Stupid Comics

Dick Tracy might heighten the concept of the wristwatch radio, but only the Honor House Products Co. had the coconuts to really try to make a working one for fans of the comic strip detective. Edwin Wegman's mail order company ran from the 1950s-80s that was responsible for some of the biggest scams in comic book ads including Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, and the outdoor child-sized Polaris Nuclear Sub, so their place in exaggerated advertising is cemented in infamy. Their "Amazing Wrist Radio" was not really a watch, but a miniature radio receiver that was powered by a germanium diode which does emit low level radiation, so hopefully nobody actually got cancer from this little doodad. It comes with a private earphone which probably could get lost really quickly in the bustling era of the Space Age. The $2.98 price wasn't much for when this ad ran in the 1960s, which nowadays would be around $30.00, even though the plus is it had a broadcast range of at least 50 miles. H...

Steve Ditko was one of the undisputed masters of the comics craft, especially in his more than underappreciated efforts during the Bronze Age. Yes, he designed Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, but he did some of his best work for less renown publishers like Charlton in Issue 106 of their horror anthology Ghostly Tales. Mr. Dedd hosts this terror tale about Marilee who is a rather attractive blonde reporter for a movie magazine determined to interview the reclusive old horror film actor Anton Corvu, so after watching one of Corvu's old werewolf flicks she and her boyfriend Josh head towards his estate where they are denied entry by Corvu over the speaker phone. Not giving a tinker's cuss for private property, Marilee hops over the mansion wall while Corvu decides to pull a Scooby-Doo by putting on his old werewolf makeup to spook his trespasser. Marilee is chased by a hairy lycanthrope inside Corvu's house where she finds his monster makeup room where she's convinced the c...

Atlas Comics, also known as Seaboard Periodicals, was created by former Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman, and they had an entire array of titles with everything from superheroes, monsters, and good girls. One such comic was Devilina, Atlas' take on Vampirella which acted as a black and white anthology of horror comics that only lasted for two issues. The Curse Of Nefertiri was a tale of an expedition gone horrible wrong, then again, most stories with mummies never go right. Written by Atlas regular Gabriel Levy and drawn by former Marvel artist Pablo Marcus, the story starts out with a pair of treasure hunters waiting outside some ruins in the Sahara they excavated. The impatient Harris is tired of waiting for the special x-ray team to scope out the mummy coffin that he and his partner Benson found, so in a fit of rage Harris kills Benson and proceeds to pop open the coffin of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiri. The story then delves into a flashback set 3000 years ago where Nefertir...

One of Joe Kubert's rare characters was that of Hollywood Stunt-Girl which was a space filler in first two issues of The Three Stooges by St. John Publishing in 1953. Jeanie Steele is a freckle-faced bleach-blonde stuntwoman on the set of a movie studio's latest western being directed by Mr. Schnotzelfritz, a stereotypical German with an outrageous accent. Handsome publicity agent Danny amazes at Jeanie's fortitude much to the dismay of the jealous actress Grace who wants him to pay attention to her. After Danny takes Jeanie out for the night, Grace is determined to win Danny's affections. A few days later, Jeanie is playing the part of a female football player which must have been a serious rarity back in the 50s, and Grace has a stuntman under her employee try to foil Jeanie's efforts but she's just too much for him to successfully take down without tipping his hand. Grace again tries to off Jeanie by sabotaging a motorcycle she's riding on that Jeanie man...