Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Flying Saucers of Death!"

Though He Doesn't Go into Outer Space in This Post...

...the "Sentinel of the Spaceways" does take on flying saucers like The Shadow, Buck Rogers. and Spurs Jackson before him!

Trivia: The insignia shown in the final panel are from the US Army Air Corps, the predecessor to the US Air Force....which was formed in September, 1947.

But, though the cover date is 1948, the story was written and illustrated around summer 1947...before the official creation of the Air Force!

Dr Osmosis had appeared once before, in Fawcett's Captain Midnight #52 (1947).
Intended to be an ongoing genius criminal arch-enemy to Cap, his career was derailed by the introduction of colorful alien enemies to battle Midnight.
Dr Osmosis would appear twice more, then disappear into the ether!

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Captain Midnight Archives

Volume 2

Captain Midnight Saves the World!

(Which includes this story)

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Friday Fun DUNC AND LOO "Loo in 'Hot Potato' "

Remember When Not All "Teen Humor" Comics Looked Like Archie?

This never-reprinted story from Dell's Dunc and Loo #8 (1963), featuring title slacker Loo is a kool example!

Scallions, also called "green onions" or "spring onions", are immature, not fully-grown onions!
Usually, they're used as a minor flavor element in cooked dishes and salads.
I've never heard of a "scallion sandwich"!
Trivia: The book was originally-titled Around the Block with Dunc and Loo, but was shortened to just Dunc and Loo as of #4.
(Apparently suburban and rural readers used "corner" or "street" instead of "block" when referring to addresses, so the original title confused them!)

Written by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams (the series' co-creators).

It was one of three "teen humor" series created for Dell by Stanley, including Kookie and Thirteen (Going on Eighteen) for Dell.

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Thirteen Going on Eighteen

by John Stanley

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Man Who Didn't Know Venus"

Nedor/Better/Standard Comics produced several sci-fi anthologies...

...none of which lasted more than three issues.

But it certainly wasn't due to lack of quality.

With a contributor list that included Alex Toth, Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky, Nick Cardy, and Jack Katz, you're talking some of the great and soon-to-be-great storytellers of comics history!

But, there was one other sci-fi creator who did a story for Lost Worlds, one of only four tales he did for comic books.

Jerome Bixby, novelist and short-story writer, as well as screenwriter whose credits include...

IT! the Terror from Beyond Space!

Fantastic Voyage

Star Trek "Mirror, Mirror"*, "By Any Other Name", "Requiem for Methuselah" and "Day of the Dove"

and the short story "It's a Good Life" which was adapted on both the original Twilight Zone tv series (by Rod Serling) and the 1983 feature film (by Richard Matheson).

BTW, around the time he wrote this, Bixby had just left his position as editor of the Planet Stories pulp magazine at Fiction House, where he also contributed a couple of text pieces to Planet Comics and Indians (his only non-genre text story)!

*The Mirror Universe created by Bixby in "Mirror, Mirror" has proven to be so popular that it has reappeared in almost all the spin-off series spanning almost all of Federation and StarFleet history!

And let's not get into the numerous (sometimes contradictory) novels and comics about the concept...

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Masters of Science Fiction Volume 2
Jerome Bixby
"One Way Street" and Other Tales
Note: "One Way Street's" concept of being transferred to another universe was the thematic basis for "Mirror, Mirror"!
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder INVASION '55 "Something Strange on the Radar"

Square-Jawed, Heroic Aviators!
Wise-Ass Teen-Agers!
Terrified, Helpless Women!
Innocent, Annoying Kids!
ALIENS!!!

It's the 1950s...as seen from the 1990s, courtesy of writer Chuck Dixon and artist Lito Fernandez!

To Be Continued...

Next Wednesday!

Though both the original Apple Press miniseries and IDW trade paperback reprint (available below) are in b/w, a Spanish-language reprint book was fully-colored...

I don't know if it was because Dixon & Fernandez wanted to retain the "b/w B-movie feel" in the IDW reprint or not, but the Spanish book's coloring is muted and very effective!
And if they wanted the "b/w B-movie feel", why didn't they add grey tones to the b/w art?

You'll note the Spanish version adds a "Fin" (end) at this point.

It's not in the American version.
Nor is there a title for the story itself!
We added one translated from the one in the Spanish edition!

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Invasion '55

Trade Paperback

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Reading Room (and Bonus Video) STAR*REACH "Why Viking Lander/Mars?" by Ray Bradbury

A very kool, never-reprinted adaptation of a Ray Bradbury poem...

...first performed by the legendary author at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con the week after the Viking probe landed on Mars!
Sadly, there's no extant video or audio recording of the event, but we did find a more recent reading by Robert Picardo ("The Doctor" on Star Trek: Voyager)

AFAIK, the poem's never been reprinted in any of the Bradbury anthologies, or anywhere else, for that matter!

It's only appearance was in Star*Reach #6 (1976), illustrated with absolutely beautiful art by Alex Nino!

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Star*Reach
Greatest Hits

Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Raydeen!" Part 1

We're Going Mecha at Monday Madness...

...as we feature robots big and small, some sentient, some controled by humans and/or aliens!

You'll have to wait until next Monday to learn the backstory created by writer Doug Moench, penciler Herb Trimpe and inker Dan Green in this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Shogun Warriors #1 (1979)!
(They ignored all the backstory and plotlines used in the Japanese animated series and packaging info for the toys.)

But we're not totally-heartless!

Here's a kool video about how the Shogun Warriors were assembled by Mattel out of three totally-unrelated robots, all with their own animated series from different Japanese TV studios, but all the toys were from the same Japanese toy company, Popy!

You'll note the TV commercials have the robots interacting with Godzilla, also from Mattel, but the characters never met up in the comics, although both the Godzilla and Shogun Warriors series were drawn by Herb Trimpe!
In fact, Mattel utilized Herb's artwork in some of their advertising!