Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Remember Makano"

It's the final battle in the series that may have inspired Don (the John) Trump's fantasy about a "Space Force"...

...appropriately enough, a tale that places emotion over logic!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) is the final story for the short-lived series.

Oddly, none of the sci-fi books about specific characters (this one and Lars of Mars, Crusader from Mars, and Space Patrol) lasted more than two issues!

But the anthologies lasted longer...Amazing Adventures ran six issues and Weird Thrillers ran five!

It must be admitted that Murphy Anderson's revamp gave the book a solid "shot in the arm" artistically, so why it was cancelled so abruptly remains a mystery!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Friday Fun MY GAL PEARL "Football"

In the mid-1950s, there were a spate of "dumb blonde" comics...

....inspired by the radio/TV series My Friend Irma and Marilyn Monroe in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot!

This was one of Atlas (later Marvel) Comics' contributions to the genre!

Who says "vaudeville is dead"?

Certainly not writer Stan Lee and artist Dan DeCarlo in this never-reprinted tale from My Girl Pearl #1 (1955)!

There's lots more of this sort of thing...from almost every comic company of the era.

And you'll be seeing examples from them in the coming weeks!

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Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo

Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "I Found the Abominable SnowMan" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

...reality TV show producer Victor Cartwright stops at nothing to get ratings, even faking some of the wonders he shows on the cathode screen!

When he publicly promises to deliver film of the legendary Abominable SnowMan, Cartwright dons a furry costume to fake some footage.

But things go terribly wrong when a huge furry creature captures him and takes him via an advanced drilling ship into the depths of the Earth, where Victor discovers...

Whatever happened to the stranded lizard-man?

The cover art above was reused, but not for a reprint of the story you just read!

When it appeared on the cover of Marvel's Where Creatures Roam #5 (1970)...

Art by Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers with additions by Marie Severin

..it was to cover-feature a reprint of a different furry character (also drawn by Kirby and Ayers) that had it's own cover when it appeared in Tales to Astonish #18!

Why didn't they use that art?

Most likely, the original photostats and printing films of that cover had been lost, so Marvel decided to modify the art for TtA #24 that they did have stats for!

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August 1961 Omnibus
(Featuring EVERY comic published by Atlas/Marvel the month Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands!)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATARI FORCE "Chapter Three: Final Approach"

When Last We Left the War-Torn Earth of 2005 (as seen from 1982)...

...a female ninja with an Irish accent invades the Atari Institute, last bastion of science on a war-torn Earth.

Meanwhile, Commander Martin Champion and Doctor Lucas Orion have been summoned to that very installation by Assistant Director Lydia Perez, to discuss the top-secret "Project Multiverse"...

Plotted by Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway with Conway doing the script, and illustrated by Ross Andru (pencils) and Dick Giordano & Mike DeCarlo (inks), the never-reprinted premiere continued in the next issue, which was included in the package for Atari's Berserk cartridge.

Atari Force 
will
Return!

Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "I Found the Abominable Snowman!" Part 1

Baby, it's COLD outside!

So, here's one of the coolest (literally) giant monster tales from the final days of Atlas Comics' pre-Marvel Universe Tales to Astonish! told by the King himself, Jack Kirby, assisted by inker Dick Ayers!

Be Here Thursday...

...when things get even hairier for Victor Cartwright!

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Unfortunately, there's no available record (or even consensus among experts) as to who wrote this snow-bound story from Tales to Astonish #24 (1961).

But, if you haven't read this tale previously, the conclusion does have a couple of surprising developments!

BTW, when we said this was from the "final days" of the pre-Marvel Universe Atlas Comics, we weren't kidding!

The very next month saw the debut of Fantastic Four #1, launching the Marvel Age of Comics!

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August 1961 Omnibus
(Featuring EVERY comic published by Atlas/Marvel the month Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands!)

Monday Madness JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Midnight in the Wax Museum"

Continuing our "writers/illustrators encountering madness" theme we began last week...

..we offer a tale of a comic book artist and some of the koolest Kirby Kreatures you've ever laid eyes on...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this fun little tale was one of two featured on the cover by Kirby and Ayers on Atlas' Journey into Mystery #74 (1961)!

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August 1961 Omnibus
(Featuring EVERY comic published by Atlas/Marvel the month Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands, including this one!)