Wednesday World of What the Hell??? SLOW DEATH FUNNIES "It Grows!"

Happy Earth Day...sort of!

We look back at the cover-featured (but never-reprinted) story of the first issue a now-legendary series that debuted on the very first Earth Day in 1970!

Though the cover of this first issue has reached "graphic icon" status, reproduced (often unlicensed/unauthorized) all over the place, the actual story by writer-artist Greg Irons has never been reprinted!

Slow Death was published for 11 irregularly-produced issues, from 1970 to 1992.

Besides environmental/ecological stories, it also featured tales about diseases/plagues/epidemics, and other (sometimes deliberately-produced) medical horrors!

A 50th Anniversary Special (numbered "Zero") appeared (a few months late) in 2021.

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Slow Death Zero

The Comix Anthology of Ecological Horror

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Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Starchild" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Ilongo Savage, piloting Dangard Ace, tries to divert a recently-hatched alien from heading for populated areas.
But, the creature has some hidden surprises...









The Mecha Meyhem Continues in May as Genji (aboard Combatra) Battles...Whatever the Heck That Is!
(I was going to call it "A Big Hand for the Little Lady!", but I resisted.
Oh, wait...I did say it...)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS

Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars Wasn't the Only Comics Project Based on Chariots of the Gods!

Art by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia
The best-known (and most successful) was Jack Kirby's Eternals series, which he began when he returned to Marvel in 1975!

In fact, the series was going to be called "Return of the Gods" with a logo using the same font as the Chariots of the Gods books!
But there was another series, also utilizing the theme of "ancient astronauts interacting with our ancestors" launched about the same time...but it didn't start out that way...

Art by Jesse Santos

Writer Don Glut and artist Jesse Santos had conceived a tale about Tragg, a prehistoric caveman in a world where a crashed alien ship leakd chemicals into a lake which turned a human who drank from it into a proto-werewolf!
You can read it HERE!
Glut and Santos tried to promote Tragg again, this time facing a shaman who utilized herbs to control others.
That story appeared HERE.
When neither tale prompted the editors to greenlight Tragg as a series, a new approach was taken, combining Tragg with Chariot of the Gods-style aliens...and that was OKed as a new series...

Art by Jesse Santos

With the concept locked in, Tragg and the Sky Gods launched at the same time as The Eternals, but lasted only eight issues.
The aliens from the planet Yargon apparently didn't believe in a non-interference Prime Directive, and manipulated the DNA of a pair of cavewomen to "improve the species", then left, returning 25 years later to check on their now-grown offspring, Tragg, his mate Lorn, and Tragg's older brother Jarn (born before the Yargon altered his mother's DNA).
The Yargonites themselves were a mixed bag of altrusitic scientists and power-hungry soldiers, whose differing motives constantly produced problems among themselves, and resulted in conflict with the humans!
Note: Jesse Santos did the interior art for the "tryout stories" listed above and the first two regular issues, but continued doing covers for the remainder of the run.
Dan Spiegle took over the art the stories for the remainder of the series.
Unlike The Eternals (whom Kirby deliberately kept separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe), Tragg was incorporated into an already-existing universe of characters at Gold Key also written by Don Glut, including present-day mystic Doctor Spektor and ancient warrior Dagar the Invincible, even doing crossovers through space and time with those other characters!
We're not going to re-present the tales in Wednesday Worlds of Wonder (which would end up running from now to Autumn non-stop), but here are links to the entire series....

Spawn of Yargon

Part 1, Part 2
Day the Earth Thundered
Part 1, Part 2
Race Against Death
Standalone Story featuring Lorn
Slaves of Fire Mountain
Part 1, Part 2
Project: Sabre: Fang
Part 1, Part 2
Attack of the Man-Apes
Part 1, Part 2
Death-Duel
Part 1, Part 2
Battle for a World
Part 1, Part 2
Master of the Living Bones
(Crossover story with Dagar the Invincible & Dr Spekor)
Part 1, Part 2
Where Prowls the Devil Shark
Part 1, Part 2
Plus: Three Text Stories
"Tragg and the Jaws of Death", "Valley of the Shadow" & "Spotlight on Keera"
Next Week: A New "Flashy" World of Wonder!

Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Starchild" Part 1

When Last We Left Oceanographer (and Dangard Ace's  Pilot), Ilongo Savage...

...he and fellow oceanographer Judith Johns had discovered an alien egg!
(And yes, Easter was yesterday, but this ain't a holiday treat!)

You'll see Dangard Ace  take on the Starchild  Next Monday...

...when the first thing you see will be this calamitous cover by Herb Trimpe and Al Milgrom!

The latest never-reprinted chapter in this story arc from Marvel's Shogun Warriors #9 (1979) is by usual stalwarts writer Doug Moench, penciler Herb Tripe, and guest inker Jack Abel!

Easter & April Fool's Day Reading Room SPEED BUGGY COMICS "Magic Easter Candy"

Here's a never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Speed Buggy #3 (1975)...

...a rather appropriate April Fools Day post during the Lent/Easter season!

Scripted by Mike Pellowski and illustrated by Alan James Hanley (not to be confused with the NYC comic book store owner), this was one of numerous one-off text features created to fulfill the second-class (magazine) privilege requirements for subscription copies when they didn't have a letters page or short story based on the specific comic's characters!

Monday Mecha Madness GRAPHIC STORY MAGAZINE "Adam Link's Vengeance" Part Two: Vengeance

We Have Already Seen...

...actually, this scene appears later in this chapter!

Robot Adam Link, after realizing Humanity doesn't trust him (despite being innocent of committing the murder of his creator/"father", Dr Charles Link), decides to end his existence.

but another scientist, Dr Paul Hillory, aborts the process.

The scientist agrees to help Adam construct a mate, Eve.

But Dr Hillory isn't acting out of benevolence!

In assisting Adam, the scientist learns how to manipulate and control both the robots!

He then forces Adam to rebuild Eve in a larger, deadlier form...

Despite the downbeat ending, Adam Link continued to help humanity.

The original prose series ran for another seven stories, which were eventually combined into a "fix-up" novel...

Note the Isaac Asimov quote!

Before this particular adaptation, EC Comics attempted an ongoing comic series in Weird Science Fantasy.

Scripted by Otto Binder and illustrated by Joe Orlando, there were three stories directly adapted from the pulp tales; I, Robot in Weird Science Fantasy #27, Trial of Adam Link in Weird Science-Fantasy #28, and Adam Link in Business in Weird Science-Fantasy #29 (all 1955).

The cancellation of the comic due to the Werham-led Seduction of the Innocent anti-comics mania ended the series.

After the novel Adam Link: Robot was published, Binder and Orlando tried again, this time with Warren Publishing in the b/w Creepy magazine!

They re-conceived the three previously-published comics with a re-designed Adam Link, then adapted five more stories (including Adam Link's Vengeance), so,etimes as two-parters, before Warren ended the strip, which ran from Creepy #2 to Creepy #15 in 1966-7.

Both the EC and Warren versions are available in Weird-Science Fantasy and Creepy reprints!

Neither had been reprinted in standalone Adam Link books.

Next Week: the Return of...

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder MAN-GODS FROM BEYOND THE STARS Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

In the far-distant past...

...technologically-advanced aliens visit the Earth on a missionof exploration.

Their mandate is to observe, but not interfere.

In the present (1975)...

...scientists discover ancient cave paintings that tell of god-like beings who came down among the primitive humans.

But, the paintings don't tell the whole story, for the aliens are far more human than even they suspect!

Were an Alien Father and Neanderthal Mother the Parents of the First Cro-Magnon?

This tale, written by Doug Moench, illustrated by Alex Nino was likely a "pilot" for an ongoing series, but, due to Jack Kirby's return to Marvel with his similarly-themed Eternals, this ended up being merely an all-but-forgotten one-shot!

Here's a short feature listing both the books produced by Von Däniken and various related books movies and TV shows up to time of publication in 1975!

In Two Weeks:

The other (besides Jack Kirby's Eternals) comic series based on all this mishigas!
(Next Wednesday is April Fools Day)

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Eternals

Complete Collection

Featuring all the Chariots of the Gods-inspired series' Jack Kirby-written and illustrated stories!

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