A brand-new, ongoing series focusing on old-time radio shows and their comics connections, from Peter Bosch! One of our longest-running features is Rob Kelly’s REEL RETRO CINEMA, which reviews old movies and their comics connections. Well, now it has a companion column — FOUR COLOR RADIO, by Peter Bosch. The concept is very much the same: Peter will periodically profile an old-time radio show that has direct links to comic books, comic strips, or even sci-fi and the pulps. Typically, we’d start something like this on a Sunday, but what better day to kick this off than on Oct. 30 — the anniversary of Orson Welles’ infamous The War of the Worlds, which most definitely had links to comics. You can click here to find that feature, and look forward to new installments on The Blue Beetle, The Adventures of Superman, and many, many more. (And isn’t that another nifty banner by our pal, Walt Grogan?) — MORE — FOUR COLOR RADIO Presents: Orson Welles’ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Click here. — THE WAR OF THE WORLDS — The TOP 13 KILLRAVEN Stories. Click...
PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN EVE: The first installment of a new feature on old-time radio programs and their links to comics — by PETER BOSCH! — Welcome to the inaugural “episode” of FOUR COLOR RADIO, our new, ongoing feature by PETER BOSCH that looks at old-school radio shows and their comics connections. For more info on this fancy new series, click here! (And dig that Walt Grogan banner!) — Dan — By PETER BOSCH In the 1930s and 1940s, a radio was not only an essential item in the household, it was the most immediate connection that people had to the entire world. It was also what TV and the internet are today, the greatest provider of home entertainment for its time. The radio itself (which came in all sizes and shapes) brought families together to listen to a night’s entertainment, whether it was a comedy such as Fibber McGee & Molly (with the closet’s overstuffed contents that fell on Fibber whenever he opened its door), a horror program where the host told the listeners to turn their Lights Out, a drama that kept them in terrifying Suspense, or the king of swing Benny Goodman whose big band sound made people say Let’s Dance. Daytime also had its own special fare: soap operas and game shows, just like today, and in the late afternoon and early evenings you could find boys and girls rushing to the glowing dial, finding their special station, and sitting themselves down for serialized adventure shows like Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy to find out how the hero or heroine got out of the trap from the day before! A number of old-time radio shows for kids had comics as their source, and that is what this new column — FOUR COLOR RADIO — will be about. Future “episodes” will cover The Adventures of Superman, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Archie Andrews, The Black Hood, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and more! But today, we start with a Halloween trick AND a treat (which would have comics later on) — The War of the Worlds! Imagine. It was the night of Sunday, October 30, 1938. The world was still feeling the effects of the Great Depression. Germany had been defeated in World War I but now they were coming back, with Hitler expanding his power...
A brand-new, ongoing series focusing on old-time radio shows and their comics connections, from Peter Bosch!
PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN EVE: The first installment of a new feature on old-time radio programs and their links to comics — by PETER BOSCH!