Sunday, May 17, 2026

Here's a Taste of What's Coming This Summer from the RetroBlogs' Summer Blogathons...

...starting with an over-half century old, never-reprinted novel...
...that introduced the Marvel Universe into prose!
Note: neither Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch appear in the book, though they're referenced, along with Thor, as past members.
The Wasp and Iron Man are the other featured members of the team in this story!
Written by long-time pulp/comic book writer Otto Binder (whose credits include Superman and the original Captain Marvel, this never-reprinted tale is a rolicking, fast-paced adventure that would have made a kool flick back in the Swinging 60s!
Trivia: Binder co-created both Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes!
Though there had been numerous paperback reprints of Marvel comics by Lancer Books, this was the first prose novel...and an original story, not an adaptation of any of the comics tales!
There were three previous comic book prose novels before this...all based on DC characters!
George Lowther's Adventures of Superman (which, technically, was based on the radio show), and Winston Lyons' (William Woolfolk's) Batman vs the Three Villains of Doom (based as much on the tv show as the comic) and Batman vs the Fearsome Foursome (a novelization of the 1966 theatrical movie).
Let's have a look at what the book is about!
Karzz is more an alien Kang the Conquerer than Thanos the Mad Titan, but there are a number of parallels between this and Infinity Wars.
Now, read the intro and first chapter of this lost classic, directly from the printed pages...
The inside cover teaser!
Yes, (Stan the Man) Lee intros the story!
Iron Man does show up at the studio in Chapter Two...after running into Karzz!
Avengers vs the Earth-Wrecker is one of two time-lost novels based on comic books that we'll be running after July 4th!
As for the other book, plus the subjects of the other blogathons we're running, come back next Sunday and we'll fill you in!
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Saturday, May 16, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays STEPHEN COLBERT'S TEK JANSEN "Horn Like Me! A Tek Jansen Case File"

We've Already Posted a Two-Part Tale of Tek Jansen HERE and HERE...
...from #1 (2007) of his Oni Press mini-series.
Now, to close out the issue, we re-present the final story from that book...
Written by Jim Massey and illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez, this "Case File" is more in the style of a hard-boiled gumshoe tale than a "straight" sci-fi adventure!
Tek Jansen will return, next week at...
Wednesday Worlds of Wonder!

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Friday, May 15, 2026

Friday Fun BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Climbs Up from the Pit...."

...as Rube leaves his family and girlfriend to pursue his dream...
Wow!
Big-screen TV in 1949?
Who knew?
Next Week: the exciting conclusion to Rube Rooky's amazing saga!
BTW, anybody here see a parallel between Rube and a real-life ballplayer who faced similar problems being accepted by his teammates because he was "different" just a year before writer/penciler Will Eisner and inker Tex Blaisdell created this tale?
Think about it...
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Baseball Comics #2
(A follow-up published decades later)
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Thursday, May 14, 2026

Reading Room KANDI THE CAVE KID "Dinosaur"

Creationists believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old...
...so to them, this could be considered a chapter in a history book!
This never-reprinted story from Dell's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #15 (1943) was the final appearance of the Walt Kelly-created character.
Besides both print adaptations of theatrical cartoons and new tales of existing Warner Brothers characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy DuckDell introduced a number of new characters to fill out the pages of the comic anthology, including Kandi and Pat, Patsy & Pete.
Kandi was one of the shorter-lived ones, with only a half-dozen short tales from #3 to #15.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder STEPHEN COLBERT'S TEK JANSEN "Invasion of the Optiklons!!!" Part 1

Somewhere out in space, beautiful green women are in peril...
...and only one manly man can save them!
Continued, right now, at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!
Written by John Layman & Tom Peyer and illustrated by Scott Chantler, the premiere comic adventure of the one and only Tek Jansen in Oni Press' Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #1 (2007) jumps into the lunacy head-first and won't let up!
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