Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Space Trap" Part 1

Tanya, the Space Siren has another cunning plan...

...and only Bruce Warren (and his little brother Terry) can stop her nefarious scheme in this tale from Buster Brown Comic Book #29 (1952)!

 What do they find?

(We know, but we ain't talking!)

You'll have to be back next Saturday to discover the startling secret!

The eagle-eyed among you will notice a redesign of the police uniforms and spacecraft from the previous story.

Reed Crandall, who finished the pencils over Ray Bailey's layouts, revamped them in a jauntier, more "Flash Gordon" style rather than the utilitarian "Space Cadet" look they initially had.

Crandall took over full penciling as of the next issue.

Written by Hobart Donovan.

Penciled by Ray Bailey and Reed Crandall

Inked by Ray Willner.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Friday Fun TIPPY TEEN "Kiss and Tell"

In the 1960s, besides sci-fi and superhero comics, most of us also read "teen humor" comics...

...like Tower's Tippy Teen #17 (1967), which featured this tale that starts off with the heroine reading a romance comic.

(Talk about meta...)

If the plotting and art style on this tale from Tippy Teen #17 (1967) reads like an Archie Comics story, that's because many Archie writers and artists (who were freelancers) including Sam Schwartz, Harry Shorten, and Dan DeCarlo, also worked on Tippy strips for the short-lived Tower Comics' in the 1960s!
BTW, this story was reprinted several years later...but with the clothing and hairstyles updated to the 1970s, and the lead character changed!
Be here next Friday to see it!

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Reading Room LAND OF THE FHRE aka SAVAGE WORLD 2.0

If you enjoyed Tuesday's short story "Savage World"...

...you'll find this version, using the same art...but a different script...a most fascinating read!

Noted Bronze Age writer/artist Bruce Jones was heavily-influenced by the Fleagle Gang and the EC Comics line in general.

Since the previously-published version of this tale in Witzend #1 (1966) was a rewrite of an unknown writer's script by Wally Wood, Bruce was given the opportunity to do a similar re-write, also without altering the art, for this publication in Pacific Comics' Alien Worlds #4 (1983).

Jones' version places the tale further into the future and makes the second half a dream sequence

The story also appeared in color for the first time, using the blueline/greyline method of hand-colored artwork with a black-line overlay, trying to simulate the traditional flat-color separations.

That's why the black linework isn't as crisp and sharp as in the b/w version.

The coloring was done by fantasy painter Joe Chiodo, another illustrator inspired by the work of 1950s comic artists.

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Al Williamson Adventures

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Jewel of Destiny"

As the finale to the Golden Age adventures of Hunt Bowman and alien princess Lyssa, here's the only text feature based on the series, from Fiction House's Planet Comics #38 (1945)!

Next Week...

the rebooted, 1980s version of the

LOST WORLD!

Dare You Miss It?

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room SAVAGE WORLD

Not every story created in the Golden Age was published in the Golden Age...

...like this story, meant for the 1950s title Buster Crabbe Comics!

"Larry Gordon" is a tribute to Larry "Buster" Crabbe who played Flash Gordon in the three movie serials from Universal Pictures.

The story itself, though signed by Al Williamson, is a jam-session featuring work from a number of now-legendary artists who called themselves "The Fleagle Gang".

The explanation for the story can be found here...

Our tale is from its' fourth appearance, in Death Rattle #10 (1987), where it was reprinted, unaltered from its' first publication in Witzend #1 (1966).

The second publication was in the first issue (1975) of Marvel's short-lived b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, where the only modification was reversing all the captions to black with white type...

The third printing was another story entirely...and I mean that literally.

You'll find out all about it...Thursday!

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Al Williamson Adventures

Monday Mars Madness CAPTAIN ROCKET "Meets the Mind Stealers"

Welcome to a story about Martians...

...who weren't Martians!

There were three never-reprinted Captain Rocket stories in his one and only issue from the short-lived PL Publishing, but only two were comics!

The third was a text feature!

The cover (which omits Cap's rather dorky helmet in favor of a kool transparent one) and this text feature from PL's Captain Rocket #1 (1951) were written and illustrated by Harry Harrison, who later gave up illustrating and became a major sci-fi/fantasy writer (including the novel Make Room! Make Room! which was the basis for Soylent Green!

And here's a weird note: Though this tale involves Saturnians, the little vignette in the upper left of the cover warns us..."We must prepare for an invasion from MARS!"

Since there are no Martians in either of the comic stories, was the tiny Cap head shot referring to the aliens in the text feature, who might have been written as Martians, but changed by the editor into Saturnians (perhaps because he felt Martians were too much of a cliche)?

Or was there another, unpublished, Captain Rocket tale that got bounced into the never-printed second issue?

The answers are lost in the mists of time...

BTW, the headlined cover feature "Man Who Wanted a World" wasn't even a Captain Rocket tale!
It was the debut (and only) appearance of space heroine Aurora of Jupiter!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Who Knows What Reboots Lurk in the Minds of Writers?

With the most extensive revamp/reboot to the legendary character since the 1960s Radio Comics version...

...by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (now in bookstores and at Amazon)...

...we hereby present the updated (as of the Silver Age), but never-reprinted reboot origin of He Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men from Radio Comics The Shadow, as the "Grande Finale" to our annual Summer RetroBlogs Blogathon, beginning tomorrow at Hero Histories!
Click
HERE
Monday to enjoy!