Space Hero Saturdays UNEARTHLY SPECTACULARS "EarthMan"

"What if Superman had been a Terran marooned on another world..."

...and what if he lost his memory?"

On a koolness scale from 1-10, this tale rates an "11".

Unfortunately, there was never a sequel to this story from Harvey's Unearthly Spectaculars #2 (1966), so we'll never know if EarthMan got his memory back or not!

Written, penciled, and inked by Wally Wood, who apparently had some interesting variations on the theme planned, but never had the opportunity to carry them out.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Friday Fun ARRGH! "Bugged!"

When I lived full-time in NYC, this was probably my #1 problem...

...in every apartment I lived in, and this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's ARRGH! #2 (1975) really hit home!

Written by longtime NYC resident Russ Jones (as "Jack Younger") and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala, this terrifying tale predates Stephen King's Creepshow segment "They're Creeping Up on You!"...

...by over half a decade!
(The page above is from the tie-in graphic novel adapted by King from his screenplay and illustrated by Berni [Swamp Thing] Wrightson!)

Perez Reading Room HOT STUF' "Uncle Sal and Cousin John Go Planet-Tripping"

This illustration by the late George Perez is not related to the story below...

...it's just incredibly-kool.

Note that the above was created only four years after the tale below was produced for Sal Quartuccio's fanzine/prozine Hot Stuf' #1 (1974).
Before websites like DeviantArt, such zines (sold at conventions and the then-new comic book stores) were the primary way for fans-turning-pros like George Perez to get their work out into the public's eye!

Written by Hot Stuf' editor Bob Keenan and inked by Bob Garrison, this was one of George Perez's earliest published tales.
And, to answer an obvious question, there was never a sequel to this "Harold and Kumar Meet Conan the Barbarian"-type story!

Perez was working as an assistant to already-established artist Rich Buckler (who also had a story in this issue) at the time, and George's first Marvel work, the final Gullivar Jones of Mars story (shown HERE) was published a couple of months after this!

The rest, as they say, is history...

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder PANIC! "Mars Man Chase"

Did screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan or director Steven Spielberg read this in 1955?

Both of them would've been the right age to have read this never-reprinted short (obviously inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom tales) from by writer/artist Don Orehek from Panic Publications' Panic #2 (1958), which might have inspired this legendary bit of high adventure cinema history...

Did it?

We'll never know!

Perez Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "The Trains Belong to Us"

It's said that a good graphic story can be told without captions or dialogue!

This never-reprinted, cover-featured tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #6 (1984) is a damn (in more ways than one) good graphic story!

And you thought those who complained graffiti made cities look like hell were exaggerating...

Though both Cavaleri and Perez worked for DC for years before doing this short, this was their first (and, I believe, only) collaboration!

Thursday:

One of George's first published stories

Monday Madness ATOM-AGE COMBAT "Hungry Moss"

Here's a story from the 1950s that might've inspired the 1960s cult flick The Green Slime!

This tale from the fifth (and final) issue of the 1952-53 comic book Atom-Age Combat is one of only three stories in the entire series with actual sci-fi or alien elements!
Most of the tales were of the World War III / Atomic War type showing a long-feared "US vs the Russian and/or Chinese Commies" war using advanced technology and limited nuclear weaponry.

While the writer is unknown, the art is by longtime war comics artist Dick Ayers, best-known for Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos.

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Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

Cover Gallery FANTASTIC WORLDS and LOST WORLDS

They ran for a combined total of only five issues...

Art by Alex Toth

...but Standard's short-lived sci-fi anthologies Fantastic Worlds and Lost Worlds had some first-rate talent both on the covers and inside them!

Art by John Celardo

Plus, all five covers had something in common quite unique in publishing...

...none of the covers had anything to do with any of the interior stories!

Art by Alex Toth & Mike Peppe

Despite the captions, which did mention titles from stories inside the books...

Art by Mike Sekowsky & John Celardo

...the art didn't depict anything even close to what was in the tales!

But they sure look kool, don't they?