Showing posts with label Al Williamson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Al Williamson. Show all posts

Thursday, August 28, 2025

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Invasion from the Abyss!"

Alien Invasions of Earth are a Popular Story Concept...
...even when the "aliens" are from inside the Earth, rather than outer space!
This story from Avon's Strange Worlds #3 (1951) was a "Fleagle Gang" production.
The "Fleagles" were a group of artists including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and George Woodbridge who would help each other out on tight deadlines by doing a "jam" with individuals penciling and inking different pages and even different panels on a single page, producing some absolutely-amazing visuals!
Trivia: the group was named by EC Comics editor/writer/artist Harvey Kurtzman.

The idea of advanced beings living inside the Earth and invading/reconquering the surface was very popular in the early 1950s.
Richard Shaver and 1930s-40s pulp magazine editor Raymond A Palmer caused a media firestorm with a series of stories presenting a theory that combined the "civilization inside the Earth" concept with another pop culture phenomenon...flying saucers!
Numerous readers wrote in, claiming that they had actually seen creatures and vehicles exactly as described in the stories!
The "Shaver Hoax" (as it came to be known) influenced 1930s-50s sci-fi/fantasy ranging from the two-part pilot episode of the TV's Adventures of Superman "Superman and the Mole Men" to movie serials like The Phantom Empire and movies like Brain Eaters!
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Saturday, August 9, 2025

Space Hero Saturdays ALIEN WORLDS "Few and the Far"

In space, things aren't always as they seem to appear...
...as this never-reprinted tale from Pacific's Alien Worlds #1 (1982) demonstrates not once, but twice...
Admit it.
Writer Bruce Jones and artist Al Williamson fooled you!
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Saturday, May 31, 2025

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE ACE "Nothing Weapon!"

Buckle Up for EXCITEMENT in the Far-Flung Reaches of Space...

...as Magazine Enterprise's Space Ace 2.5 makes his initial appearance, and he's looking good!





Al Williamson does the penciling, showing off his superb design and anatomy skills.
The inking is by Williamson plus the legendary Fleagle Gang (Frank Frazetta, Angelo Torres, Roy Krenkel, George Woodbridge).
If that weren't enough, the script is by Gardner Fox, taking the somewhat more juvenile concepts of "Space Ace 2.0" (as seen HERE and HERE) and making them a superb example of classic, epic space opera.

BONUS #1: the original art for page one...
Is that magnificent, or what? ;-)
Bonus #2
This story in 3-D
Get your Red/Blue glasses out...



From 3-D Zone #10 (1988)
"ZoneVision" conversion by Ray Zone.

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Thursday, February 6, 2025

Baker Reading Room "Behind the Scenes of 'Half Man-Half What' "

...but from the original Matt Baker/Al Williamson art!
Take particular note of the areas "whited out", probably at the request of the Comics Code Authority!
BTW, note that in the story, Dr Talbot's right side is altered, but on the cover, his left side is affected!
Let's look closely at that final panel...
Dr Talbot's right side has been totally-whited out.
Was it still metallic?
And his face originally wasn't happy!
Did the original ending show him at the beginning of the process, wondering if it would succeed, and leaving the door open for a sequel if it didn't?
Was the Comics Code Authority responsible for the odd changes?
We'll never know...
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He'll be our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!
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Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Baker Reading Room ALARMING TALES "Half Man-Half What"

"Scientists Tampering with Things Man Should Not Meddle In!" is an old cliche...
Art by John Severin
...given a new look by a most unusual assortment of artists...at least four, along with the writer...
Art by the Bob Powell Studio
OK.
Let's identify the talents involved in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Alarming Tales #5 (1958)...
Cover art by John Severin
Script by Dick Wood.
Opening page (which was actually the lower part of the contents page) by the Bob Powell Studio.
Story pencils by Matt Baker (who's the reason this is included in Black History Month).
Story inks by Al Williamson.
Thursday:
the entire story (and cover) in original art form, with some revealing alterations and footnotes!
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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CAPTAIN COMET, SPACE PILOT "vs the Vicious Space Pirates!"

A space-going hero named "Captain Comet" who saves the Earth?
Plus, he's drawn by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta?
Sign me up!
Note: he's not DC Comics' mutant mental marvel...
 ...but a character who only appeared once, in 1953, two years after DC's space hero debuted in Strange Adventures #9, and would continue as an ongoing strip through 1955 (usually getting the cover slot)!
The Captain Comet we've just shown you was more a Flash Gordon / Buck Rogers-type hero, set in the future, battling interplanetary threats with fists and ray guns.
Appearing in the first issue of Toby Press' anthology title Danger is Our Business, he obviously was meant to be an ongoing character, but there was never another appearance, except for a reprint in 1958.
Did DC issue a "cease and desist" due to trademark infringement?
We'll never know...