Space Hero Saturdays PLANET COMICS "Fero: Interplanetary Detective and the Kidnapped Councilman's Daughter"

When we first met him, Fero battled scientific menaces on present-day (1940s) Earth.

As of his next appearance, without explanation, he's set in the far future!

This tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #6 (1940) was written and illustrated by Al Bryant under the pen-name "Allison Brant".

The change in venue from present to future without any in-story explanation (not even a caption like "returing from the past to the 21st Century..." or some-such) seems odd considering the same writer/artist did this follow-up tale.

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Planet Comics

Volume 2

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Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Atom and Evil"

Dan DeCarlo defined the look of teen humor comics for half a century...

...which is an appropriate point to make as we re-present a series from the 1950s that looks at teen life in the early 2000s!

Written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo and inked by Fred Eng, this story from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) has the "feel", both in writing and art, of an Archie tale!

At this point, Dan was freelancing, working for Standard, Atlas (later Marvel) and Archie!

Archie co-creator Bob Montana's version still set the visual standard for the company's flagship character, but DeCarlo was given leeway to adapt the characters to his art style, which would become the defining "look" for the entire line by the late 1950s, and remain so until the mid-1990s, when they stared to experiment with more realistic, and even anime-inspired art!

Ironically, Archie Comics published a series about Archie and his gang set in the far future...

...from 1989 to 1991, which combined then-current fashions with the same retro-tech look as Jetta!

Though based on DeCarlo's design concepts, Dan didn't do any covers or art for the 16-issue series!

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta
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Reading Room MYSTICAL TALES "Lair of the Thunder Lizard!"

Bernie Krigstein was one of the most under-appreciated artists of the 1950s...

...and this kool tale he illustrated just begged to be unearthed for the first time in almost 70 years!

Scripted by Carl Wessler and rendered by Bernie Krigstein, this never-reprinted piece from Atlas' Mystical Tales #8 (1957) is a low-key character study enhanced by Krigstein's naturalistic art.

Bernie was already phasing out of comics and into mainstream commercial art (including book and magazine illustration).

This tale was one of his last stories before leaving the comics field altogether.

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Messages in a Bottle

Comic Book Stories by B Krigstein
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder PHANTASMAGORIA "Parasite!"

Kenneth Smith is a Remarkable Comics/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Creative!

Besides having a Doctorate in European Political Philosophy, Kenneth R Smith is a talented writer-artist who's done covers for paperbacks, magazines, and comics, themed illustration portfolios, spot illustrations for magazines and several comic stories.

Here's one from the second issue of his self-published magazine, Phantasmagoria...

Beautiful work.

His comics/sci-fi/fantasy career was short, but he produced spectacular material!
And he's happily-worked in his chosen field of interest, where he's a respected figure, both simultaneously and then full-time!
Would that we all could achieve that!

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Phantasmagoria

Complete Series

by Kenneth R Smith

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Reading Room: MYSTICAL TALES "Nomad of Outer Space!"

It's mind-blowing how much Atlas (pre-Marvel) stuff hasn't been reprinted...

...such as this story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956)!

While hunting thru files for un-reprinted Jack Kirby tales for a previous Kirby Reading Room mini-marathon, I came across a lot of never-reprinted material!

This Bob Powell-rendered story is just the tip of the iceberg!

Sadly, we don't know the writer of this tale...

BTW, despite the title, Mystical Tales was an almost-totally "hard sci-fi" anthology!

Only a handful of stories from the anthology's 8-issue run have been reprinted, all in the 1970s, which makes even the reprints at least 40 years old!

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Atlas Era Tales of Suspense

Volume 1
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