Space Hero Saturdays MISTER MYSTERY COMICS "Brain Bats of Venus"

Not every Space Hero is a "big name" like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, or even Rex Dexter of Mars!

Sometimes they're just average Joes, like Rod Crenshaw and Reese Bitner in this wild tale by Golden Age writer/artist legend Basil Wolverton!

From Key Publications' Mister Mystery #7 (1952), easily one of the best horror/sci-fi tales ever!

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Brain Bats of Venus
Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton

Volume Two
1942-1952

Friday Fun ASTONISHING "Eve of Halloween!"

Since "Halloween" means "All Hallows Eve"...

...is the "Eve of Halloween" the night before Halloween?

This too cute for words story from Atlas' Astonishing #47 (1956) doesn't answer the "eve of Halloween"question.

But artist Ed Winiarski and an unknown writer do present a Bewitched-style tale of a modern-day witch and her daughter which, oddly, doesn't show anything of the husband/father!

Was he a warlock or a mortal?

We'll never know the answer...

Haunted House Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "I Speak of the Haunted House!"

This haunted house tale features two Silver Age greats...

...taking a twice-told tale, and proving "third time's the charm!"

Since it was backing up an Invincible Iron Man story in Atlas/Marvel's Tales of Suspense #42 (1963), this tale remained unseen for almost 50 years (unless you had this issue) until finally reprinted in the book available below!

You'll note the comic book fanboys of the previous two versions (HERE and HERE) are replaced with adults, one of whom looks amazingly-like a middle-aged Peter Parker!

Not suprising, since writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko co-created Peter and his costumed alter-ego, The Amazing Spider-Man!
Note: When I first ran this post years ago, reader Rowdie Richie pointed out "...it was reprinted around 1970 in a British UK Annual hardcover.
I am really hoping to find it also in a cheap early 70s reprint comic, since Marvel was heavy into horror at the time."
Sadly, it didn't appear in any of the 1970s Marvel horror reprints, and the UK reprint in IPC's Fantastic! #5 (1967) was cut to 3 1/2 pages (eliminating the kool splash page) and ran in black and white!

The hardcover UK annual he mentions, IPC's Fantastic! Annual (1970)...

...shows this edited version...but in black and white with red tones added, not full color!

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WALKING DEAD ZOMBIE SPECIAL "Dead or Dead" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Sheriff in the Zombie Apocalypse...

...again, not that sheriff, but a delusional teenager who perceives zombies and threatening humans (like bikers) as classic Western baddies, thus explaining the story's title which is a riff on the old-style wanted poster caption of "Dead or Alive"!

There's one more never-reprinted tale of the original Walking Dead, and you'll see it here...

Next Wednesday...

along with info about an unauthorized sequel from the same publisher!

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Mammoth Book of

Zombie Comics

Haunted House Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "I Spent the Night in a Haunted House!"

Last Thursday, we saw the first version of this haunted house story...

...now let's look at how Stan Lee, his brother, and a Silver Age superstar artist re-told the tale a decade later!

Stan Lee turned the previously-used plot over to his brother, writer Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck who modified it slightly for this story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #80 (1962).
Trivia: When this story was reprinted in Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #26 (1973), the comics the kids were reading were updated to then-current titles...

...but the last panel still showed the kid reading Journey into Mystery...because that title had just been revived!

Be here Thursday for one more version of this tale...by Stan Lee and another Silver Age superstar!
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Marvel Masterworks: Atlas-Era
Journey into Mystery
Volume 4

Monday Madness WEIRD MYSTERIES "Trick or Treat"

It's Almost Halloween...

...so let's have fun telling a tale of a Halloween costume party gone horribly wrong!

Illustrated by Eugene Hughes and scripted by an unknown writer, this All Hallows Eve story from Key Publications' Weird Mysteries #10 (1954) was reprinted only once until the 2010s...but in black and white and with the only alteration being a title change...

...when it appeared in Stanley Morse's Stark Terror #2 (1970).
(Morse, BTW, was the publisher of Key Publications before the company went out of business during the Dr Wertham-created "Seduction of the Innocent" scandal that almost destroyed the comic book business in the mid-1950s.

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Horror Comics of the 1950s

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Thanks for Ordering Halloween Goodies from Atomic Kommie Comics™

We broke sales records this year...thanks to you!

We're finishing prepping and shipping already-ordered products, but no new orders can be accepted, since they wouldn't arrive before Halloween, and we believe in TREATS, not TRICKS!

Happy Halloween to EVERYONE!