Reading Room SPACE ACTION "Dictator of Japetus"

It appears that, even in the future, Mankind will still have dictators!

Personally, I've never seen the appeal of someone, who wasn't elected by the majority of the populace, arbitrarily-deciding matters for us!

Penciled by then-up-and-comer Mike Sekowsky, this tale from Ace's Space Action #3 (1952) is typical space opera of the period with a little political intrigue thrown in, and reads better than most of the other stories that ran in Space Action.

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Marvel Masterworks

Tales of Suspense

Volume 1
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATTACK ON PLANET MARS "Chapter 2: Princess of the Electronized Tower"

When Last We Left Our Tyrant...

Art by Gene Fawcette

In the year 2430, Tarrano, an Earthman, has seized control of both the planet Venus and its' outpost on Earth, Venia.

At that outpost, the tyrant has kidnapped Elza and Georg, children of the recently-murdered scientist, Dr Brende, along with reporter Jac Hallen.

Tarrano's agents have assassinated all the national leaders of Earth, leaving the various countries' governments in a state of confusion.

Meanwhile, back in Venia...

"Here goes"...what?

Can the trio defeat an entire city?

Be Here Next Wednesday to Find Out!

Based on the novel Tarrano the Conqueror by Ray Cummings, this chapter of the 1951 comic adaptation was penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Vince Alascia.

Sadly, the writer of the adaptation is unknown.

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Tarrano the Conquerer

by Ray Cummings
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Monday Mecha Madness ALARMING TALES "I Want to Be a Man!"

Following up on a kool guest-post about artificial intelligence...

...is this little tale about an AI who aspires to be more than mere machine!

Written and penciled by Jack (King) Kirby and inked by Kirby with Simon & Kirby Studios partner Joe Simon, this story from Harvey's Alarming Tales #2 (1957), this short feature would be quite different if done today, since miniaturization would enable David to put FABIAC in a human-sized form with close-to-human features...as Kirby himself did with X-51 aka Aaron Stack aka Mr Machine aka Machine Man 20 years later!

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction
(which reprints this story, along with a lot of other kool sci-fi by the duo!)
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Friday Football Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Pardon My Power!"

It's a Frosty Fall Friday, so Let's Talk...High School Football!

But, as you may have guessed, when we talk football, it's football as shown in the "future" (our present), as presented in 1952...almost 75 years ago!

If the art style of this tale from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953) looks familiar, it's the work of Dan DeCarlo, who helped establish the iconic "look" of Archie Comics!
Dan actually started at Atlas Comics (the 1940s-50s predecessor to Marvel Comics) doing a variety of humor strips before beginning a long-term run on various Archie titles in 1951.
Even then, he continued to work for a number of other publishers, including Standard Comics, who asked him to create, write, and illustrate a teen-humor series.
(Every publisher had at least one of them!)
Exactly whose idea it was to set it in the "far future" of the 21st Century is unknown, but the resultant strip, though extremely derivative of Archie, was unique in the teen-humor genre for it's Jetsons-style setting and "futuristic" slang.

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATTACK ON PLANET MARS "Chapter One: Tarrano Strikes"

In the 1950s Avon did a number of one-shot comic books...

...based on sci-fi novels.

While most were of tales (then) recently-reprinted by their paperback division,  this one was not!

Does a Fate Worse than Death Await Elza?

And...What is Tarrano's Plan?

Be Here Next Wednesday to Find Out!

Based on the novel Tarrano the Conqueror by Ray Cummings, this chapter of the 1951 comic adaptation was penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Joe Kubert, the team who would illustrate the first Silver Age Flash story in DC's Showcase #4 several years later!

The writer of the adaptation is unknown.

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Weird Horrors and Daring Adventures

Joe Kubert Archives

...which reprints only this chapter of the story, since it's the only one in the book that Kubert worked on!

(But there's lots of other kool stuff by the legendary editor/writer/artist in the book, so it's a must-have for any comics fan's library!)
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Space Hero Saturdays SPACE ADVENTURES "Pet Hate!"

We Close Our Month-Long Look at Dinosaurs in Space...

...with a story about how we might actually need the extraterrestrial "thunder lizards"!

This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V1N8 (1953), though scripted by an unknown writer, has an artist very familiar to Space Heroes Saturdays fans...Stan Campbell of Spurs Jackson & His Space Vigilantes in Space Western Comics!
As for the story itself, it's been told several times in Earth's history, particularly when fuzzy, cuddly, adorable rabbits were brought to Australia, and with no natural preators to stop them, multiplied like...you know!
Luckily, those long-eared critters weren't carnivorous like these creatures!

Happy Halloween!!!

Friday Fun HOMER THE HAPPY GHOST "Dinosaur Egg"

Atlas Comics had a Casper the Friendly Ghost "Clone"...

...written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Dan DeCarlo, who encounted...a dinosaur!

This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Homer the Happy Ghost #13 (1957) is no sillier than the literally thousands of tales about Harvey's Casper, and a heckuva lot wittier!