Space Hero Saturdays MAN O' MARS

Here's a kool klassic from the 1950s...the lead story from a 1953 one-shot that combined all the great cliches of space opera (spaceships, ray guns, aliens, half-naked space babes) in one tight ten-page tale set only thirteen years from now...

These days, this story would be a six-issue mini-series with tie-ins to several other titles.

The rest of Fiction House's Man O' Mars one-shot from 1953 was made up of unrelated reprints from earlier issues of Planet Comics.

The interior artist is Maurice Gutwirth, but the writer is unknown.

The original cover was done by Maurice Whitman, one of the Golden Age's more prolific artists with credits at almost every company of the era!

When the book was reprinted by IW Comics in 1958 from the original printing plates, the covers weren't included, so publisher Israel Waldman commissioned Angelo Torres...

...who created a superb Frank Frazetta-style cover, doing his fellow Fleagle Gang member proud!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Friday Fun GET LOST! "How It All Began..." & "How to Make Your Own Comic Book!!"

In the mid-1950s, the young, multi-talented, creative team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito...

...took a big risk and started their own comics company, MikeRoss Publishing!
They told a fascinating tale of how it came about...

...which didn't have a bit of truth to it!

Then, they decided to "teach" others the "secrets" of how to emulate their success...

As you can see, Ross and Mike were having fun and producing some great material.

Ironically, and through no fault of their own, it would all come crashing down a few months later!

And though their product consisted of a only two non-horror series (humor and romance) and a couple of 3-D one-shots, they were caught in the paranoid backlash against four-color fun that less than a fifth of existing comics publishers survived!

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Andru and Esposito
Partners for Life

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Supermen"

Yes, you read the title correctly..."Supermen"!

But this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957) isn't about your usual muscle-bound heroes...

After all, who said only human minds and bodies were being affected?

Written by Jack Oleck and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this oft-reprinted tale is one of only four stories the prolific Oleck scripted for Charlton...and all four were illustrated by Ditko!

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Creativity of Ditko

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder MEDUSA CHAIN Part 3

When Last We Left the Wrongfully-Convicted Chon Adams...

After avoiding being gutted by Basenga and his cronies, Adams returns to his cabin and rests, dreaming of how he broke jail to track down the executive who planed to destroy the ship Chon was on to collect the insurance, forcing Adams to euthanize half the crew so the other half would have enough food and air to survive the trip home after the bombs were disarmed.

When he awakens...

Next Wednesday...
...Things Go from Bad to Worse!

The amount of violence and gore is amazing when you're aware writer/artist Ernie Colon spent decades illustrating the wholesome adventures of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich and the rest of the Harvey Comics crew...

Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "Lunar Rendezvous"

A 1950s-style script with art that tries to offer a 1960s "psychedelic" feel...

...in this never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V2#6 (1969)

Sam Glanzman was an amazingly-versatile artist, whose work in every genre from sci-fi to war to romance to Westerns was usually exemplary.

Whether this was a rush job...or he was experimenting with a new inking style...or he simply had an off-week, it's just not up to his usual high standards.

BTW, you may notice the indicia says "Vol 1 Number 6", but the book is actually from Vol 2 Number 6!

Charlton's first Space Adventures title ran from 1952-56 (1-21), then 1958-64 (23-59) for a total of 58 issues.
(There wasn't a #22 in either part of the run).

This tale was from a 1968-69 revival of the title that lasted only 7 issues.

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Voyage to the Deep

TPB reprinting the complete four-issue 1960s series illustrated by Sam Glanzman, plus some kool features!

Monday Madness FLYING SAUCERS x FOUR #4 "Impossible Spaceship!"

The final version of the "sentient flying saucer" story doesn't even include the words "flying saucer" in the title...

...and the ship design itself is closer to classic Star Trek or 1960s Italian sci-fi like Planet of the Vampires (one of my all-time faves)...

Published in the back of Marvel's Strange Tales #101 (1962), this MadMan-era, never-reprinted, Don Heck-illustrated, Stan Lee-scripted tale was the final version of a Stan Lee plot involving sentient alien spacecraft first used in 1953 (HERE), then re-used in 1958 (HERE), and 1960 (HERE).

NOTE: Atlas had given way to Marvel several months earlier with Amazing Fantasy #15 (first Spider-Man) and Fantastic Four #1 in 1961.

(When Spider-Man received his own title a year later, the FF were cover-featured guest-stars!)

BTW, the cover feature for this issue was the introduction of the Human Torch's short-lived solo strip!

Weird Trivia: All four of the issues these stories originally appeared in had a number "1" in the issue numbering (21, 1, 11, 101)!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

ANTI-Valentine's Day Gifts!

 

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been suggesting Valentine's Day kool kollectibles for those with True Love in their hearts!
But what of those of you who don't look forward to this Day for Lovers?
Don't worry! We haven't left you out!
Today, Atomic Kommie Comics™ offers "Wrong Way Wedding" from the Weddings section of True Love Comics Tales™! on a host of items including greeting cards, mens' and womens' garb, even teddy bears!