Lunar Reading Room RACE FOR THE MOON "Saucer Man"

From the era when actual space travel was brand new...

 ...and flying saucers were probably real, here's a tale from Harvey's Race for the Moon #3 (1958).

Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Al Williamson, an absolutely magnificent combo, rivaling Kirby's pairings with Wally Wood and Joe Sinnott!

Science fiction was in a state of flux as real-world science began catching up with our imaginations.

Instead of far-future sagas with warp-drive ships, tales of "the day after tomorrow", when we would make our first landings on the Moon and Mars came into vogue.

That didn't mean that visitors from beyond our Solar System were left out, but the technology we used to respond to them (friendly or not) was much closer to "present-day" (1950s) tech than ray-guns and photon drives.

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Simon & Kirby Library
Science Fiction

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Monday Mecha Madness MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Electronic Brain!"

 Don't Let the Title Fool You!

Though it starts off with an immobile computer, before it's over, this story will be crawling with robots!





Yep, in this one, the AI wins !

This never-reprinted tale of mechanized mayhem appeared in Prize's Monster of Frankenstein Comics #30 (1954), penciled and inked by Marvin Stein.
While, officially, the writer is unknown, I believe that person (who I think also laid out the story) was Dick Briefer, who was scripting, penciling, and inking the comic's title character's strip as well!

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Frankenstein

The Mad Science of Dick Briefer

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Tomorrow is PRESIDENTS' DAY...the Holiday that Combines Two REAL Presidents' Birthdays!

Before they combined Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into a "floating" holiday...

...Washington's Birthday was always celebrated each year on Feb 22nd...

...and Lincoln's Birthday was always on February 12th!

Why the change?

USA Today has an explanation HERE!

Since this is a comics blog, let's get back on-topic!

These two features appeared in a 1956 comic called "Every Day's a Holly Day"

(No, it's not a typo...as you can see!)

Why was it called that instead of "Every Day's a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by long-time comic illustrator John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!

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Cartoon History of the United States
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Space Hero Saturdays/Valentine's Day AMAZING ADVENTURES "Asteroid Witch"

In Space, No One Can Hear You Smooch!

Art by Clinton Spooner

Comic book romance stories are geared towards tween/teen/young adult womwn which make you wonder what the 'tween/teen/young adult male attitude on romance is.

This never-reprinted story from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #1 (1950) offers that viewpoint.

And what have we learned today?

Women, alien or not, are scheming little trollops, plotting to control helpless men, usually by tricking them into marriage.
No wonder there's so much misogyny in America...

While the writer for this story is unknown (but believed to be editor Jerry [Superman] Siegel), the art is by Murphy Anderson, who did a lot of work for Ziff-Davis Comics before moving on to illustrate the Buck Rogers newspaper strip!

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Weird Romance
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Friday Fun AMAZING ADVENTURES "Adonis 2-PX-89"

 This week's Valentine's Day-oriented entry is a weird combo of sci-fi and humor...

Art by Allen Anderson

...which was probably written by the man who created the Clark Kent/Superman/Lois Lane love/hate triangle...

This cover-featured story from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #4 (1951) was illustrated by Henry Sharp who, during his decade in comics, illustrated only sci-fi or war stories!

Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was the editor of the Ziff-Davis comics line, and wrote many of the stories that appeared in it, so it's not unreasonable to assume this tale, which contains many plot aspects common to those tales of Superman and Lois Lane, was scripted by the same writer!

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Secret Wars Secret Love
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Lunar Reading Room / Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "A Nation is Born"

Here's the original Golden Age version of a Bronze Age story...

..we ran on Tuesday!

Illustrated by Golden Age journeyman Rafael Astarita, this tale appeared in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and was reprinted in IW's Strange Planets #9 (1959).

It was then re-illustrated, with only minor changes to the script (including a re-titling), in Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy V1N8 (1971) as we showed on Tuesday.

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Showcase Presents

Strange Adventures

Volume 1
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Lunar Reading Room ADVENTURES INTO MYSTERY "Dark Side of the Moon!"

The Upcoming Artemis Moon Flight is Restoring a Long-Lost Excitement and "Sense of Wonder"...

...exemplified by this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Adventures into Mystery #1 (1956)!

Remember, this was even before Sputnik was launched, so we truly had no idea of what was out there beyond what Earth-based telescopes had revealed!

Bob Powell turns in his usual superbly-rendered artwork with distinctive individualistic characters and detailed settings and textures.

The writer is unknown.

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

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Lunar Reading Room WEIRD MEN'S ADVENTURES "I Walked on the Moon"

 In the early 1950s, EC Comics set the pace for other companies...

...as this hybrid sci-fi/horror tale from Atlas' Men's Adventures #26 (1954) clearly demonstrates!

You'll note the post's header reads Weird Men's Adventures, but I mentioned earlier the book was  just Men's Adventures.

It's not a typo.

The indicia title was Men's Adventures, and from 1-20 it featured war and high adventure tales.

But, with #21, it became a horror title and "Weird" was added in a graphic burst to the logo (but not the indicia).

Six issues later, the brief revival of the Golden Age Human Torch and Toro took over the book for two issues before it was cancelled.

Though the writer for this tale from is unknown, the artist (doing a credible Wally Wood imitation) is Gene Colan!

Trivia: When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #17 (1976), it was retitled and the splash panel was rewritten (including removing the "Weird Men's Adventure" blurb)...

Considering that, in 1976, it was over five years since the first Moon landing, I'm not certain why the editor made the change...

BTW, note the "originally-presented" caption references the wrong issue!
It's #26 not #24!

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Taylor Illustrated History

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