Space Force Saturdays CAPTAIN QUICK & THE SPACE SCOUTS "Martian Canal Frog and the Jewel Flowers"

Strap On Your Rocket Packs for Another Adventure with...

...who are still on Mars, as we saw last time!

Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#2 (1955) is credited solely to Marvin Stein at the Grand Comics Database, the layout appears to be by Jack Kirby, which would make sense since Simon & Kirby's studio was packaging the book for Prize Comics!
Beyond being set in the near future, there was no connection to Tom Corbett!

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Pre-Code Classics

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Volume One

The First 7 Issues

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Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Saint George and the Dragons"

You Likely Read the Title and Wondered...

...what do dragons have to do with Christmas???
Don't worry, it'll all make sense by the end...

Illustrated by an anonymous artist who signed himself/herself as "Flip", this tale from  Ziff-Davis' Christmas Carnival (1952) hasn't been seen since its' only reprinting in 1955 when St John Publishing, who bought all of the assets of Ziff-Davis Comics when the comic division folded, reprinted the entire 100-page issue!
"Flip" worked in comics, doing funny animal and humor stories for Ziff-Davis and Toby, over a two year period before leaving the industry.
Where (s)he was before comics and where (s)he went after comics is a mystery we'll likely never solve...

Comics About the Guy Christmas is Named After!

It's the Sunday before Christmas, an appropriate time to look at comic book stories about...

...the birth of Jesus Christ, the one and only!

BTW, your eyes do not deceive you!

Marvel Comics published a one-shot about the origin of Christ!

You can read that long out-of-print story by clicking on these links...

Part 1

Part 2

Conclusion
Epilogue

But there's more!

Here's a shorter, never-reprinted version from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics...

Bible Tales for Young Folks

From a small publisher who did only a half-dozen comics, all based on Christian themes...

Life of Christ Visualized

Fiction House, noted for really-fun series like Planet Comics and Sheena: Queen of the Jungle took a somewhat more sensationalistic approach to telling the story of the Nativity....using 3-D!

Part 1

Conclusion

and Finally...

EC Comics, aka Entertaining Comics, the guys who later gave the world graphic horror in Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear began as Educational Comics, publishing wholesome material like Picture Stories from Science, Picture Stories from American History, Picture Stories from World History, and Picture Stories from the Bible...which ran material based on the Old Testament!
They added a second series of Bible tales, this time from the New Testament, kicking off with Christ's birth!
As you'll see, they gave very little attention to the actual event, covering the whole thing in only 1 1/2pages!

Picture Stories from the Bible: New Testament Edition

Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Wolf Who Didn't Believe in Santa Claus"

Here's a Yuletide Tale I Can Guarantee  You've Never  Read...

...unless you're over 75, involving four of the most famous characters in fairy tales!

This combo of Yuletide and children's fantasy, unseen since the 1950s, appeared in Ziff-Davis' one-shot 100-page Christmas Carnival (1952)!

Sadly, the writer and artist (or writer and artists or writer/artist) is unknown, since few records still exist after Ziff-Davis, which is still publishing other magazines, closed the comics division in 1957, selling most of its' assets (both published and unpublished material) to St John Publishing, which itself closed up shop in 1959!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

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Holiday Reading Room BIBLE TALES FOR YOUNG FOLKS "Nativity: the Birth of Jesus"

 Over the years, many  comics companies have published Bible-themed projects...

...such as Atlas Comics' Bible Tales for Young Folk which presented this never-reprinted story in its first issue!

The writer is unknown, but the penciler/inker is the legendary Joe Sinnott, best known for his inking of Jack Kirby and John Buscema on the Fantastic Four during the Silver Age.

(In truth, Joe's done an incredible amount of truly-spectacular work in comics, but that's the first thing most fans think of.)

Joe also did quite a bit of work for Treasure Chest, a comic distributed semi-monthly only to parochial schools during the school year (September thru June) that ran over 500 issues.

Oddly, none of Sinnott's stories for that series were Bible adaptations (which TC did a lot of).

