Saturday, November 23, 2024

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL (TV) "Lady of Diamonds"

1950s Media was Loaded with Low-Budget Sci-Fi Series...
...including this one, a saga of those who protect the 30th Century space-lanes in both the video and audio realms!
Tonga later reformed and ended up as the Assistant Security Chief for the entire Space Patrol organization!
Space Patrol ran Monday thru Friday on tv and semi-weekly on radio from 1950 to 1955, using the same performers for both media.
This comic book adaptation from Ziff-Davis Publishing ran for only two issues in 1952, and was written by Philip Evans (who did a lot of movie and tv tie-ins and co-created Drift Marlo, about a special investigator at Cape Kennedy), and illustrated by Bernie Krigstein (who also did SpaceBusters, a comic series about intergalactic Marines which we presented as part of Space Force Saturdays) before moving on to EC Comics, where he achieved his greatest fame).
The book ended not due to poor sales, but because Ziff-Davis left the comic book business during the "comics cause juvenile delinquency" controversy of the early 1950s, deciding to concentrate on publishing magazines instead, and still continuing to this day as seen HERE.

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Space Patrol
Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television

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Friday, November 22, 2024

Friday Holiday Fun SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS Part 1

Believe it or not, there was a comic book version of this holiday "classic" flick...
...in 1966, from Dell Comics!
Next Friday: Santa's trip to Mars...
(...not to be confused with Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars!)
The writer/adaptor is unknown, but the art is by Bob Jenney, who did quite a few movie and tv adaptations for Dell.
The actual title of the comic is Dell Movie Classic #725.
Not only was it sold on newsstands, but it was packaged with an LP album of the movie's audio including dialogue, sound effects and (shudder) the earworm-creating theme song!
(Remember, they didn't have streaming services, DVDs/Blu Rays, or even videocassettes back in the 1960s!)

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Santa Claus in Trouble"

Ever hear "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"?
...well, when that woman is the Ice Queen, even ol' Kris Kringle better watch out!
Some observations...
Boy, the Ice Queen is a real...#itch, ain't she?
Santa has "magic snowshoes"?
Wonder what other kool gimmicks he has lying around the toyshop...
Illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted story from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942) was the first in a series of annual books featuring not only Kris Kringle, but other Christmas-related characters and stories that ran from '42 to '62.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WOLFRAM "Kyballium Odyssey"

As We Have Seen HERE and HERE, Reality is Sorta...Flexible...

...and is going to get even more so by the end of this tale!
You'll be seeing these two kids, along with others from earlier chapters, in the final entry of the series
NEXT WEDNESDAY!
Written and illustrated by Eric Puech, this story from the French anthology USA magazine hors-série #3 (1989) was cut into two segments when it was translated into English and printed in Marvel UK's anthology Strip #16 and 17 (1990).

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!
Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...
This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)
But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?
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