Monday Madness WARP: Neal Adams on Broadway!

In 1973, Chicago's Organic Theatre...

...presented their most daring bit of theatre to date..

...a science fiction trilogy!

(You thought George Lucas was the first one to do it?)

After successful runs of all three parts in Chicago, the crew, led by Organic co-founder Stuart (ReAnimator) Gordon, headed for NYC to present the first chapter, "My Body, My Battlefield!"...with some significant upgrades by DC/Marvel artist Neal Adams (1941-2022)!

Besides doing the above poster, plus insert art and the cover for Playbill, Neal did...well, I'll let the Monster Times explain...

Sadly, the Broadway version ran for only eight performances (after a couple of weeks of previews).

It was later revived (using Adams' designs and tech improvements) for another successful run of all three chapters in Chicago!
Plus, WARP became one of the lynchpin series for Chicago-based publisher First Comics when they launched in 1983, with a nine-issue adaption of the entire trilogy featuring art by Frank (Doctor Strange) Brunner and utilizing Neal's designs!

The series then told new stories for the remaining ten issues (plus three Specials).
If there was ever a theatrical project that was ahead of its' time, this was it!
Could the Organic Theatre (which still exists) re-mount it now, utilizing the advanced tech now available for live theatre?
We could only hope...

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Buy a Reproduction of This Out-of-Print Almost 50-Year-Old Poster...

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Our KOOL Theatrical Posters Gallery

We're re-presenting a whole line of long out-of-print theatre, movie and tv posters as affordable prints perfect for students' dorm or bed rooms, house stagers who need a way to personalize a home they're selling in a kitchy (but not tacky) way or pop-culture aficionados who don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for a display piece!

Our Theatre Posters gallery has retro-kool 3-D movie posters, superhero (live action AND animated) film art, and HTF sci-fi-on-Broadway prints.
Talk about "something for everyone"!

Tomorrow: the Golden Age comic book cover gallery!

WARP! The FIRST Sci-Fi Epic on Broadway!

In 1971, Chicago's acclaimed Organic Theatre Company produced a trio of plays inspired by Marvel Comics, particularly Dr. Strange and Mighty Thor, under the umbrella title WARP!
Billing the trilogy as "the world's first science fiction epic-adventure play in serial form", the three plays did boffo box office and won numerous Chicago theatrical awards.
It seemed like a no-brainer to take the production to New York, where local talent could enhance both the production values and on-stage talent.
The first of the three plays, "My Battlefield! My Body!" opened in February, 1973.
Unfortunately, it closed that same month.
Considering the talent involved in this project, including original writer / director Stuart Gordon (ReAnimator), NY production art director Neal Adams (Batman / X-Men / Green Lantern & Green Arrow) and actors John Heard (Sopranos, Prison Break), Keith Szarabajka (Equalizer), Stephen Williams (X-Files, 21 Jump Street), it's astounding that it didn't take off like (dare I say) a rocket!
But, it didn't, and all that survives today are some playbills and the incredibly-hard to find poster, illustrated by Neal Adams!
We have one of these posters, acquired in the late 1970s, and decided to make a couple of shirts emblazoned with it for ourselves and friends.

The response has been so overwhelming ("Where did you get that? Can I get one?") that we are now offering it to other pop culture aficinados!
If you're a fan of Broadway theatre, sci-fi, comics, or just like a kool shirt, have a look!
Or, if you'd like a reproduction poster, click HERE!

(Note: there was a spinoff comic book series from First Comics in the 1980s which adapted the trilogy and provided an ending to the story.)

Mars Attacks: the Musical! People FINALLY Catching on!

As we pointed out on Friday...

...there is NO Mars Attacks Broadway show in the works!

