Space Force Saturdays THREE ROCKETEERS "Long Long Years"

Introduced in Harvey's Race for the Moon #3 (1958)...

This team of intrepid explorers survived the book's cancellation to appear in other Harvey titles over the next decade!

Penciled (and possibly written) by Jack Kirby and inked by Al Williamson, the team's debut exemplifies the 1950's optimism that science and humanity's desire to explore the unknown would enable us to set up space stations and moonbases within a few decades!
Sadly, as of the end of the first quarter of the 21st Century, over half a century later, we ain't there yet!
Yeah, we have one small space station, but nothing like what we envisioned...

Now that's a space station!

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

(which reprints all the Kirby Three Rocketeer stories!)
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Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "When the Creature Escapes"

Is a "sea monster" a mindless animal...or something more?

That's what this story from Atlas' World of Suspense #7, 1957 asks...

Penciled by Al Williamson, inked by Ralph Mayo, and written by a currently-unknown scripter, this tale leaves the matter open-ended, practically begging for a sequel!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CLAWFANG THE BARBARIAN

Here's a one-time World of Wonder for you before the New Year!

(BTW, isn't it weird how most fictional barbarians have a "hard C" or "hard K" name...Conan, Crom, ClawFang, Claw, Kull, Kothar, Kyrik, etc.)

We'll never know, since this was ClawFang's only published adventure!

A cool mix of sf/fantasy genres written and laid-out by Wally Wood with pencils and inks by Al Williamson, appearing in Harvey's Unearthly Spectaculars #2 (1966), part of a short-lived line of action/adventure comics produced by Harvey Comics in the mid-1960s.

Oddly, while there were numerous "jungle hero/heroine" strips and books with sci-fi/fantasy elements, Clawfang was only the second actual barbarian strip in comics history, after Crom...which was also from Harvey Comics!

Five years later, Marvel would launch Conan the Barbarian, and suddenly, an entire new genre bloomed in comics with almost every publisher launching at least one barbarian-themed comic!
Speaking of which...

The "barbarian in a post-apocalyptic future Earth" concept is an oft-used trope in sci-fi/fantasy...

...from ClawFang to Teenage Caveman to BlackMark to Kamandi to Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds to Lost World (from Fiction House's Planet Comics) to IronJaw, to Talos of the Wilderness Sea,  to Planet of the Apes (Yes, PotA qualifies since mankind is reduced to primitives) to Thundarr the Barbarian to Yor: Hunter from the Future, scantly-clad heroes using primitive weapons against super-science and/or sorcery in a devastated world has proven to be a popular trope in various media, not just print.

Join us next Wednesday as we begin our re-presentation of one of the best (though least-known) series featuring this concept...

Wolff the Barbarian

by

Esteban Maroto, Sadko, and Laurence James

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROBBIE

Here's a kool project that, unfortunately, never reached fruition.

You'd think combining elements of Little Nemo in SlumberLand with Flash Gordon should've been an easy sell in the 1960s.

But, this two-page labor of love by writer Len (Mars Attacks) Brown and Al (Flash Gordon) Williamson was presented to the syndicates at a time when the only adventure strips were "legacy" series with an already-existing following.
So, it was consigned to the dustbin of history, published in the same 1962 issue of the b/w fan/prozine Fantasy Illustrated that last Thursday's "Life Battery" originally-appeared in.
They've popped up several times since, at least once at original art size!

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Al Williamson

Hidden Lands

Space Hero Saturdays THE SECRET ORIGIN ( NO LIE) OF FLASH GORDON!

Because it's Thanksgiving weekend, and we're out shopping...

..due to the Dreaded Deadline Doom, we're re-presenting a classic (but rarely-seen) Flash Gordon tale...

...the untold story of Flash Gordon's first encounter with the inhabitants of Mongo!

Wow!

Writer Mark Schultz and artist Al Williamson pulled off what many these days would consider to be impossible...a retcon that doesn't contradict any of the previous stories, nor requires a reboot of the character's entire history!

(I thought only Rascally Roy Thomas was capable of such a feat!)

Not only that, but it includes visual Easter Eggs relating to various past versions of Flash, including the Clay People from the second movie serial, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, spaceships from the 1930s serials and the 1979 animated series, Flash's father (named "Alex" after artist Alex Raymond) looking remarkably like Buster Crabbe (the actor who played Flash in all three serials), and a young Dr Zarkov based on Al Williamson himself!

You can read the entire mini-series from the start by clicking HERE!

It's well worth your time to do so!

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Al Williamson's

Flash Gordon

(which reprints the mini-series, but in black-and-white!)

Haunted House Reading Room WORLD OF MYSTERY "Secret of the Haunted House"

With Halloween right around the corner, we're doing a series of themed stories until All Hallows Eve...

...based on haunted houses!

This Al Williamson-penciled and Ralph Mayo-inked tale from Atlas' World of Mystery #6 (1957) has only been reprinted once since (in b/w not color), and that was in 2008!

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Marvel Horror

The Magazine Collection

Monday Moon Madness RACE FOR THE MOON "Lunar Trap"

Today's the scheduled launch to the Moon of NASA's Artemis test ship...

But, it won't be like the 1950s, when we thought we'd be fighting with the Soviet Union for control of the Moon!

 

Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Al Williamson (who, along with fellow EC alumnus Reed Crandall), was doing a lot of work for Harvey at the time!

Not sure who wrote it, but speculation is that Kirby himself scripted it.

Either way, a decent story with solid storytelling and magnificent rendering!

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Reading Room EPIC ILLUSTRATED "Relic"

Is this never-reprinted tale from the 1980s...

...a subtle commentary by the "old guard" about the "young bucks" who were taking over the comics industry?

When this Archie Goodwin-scripted/Al Williamson-rendered story appeared in Marvel's Epic Illustrated #27 (1984), the comics industry was going through an upheaval.

Due to the introduction in the late 1970s of comic book stores and the Direct Market (which enabled publishers to "print to order"), numerous small publishers were popping up to compete with the major companies.

But, among the casualties in the changing marketplace were the "old pros", long-time creatives who were finding less and less work as the majors hired youngsters who were willing to work on their characters for lower rates.
The older writers and artists did find work, but mostly for new publishers, and usually at lower rates.
Some kept going by taking commissions from fans for new pieces.
Others moved on to advertising or newspaper syndicate work.
It's a sad turn of events that only started reversing itself after 2000.
BTW, note the story is dedicated to Williamson's fellow Fleagle Gang member Roy Krenkel who passed away around the time this tale was being created.
Krenkel was especially expert at rendering lush overgrown jungles and fantastical lost cities, so Al's dedicating this particular tale to him was most appropriate.

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Al Williamson

Hidden Lands