Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Beast-Killer!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...the mysterious Monolith providing guidance in constructing tools and weapons to primitive Man, in this case, one who becomes known as "Beast-Killer"...

The second part of this never-reprinted sequel tale from Marvel's 2001: a Space Odyssey #1 (1976) adheres closely to the structure of the last part of the movie...astronaut in peril encounters Monolith, travels through it and is transformed/reborn as an immensely-powerful being resembling a human fetus!

But Jack Kirby was never one to be predictible, as the second issue will reveal...Next Friday!

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Friday Fun 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Beast-Killer!" Part 1

We begin a new arc of never-reprinted tales...

...with the premiere story from Jack Kirby's sequel series to 2001: a Space Odyssey!

(Note: I'm pretty sure this was meant to be the left side of a two-page spread, but Marvel's cutting the page count from 18 to 17 for several months simply meant leaving out the right-hand page!)

To be concluded...TOMORROW!

Not exactly what Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke had in mind, I'll wager.
We see the mysterious Monolith and spacesuits designed for the movie along with a transition from past to future mirroring the one in the film, but that's about all that carries over from the cinematic experience...up to this point!
Written and penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Mike Royer, Marvel's 2001: a Space Odyssey #1 (1976) diverged wildly from the movie and novel, going into a more pulp magazine/comic book universe where aliens were known to exist and interplanetary travel was commonplace!
How it actually links to the movie will be apparent in the conclusion.
BTW, thanks to fellow blogger Rip Jagger for inspiring this new chapter in Friday Fun.
His amazing Tribute to Jack Kirby reminded me that I had already run half of The King's version of the world created by Clarke and Kubrick, and prompted me to re-present the series that hadn't seen the light of day since it's publication over 40 years ago,,,far too long for Kirbyphiles to be denied a look at it!
You can see the earlier installments by clicking on the titles...

Norton of New York, 2040 AD & Inter-Galactica

and

Capture of X-51 & Mister Machine & Hotline to Hades

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Science Fiction

Reading Room ALIEN WORLDS "Small Change"

We've been rather grim the past few days, so let's lighten up...

...with a fun tale from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984), the same issue that gave us yesterday's story!

BTW, writer Bruce Jones and artist Brent Anderson also teamed up for an amazing run on Marvel's Ka-Zar the Savage in the '80s.

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Ka-Zar: SavageDawn

by Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson

(collecting 1-5 of Ka-Zar the Savage)

Trump Reading Room ALIEN WORLDS "Ride the Blue Bus"

Is this the future Don the Con has in mind for us?

We do seem to be edging closer and closer to it...

This never-reprinted post-apocalyptic tale by writer Bruce Jones and artist George Perez from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984) has an odd quirk.

Both Toby's friend, Juke, and the unamed bus driver are illustrated as black/ethnic people.

Yet neither is colored differently than the blond/blue-eyed Toby!

Was this deliberate?

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George Perez

StoryTeller

The RetroBlogs Mini-Marathons of 2017!

This summer, each RetroBlog presented a different mini-Blogathon, with some crossing-over between blogs...

The biggest Blogathon was the complete presentation of what many consider to be the first true graphic novel... the 132-page St John's digest-sized b/w one-shot It Rhymes with Lust by writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller and illustrator Matt Baker!

This was so cross-genre, it'll be appeared in Seduction of the Innocent, Crime & Punishment, True Love Comics Tales, Heroines, here in Atomic Kommie Comics, and in our newest RetroBlog; Not Safe for Work Comics!
You can start the inter-linked saga HERE!

PLUS...

Hero Histories presented two of the never-reprinted adventures of the Silver Age Plastic Man...his (sorta) origin...

and his team-up with Daddy (the Golden Age Plas) and sidekick Woozy Winks!

(BTW, the gorilla doesn't appear anywhere in the issue!)

Western Comics Adventures spotlighted the complete, never-reprinted adventures of a band of diverse wanderers united by tragedy known as The Bravados!

War: Past, Present and Future covered the short-lived, never-reprinted series Lone Tiger...

..and its' companion strip Dollar Bill Ca$h!
Plus: the final, never-published Lone Tiger tale, scanned from the original art!
 

And with the passing of Jerry Lewis, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video dropped it's look at the never-reprinted adventures of Captain Justice...based on the lost TV series Once a Hero...

...to present never-reprinted classic team-ups of DC heroines...

...and heroes with Jerry!

Still to come...Superman and the 1960s Batman & Robin!
BTW, Captain Justice will pop up before Christmas!
We don't want to miss the show's 30th Anniversary!

Sadly, due to the crush of work...and some serious vacation partying...we weren't able to do how the Comics Code altered reprints in sometimes ridiculous ways at Seduction of the Innocent!

Before the Comics Code...

After the Comics Code...

...so that one will be set for Halloween!

Best of Reading Room ROCKET SHIP X "Our Atomic Future"

Remember when we thought the Day After Tomorrow would be...

...and all the world's woes could be solved with nuclear power?

If you're an older Baby Boomer, or one of the Greatest Generation, you might remember this tale from Fox's one-shot Rocket Ship X (1951) or something similar to it, since the unhindered (but safe) use of atomic power was being promoted as the ultimate solution to the world's oil/gasoline problems!

Oddly, when it was reprinted in Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #5 (1956), only the first page was shown!

Sadly, no records exist to identify the writer and artist (or writer/artist) of this unfulfilled prophecy.

Is THIS Our Future???

With North Korea threatening us with nuclear weapons (again)...

...maybe we should look at how it was during the Cold War by looking at what they thought (in the 1950s) would happen in the near-future (the 1960s onward)!

Turns out it wasn't so great, as you'll see when you click on the links to our "brother" RetroBlog War: Past, Present & Future...and read about...

Atomic War

and

World War III

...which were two different series with two different plotlines and histories taking place at the same time in the near future...from the same publisher!