Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN COMET, SPACE PILOT "vs the Vicious Space Pirates!"

A space-going hero named "Captain Comet" who saves the Earth?

Plus, he's drawn by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta?

Sign me up!

Note: he's not DC Comics' mutant mental marvel...

 ...but a character who only appeared once, in 1953, two years after DC's space hero debuted in Strange Adventures #9, and would continue as an ongoing strip through 1955 (usually getting the cover slot)!

The Captain Comet we've just shown you was more a Flash Gordon / Buck Rogers-type hero, set in the future, battling interplanetary threats with fists and ray guns.

Appearing in the first issue of Toby Press' anthology title Danger is Our Business, he obviously was meant to be an ongoing character, but there was never another appearance, except for a reprint in 1958.

Did DC issue a "cease and desist" due to trademark infringement?

We'll never know...

Friday Fun MONSTER TIMES "It Crawled From Out of the Woodwork!"

Our final entry into the "roach comic" category is a fumetti...

...a comic strip told with photos (enhanced by artwork) from the tabloid-format sci-fi/horror newspaper The Monster Times #3 (1973)!

It's larger than our normal formatting because the typeset lettering would be unreadable in our normal presentation size!
Creative credits for the strip are unknown, but we can tell you the creators/art directors of Monster Times; Larry Brill and Les Waldstein; also performed the same tasks for Al Goldstein's notorious X-rated tabloid SCREW! which featured a number of comics artists including Wally Wood, Drew Friedman, and Tony Millionare!

Reading Room TIME WARP "Return to the Stars"

As various countries (including us, due to Don da Con) plan to weaponize Outer Space...

...take a look back to when we weren't trying to act like total idiots outside of our planet's atmosphere and threats to peace were only from our own species.

Using both established pros and talented newcomers, this oversized anthology (68 pages for $1 when the standard comic was 36 pages for 40¢) presented all-new material, almost all of which (including this story) has never been reprinted!
While Howard Chaykin certainly is an "established pro", writer Wyatt Gwyon, who might qualify as a newcomer, is a mystery.
With less than two dozen stories to his credit, Gwyon came onto the comics scene in 1977 scripting horror and sci-fi stories for various DC anthology titles until he disappeared in 1983.
There was no sign of him in comics...or anywhere else...until he popped-up again...with a one-page Wolverine story in Marvel's What If...? #34 (1992)!
Was "Wyatt Gwyon" a pseudonym?
Probably, since Wyatt Gwyon was the protagonist of William Gaddis' acclaimed 1950s novel The Recognitions.
He's a frustrated fine artist with a gift for imitating the styles of Old Masters.
Unscrupulous art dealers and critics use him to create phony "undiscovered Old Masters" they sell for huge prices!
Was Wyatt a novelist/poet/movie-TV scripter who decided to try his hand at comics?
Or was he a DC or Marvel staffer who wanted to make some extra cash?
We'll probably never know...
...or will we?
According to Martin O'Hern, comics creator detective, the Who's Who created by mega-fan Jerry Bails (aka the Father of Comic Book Fandom) identifies "Gwyon" as long-time DC scripter Martin Pasko...but with a "?" by his name, probably because it's never been fully-confirmed.

Note that Mike Kaluta, definitive artist for the comic version of The Shadow, provided pulp-style covers for the entire run.

While they had no relation to any of the stories in the book, they were spectacular!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS "Chapter 2: Wings of Doom"

We Have Already Seen...

Now that you're caught up, let's continue...

Note the ad for the lead title from this publisher, which began as MLJ Magazines, but changed it's name to Archie Comics when it became clear that the red-headed teen outsold everything else they published.

At this point (1950), Archie was slowly phasing-out their non-humor strips in existing books like Pep Comics and Laugh Comics, but were still willing to try non-teen humor material in standalone titles like this one, Sam Hill: Private Eye and Darling Love, none of which lasted more than eight issues.
Be here next Wednesday as we continue this never-reprinted tale! 

Reading Room ALIEN ENCOUNTERS "Monster of Planet Og!"

If you (like me) enjoy space opera, you'll love the tale behind this cover...

...which gives a kool new twist to the classic cliches!

Writer Christy Marx and artist Peter Ledger handle this never-reprinted story from Eclipse's Alien Encounters #2 (1985) like it's a 1940s comic written by an alien Edmond (Captain Future) Hamilton!

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Incredible Science Fiction

Monday Madness THE THING "Cinderella"

You've seen "dark" versions of fairy tales on TV and movies...

...but comics handled similar material going back to the 1950s, the heyday of horror comics!

(Illustrated by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, no less!)

This tale from Charlton's The Thing! #12 (1954) sure ain't like the Disney version, eh?
The Thing was the snarky, but unseen, host of the comic series in the vein (as it were) of EC's Crypt Keeper.

He was no relation to either the movie character The Thing from Another World (whose film came out in 1951, just before this comic debuted), or the Fantastic Four's super-strong team member.

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Tomorrow is Memorial Day

...but we have a kool Monday Madness post I didn't want to wait on!

So pay tribute to our defenders (active and retired) today and tomorrow!

BTW, this is a World War II-era flag!

That's why it has only 48 stars!
Alaska and Hawaii didn't become states until 1959!