Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Asteroid Battle!"

You thought we'd heard the last of evil Jagga the Space Raider?

Really?

Not only is he back, but displaying his chameleon-like ability to change color between the cover and the first page of his new battle with Our Hero...the "Monarch of the Airways" himself...Captain Midnight!

BTW, Jagga doesn't have chameleon-like abilities, though they'd probably come in handy.

The comic's editor didn't coordinate between the cover and interior colorists!

Not surprising, since the cover (by Charley Tomsey) and interior (by Leonard Frank) were likely prepped a couple of months apart.

And note that when the story and cover were reprinted in Australia...

...the Aussie editor had Jabba's coloring (somewhat) corrected!

Now, on with today's adventure...

Artist Leonard Frank and a presently-unknown writer continue the battle with Jagga in this tale from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #54 (1947).

And, yes, he'll be back...though what color he'll be, you'll have to wait and see!

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Captain Midnight Archives

Volume 2

Captain Midnight Saves the World!

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Friday Fun HOMER THE HAPPY GHOST "Meet the Neighbors!"

What if Stan (the Man) Lee had written Casper the Friendly Ghost?

Well, he did!

Sort of...

Due to the success of Casper in both animation and comic books in the early 1950s, numerous companies jumped on the friendly phantom bandwagon with clones barely different enough to avoid copyright and trademark infringement lawsuits!

Writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Dan de Carlo presented Atlas Comics' take with this never-reprinted 1955 premiere tale which combines Lee's snarky Catskill vaudeville humor with de Carlo's polished animation-style artwork!

Homer the Happy Ghost ran until 1958 (22 issues, plus a 2-issue spinoff, Adventures of Homer Ghost)!

In 1968, Atlas' successor Marvel (you might have heard of them) signed a new distribution deal freeing them from the sixteen-title per month limit they had during most of the Silver Age under the previous contract.

Lee brought back Homer in reprint form, hoping to run new material if the book sold well.

Whether it was due to poor sales or Harvey Comics (which was at its' peak with over two-dozen Casper titles) finally laying the copyright/trademark law down, this incarnation only lasted four issues without ever getting to run new stories!

Homer hasn't been seen since!

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Harvey Comics Classics Volume One

Casper the Friendly Ghost
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Reading Room WORLDS OF SUSPENSE "Dead End!"

Automobiles like this kool prototype aren't a new idea...

...but this particular one has a potentially-deadly feature for the unwary...as these thieves are about to discover!

I know I've seen the 1950s gull-wing concept car used as the prototype vehicle, but I'll be damned if I can find it on the 'Net.

Anybody recognize it?

The art for this never-reprinted tale of greed, gasoline, and goof-ups from Atlas' World of Suspense #8 (1957) was by Howard O'Donnell, whose career in comics was brief (1953-1958), but whose art career continues to this day as a noted painter of maritime and Western subjects!

The writer is unknown.

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World's Worst Concept Cars

From Creative Failures to Breathtakingly Ugly Disasters!
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WOLFF "Path of the Dead"

Welcome to one of the best "barbarian in a post-apocalyptic future Earth" strips...

...as we present the saga of Wolff the Barbarian.

Written by Luis Gasca (under the pen-name "Sadko") & Esteban Maroto, illustrated by Maroto.

Published in England in Dracula (1971), a 12-issue partworks magazine* by New English Library, the first 6 tales made their American debut in Warren Publishing's HTF Dracula TPB in 1972 which reprinted #1-#6 of the British Dracula's run.

The remaining tales from #7-#12 have never been published in the US.

We'll be running the complete Wolff strip (including the never-seen in US tales)!

Watch for it!

*Partworks magazines are a limited series issued from weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.

They usually run 12-24 issues for each volume.

When the final issue in a volume is published, the publishers offer a wraparound cover to make the complete set into a hardbound book. 

The buyer is offered the option to bind the magazines themselves or send the set to the publisher who professionally-binds the mags and sends the bound volume back to the customer.

This concept is extremely popular in Europe, but has never caught on in America, despite numerous attempts.

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Dracula Annual
(The Incredibly-HTF British Hardcover with all 12 issues of the comic)

Welcome to the Public Domain, Mickey Mouse!

Over half a century after Disney sued (and beat) for copyright infringement the "Air Pirates" artistic collective...

Fund-raising poster from the early 1970s

...their best-known character, Mickey Mouse, had finally entered the public domain, joining Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, Dracula, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and many others about whom new stories (unauthorized by the original copyright owner) may be created.

Of course, the new material must be limited to using only the elements in the now-public domain material.
Note: this includes already-PD material such as most (but not all) of the 1930s Mickey Mouse newspaper strip...which fell into PD because it wasn't renewed on-time under the law as it existed then!
But, year by year, as more Mouse becomes available, more elements can work their way into these new tales.

It's gonna be interesting!

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Pirates and the Mouse

Disney's War Against the CounterCulture

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Comic Book Confidential DVD

Documentary about Comic Books including segment with "Air Pirate" Dan O'Neill about the lawsuit. 
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HAPPY NEW YEAR with "What is Your New Year's Resolution?"

To begin the year, here's a never-reprinted, 30 year-old strip that proves...

...some things (like Wolverine's popularity) never change!

But some things, like a Captain America movie going direct-to-video (and the discount bin), do change!

Written and illustrated by Darren Auck, this was part of the Yuletide holiday issue of Marvel's What The--?! #11 (1991), a revival/revamp of the Silver Age Not Brand Echh self-spoof concept which lasted twice as long (26 issues) as Not Brand Echh (13 issues)!

Curiously, unlike NBE, very little material from What The--?! has ever been reprinted!

Best of Holiday Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Mummers from Mercury"

70 years ago, the world almost ended on New Year's Day...

...but it was saved by the participants of the annual Mummers Parade!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures #1 (1953) was illustrated by Albert Tyler and Dick Giordano.

The writer (who was probably from Philadelphia) is unknown.

The Mummers Parade is usually held every New Years Day in Philadelphia.
Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange.
This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year.

Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution.
Prizes were offered by merchants beginning in the late 1800s.
January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
January 1, 2021 was the 120th Anniversary of the event, but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was cancelled.
The Parade returned in 2022, and will happen on New Years Day, 2024!