Space...Hero??? Saturdays NORGE BENSON "Gang of Hoodlum Penguins"

 Since We're Suffering through a Heat Wave...

..let's return to frigid Pluto for another interplanetary adventure with Norge Benson, as we discover that some penguins on Pluto speak perfect English, and others talk with Brooklyn accents...just like on Earth!

Think I'm joking?

Read on...

So, what'd youse tink?

Or for dose...I mean "those", who don't speak Brooklynese..."What did you think?"

I'll warn you now, future installments only get loonier!

Illustrated by Al Walker, who spent his entire comics career at Fiction House, this second appearance in Planet Comics #13 (1941) presents a somewhat less snarky (though no less humorous) version of the "Earthman on Pluto" concept shown in the earlier Cosmo Corrigan strip, mixing alien versions of both Arctic and Antarctic animals with total disregard to anything even remotely resembling exobiology!

But it is fun, and that's all that matters!

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Planet Comics
Volume 4
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Monday Mecha Madness SPIRIT OF FRANKENSTEIN "A Monster is Born"

There have been several ongoing series that combined horror and sci-fi...

...such as the strip which premiered with this tale from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown! #5 (1949)!

The "monster" here is not Frankenstein's Monster, nor are any of the scientists members of the Frankenstein clan.
Though it's defined as a "robot" it appears to be more of an android!
But, if the strip's creators say it's a robot, that's good enough for me!

Writer Richard Hughes and artist Charles Sultan invoked the "spirit" of the Frankenstein Monster Monster concept with a creation run amok and ran amuck with it for several issues from #5 to #16.

Rest assured it'll be back...

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Adventures Into the Unknown!
Volume 1
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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 BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Heads Down the Home Stretch"

When Last We Left Our Wholesome Hero...

...under coach Pop Flye's guidance, Rube has developed into a top-notch pitcher.

But even a first-rate hurler needs a great team behind him!

Fortunately, the formerly-mediocre Badgers are inspired by the pitching prodigy and...

Regrettably, there was no "next issue" of Baseball Comics, so no World Series appearance for Rube Rooky.

But we still have this one-shot wonder from 1949 by writer/penciler Will Eisner and inker Tex Blaisdell to remember.
And, after Kitchen Sink Press reprinted this issue in 1991, there was a second issue  in 1992 reprinting a horror comics baseball story and a Will Eisner Spirit story about baseball, but without The Spirit!

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Baseball Comics #2

(A follow-up published decades later)
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Friday Fun BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Climbs Up from the Pit...."

Will Eisner's saga of how a baseball superstar is created continues...

...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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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 Duck, Dell 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.