Saturday, April 15, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "To Mars and Back"

You know the scientist-hero of this strip is stark-raving bonkers...
...when, after seeing a test item come back through his teleporter inside-out, he leaps into the device!
This premiere tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #1 (1939) ends right there.
No "To Be Continued" caption or anything else.
The next page begins another strip, Sub Saunders.
But fear not, Flick Falcon will return for 20 more issues of Fantastic Comics!
Unlike Brick Bradford or Doctor Who, both of whom used other people's tech to jaunt around the Universe (and eventually the Multiverse), Flick created his own mode of travel, avoiding tedious (and dangerous) interplanetary travel by ship.
BTW, "Orville Wells" was a pen-name, probably inspired by Orson Welles, who had, only a few months before, panicked America with the legendary War of the Worlds radio show.
The artist (and probably writer) was Don Rico, who would become one of the premier creatives working in 1940s-50s comics before turning to writing novels.
(You can read one of his wildest comic tales HERE!)
Unlike contemporary Fletcher Hanks, whose Stardust and Space Smith strips also premiered in this issue, Rico's never received the attention and acclaim his equally-offbeat work deserves.
(That's not to put-down Hanks in any way.
His wild creations are equally as deserving of critical study by aficionados of sci-fi/fantasy.)
BTW, this never-reprinted tale was Rico's very first published comics work.
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Friday, April 14, 2023

Friday Fun TRUMP "Common Cold"

Long before a putz named Donald made the word a world-wide punchline...

Illustrated by Al Jaffee and likely written by editor Harvey Kurtzman, Jaffee himself (who was also serving as assistant editor), or Will Elder, this two-pager from #1 (1957) was a typical example of the high level of humor the creators (who had just left MAD) were capable of!
Though sales were decent, unrelated financial problems caused Hefner to cancel the title with #2 (and all other non-Playboy projects at that point in time.
Needless to say, Hugh overcame this temporary fiscal setback to create a world-wide publishing empire!
Kurtzman and Elder continued to do projects with Hefner, the best-known being Little Annie Fanny!
And, sadly, Al Jaffee, who's best-known for creating MAD Magazine's MAD Fold-In back cover feature passed away this week.
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Sincerest Form of Parody

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Tales Twice Told TALES OF VOODOO "Devil's Machine"

If you're a faithful reader, you've already seen the 1950s version of this story on Tuesday!
Now here's a retitled, redrawn (and only slightly rewritten) retelling from Eerie Publications' Tales of Voodoo V4N5 (1971)!
Why was the story redrawn when so little was changed from one version to another?
It's not like they made it even more gruesome...as some of Eerie Publications' reworkings did, since they weren't under Comics Code Authority restraints like color comic book were!
Note: illustrator Walter Casadei started his career as a humor and "good girl" artist.
But when he proved he could handle any genre, Walter's assignments became predominantly horror/sci-fi!
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder MERCHANTS OF VENUS Conclusion

Charming, rougish (yet honest) tour guide Audree Walthers is engaged by a rich couple to visit (hopefully) untouched Heechee archeological sites on Venus, hoping to find artifacts.
(The Heechee were the inhabitants of the planet, but none are currently known to be alive, so their cities and habitats are considered "abandoned" and legally-salvageble!)
Things take an unexpected turn when Audree discovers his clients are, in fact, totally-broke and hope to cash in on Heechee artifacts he'll lead them to.
But would that mean cutting him out of their contracted profit-sharing deal...
...one way or another?
Sadly, DC's Graphic Novel Series ended before a sequel, based on Frederik Pohl's then-ongoing Heechee series, could be developed!
If you haven't read it, you should...because the Heechee aren't gone!
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by Frederik Pohl
(which reprints Merchants of Venus and adds nine new short stories all illustrated by the legendary Frank Kelly Freas!)

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Tales Twice Told WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Jonah"

In 1950s science fiction, the technology available in the year 2000 was truly amazing...
...it's a pity we didn't really have this stuff when the Millennium came about!
When this story was published in Key's Weird Tales of the Future #6 (1953), we really thought we'd have moving sidewalks, flying cars, interplanetary travel, and shrinking rays by 2000!
The writer is unknown, but the artist is Tony Mortellaro.
Be here Thursday, when we show how this story was retold in 1971!
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Monday, April 10, 2023

Monday Madness THIS MAGAZINE IS CRAZY "Russians are Stealing Our Comics!"

Russians using pop culture to spread disinformation is nothing new...

...as this never-reprinted feature from Charlton's MAD clone This Magazine is Crazy V4N8 (1959) by an unknown writer and artist (or writer/artist) demonstrates!
The really sad thing is how few of these strips survive to this day!
Nancy, Dennis the Menace, and Beetle Bailey are still being published.
Peanuts is in reprints only, with no new strips since creator Charles Schultz retired.
Abernathy and They'll Do It Every Time are gone and pretty much forgotten.

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Sunday, April 9, 2023

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Sunday"

Our final Walt (Pogo) Kelly post for Easter...
...is a never-reprinted piece from Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949).
We hope you've enjoyed our presentation of these long-lost pieces by one of the field's masters.
Now go eat a chocolate bunny and some marshmallow chicks!