Bleeding Cool has posted an article HERE, restating the points we mentioned HERE!
Having worked on Broadway (Patrick Stewart's A Christmas Carol,  Kreskin, and several others) and on Mars Attacks, both the 1990s comic and the movie), I had a gut feeling that this was just a joke.
A little bit of research (without even having to call anybody at Topps or Broadway producers I had worked with) confirmed what I thought.
The fact that most of the comics "journalists" (such as Comic Book Resources HERE) fell for such an obvious prank, reporting it as actual news, is a sad commentary on the intelligence of those so-called "reporters".

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Mars Attacks: the Musical...NOT!

As we point out at The Beat...
If it’s real, why isn’t a legit theatre producer’s name connected to it?
Why is it nobody outside of the comics/card trade press mentions it?
And one more giveaway…“Ever since I saw The Sound of Music as a youngster living in New York I have dreamed of a career on Broadway…” said Layman.
Layman was born in 1969.
The Sound of Music was staged on Broadway twice…in 1959-63 (before he was born) and 1998-99 (when he was 30, hardly a “youngster”)
Yet, Comic Book Resources, Geeks of Doom, and others act like it's real...

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Fantastic Femmes--The Women of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Natalie Mendoza (Arachne)
Natalie has, regrettably, left the production.
She created the interpretation of Arachne, a new, non-comics-based character.

 America Olivio (Arachne) [coming soon]
America filled-in as Arachne, but has been replaced by...

T.V. Carpio (Arachne / Miss Arrow) [Coming Soon]

Alice Lee (Miss Arrow) [Coming Soon]
Alice replaced T.V. Carpio, who is now Arachne.

Fantastic Femmes--Natalie Mendoza

A lovely familar face to genre fans due to ongoing roles on Beastmaster and Farscape, Natalie Jackson Mendoza survived The Descent and made it thru most of the sequel film, but the perils of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have done her in!
She had already been injured at the production's very first preview performance, but continued like a trouper until December 20th, when fellow performer  Christopher Tierney suffered major injury. At that point, she said "Enough", and despite her extensive conceptual work on the look and movement of the original character Arachne, decided to leave the problem-plagued production.

Genre Appearances include:

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (Arachne)
Surviving Evil (Chill)

The Descent / The Descent 2 (Juno Kaplan)

Doctor Who "Girl Who Never Was" (Receptionist)

Doctor Who "Absolution" (Lolanthia)

Farscape (Lishala)

BeastMaster (Kyra)

Check out...
Oddly enough, there are NO fanpages for this talented actress!
If you know of one, e-mail me and I'll update this entry!

The role of Archana in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will be assumed by America Olivo. Presuming she survives, we'll cover her in a future Fantastic Femmes entry!

Fantastic Femmes--Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  

HERE!

Our NEW Theatrical Posters Gallery

We're re-presenting a whole line of long out-of-print theatre, movie and tv posters as affordable prints perfect for students' dorm or bed rooms, house stagers who need a way to personalize a home they're selling in a kitchy (but not tacky) way or pop-culture aficionados who don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for a display piece!

Our Theatre Posters gallery has retro-kool 3-D movie posters, superhero (live action AND animated) film art, and HTF sci-fi-on-Broadway prints.
Talk about "something for everyone"!

Tomorrow: the Golden Age comic book cover gallery!

Atomic Kommie Comics' NEW Poster/Print Galleries

A couple of days ago we told you about a new poster print of the ultra-rare Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall poster from 1972.
Now, we are unveiling even more ultra-rare material from our archives, now made available to you as collector's item prints in the Atomic Kommie Comics™ Art Gallery!
There are three sub-galleries...

Theatrical Posters 

 (which includes movie, tv, Broadway and genre convention material)

Golden Age 

(HTF comic book covers from the 1930s to 1950s)

 and Odds and Ends

(pop art / pop culture stuff that doesn't fit into either category)

Over the next few days, we'll be going into detail about each gallery.

These prints would make ideal dorm or bedroom decor for students or game-room decoration for pop-culture-oriented teens!

Keep in mind we're just getting started. There'll be a lot more images placed in the galleries over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow: Theatrical Posters!