Monday Moon Madness ASTONISHING "Menace from the Moon!"

We're planning to send humans back to the moon in the next few years.

Is that really such a good idea???

OK, this tale from Atlas' Astonishing #5 (1951), written by Hank Chapman and illustrated by Cal Massey is a tad silly.

They claim the ship was lost five years earlier, yet speculate the crew was still alive and coming home?
C'mon, even a kid in the 1950s would find that concept...well...DUMB!!!
(And that's being polite!)

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Best of Reading Room ASTONISHING "The Scientists"

We re-presented a later version (by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko, no less) of this tale on Tuesday!

This original version is a page longer and has a couple of rather witty touches which put the lie to the concept "If our meddling with time changed anything, we'd notice!"

This never-reprinted story, penciled by Harry Lazarus and inked by George Klein, from Atlas' Astonishing #9 (1952) is based on one of the basic rules of time-travel; "don't change anything in the past, or you'll alter the future"...which is in direct contradiction to another of the basic rules of time-travel; "no matter what you do, you can't change the future".

Hey, I'm just telling you the rules.

I never said they made sense...

Friday Fun ASTONISHING "Eve of Halloween!"

Since "Halloween" means "All Hallows Eve"...

...is the "Eve of Halloween" the night before Halloween?

This too cute for words story from Atlas' Astonishing #47 (1956) doesn't answer the "eve of Halloween"question.

But artist Ed Winiarski and an unknown writer do present a Bewitched-style tale of a modern-day witch and her daughter which, oddly, doesn't show anything of the husband/father!

Was he a warlock or a mortal?

We'll never know the answer...

Reading Room ASTONISHING "Unknown Ones!"

The story's title has a double meaning to graphic literature aficionados...

...since it also covers the fact this story hasn't been seen in color since 1957!

It was reprinted (in b/w) in Dark Horse's Al Williamson: Hidden Lands TPB (2004), but that OOP tome had a very limited print run.

Written by Carl Wessler, this Williamson-penciled and Roy Krenkel-inked tale from Atlas' Astonishing #57 (1957) was done after the horror comics purge of the mid-1950s reduced EC Comics to just MAD Magazine, and the majority of now-unemployed artists were scrambling around for work.

Besides Atlas, Williamson was freelancing for ACG and Harvey, doing full pencils and inks, inking others like Jack Kirby and Matt Baker, or, as in this case, penciling for others (usually fellow Fleagle Gang members*) to ink.

*The "Fleagles" were a group of artists including Williamson, Krenkel, Frank Frazetta, 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!

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Al Williamson

Hidden Lands

Reading Room ASTONISHING "The Scientists"

When we presented this tale...

...by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, we had no idea it was a reworking of an earlier tale in Atlas' Astonishing #9 (1952) by Stan Lee and Harry Lazarus!

The original is a page longer and has some rather witty touches which put the lie to the concept "If our meddling with time changed anything, we'd notice!"

This never-reprinted story (like the reworked version, "Those Who Change") is based on one of the basic rules of time-travel; "don't change anything in the past, or you'll alter the future"...which is in direct contradiction to another of the basic rules of time-travel; "no matter what you do, you can't change the future".
Hey, I'm just telling you the rules.
I never said they made sense...