Monday Madness STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL "Five Sinister Statues"

Does "madness" lie within a tale...

...where the kool Bill Everett-rendered cover illustration doesn't match the interior art by Richard Doxsee?

The statues in this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Tales of the Unusual #11 (1957) resemble Indo-Chinese (Siamese or Laotian) sculptures, unlike the ones on the cover, which look decidedly-Chinese!

Makes you wonder which came first, and how long it was between the cover and the story actually being drawn!

Sadly, we'll never know the answer, since none of the creatives involved are still alive!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Engine That Came Though Time!"

Is it ethical to trick someone...
...if a good result occurs because of that trickery?

Read this tale, then decide!

Was Ranu justified in doing what he did in this tale from Key Publications' Weird Tales of the Future #4 (1952), by illustrator Eugene Hughes and an unknown writer?

You tell me...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Monday Moon Madness ASTONISHING "Menace from the Moon!"

We're planning to send humans back to the moon in the next few years.

Is that really such a good idea???

OK, this tale from Atlas' Astonishing #5 (1951), written by Hank Chapman and illustrated by Cal Massey is a tad silly.

They claim the ship was lost five years earlier, yet speculate the crew was still alive and coming home?
C'mon, even a kid in the 1950s would find that concept...well...DUMB!!!
(And that's being polite!)

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Friday Fun GET LOST! "Robin the Hood"

One of the better-quality MAD comic book clones of the 1950s...

...(and there were a lot of them) was Get Lost, edited and packaged by comic creatives Ross Andru and Mike Esposito!

In case you're wondering why this story from MikeRoss' Get Lost #2 (1954) was about Robin Hood, the answer is that the character was experiencing a revival in popularity due to several feature films, including a Walt Disney flick, The Story of Robin Hood starring Richard Todd, a re-release to theatres of the Errol Flynn swashbuckler classic Adventures of Robin Hood, several other new b-movies, and a new TV series starring Richard Greene as Robin!
Magazine Enterprises gave Robin his own comic book (based on the TV series), Quality Comics did Robin Hood Tales, while DC featured the character in an ongoing strip in Brave and the Bold.
Oddly, Atlas Comics (later to be known as Marvel), who were notorious for jumping on pop culture trends, didn't do anything Robin Hood-related!
As for this particular story, the writer is unknown (but is likely Andru or Esposito),and the artist is versatile illustrator Paul Hodge, who worked for a number of publishers, including Ziff-Davis, St John, Dell, and Atlas during the 1950s until the Seduction of the Innocent "comics cause juvenile delinquency" scandal almost wiped out the comics industry!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room MARVEL BOY COMICS "Planetary Error"

Combining an impulsive, know-it-all teen-ager...

...with the classic "If you time travel, don't change anything!" warning and you end up with this...

No matter what the time period, teen-agers can be real schmucks!

Though the creatives behind the story are unknown, we can tell you it appeared in Atlas' Marvel Boy #2 (1951).
We can also tell you (though you might have guessed it from the header on almost every page) that the comic changed its' name to Astonishing as of the next issue (#3).
Nobody seems to know why the book's name was changed, since the title feature, Marvel Boy, the first Atlas Comics super-hero of the 1950s (though the second Timely/Atlas character to use the name), appeared through issue #6!
You can read about him HERE!
BTW, the series ran for another 60 issues, until 1957.

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Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Visitors from Space" and "Space Platforms--Way Stations of the Future!"

Besides comic stories, comic books often ran one-page features like these...

Standard's Lost Worlds #5 Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

...based on historical or scientific information available at the time...

Standards' Lost Worlds #6 Art by Rocco Mastroserio

...or speculation about future developments, again, based on then-current knowledge!

(I love that third panel, showing spacesuit-garbed scientists on a balcony on the satellite!)

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "When the Creature Escapes"

Is a "sea monster" a mindless animal...or something more?

That's what this story from Atlas' World of Suspense #7, 1957 asks...

Penciled by Al Williamson, inked by Ralph Mayo, and written by a currently-unknown scripter, this tale leaves the matter open-ended, practically begging for a sequel!

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Friday Fun HOMER THE HAPPY GHOST "Meet the Neighbors!"

What if Stan (the Man) Lee had written Casper the Friendly Ghost?

Well, he did!

Sort of...

Due to the success of Casper in both animation and comic books in the early 1950s, numerous companies jumped on the friendly phantom bandwagon with clones barely different enough to avoid copyright and trademark infringement lawsuits!

Writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Dan de Carlo presented Atlas Comics' take with this never-reprinted 1955 premiere tale which combines Lee's snarky Catskill vaudeville humor with de Carlo's polished animation-style artwork!

Homer the Happy Ghost ran until 1958 (22 issues, plus a 2-issue spinoff, Adventures of Homer Ghost)!

In 1968, Atlas' successor Marvel (you might have heard of them) signed a new distribution deal freeing them from the sixteen-title per month limit they had during most of the Silver Age under the previous contract.

Lee brought back Homer in reprint form, hoping to run new material if the book sold well.

Whether it was due to poor sales or Harvey Comics (which was at its' peak with over two-dozen Casper titles) finally laying the copyright/trademark law down, this incarnation only lasted four issues without ever getting to run new stories!

Homer hasn't been seen since!

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Harvey Comics Classics Volume One

Casper the Friendly Ghost
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Reading Room WORLDS OF SUSPENSE "Dead End!"

Automobiles like this kool prototype aren't a new idea...

...but this particular one has a potentially-deadly feature for the unwary...as these thieves are about to discover!

I know I've seen the 1950s gull-wing concept car used as the prototype vehicle, but I'll be damned if I can find it on the 'Net.

Anybody recognize it?

The art for this never-reprinted tale of greed, gasoline, and goof-ups from Atlas' World of Suspense #8 (1957) was by Howard O'Donnell, whose career in comics was brief (1953-1958), but whose art career continues to this day as a noted painter of maritime and Western subjects!

The writer is unknown.

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World's Worst Concept Cars

From Creative Failures to Breathtakingly Ugly Disasters!
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Best of Holiday Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Mummers from Mercury"

70 years ago, the world almost ended on New Year's Day...

...but it was saved by the participants of the annual Mummers Parade!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures #1 (1953) was illustrated by Albert Tyler and Dick Giordano.

The writer (who was probably from Philadelphia) is unknown.

The Mummers Parade is usually held every New Years Day in Philadelphia.
Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange.
This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year.

Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution.
Prizes were offered by merchants beginning in the late 1800s.
January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
January 1, 2021 was the 120th Anniversary of the event, but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was cancelled.
The Parade returned in 2022, and will happen on New Years Day, 2024!