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CHECK OUT SCOTT SHAW'S NEW ISSUE F ODDBALL COMICS, FEATURING THE GOLDEN APPLE GANG!

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TITLE ­ KING COMICS PRESENTS
ISSUE NUMBER ­ None
COVER-DATE ­ None
PUBLISHER ­ ³King² Comics Inc.
COVER ARTIST(S) ­ Dell Barras (signed)

COMMENTARY BY ODDBALL COMICS CURATOR/CREATOR SCOTT SHAW! ­ Now, here¹s a
Comic that¹s nothin¹ but Oddball! KING COMICS PRESENTS co-stars ass-kicking
Los Angeles radio deejay Rick (³Disco Duck²) Dees, the late, great Los
Angeles comic book retailer Bill (³Golden Apple²) Liebowitz and the
superheroes known as ³Bad Luck² and ³Angel Lopez, The Lost Angel²! Plus,
meet ³Nick Ferno, The Son Of Satan² and time-traveling ³Justin Time²! Then,
travel to the year 2031 A.D. to meet ³The Kid Cop Squad²!

Whoever George O. DeLorenzo was/is, he seems to have had absolutely no
concept of how so-called ³normal² comic books are produced. For example,
KING COMICS PRESENTS features no issue number (although it seems to be the
first issue) or date of publication. (Based on the fact that a preview
feature references the 1991 film, THE ROCKETEER, based on cartoonist Dave
Stevens¹ comic book character, this comic was probably published in 1991 or
1992.) There¹s no copyright notice. The stories have no titles. The
pagination begins with the cover counted as the first page. The actual title
of the comic is vaguely presented at best, and it¹s nearly lost amid four
other cover-logos, some of which are so poorly designed as to be illegible.
And, of course, there¹s the crudeness of the artwork, storytelling,
dialogue, spelling, lettering, coloring, etc. Had Mr. DeLorenzo and his
production crew ever even read a comic book? And how did radio deejay Rick
Dees get involved in this Oddball mess in the first place? (If Bill
Liebowitz was still with us, I¹ll be he could tell the
story-behind-the-story of KING COMICS PRESENTS and exactly how it came to
be.)

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Radio disc jockey Rick Dees
was
born as Riedon Osmond Dees III on March 14, 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida. A
native of Greensboro, North Carolina, Dees launched his radio career at the
age of 17 as the host of a country-western music show. Switching to Top 40,
he hosted shows on Winston-Salem's WTOB and Raleigh's WKIX, while studying
radio/TV/motion pictures and acting at the University of North Carolina. In
1977, Dees recorded the novelty hit ³Disco Duck² (as ³Rick Dees And His Cast
Of Idiots²) -- backed by an array of top session musicians -- which was #1
on the Billboard Charts and went on to sell over six million copies. (At the
time, he was hosting a show for WHBQ in Memphis.) Beginning in 1982, Dees
hosted a morning show for Los Angeles¹ KIIS-FM for decades. Although he
veered toward television as the host of talk shows in 1990 and 1991 and a
music show, SOLID GOLD, Dees mostly focuses on radio. Dees has been heard
daily over 300 affiliated stations in 23 countries, and his show, WEEKLY TOP
40 COUNTDOWN (since January, 2004, hosted by Ryan Seacrest), was heard
weekly by more than 50 million people on international radio, starting in
1983. (Dees hosted two different versions of the show, ³Contemporary Hit
Radio² and ³Hot AC².) Dees has received ten consecutive ³Billboard Number
One Radio Personality of America² awards and has his own star on Hollywood's
Walk of Fame. Dees was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999. Dees
has appeared in the films LA BAMBA and the music video ³Voices That Care²,
as well as doing voiceover work for THE JETSONS: THE MOVIE. His son, Kevin,
has followed in his father's footsteps as an Internet DJ for KIIS-FMI. Rick
Dees still reigns as one of America's top DJs; in August, 2006, he was named
as the morning show host of Los Angeles¹ new Movin¹ 93.9FM.

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Retailer William ³Bill² Liebowitz
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=4364 (1941 -
10/27/2004) was the owner of ³Golden Apple Comics², one of Los Angeles¹
major chains of comic book shops. Liebowitz opened the first Golden Apple
store in 1979 and followed it with Golden Apple's famous Melrose Avenue
location (7018 Melrose Ave.) and later, a shop in the Northridge area of the
San Fernando Valley (8967 Reseda Blvd.). (There was also, briefly, a Golden
Apple store on West Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles.) An innovative -- and
occasionally controversial -- retailer, Liebowitz was a true promoter of
comic books and their creators, staging countless personal appearances and
signings by some of the biggest names in the funnybook field. Liebowitz even
created the ³Golden Apple Awards² and held memorable post-San Diego
Comic-Con International parties at the Santa Monica Pier and at Genghis
Cohen¹s kosher Chinese restaurant. Liebowitz was also an activist for
anti-censorship. Although he made his mark in comics, Liebowitz had a number
of other careers, beginning with a stint as a CPA for 12 years following his
college graduation. In 1974, he became Vice President of U.S. Operations for
the real estate developer Trizec Corporation, and served as Director of
Entertainment for athletes at the 1984 Olympics. Following that event, he
pursued comics retailing as a full-time occupation. Liebowitz was also a
co-founder of Rhino Records. Liebowitz even worked briefly at a burlesque
show on the Sunset strip, teaching the girls how to execute ³raunchy moves².
Liebowitz owned a ³world-class collection² of a Capella do-wop records and
was an aficionado of wonderfully garish Hawaiian shirts. Liebowitz was also
an avid yo-yo promoter, having been a champion and instructor for Duncan
Yo-Yos in the 1950s. He held California State and National Titles and
continued to promote yo-yos at his stores. After Bill Liebowitz' death, his
widow, Sharon, and son, Ryan, took over the business and continue to run the
Golden Apple stores. For more on the Golden Apple comic shops, please visit
http://www.goldenapplecomics.com/store.php or call (888) 235-2400.

