Space Hero Saturdays SPACE MOUSE II "Secret Weapon"

Space Heroes take many forms...not all of them human!

 ...as shown in this never-reprinted introductory tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960).

Writer Carl Fallberg and artist John Carey did such an amazing job on this intro to the character, that when it was adapted in 1963 into a cartoon short (May be NSFW/NSFS due to racial stereotyping of Siamese cats using "Asian" accents) directed by Alex Lovy shown HERE, most (but not all) of the plot, script, and visuals were kept intact!
Though the cartoon didn't result in a Space Mouse TV series (or even additional cartoon shorts featuring the character), it did spawn a number of additional comic book stories as well as a five-issue Space Mouse comic!

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Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
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Friday Fun with SPACE MOUSE II!

He's not this rodent...

...whose strip ran through several Avon Comics funny animal titles in the early 1950s!

In 1959, a year after Avon ceased publishing comics, Dell Comics introduced a new Space Mouse...

...who was published as a Walter (Woody Woodpecker) Lantz project, though Lantz had no input into the character's creation or direction!

Note: In many cases, I'm skeptical of the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, the one about this character (click HERE) rings true, so, unless anyone can disprove it, I'm sticking with it!
Movie-tv animator/comic book artist John Carey designed the character and illustrated almost all his appearances including covers, stories, and one-page features and text pieces!
Along with the cover shown above, here's a few examples of Carey's work from Space Mouse's premiere in Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960)...

The b/w pages are from the inside covers of the comic, which were printed without color (or just black and one other color) to save money...a standard practice in comics until the 1970s.

Ironically, the last page would've benefitted from using color to play up the bulls-eye/target joke!

Tomorrow in
Space Hero Saturdays...
The Introductory Comic Story!
Plus
A Link to the Animated Version
(which is not available on YouTube!)
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Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
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Reading Room/Tales Twice Told TALES FROM THE TOMB "Living Corpse"

Last Tuesday, We Showed You the Original Version of This Story!

Now Witness How Another Artist Re-Interpreted It for a Cover-Featured Tale...and Needed an Extra Page to Do So!

This new version of the Simon & Kirby Black Magic story appeared in Eerie's Tales from the Tomb V6N5 (1974), illustrated by Alberto Macagno.

What's odd is that most of the reworked versions that appeared in Eerie Publications' b/w magazines (which weren't restricted by the Comics Code Authority) were gorier than the originals.
Yet this tale would've easily passed the looser Code, then in effect, which allowed "traditional/classic" monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula (and other vampires), werewolves, mummies)...without too much blood!

Heck, Marvel had just released their own Living Mummy series in Supernatural Thrillers!

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The Worst of Eerie Publications

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WOLFF "Beginning of the End"

It Has All Come to This...

...the Final Chapter in the Saga of Wolff, the Post-Apocalyptic Barbarian, seeking his long-lost wife and tribe!

This never-seen-in-America finale from New England Library's Dracula V1N12 (1972) is melancholy at best.

But it holds the potential for a sequel...which was never realized!

Next Wednesday...

We Present a Far Different WORLD OF WONDER than You've Seen the Past Three Months!

Dare You Miss It???

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Wolff et la Reine des Loups

(aka Wolff and the Wolf Queen)

French Graphic Novel reprinting this storyline with superb printing!

and/or

Dracula Annual

The Incredibly-HTF British Hardcover with all 12 issues of the Comic, including the Complete Wolff Saga!

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Kirby Reading Room/Tales Twice-Told BLACK MAGIC "Alive After Five Thousand Years!"

Only reprinted once since initial publication 70 years ago in Prize's Black Magic V4N4 (1954)...

...here's a tale showing the legendary Simon and Kirby team at their spooky (but non-gory) best!

Just cries out for a sequel, eh?

Sadly, there wasn't one, nor was the story reprinted...until 2014, in Titan's Simon and Kirby Library: Horror anthology (see below).
But, there was a retitled retelling of this tale, in a rather unlikely place, in 1974!

You'll see that version on Thursday!

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Simon and Kirby Library

Horror!

Which reprints this story for the only time since 1954!

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Monday MARVEL Madness BARBIE FASHION "Bye, Bye, Barbie!"

When is a Barbie story not a Barbie story?

When it has no Barbie (or her supporting cast) in it...until the very last page!

Perhaps that's why this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Barbie Fashion #41 (1994) was in their April Fool issue!

But as for who is in this story, well...

Either in-universe Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco (not the real guy, of course) was an easily-manipulated fool...or he was a sadist!

Note: Barbie Fashion ran for another year, until it was really cancelled with #53 in 1995.
Written by Barbara Slate, penciled by Mary Wilshire, and inked by Trina Robbins, this story from three decades ago featured the entire creative and editorial crew from the two Barbie titles as well as various other Marvel personnel.

Can you name them all?

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Barbie and Ruth

The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her