Saturday, February 27, 2021

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON "Space Demons!"

Life in the year 2000 was perilous indeed...
...or so it was said 49 years earlier, when this story from Atlas' Space Squadron #3 (1951) appeared!
Letting Edgar go unpunished despite risking numerous lives was, unfortunately, a typical plot point both in this series, and in later juvenile space-based comics and tv shows like Lost in Space, where, if anyone had any sense, they would've tossed Dr Smith out an airlock without a space suit after his first attempt to kill them...
Illustrated 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, this was a typical tale of Atlas' resident space hero of the early 1950s.
The writer is unknown.
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(under the pen-name "Paul French")
Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!
David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn

Friday, February 26, 2021

Friday Fun FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Jabar in The Good Old Days"

From the premiere issue of Fitzgerald's Fast Willie Jackson...

...comes this never-reprinted two-pager by editor/writer Bertram Fitzgerald and artist "Gus LeMoine" that makes a serious point in a humorous way!.
Published by Black-owned company Fitzgerald Publications (who had previously published the Golden Legacy non-fiction comic series about Black history), Fast Willie was their entry into the mass market.
(There were no comic book stores at the time)

Though not Comics Code-approved, it received newsstand distribution, and sales were climbing for each successive issue.
Unfortunately, it reached break-even only with the seventh (and final) issue, when other matters caused Fitzgerald Publications to cease producing new material for an extended period. When Fitzgerald briefly resumed publishing, Fast Willie was not among the titles.
Written by publisher/editor Bertram Fitzgerald, illustrated by "Gus LeMoine".
Note: There's no record of Gus LeMoine outside of a brief comics career for Archie and Fitzgerald which coincidentally ends with superb Dan DeCarlo mimic Henry Scarpelli leaving his staff position at DC and becoming a full-time staff artist at Archie...at which point LeMoine's credits disappear!
Most artists in the comics field do other (fine or commercial art) work before and/or after their stint in comics.
There's no trace of Gus' work anywhere else!
If anybody can provide a link to his pre/post-comics work or some sort of biography I've missed, I'd be extremely grateful for the info!

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Thursday, February 25, 2021

Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Occupation Force"

From the mind of Frank Herbert, creator/author of the Dune series...
...comes a tale of how the concept of a screwed-up government bureaucracy is literally, universal!
This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's sci-fi anthology magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #3 (1975) is an extremely-faithful adaptation by writer Gerry Conway, penciler George Perez, and inker Klaus Janson of the Frank Herbert short story that originally appeared in Ziff-Davis' sci-fi pulp Fantastic #V4N5 (1955).
In a kool touch, the creatives took the originally all-Caucasian Krolians...
...and made them an inclusive, interracial group.
Humans are humans, no matter their skin color, after all...
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Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AIRSHIP ENTERPRISE "Infernal Machine" Part 2b

...Responding to a distress call from a research vessel, the Enterprise encounters a belt of living and aggressive matter that forces two scoutships down to the surface of largest of the rock-like, sentient beings, where a number of them are now mind-controlled by an entity calling itself Aido Querdo...

...but not for awhile.
There are two more issues to this tale,, which we may bring back in the future.
Sadly, writer/artist Brian Denham hasn't continued the series...not that he hasn't been busy...Click HERE.
So let us know if you want to see the rest of the saga.
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Graphic Novel re-presenting the mini-series along with additional goodies

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Baker Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Green Fog!"

Before a long-haired hippie (hey, it was the Swinging Sixties) with a hammer took over the book...
....Atlas-Marvel's Journey into Mystery was first a horror, then sci-fi anthology featuring some of the best work of the era...quite a bit of it never-reprinted, like this tale from #50 (1959), penciled by the legendary Matt Baker and inked by Vince Colletta!
The scripter is unknown, but probably isn't editor Stan Lee, who tended to incorporate his distinctive signature into the title page when he wrote the story.
You'll note the inking is much more detailed here than in the previous Baker Reading Room story, also inked by Colletta, but published by Charlton!
Atlas' reproduction quality was better than Charlton's, so art studio owner/inker Colletta (who packaged stories for Atlas, Charlton, Dell and others) put more effort into the final product.
The Marvel Masterworks: Journey into Mystery reprint series ended with Volume Four (2012), which only reprinted up to #40, so almost all the non-Thor and Tales of Asgard material since #40 (including this story) hasn't been seen since original publication!

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Monday, February 22, 2021

Monday Madness HEAVY METAL "Mara's Edge"

Here's a retro-kool short story illustrated by one of the most underrated comic creators currently working...

As you might have guessed, Knight was heavily-influenced by 1920s-40s animators including the Fleisher Brothers, Tex Avery, and Chuck Jones.
He's worked in comics, animation, magazine illustration, commercial art, even CD and LP album cover graphics!
Though he collaborated with writer Steve Riggenberg on this tale never-reprinted tale from Heavy Metal V9N7 (1985), Knight usually scripts his own material.
Check out his website HERE!
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Volume 3
(Featuring Milton Knight Jr's graphic adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's classic "Poker!")

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Until We Achieve Herd Immunity, Consider Getting a Couple of New, Kool PPE Face-Masks!

Even with the vaccine, we're still going to need face masks, ...at least for awhile!

Each double-layer mask is reusable, washable, and built for comfort.
Every one-size-fits-all adult or kid mask features a pocket for optional filter use...and comes with two free carbon filters!
PLUS: these are exclusive designs, not available anywhere else on-line or in brick-and-mortar stores!
(Even Amazon doesn't have them!)
Click
to see them all!