Saturday, March 23, 2013

Holiday Reading Room: EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Buddy Bunny's Problem"

Here's a kool short story by Walt (Pogo) Kelly...
...about the Easter Bunny bringing his son into the family business!
This story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Reading Room: WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Time and Tide"

According to the cliche, what "waits for no man"?
The answer is in this never-reprinted tale from Key's Weird Tales of the Future #6 (1953).
The writer of this story is unknown, but the artist is Eugene E Hughes, who had a brief career in comics working exclusively for Key Publications, then disappearing from the art world (comic books/strips/commercial art) entirely!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Reading Room: SPACE SQUADRON "Blast Revere: Ground the Eagle"

Long before he was Jet Dixon's crusty Commander-in-Chief, he was hotshot pilot...
...rocketing thru the Solar System in the 1970s!
(Yes, I said 1970s!)
While the writer for this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Space Squadron #3 (1951) is unknown, the artist should be familiar to Speed Carter: SpaceMan fans...Joe Maneely, Speed's designer/co-creator and primary illustrator for the first half of his run!
Blast Revere ran in all six issues of Space Squadron. and it's one-issue "sequel", Space Worlds.
When Speed Carter: SpaceMan came along a couple of years later, series writer/co-creator Hank Chapman ignored everything done in Space Squadron, producing stories that often contradicted "future history" established in the earlier series.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Reading Room: FANTASTIC WORLDS "Invaders"

The short-lived anthology Fantastic Worlds featured Earth-based stories...
...contrasting with the other anthology from Standard Comics, Lost Worlds, which was a space-opera book.
This tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #5 (1952) was drawn by Alex Toth and Mike Peppe, though the writer is unknown.
(Page 7, Panel 6 is apparently a redraw by Carmine Infantino!)
BTW, though it's #5, this is actually the first issue of the title!
There was no #1-#4!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Reading Room: SPACE DETECTIVE "Slave Ship of Saturn"

Art by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando
Don't freak out!
You didn't miss Part 2, "Metal Murderers of Mars"!
It was at our "brother" RetroBlog™, Crime & Punishment™...
Ah, another happy ending!
Justice is served, and all that!
Nobody's been able to identify the writer or artist(s) of this opener of a kool 3-part tale from Avon's Space Detective #2 (1951).
Personally, I see elements of Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, and Joe Kubert in the art, but nothing definitive.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Reading Room: SPACE DETECTIVE "BatWomen of Venus"

Fighting Crime in a Future Time...
...let's blast off for action with the Interstellar Shamus who's never actually called "Space Detective" and his (ahem) friend and companion (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), Teena!
The story continues tomorrow...
First at our "brother" blog Crime & Punishment,
then, back here for the conclusion!
Nobody's been able to identify the writer or artist(s) of this opener of a kool 3-part tale from Avon's Space Detective #2 (1951).
Personally, I see elements of Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, and Joe Kubert in the art, but nothing definitive.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Reading Room: ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN "Why the Leprechauns Left Ireland"

At last, the long-repressed (and never-reprinted) story can be told...
...on, appropriately enough, St Patrick's Day!
So, the left Earth...not just Ireland!
Wotta story!
Leprechauns!
Nikita Khrushchev, Communists and possible Atomic War!
Cape Canaveral!
Plus:  Giants from the center of the Earth!
Does it get any better than this?
I don't think so.
Writer/editor Richard Hughes (under the appropriate pen-name Shane O'Shea) and illustrator Odgen Whitney probably thought the same when they created this whimsical tale for AGC's Adventures into the Unknown #132 (1962).
51 years later, it's my pleasure to present it for your St Patricks Day entertainment.
Now, if you'll excuse me, there's several pints of Guinness Extra Stout in my fridge, waiting to meet me...