Space Hero Saturdays STAR TREK Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by legendary science fiction author Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the scripts for the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and a Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!
  
  
  How's that for an "Easter Egg"?

Friday Holiday Fun EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE

Here's a short story featuring a plethora of fairy tale characters...

...as presented by a (then) future superstar of the comic strip or, (if you want to be pretentious) graphic novel form!

The title story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.
Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Little Bunny"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly went into full-on "cute" mode with his holiday stories...

...including this never-reprinted one from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #185 (1948)!

Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder STAR RAIDERS "Beginning...the Saga of the Star Raiders!" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...we encounter Captain Jed Poole, his "friend and companion as well as navigator/gunner/bodyguard Tomorrow Hardtack, who meet immortal librarian/know-it-all Ezikial Vicker, who has knowledge of the Zylons!

Vicker also has a unique fighter craft called the Star Raider, which had been uncovered and used by the Atari Force against the Zylons, who had been mind-controlled by the Dark Destroyer, as shown HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!
When they believed they had destroyed the Zylons, the Atari Force left the fighter behind, and now the Zylons want it...

 As you can see things are about to get really bad!
To Be Continued...Next Wednesday!

Written by Eliiot S! Maggin and beautifully-painted by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, this never-reprinted 1983 graphic novel was apparently-meant as the original follow-up to the previous Atari Force mini-comics which were included with video game cartridges!
None of these characters ever reappeared in the later Atari Force series, though more of the cute aliens created for the Atari Force mini-series, the Hukkas, appear here.

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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard"

It's March!

Spring is, well, springing, and Easter is only a couple of weeks away!

So, here's a holiday goodie by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

This never-reprinted feature from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949) was typical of Kelly's holiday offerings.

He would either retell a fairy tale or nursery rhyme with added holiday elements, or craft a new tale based on the characters!

Monday Madness / Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Bunny and the Dwarf"

To be clear, "dwarf" is not politically incorrect...

...so just sit back and enjoy the never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947) without any guilt!

This story, written and illustrated by Walt (Pogo) Kelly features a number of nursery rhyme characters including Jack and Jill (who went up a hill), Little Jack Horner, and Mother Goose herself.

But, it is not, as was often the case with Kelly's holiday pieces, an adaptation of existing nursery rhymes, but a totally-new tale!
It's also a prequel to the book's main tale featuring an Easter party...which you'll see on Easter Sunday!

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Candy Egg"

Here's a (literally) sweet, never-reprinted Walt (Pogo) Kelly short...

...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1948)!

Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!

Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-3 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!

Would've kept a 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!
Good thing I was born after that era...