"Teen Humor" Used to Be a Lot More Than Just Archie Comics...
...as this never-reprinted tale from MF Comics' Henry #4 (1966) attests!
Golden/Silver Age icon Bob Powell was going for a far different look in this, his final ongoing comic book series, than we were used to seeing...
...while at the same time, deliberately avoiding the Dan DeCarlo Archie Comics "house style" almost everybody else was using for their "teen humor" books!
Sadly, the Henry Brewster series only lasted seven, never-reprinted, issues, which were entirely packaged (scripts and art) by Bob Powell and his studio! This particular tale is from MF Comics' Henry #4 (1966). Note: After MF Comics folded, Powell became Art Director at Prize'sSick magazine until he passed away in 1967.
Have you ever seen a bus pass by that you're unfamilar with, and wonder...
..."Where Does It Go?"
This never-reprinted tale behind this never-reprinted Rocke Mastroserio cover offers one possibility!
While the concept is rather kool, I have to ask, why is the robot such an insulting s.o.b.?
Writer Joe Gill, penciler Bill Moino, and inker Vince Alascia probably could have provided the answer when they created this story for Charlton's Unusual Tales #29 (1961), none of them are around now to answer the question...
Ever Feel Like Staying in Bed and Pulling the Covers Over Your Head?
Here's a tale about an entire planet tha felt that way, from the one-shot Green Planet, published by Charlton Comics in 1962.
This backup tale, unrelated to the title story, was written by Joe Gill, penciled by Dick Giordano, and inked by Vince Coletta.
Green Planet was a very odd comic...
1) The title story was actually an adaptation of a then-current sci-fi novel by J Hunter Holly, but, oddly, there's no mention of that fact anywhere in the comic!
2) There's no numbering on the comic (it's indicia lists it as a quarterly book) and no copyright notice listing either Charlton or novel author Holly!
We presented the main feature a couple of years ago, HERE and HERE!
Before Slackers! Before Hipsters! Even Before Hippies! There were Beatniks!
Here's a tale about a pair of them that could easily be updated and re-told today!
This never-reprinted story from Dell's Kookie #2 (1962) by writer John Stanley and artist Bill Williams was part of an attempt to produce an on-going series featuring young adults in a (then) contemporary setting.
Bongoand Bop were the slackers of the ensemble, like Dobie Gillis'Maynard G Krebs amped up to 11! Sadly the title only lasted two issues!
Here's the intro story from Gold Key's UFO Flying Saucers #1 (1968)
Written by long-time sci-fi/fantasy comics scripter Leo Dorfman and illustrated by Golden and Silver Age artist Joe Certa (best known as the co-creator of another alien series; J'onn J'onnz, Manhunter from Mars), the story set the rather straightforward tone for the book, which would run for 13 issues from 1968 to 1977 before changing its' title to UFO & Outer Space and continuing for another 12 issues combining reprints and new material until cancellation in 1980.
In 1968, the creator of I Dream of Jeannie predicted what may yet occur in 2026...
...with a tv-movie that aired on network only once, yet had an enormous impact on those who saw it!
The year: 1968! Race Relations were cratering! The economy was doing well, but individuals thought, because they weren't personally doing well, the whole economy was collapsing!
The current President (a Democrat) was not on the ballot for the Presidental election!
A Republican who promised "law and order" and to "protect America from potential invaders" won the White House!
Sidney Sheldon, creator/producer of lightweight escapist entertainment like I Dream of Jeannie and The Patty Duke Show, looked at what was going on around him and took a chance.
Screen Gemsgave him carte blanche, probably expecting something in a similar vein to his previous projects.
He greenlighted a story by Nedrick Young, scripter of controversial movies like The Defiant Ones (1958) and the adaptation of the novel Inherit the Wind (1960).
Sheldon selected an experenced, versatile director, Richard C Sarafian, with credits ranging from Dr Kildare to Batman!
The cast used both established pros like John Forsythe (against type as the villainous General Bruce, the Leader's trusted military commander) and Jackie Cooper (as the heroic, but doomed, Lt Col Davis), as well as up-and-comers like Gene Hackman and Carol Lynley in supporting roles.
(Trivia Note: one of the supporting characters, Lt Allen, is played by Jonathan Lippe/Jonathan Goldsmith, known recently as "The Most Interesting Man in the World" in Dos Equis beer commercials!)
The protaganist, rebel leader Major McCloud, was played by Marc Strange in his only leading role.
The tv-movie, using concepts from both Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and George Orwell's 1984, portrayed a near-future America where the President declared a national emergency and imposed martial law...but the undefined "emergency" never ended, and martial law quickly mutated into fascist repression!
But the Society of Man, an organized resistance group with people placed within the government, fights back as best it can against the overwheming military might and technological superiority of the fascists.
Left open-ended, the movie practically begs to be continued as a mini-series, if not an ongoing series!
Airing on ABC during the Christmas season (December 4, 1968), it failed to garner decent ratings, and the potential series died quietly!
(Trivia: Kenneth Johnson proposed a similar concept called Storm Warnings to NBC in the early 1980s.
They turned it down, and Johnson, following in the steps of Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry, revamped the concept with science fiction elements, making the fascists into reptilian aliens, and sold the concept as V, which ran as two mini-series and a brief ongoing series in the 80s and a two-season reboot in 2009-10.)
Never available on VHS, DVD or BluRay, the only way, currently, to see Shadow on the Land is right HERE.
We reccomend you download it as well, since the flick is deleted wherever it appears!
I'd say "enjoy, but, it's really more disturbing and frightening than enjoyable...
...starting with an over-half century old, never-reprinted novel...
...that introduced the Marvel Universe into prose! Note: neither Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch appear in the book, though they're referenced, along with Thor, as past members.
The Wasp and Iron Man are the other featured members of the team in this story!
Written by long-time pulp/comic book writer Otto Binder (whose credits include Supermanand the originalCaptain Marvel, this never-reprinted tale is a rolicking, fast-paced adventure that would have made a kool flick back in the Swinging 60s!
Trivia: Binder co-created bothSupergirland the Legion of Super Heroes!
Though there had been numerous paperback reprints of Marvel comics by Lancer Books, this was the first prose novel...and an original story, not an adaptation of any of the comics tales! There were three previous comic book prose novels before this...all based on DC characters! George Lowther's Adventures of Superman (which, technically, was based on the radio show), and Winston Lyons' (William Woolfolk's) Batman vs the Three Villains of Doom (based as much on the tv show as the comic) and Batman vs the Fearsome Foursome (a novelization of the 1966 theatrical movie).
Let's have a look at what the book is about!
Karzz is more an alien Kang the Conquerer than Thanos the Mad Titan, but there are a number of parallels between this and Infinity Wars.
Now, read the intro and first chapter of this lost classic, directly from the printed pages...
The inside cover teaser!
Yes, (Stan the Man) Lee intros the story!
Iron Mandoesshow up at the studio in Chapter Two...after running into Karzz!
Avengers vs the Earth-Wrecker is one of two time-lost novels based on comic books that we'll be running after July 4th!
As for the other book, plus the subjects of the other blogathons we're running, come back next Sunday and we'll fill you in!
