his alter ego, the mighty physicist Ray Palmer, along with frogman Jonah Waite, were able to work together to stop the aliens and turn off the nuclear reactors, preventing the aliens from feeding on the energy, putting an end to Atom's solo adventures in a book of his own for a time.

Heroes Team-Up

But, things weren't over for the Mighty Mite, as he took part in comics earliest buddy comics, where he and his friend, Hawkman, shared a title, that of Atom and Hawkman for issues Atom and Hawkman #39 to #45 (October-November, 1968 to October-November, 1960), sometimes in adventures together, sometimes separately, and all under covers by Joe Kubert (though Atom didn't make the covers or #43 or #44, but Hawkman's spectral foe, Gentleman Ghost, did).

Closer To The Modern Age

Which catches us up to now (with a few things happening to Hawkman and the Atom along the way, like Atom's time as a barbarian, and the multiverse's changes to Hawkman). 

 
But even through all of that, the pair remained friends....


 

Atom and Hawkman reunited during the course of the Blackest Night event (where legions of DC heroes and villains returned from the dead thanks to the efforts of a Green Lantern Corps villain in 2009/2010) over the course of 9 issues for the main event, along with many, many crossovers....
 
...including one special one....

 

Atom and Hawkman had one more issue (Atom and Hawkman #46 of March, 2010, by Geoff Johns, Ryan Sook and Fernando Pasarin), where Atom proved to be a big deal in helping to stop the hordes of zombies powered by Black Lantern rings from menacing the universe!



Not bad for a scientist only six inches tall, right, to take out all of the undead?

The Walking Dead Action Figures Series 6 and 7

It's October...and that means it's the Walking Dead time!

Action figures for the 6th series of the Walking Dead TV line from McFarlane Toys include:

The Governor (with long coat), Carol Peletier, Abraham Ford, Hershel Greene, a Bungee Guts Zombie and Rick Grimes!

Action figures for the 7th series of the Walking Dead TV line from McFarlane Toys include:

Carl Grimes, Michonne, Gareth (with a slab of meat!), and a "Mud Walker" complete with a sign...that should have been a warning.  Series 7 is not due until March of 2015!

Get them before they get you!

Marvel's Menace of the 1950s

The title of the article is a bit of a misnomer, as it was technically Atlas Comics (a precursor to Marvel) that published Menace from March, 1953 to May, 1954, but it didn't quite give nice alliteration to a title!

Atlas Comics and Marvel Comics were linked....like your typical two-headed monster!

It Came From the Bullpen

The first issue of Menace had stories by Stan Lee, and art by Bill Everett, George Tuska, Werner Roth and Russ Heath, all under that cover by Bill Everett! 

The second issue continued this trend, adding artist Joe Sinnott on a story called "Rocket to the Moon" (ironic, as it was with the Fantastic Four that Joe Sinnott became famous to the comic world, working on a foursome whose adventures started with the fantastic rocket ride!).

Issue #3 added John Romita for a story on the "Men In Black", which wasn't about aliens, but instead a lesson about bigotry....and with art by Bill Everett, an oddly green werewolf, as well as a story about a man who knows "You're Gonna Live Forever" with art by Joe Maneely (and that immortality might not be a good thing).

The fourth issue offers an odd take on the Cold War...as Stalin was proven to be a creature of the night in "A Vampire Was Born" with art by Fred Kida.

Issue #5 offers the walking dead....a Zombie, businessman Simon Garth, wandering through Louisiana, under the control of Gyps, his former gardener.  But, this zombie still has a little of his humanity left, and comes back to kill his master, then lie back down in his own grave.  Ironic, that this zombie comes back, in the Marvel Magazine Tales of the Zombie, where he is a feature for its first 9 issues, and even continues beyond that....not bad for a 7 page "Zombie!" story by Lee and Everett, whose idea was fleshed out by Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, John Buscema and Tom Palmer!

Issue #6 sees Gene Colan come on board for a story, issue #7 adds Syd Shores as an artist on "Fresh Out of Flesh!", issue # has all the usual suspects, and a giant lizard monster, issue #9 has more zombie fun with a cover by Gene Colan, and new artists Paul Reinman, Ed Winiarski and John Forte (who drew "The Walking Dead" story), and issue #10...relates to future Marvel tales as it has the first story relating to Hydra (the foes of the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), with art by Robert Q. Sale, as well as stories with art by Tony DiPreta, Al Eadeh, and Shelly Moldolf.

Issue #11 has the premiere of M-11, the Human Robot of the Agents of Atlas in a story drawn by John Romita, as well as stories with art by Seymour Moskowitz and Bob Powell. 

Even better, all 11 issues of Menace are reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Menace, so these old tales of sci-fi horror are available to all!   Seems Atlas and Marvel are a two-headed monster indeed, and great stories, like zombies, will always rise again!

Not Really The Walking Dead

Before Rick awoke from his coma in October, 2003 in Image's Walking Dead (and well before the AMC TV series), there was another Walking Dead comic book.


From September to December, 1989, Aircel Comics (a division of Malibu) published the original 4 issues of The Walking Dead by writer, penciler and cover artist, Jim Somerville (though cover #3 was done by Dale Keown).

Issue #1 was entitled "Genesis Of", #2 was "Presidential Address", #3 was "Corpse Under Glass" and the fourth and final regular issue was "Fin".

This was even followed up by the Walking Dead Zombie Special in 1990, because you can't keep a good zombie down!




But, Malibu was absorbed by Marvel Comics, and Image came out with its own, separate series by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore....and the rest, they say is history!