Bible Tales lasted five issues in 1953 and '54, mixing New and Old Testament stories into each issue, illustrated by the cream of the Atlas (later Marvel) Comics crew including; Jerry Robinson, Don Rico, Syd Shores, Fred Kida, Bernie Krigstein, Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, and Gene Colan!

Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Santa's Red Red Nose"

What happens if Kris Kringle gets sick on Christmas Eve?

This tale from St John's Christmas Carnival (1952) 100-page one-shot gives you the answer!

It was all a dream!

Thank Heavens!

The thought of a Christmas without Santa is just too much to bear! ;-)
This tale (and the entire Christmas Carnival 100-page 25-cent book) were published twice!
Once in 1952 by Ziff-Davis and again in 1955 by St John Publishing, which bought the Ziff-Davis comics line's material when the publisher liquidated that division after the "Seduction of the Innocent" witch hunt!
Ironic, since Ziff-Davis Comics was one of the least-offensive publishers on the magazine racks!
The writer and artist(s) are unknown.

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories
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Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Twas the Night Before Christmas and All Through the House..."

It's a pretty long title for a one-pager...

...but the pay-off makes it worthwhile!

The writer and artist for this piece from the one-shot anthology Christmas Carnival (published by Ziff-Davis in 1952 and reprinted by St John in 1955) are, sadly, unknown.

But we didn't want this piece, unseen for 70 years, to be forgotten...so here it is for your enjoyment!
In fact, since this 100-page comic hasn't been reprinted in almost 3/4 of a century, we're going to run more material from it for the rest of December, with the finale on the day after Christmas being a story by Dave (MAD magazine) Berg!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories
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Space Hero & Heroine Saturdays BUZZY BEAN AND HIS FLYING SAUCER "Secret of Planet 5"

When Last We Left Our Two 'Tween Astronauts...

...are they saved, or just out of the frying pan and into the fire?

Sadly, Buzzy and Betty's adventures ended with this never-reprinted story from Good Comics' Johnny Law: Sky Ranger #4 (1955) since the company went out of business after the book was printed and distributed.

Trivia: After Good Comics folded, Publisher/Editor/Art Director Edmond Good became Art Director of Tupperware and remained in the post until he retired in the 1970s!

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Weird Science

Volume 1
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Holiday Reading Room HUMBUG "Voyage of the Mayflower II"

Here's a look from Humbug #3  (1957) at how a trend begins...

...which writer/artist R. O. Blechman derived from the real-life adventure of the Mayflower II, which apparently made a boodle of cash and inspired construction (and exploitation) of replicas of other famous sailing vessels!

Utilizing reconstructed ship blueprints held by the American museum Plymouth Plantation, and hand-built by English shipbuilders using traditional methods, the sea-worthy vessel actually sailed the Atlantic from England to Plymouth Rock, Mass, where it's been a tourist attraction ever since.

The Mayflower II recently underwent restoration and is now on display!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "Executioner"

This may not appear to be a holiday tale...

...but it is...for everyone except the unseen (until the end) victim!

Could you tell that this Myron Fass-illustrated story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #9 (1953) was done during the horror comics craze of the early 1950s?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reading Room: STRANGE WORLDS "Weapon Out of Time"

Barbarians, advanced technology, and beautiful, half-clad women...

...we're obviously back in the retro-cool era of the Golden Age of science fiction!

So, if the fountain was "Old Faithful", where would nearby Anthor be located?

And, what happened to Anthor and it's inhabitants, who obviously weren't around when Paleoindians first migrated across the Beringia land bridge between Asia and North America around 12,000 years ago (or earlier)?

Yeah, I know it's "just a comic book story", but I can speculate, can't I?

Was this meant to be the first in an ongoing series about Prof Chalmers and his time-viewer/matter analyzer?

Art for this wild story from Avon's Strange Worlds #2 (1951) is by Wally Wood.

The writer is unknown, but it's theorized to be Gardner Fox, who created comics' first barbarian, Crom, for Avon the previous year.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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