Cartoonist Dell Barras was born
in 1957 in Manila, the Philippines. He started his career in comics in the
1970s, illustrating various comic books like DARNA AND THE BLACK WIDOW and
ASAWA NG SAILOR for Bulaklak and other local companies, and publishing
titles such as ANG TAONG ISDA, SAMSONA and MARIELA MOENA¹. In 1984,
cartoonist Romeo Tanghal introduced his friend Dell to the editors at DC
Comics, initiating a long career in US comics and animation for him. Since
then, Barras has worked as inker and artist on various titles for Marvel
(including THE NEW MUTANTS, THE CHAMPIONS, THE DEFENDERS, THE AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE MICRONAUTS and CONAN THE BARBARIAN),
Marvel UK (including DEATH¹S HEAD, MOTORMOUTH and BATTLE TIDE) and DC
(including SUPERMAN, BATMAN, BLUE BEETLE and GREEN ARROW) and various titles
for Neal Adams' Continuity Comics. (How an accomplished cartoonist like Dell
Barras ever got involved with KING COMICS PRESENTS is anyone¹s guess.)
Barras is currently working as a designer, animator, and storyboard artist
for films, television and the Internet, and lives in Van Nuys, California.
For more on Dell Barras, please visit his website at
http://www.media-blastoff.net/

This issue¹s untitled 16-page ³Rick Dees² cover-story was created, written,
drawn, inked and colored by George O. DeLorenzo and lettered by Todd
Jarrett. It begins with a splash-page depicting a human sacrifice in
progress, conducted by a tuxedo-and-cape-wearing fellow named ³Nick Ferno².
(As we learn later, he¹s ³the Son of Satan².) Ferno about to plunge a dagger
into his victim, Angel Lopez, who lies before him, unbound, on a polished
stone slab. Around them stand a dozen men wearing orange cloaks, apparently
anticipating the ritual¹s bloody climax.

ODDBALL FACTOID ­ Retailer Bill Liebowitz¹s ³Golden Apple² comic book shop
has been featured in many movies and television shows, including FREE
ENTERPRISE! The shop was also featured in ³Weird² Al Yankovic's video "White
& Nerdy"!

Bonus ODDBALL FACTOID ­ The Duncan Yo-Yo company sponsors an annual
³Southwest Regionals Yo-Yo Contest² now called ³The Bill Liebowitz Classic²!

Double-Bonus ODDBALL FACTOID ­ Due to his many promotional events for the
publisher, Bill Liebowitz appeared many times in various titles from Archie
Comics!

Triple-Bonus ODDBALL FACTOID ­ Long before KING COMICS PRESENTS existed,
there was KING COMICS! 159 issues of the title ­ a reprint anthology of
various classic King Features syndicated newspaper comic strips, including
FLASH GORDON, BRICK BRADFORD, POPEYE, HENRY, MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN, THE LONE
RANGER, BARNEY BAXTER, THE PHANTOM and BLONDIE, among others ­ was published
by David McKay Publications from April, 1936 to February, 1952!

New Next Week: ODDBALL COMIC #1,179: MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2007 ­ Meet BABE, the
bodacious blonde hillbilly filly, another creation of that ODDBALL
cartoonist, the legendary Gordon ³Boody² Rogers! First, Babe pitches against
³the roughest, dirtiest, evilest, meanest baseball players on the face of
the Earth!² Then, ³The Darling Of The Hills² meets Guy Guppy, the world¹s
handsomest ³man mermaid² -- whom Babe¹s father wants to turn into
³Freshfriedfish²! (³Bodacious²? ³Boodylicious² is more like it!)

For more from cartoonist Scott Shaw!, please visit his website: CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO SCOTT'S PAGE
----------
New Next Week: ODDBALL COMIC #1,179: MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2007 ­ Meet BABE, the
bodacious blonde hillbilly filly, another creation of that ODDBALL
cartoonist, the legendary Gordon ³Boody² Rogers! First, Babe pitches against
³the roughest, dirtiest, evilest, meanest baseball players on the face of
the Earth!² Then, ³The Darling Of The Hills² meets Guy Guppy, the world¹s
handsomest ³man mermaid² -- whom Babe¹s father wants to turn into
³Freshfriedfish²! (³Bodacious²? ³Boodylicious² is more like it!)

Check out the CRAZIEST comic books ever published! SCOTT SHAW! presents
ODDBALL COMICS -- celebrating its 7th year on the Internet! A new weird,
wild 'n' wacky funnybook every Monday -- with nearly 1,200 Oddball Comics
archived -- now exclusively available at:
CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO ODDBALL
(These opinions are those of ODDBALL COMICS only and do not necessarily reflect those of The Golden Apple, its owners, or anyone else.)