Space Hero Saturdays BARNEY CARR "Attack of the Groteks!"

We like the kool names Space Heroes have!
Buck!
Flash!
Brick!
Barney!

BARNEY???

Yes!

For two issues in 1950, there was a Space Hero named "Barney"!

And, he was a futuristic "space detective", like Lance Lewis and Space Detective/Avenger)!

Note: the pages are damaged, likely by insects, and we're presenting them despite that due to the historical value of the story!

Cover-featured in his very first appearance in Eastern Color's Famous Funnies #191 (1950), Barney Carr: Space Detective didn't do much actual detecting.
He was too busy being a typical square-jawed, two-fisted, ray gun-wielding action hero, kicking alien butt!
Unlike the other features in Famous Funnies, Barney Carr wasn't a reprinted newspaper strip, but an original series!
It only appeared once more, before disappearing into the void, but original art for a third story exists, without any captions or word balloons!
You'll be seeing both of them in the future!

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Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

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Friday Fun DON DA CON...

..."CONSERVATIVE"?

...CON MAN!

...CONVICT!!!

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Sh*t My President Says:

Illustrated Tweets of Donald J Trump

Reading Room TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED "Who is Mr Ashtar?"

We usually don't run stories that have already been reprinted...

...but this one is so kool, we just couldn't resist!

(And after reading, I'm dure you'll agree!)

Penciled and inked by Jack Kirby, shortly before his return to Atlas (which shortly thereafter became Marvel), the writer of this story from DC's Tales of the Unexpected #17 (1957) is unknown...but could be Kirby himself!

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Jack Kirby Omnibus

Volume 1

...which includes this story!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Part 1

A 1930s pulp story adapted into comic form in the 1970s...

...and a clear inspiration for aspects of movie and tv science fiction ranging from Forbidden Planet and Alien to Star Trek and Space: 1999 (among others)!

Will Coeurl deceive the crew and return with them to Earth?

Or will he simply kill the humans and commandeer the ship?

Find out in the conclusion next Wednesday, plus read some kool background info about the comic adaptation!

This tale from issue 5 (1974) of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

It's based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).
It was later expanded in Vogt's novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which continued the voyages of the starship and crew!

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Voyage of the Space Beagle
(which includes "Black Destroyer")
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Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "I Fell to the Center of the Earth!"

Here's a kool 1950s sci-fi story penciled by Matt Baker, whose speciality was "good girl" art!

Yet, there's not a single beautiful woman (not even a cavewoman), in this story, one of his few assignments for Atlas (later Marvel) Comics!

When this story appeared in Atlas' Tales to Astonish #2 (1959), Baker was near the end of his career, working through Vince Colletta's studio, doing only penciling to increase his productivity.

Vince Colletta inked the pages, and it's possible that, seeing how much detail Colletta tended to leave out during inking, Baker did less-detailed pencils than normal.

The writer is unknown, but it's believed to be the book's editor Stan Lee.
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour
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It's Memorial Day!

Remember the guys who went thru THIS for us!
A public service message from your pals at
Atomic Kommie Comics™

The 2024 RetroBlog "Time-Lost" Blogathons are Coming July 1st...

This summer's theme is never-reprinted tales from at least three decades ago!

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Shadow (the Movie), a re-presentation of the 2-issue adaptation of the film by the man who visually-defined He Who Knows What Evil Lurks for several generations of readers, Mike Kaluta (along with writer Joel Goss)...plus we're providing comparisons between the comic and the movie (with film clips) in...

Crime and Punishment!
Next:

We're doing an intra-blog crossover right here at Atomic Kommie Comics between Wednesday Worlds of Wonder and Space Heroine Saturdays with a graphic novel featuring the interstellar adventures of StarFawn by writer Byron Preiss and illustrator Stephen Fabian...unseen since 1976!

(That's almost half a century!)
Plus:

Travel back almost a full century (1936) to the origin of the first (radio/movie serial/Golden Age) Green Hornet and Kato in a time-lost tale from 1991!
Confused?
You won't be after you read it in
Crime and Punishment!

And, Of Course...

...There'll be a Book-Length Gothic "Beach Read" Novel from half a century ago in
True Love Comics Tales
It's Gonna be a Sizzling Summer!