Saturday, October 24, 2020

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Slaughter on a Star!"

The 1950s, when heroic astronauts fought for Truth, Justice, and the American Way...
...in outer space, as seen in the second (of three) tales from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #1 (1953)!
Y'know, this series has "video game franchise" written all over it!
Written by Hank Chapman, illustrated by Joe Maneely, who managed to jam what, today, would be a multi-issue 100-page-plus series into only five pages...and make it work!

Friday, October 23, 2020

Friday Fun / Humor in a Jugular Vein CRAZY "Zombie!!"

As All Hallows Eve (Halloween to you under-60s) approaches...
...I'm in a "shambling undead" mood, so here's a never-reprinted, tawdry tale about...you know...

For the record, we ran "Wolf Man" last week!

Veteran writer/artist Bill Everett seemed to enjoy going from his usual realistic style to a much more-detailed variation of Bill Elder's work on EC's MAD and Panic, as this story from Atlas' Crazy V1N4 (1954) displays.

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

Reading Room / Halloween Horror UNCANNY TALES "Escape from Mars"

Here's a never-reprinted sci fi/horror tale from the 1950s...
...from a Weird Science/Tales from the Crypt clone!
Illustrated by Joe Sinnott (best known as the inker for a large part of the Fantastic Four's Silver and Bronze Age run), this tale from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #15 (1953) actually has a scientific basis (sort of) for the conclusion!
The Perseid Meteor shower occurs every late summer/early autumn.
The unknown writer of the tale took advantage of that ongoing event to anchor this rather fanciful story in reality.
But, in doing so, the scripter made a major mistake!
Since Mars is much further from the Sun than the Earth, it takes longer (about 1.88 "Earth years") for the Red Planet to orbit the star called Sol!
Unless the Martian calendar's "year" is less time than a complete orbit around the Sun (as ours is), their "September" and ours wouldn't coincide on an annual basis!
Plus, as a morality tale, the story fails miserably!
Spiro (who killed to get the ticket) and his wife, Cinda, get what's coming to them.
But all the other Martians on board the ships are, as far as we know, innocent!
They don't deserve to die!
And Dictator/Scientist Vleben will continue to murder the surplus population without punishment!
One of the great things about the EC Comics sci-fi/horror line was that justice, however bloody and gruesome, was always served!
However, the many clones, like this one, simply "went for the jugular" without the emotionally-satisfying balancing of the scales of justice!
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Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Chicago Chaos"

We Have Already Seen...

...when a synopsis takes up half the panel, you better take note!
But now that we're caught up, let's jump into the action...
The Saga Continues...
Writer "Thorncliffe Herrick" and artist Graham Ingels obviously have long-term plans for the series as this chapter from Fiction House's Planet Comics #27 (1943) shows!

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Volume 7
(which reprints this tale)

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Reading Room / Halloween Horror UNEXPECTED "Monstrous Crime"

As DC Comics ended it's non-super-hero anthologies...
...sometimes unused stories for one title were used as filler in other books!
Originally-produced for the sci-fi anthology Time Warp, this never-reprinted story ended up in the back of issue #207 (1981) of the DC horror anthology The Unexpected.
Tor Infante (aka Nestor Infante/Ernesto Infante) illustrated only 11 war and horror stories in the early 1980s, all for DC, before disappearing from the American comics scene until the 1990s, when he took on multiple assignments for Continuity Comics including Ms Mystic and Megalith, as well as KnightHawk, which found a new home at Acclaim Comics after Continuity folded.
Infante passed away in 2011.
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Monday, October 19, 2020

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Footsteps of Disaster"

Return with us to the Swinging Sixties...

...when one of DC's most powerful characters was reduced to being a CryptKeeper-type host for PG-rated tales of "horror" as shown HERE...

Scripted by Mike Friedrich, penciled by Jerry Grandenetti, and inked by George Roussos, this intro to the final issue of the Ghostly Guardian's Silver Age series (#10 from 1970) is a combination of Golden Age and Silver Age talents quite common during the era.
Friedrich was one of the second wave of fans-turned pros, which also included Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin, Rich Buckler, Mike Ploog, and Steve Englehart.
He founded Star*Reach, initially a publisher of creator-owned projects, which evolved into an agency packaging stories for various publishers.
Both Grandinetti and Roussos were Golden Agers who stayed in the comics field literally until the day they died, thanks to their unique storytelling and technical skills.

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The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Halloween-Themed PPE Masks!

   Want to be safe and look scarily seasonally-appropriate?


Go for one of our 13 terrifying PPE masks!
Each double-layer mask is reusable, washable, and built for comfort.

The one-size-fits-all mask features a pocket for optional filter use...
Plus: Each order includes a free 2-pack of carbon filter inserts.

Note: these are exclusive designs, not available anywhere else!
To See Them All!
Order now, so you'll have a treat, not a trick for All Hallows Day!