Saturday, October 31, 2020

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON "Last of the Martians"

Meet Mxxptrm!
No, not "Myxzptlk"!
You can't get rid of this guy by getting him to say his name backwards!
And, though he's a Martian, he's neither little, nor green!
An interesting aspect of Space Squadron was that, unlike Speed Carter's Space Sentinels, the Squadron had members from every allied world, not just Earth.
"Max", who debuts here, becomes a valued (albeit temperamental) teammate, rather like Worf on Star Trek: the Next Generation.
Art from this never-reprinted final story from Atlas' Space Squadron #1 (1951) is by George Tuska who later became the final artist on the original Buck Rogers comic strip (1959-67) and then assumed the art duties for almost a decade on Marvel's Invincible Iron Man!

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Friday, October 30, 2020

Friday Fun / Humor in a Jugular Vein "Blechhula!" & "Night Gawker"

Here's two creepy classics from the 1970s that should've been comic books, but weren't!

...as presented in our "brother" RetroBlog specializing in TV/movie/radio comics, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!
Both were satirized in never-reprinted strips from Marvel's short-lived humor comics Spoof and ARRRGH!
Blacula never made it to comics, but Night Stalker has appeared under the Moonstone banner since 2002.

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Thursday, October 29, 2020

Reading Room / Halloween Horror UNCANNY TALES "Witch in the Woods"

 Since we posted a story about people blaming horror comic books for all the world's evils...

...we thought we'd run another tale by the same writer from the same period!
As Stan Lee's somewhat snarky script for this story from Atlas' Menace #7 (1953) points out, those beloved fairy tales were as mind-rotting as the comics Wertham and the others hypocritically tried to ban!
Joe Sinnott's clean and elegant renderings keep the story from being too grotesque, helping to sell Lee's point without the extreme gore some other publishers of the period (and even Atlas itself) occasionally went for!
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Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Underground Ambush"

We Have Already Seen...

...do we really have to add anything?
BTW, if you want to see the earlier chapters, go HERE!
The Excitement Continues...
Next Wednesday!
Writer "Thorncliffe Herrick" and artist Graham Ingels don't identify where this story takes place during this tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #28 (1943), so we don't know what direction they're going!
They could be in Canada or Mexico for all we know...

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(which reprints this tale)

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Reading Room / Halloween Horror SUSPENSE "Raving Maniac"

People blaming pop culture (like movies and video games) for violence and evil in society is nothing new...
...as seen in this over 65-year old short story from Atlas' Suspense #29 (1953)!
Writer/editor Stan Lee is the model for the story's editor.
Though artist Joe Maneely doesn't use Dr Fredric Wertham's likeness for the screaming loon, the character is clearly based on the impression the "good doctor" made on comics industry workers whose livelihood he almost destroyed.
This was the final issue of the pre-Comics Code horror title which, initially, adapted stories from the famous dramatic radio show.
When the similarly-named Tales of Suspense debuted a couple of years later, it was a Code-approved science-fiction/fantasy title until the arrival of superheroes Iron Man and Captain America.
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Ten-Cent Plague
The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Monday, October 26, 2020

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Hit and Run!"

Our final pre-Halloween entry...

...is from the final issue of The Spectre's stint as a horror host de-powered from being one of the DC Universe's most powerful characters!
Here's one of the stories you'd find under this kool Nick Cardy cover for DC's Spectre #10 (1969)...
Wow!
No wonder God "demoted" the Spectre!
Writer Steve Skeates and artist Jose Delbo showed that, despite once being a near-omnipotent entity, the Ghostly Guardian is still...only human!
BTW, this issue also had an usual text feature...its' own obituary by DC's resident historian, Mark Hanerfeld!
The Spectre did return, and sacrifice his...existence...to save both Earth One and Earth-Two in the Justice League's annual team-up with the Justice Society in DC's JLA #82-83 (1970).
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The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Sunday, October 25, 2020