Reading Room WORLDS BEYOND "Twice Alive!"

Here's a horror story with a sci-fi slant...

Art by Sheldon Moldoff

...that the cover doesn't really convey, from the HTF anthology Fawcett's Worlds Beyond #1 (1951).

Did the writers of the movie Fantastic Voyage read this tale when they were younger?

The art is by comics legend Bob Powell, but the writer is unknown.

The cover, by Sheldon Moldoff, shows a cavern (with bats!) instead of the inside of a human being, and probably was meant for another story, but it conveys the mood of "Twice Alive", if not the plot points.

Worlds Beyond was retitled Worlds of Fear with #2 and ran for another nine issues.

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Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Look into the Future"

One of Charlton Comics' defining traits was...

...using montages of interior art as their covers.

Usually, the cover would utilize several different stories' art, but in this case, they played up the final story in the issue!

A morality play in a sci-fi/fantasy context.

Rod Serling was a master of this concept, as he displayed weekly on the original Twilight Zone.
This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #27 (1961) illustrated by Steve Ditko (and probably written by Charlton mainstay Joe Gill) follows the concept to a "T", within the limitations established by the Comics Code Authority.
If it had been done pre-Code, Simms would've come to a horrific (and graphic) end...

Monday Mecha Madness ADAM LINK!

This Requires a Little Explanation/Background...

Introduced in Ziff-Davis' sci-fi anthology Amazing Stories (1939), Adam Link was the first ongoing series about a sentient robot!

Though credited to "Eando Binder" (a pen-name used by author brothers Earl and Otto Binder when they worked together), the Adam Link stories were entirely Otto's work!
Adam was no soulless automaton!
From his introduction onward (and Binder used the title "I, Robor" before Isaac Asimov) he was on a quest to become as human as possible!
Though created to be totally-logical, he developed emotions!
In fact, after his second story "Trial of Adam Link" where he was accused of killing his creator (scientist Dr Charles Link, not Otto Binder), though found innocent (he was framed)  he decided he couldn't go on living without his "father", and decided to commit suicide.
That's the basis of the third tale, "Adam Link's Vengeance", where another scientist (of the "mad" variety), prevents his untimely death, and plans to use him as a weapon!

That particular story was adapted by writer/editor Bill Spicer and artist D Bruce Berry into a two-part story in Spicer's prozine Fantasy Illustrated in 1965 and reprinted in Spicer's Graphic Story Magazine (under a new Berry cover) in 1971.

You'll be seeing that over the next two Mondays.

The comic story was done shortly after the Adam Link tales were adapted into a fix-up novel combining all the short stories...

Note the Isaac Asimov quote!

BTW, if the name "Otto Binder"sounds familiar to comics fans, that's because he wrote a lot of DC, Quality, Timely, and Fawcett comics in the Golden and Silver Ages, as well co-creating among others, the Legion of Super Heroes, Black Adam, Braniac, Kid Eternity, Krypto, Young Allies, Mary Marvel, Bizarro, and Supergirl!

But, for some, he's best-known as the writer of the first Marvel Comics prose novel...

Bantam's The Avengers vs the Earth-Wrecker!

(Dig the Doc Savage-style logo!)

BTW, We'll be running this long OOP & HTF novel this summer during the annual RetroBlogs Summer Blogathon!

Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "Lost Kingdom of Athala"

Here's a tale that would make a great "popcorn" CGI action flick!

It's hokey, doesn't make much sense, but boy, it's loaded with action and it looks great!

Written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Joe Orlando & Wally Wood, and inked by Wood, this fast-paced story from Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951), would make a great Saturday afternoon flick, thanks to current state-of-the-art special effects!

EXTRA: Here's the b/w inside cover for this issue, which featured an illustrated preview of all the stories in the issue by Wally Wood.

Note the heavy use of "craftint" texturing which Wood used to create a distinctive "look" for his art...

The script was re-used, almost verbatim, in 1970 by Eerie Publications, but the artwork for the retelling was nowhere near as good.

You'll see that version on Thursday!

Space Hero Saturdays BARNEY CARR "Peril on the Plant Planet!"

He's Barney Carr, the Only Space Hero with a Relatively-Normal First Name!

...read his adventures...while you can!

Jerry Fasano's Barney Carr was too busy being a typical square-jawed, two-fisted, ray gun-wielding action hero, kicking alien butt, to do any actual detective work!

And unlike the other features in Famous Funnies, Barney Carr wasn't a reprinted newspaper strip, but an original series!

This never-reprinted tale from Eastern Color's Famous Funnies #192 (1951) was his second and final appearance, before disappearing into the void, but original art for a third story exists, without any captions or word balloons!

You'll be seeing that...in the future!

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Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

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Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Edge of Fear"

 Will Those Using Artificial Intelligence Do So with Intelligence and Ethics?

This story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #10 (1958) offers one take on the matter!

Writer Joe Gill and artist Steve Ditko told a fascinating tale about AI-augmented human intelligence over a half century ago that seems to be unfolding today...with vastly different results!

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Impossible Tales

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Space Hero & Heroine Saturdays KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP! "Part 1-Off to the Stars!"

 In pop culture, lots of kids besides comics' Buzzy Bean went into space...

...as early as 1970, according to this tale from Treasure Chest V14N11 (1959)!

Oops!

We'll find out how this liftoff happened when the story continues next month!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

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Science Fiction Comics

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Vol 3
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