Friday Fun / Trump Reading Room HILLBILLY COMICS "MacSleezys: New York AND Bust"

When Last We Left Don the Con's Typical "Deplorables"...

...heck, I'll let the writer present a synopsis of the tale for me...

Written and illustrated by Art Gates, this tale from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #2 (1955) was part of a brief trend in comic books during the Li'l Abner series' greatest popularity in the mid-1950s!

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Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp
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Remake Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Alien on Earth!"

Tuesday, we told the tale of a misunderstood alien...

...here's an earlier rendition of the oft-used concept, with one of the weirdest-looking Jack Kirby aliens I've ever seen (and that is saying something)!

Penciler Jack Kirby and inker Christopher Rule, who did the cover of the re-do, illustrated this tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #51 (1959).

As for who wrote it, the consensus on various sites, including the Grand Comics Database, is that it's the work of Kirby himself.

For those clever readers who noted both this story and the reworking in World of Fantasy were both published in 1959, this one came out six months earlier, and the "job number" for "Alien" (T-165) is earlier than the one on "Gargoyle" (T-345).

Usually, Stan Lee (either as editor or writer) made sure that such similar plots or reworkings were a couple of years apart.

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Atlas-Era

Journey into Mystery

Volume #4
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Remake Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Gargoyle From the 5th Galaxy!"

Is this a kool cover, or what?

But, this sandals-wearing Jack Kirby-Christopher Rule scarlet alien isn't inside the comic!

Instead, we get a more humanoid, less "traditional" gargoyle-looking green alien!

To be fair, he does breathe fire, like the guy on the cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber and superbly-rendered by Don Heck, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) was actually a re-do of an earlier story (illustrated by Jack Kirby, no less), which we'll present Thursday!

BTW, though the story was reprinted in the 1970s, the cover has never seen the light of day since its' original publication!

Pity...

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4
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Friday Fun MARVIN MOUSE "Not-So-'Honest John' "

The creator of Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, Bill Everett, was an amazing writer/artist...

 ...who could do almost anything he was asked to do.

Unfortunately, funny animals, weren't exactly his "cup of tea"!

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Marvin the Mouse #1 (1957) was scripted by Stan Lee and illustrated by the aforementioned Bill Everett.

I believe Everett was instructed to make the characters as different as possible from other cartoon mice such as Mickey and Mighty, which resulted in rodents who looked more like rats than mice!

Bill had shown a knack for humor as shown HERE and HERE, but this was a major disappointment!

A caption at the end of the book read "And remember, every issue Marvin Mouse magazine brings you the best in laughs, adventure, and fun ... don't miss a single issue!"

No problem!

The book ended up a one-shot and the already-completed stories intended for #2 became filler in the backs of other humor titles.

(Editor Stan Lee was very frugal and didn't let anything go to waste!)

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Sincerest Form of Parody

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Space Force Saturdays ATOM-AGE COMBAT "Third Element"

Is This What Don (da Con) Trump had in Mind...

...when he plagiarized the concept from 1950s sci-fi to create his inane Space Force?

Illustrated by longtime comics veteran Dick Ayers and scripted by an unknown writer, this never-reprinted tale from Fago's Atom-Age Combat #3 (1959) is typical of the sci-fi of the era.

Oddly, it shows us and the (unnamed, but obviously Russkie) enemy dropping everything to unite against extraterrestrials, then agreeing to work together, with no hint of treachery, despite the fact a "Space Race" was on between Americans and Soviets to get men into space and even to the Moon ASAP!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WEIRD THRILLERS "Cycle of Time"

With the revived popularity of dinosaurs due to the new movie Jurassic World: Rebirth...

...we're re-presenting one of our favorite stories; a sci-fi triple-treat: time travel, aliens, and dinosaurs!

Illustrated by Murphy Anderson, who was doing quite a bit of work for ZD including the second issue of Space Busters and both issues of Lars of Mars as well as various one-shots like this one from the HTF Ziff-Davis' anthology Weird Thrillers #2 (1951)!.

We don't know who wrote this tale, but it might be series editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

Atomic Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Mister Black"

 Continuing our look at how American comics portrayed the bombing of Hiroshima...

...with a tale featuring a Japanese protagonist!

Was this story from Atlas' Strange Tales #93 (1962) an inventory tale from the 1950s?

Artist Bob Forgione lost his ongoing freelance work at Atlas when the company cut back in late 1956-early 1957 after losing their newsstand distributor.

When this story was finally published, Forgione was working steadily for Dell, ACG, and DC.

It also appears to have been the last original tale by Bob that Atlas/Marvel published.

(All subsequent stories were reprints of earlier material.)

Also, could it have been reworked from an unpublished Witness tale?

Every comic company had a cloaked mystery man narrating stories about "everyday" people (and occasionally influencing them, as well).

Timely/Atlas' entrant in the Mysterious Traveler/Whistler/Phantom Stranger/Man in Black Called Fate competition was The Witness, who had his own one-shot comic and a number of stories scattered in other titles.

At any rate, an extremely-similar tale appeared only a couple of months later...by one of the now-revived and thriving Atlas/Marvel's hottest artists!

Be Here Sunday For the Final Horrific Hiroshima Tale!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

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Atomic Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Eyes that Never Close"

With the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima coming up...

...we're presenting several tales from the 1950s-60s relating to it.

This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Tales #61 (1958) treats the bombing as just another disaster, but one the criminal won't escape from.
Illustrated effectively by Bernie Krigstein, who tells a story in only four pages that most artists today would need twenty pages for.
BTW, the writer is unknown.

Be Here Thursday For the Next Horrific Hiroshima Tale!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

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