Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY / WHERE MONSTERS DWELL "Ruler of Earth!"

We had something much different for today's post...

...but after Don the Con's announcement at the United Nations that the US government would now refer to Artificial Intelligence only as "Super Intelligence",  my mind immediately returned to this article we posted last year at fellow RetroBlog Hero Histories!

So, let's travel to the "future" year of 1990...as seen from 1962...

Appearing as the cover-featured story in one of the final pre-Mighty Thor issues of Atlas' Journey into Mystery (#82 in 1962), this story by plotter/editor Stan Lee, writer Larry Leiber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers is a clear Cold War/anti-Communist parable!

But, when the tale was reprinted at the end of the Cold War in Marvel's Where Monsters Dwell #25 (1973)...

...editor Roy Thomas had the hammer and sickle and red star insignias removed from the Russkies' hats...

...and replaced with an "H", which was explained with the change in the dialogue balloon above!

HYDRA???

Why not AIM...who were always more tech-oriented?

So, presumably, there are at least two worlds in the Marvel Multiverse where ROE presides, to this day, over a peaceful Earth!

Bonus for putting up with this all this fanboy mishigas...the lovingly-detailed original art for the spash page by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers!

BTW, did you note how warm, cuddly, and almost teddy-bear-like the cover's RoE is, compared to the version in the story itself?

Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Demonicus Scheme!" Part 1

When Last We Left Our Gleaming Gulliver...

...our narrator will kindly (and conveniently) fill us in on the previous goings-on...

To Be Concluded Next Monday!

You'll note they didn't mention S.H.I.E.L.D. or Godzilla (whom Dr Demonicus previously fought) by name in Marvel's Godzilla #4-5 (1977)!
While I understand them not being able to identify Godzilla by name (due to the expiration of the licence from Toho Studios), S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is owned by Marvel) shouldn't be a problem, especially since (SPOILER) the agency shows up next issue!
Written and illustrated by the classic crew of Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, and Mike Esposito.

The Robots are Coming! THE ROBOTS ARE COMING!!!

Last Week, We Re-Presented a Warning About the Dangers of AI Run Amok...

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
Then, on Friday, we relieved your tension with a tale of a benevolent, self-aware robot...

Friday
Tomorrow, we return to a trio of robots who show us the best robots may be ones under direct human control!

Don't Miss It!

Space Hero Satudays BRANT CRAIG: INTERPLANETARY DETECTIVE "Space Pirates of Lanthus IV"

He's not the first "Interplanetary Detective"...

...that honor goes to Planet Comics' Fero: Planetary Detective (who went "inter"planetary in his second appearance)!

But Brant Craig was the longest-lasting, with seven appearances!

Yeah, let's not worry about the innocent spacemen who were just killed during this raid, or their families.

They're just collateral damage...

This never-reprinted premiere from Youthful's Captain Science #2 (1951) was probably illustrated by Bill Molno.

The writer is unknown.

Brant Craig continued through the remaining five issues of Captain Science.

When the book was re-titled Fantastic, Brant (and Captain Science) made their final bows in the first issue.

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Friday Fun / Robot Reading Room ROMEO THE ROBOT "Origin"

A Sentient Robot with an ongoing series...from DC !

But, I'd bet you never heard of him!

You certainly didn't see him since none of his stories have ever been reprinted!

The above debut tale from DC's Action Comics #68 (1944), scripted and illustrated by Jack Farr, is the first of four appearances by the mirthful mechanical man!
He bounced from book to book, used whenever editors had a four-page slot to fill, with his last appearance almost a decade later, in 1952!
Farr, a cartoonist who began his career back in the 1920s doing newspaper and slick magazine cartoons, made a transition to comic books quite easily, working for almost everyone (even EC Comics) at one point or another, with the bulk of his work done for DC Comics from 1943 to 1953.
He went back to newspaper/magazine cartooning during the near-death of the comic book business during the "Seduction of the Innocent" scandals of the mid-1950s,