Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "While Simon Slept"

If you go by the never-reprinted Carl Burgos-illustrated cover, these are horror stories!

But, you'd be wrong.

Let's present a story shown on the cover as a small vignette on the right, but still given the first spot in the book!

I'm compelled to ask "Why would anyone be carrying around both theirs and their brother's birth certificates?"

Illustrated by Bill Everett, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) has some serious plot holes.

But, hey, what can you expect in only four pages?
BTW, the scripter is unknown, but could've been Everett himself.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Frightened Ones!"

Ever hear the phrase "It's all a matter of perspective"?
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #4 (1956) validates it!

Penciled (and possibly inked) by Mike Sekowsky, this short proves "there's always someone bigger than you"!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Mechanical Man!"

As artificial intelligence advances into almost every aspect of daily life...

...let see how the creatives of the 1950s envisioned how it might occur!

Yes, it's the "It was all a dream!" cliche!

The writer of this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #1 (1956) is unknown, so we can't directly heap scorn upon him for using such a timeworn trope to get out of his own plotting without really solving it!
OTOH, artist Chuck Miller, who broke into comics illustrating a single story before being drafted, then returned after the war to work steadily until the industry almost collapsed in the mid-1950s due to the "Seduction of the Innocent" debacle, does a commendable job with what he's given to work with!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Space Heroine? Saturdays CRAZY "Tess Orbit: Lace Cadet"

MAD wasn't the only satire anthology comic in the pre-Code days...

..though it was both the best-known and best written/drawn of an entire herd of titles!

This never-reprinted tale, spoofing the TV/radio series Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, was probably the best story in Atlas' Crazy #1 (1953), and actually feels more like one of the risque PussyCat short features the Marvel Bullpen did for Marvel's publisher Martin Goodman's laddie magazines!

(Goodman owned both Marvel and a magazine publishing company until he sold Marvel in 1972.)
The strip is illustrated by Al Hartley, who did a lot of romance work (along with some sci-fi and horror) and eventually became a mainstay of Archie Comics in the late 1960s through the '70s.
(For the record, Hartley also co-created and illustrated Atlas' Leopard Girl I for her entire run)
But the writer is unknown.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room VENUS COMICS "Plot!"

With concern mounting about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over more and more control of our daily lives...

...we thought we'd take a look at one of the early tales about robots rebelling against Mankind!

As you might have guessed, we're re-presenting the never-reprinted back-up stories!

This back-up story from Atlas' Venus Comics #11 (1950), is illustrated by Russ Heath.

The writer is unknown.

Long before the Terminator and Matrix films, sci-fi literature presented examples of our creations such as the Robotmen of the Lost Planet one-shot comic we recently re-presented!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Monday Mars Madness STRANGE STORIES OF SUSPENSE "Beware...a Martian"

Here's a tale of racism and innuendo involving an "illegal alien"...

...that all Reich-wingers should take note of!

Written by Carl Wessler, penciled by Al Williamson, and inked by Ralph Mayo, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Stories of Suspense #14 (1957) uses science fiction to tell a civil rights parable, substituting a Martian (and the paranoia about his race) for a African-American, Hispanic, Japanese, or other minority group about whom equally-inane fantasies have been concocted!

Note: it's interesting that Nardo the Martian has the same appearance as DC's J'Onn J'Onzz: the Martian Manhunter (except for skin color), as well as MM's specific ability to shape-shift, not a talent usually attributed to inhabitants of the Red Planet!

Note: J'Onn had debuted almost two years earlier!

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Mars in the Movies

A History

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Thing in Outer Space"

Here's a tale that, back in the 1950s, could only have been shown in comics...

...because even the era's state-of-the-art SFX technology was far too primitive to do it effectively!

Oh, Speed, you're such a kidder!

This story from Atlas' Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1954) was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bob Forgione.
You'll note that Forgione uses original artist Joe Maneely's designs for the Speed Carter universe, which previous artists Mike Sekowsky (issue #4) and George Tuska (issue #5) ignored in their issues.
In fact, Forgione tries to match Maneely's rendering style...and does a damned good job at it.
It's a shame this was Speed's final issue.

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Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr

by Isaac Asimov

(under the pen-name "Paul French")

Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!

David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Xom! The Menace from Outer Space!"

Behind this kool, never-reprinted Jack Kirby/Christopher Rule cover...

...lurks an equally-cool (but visually-different) never-reprinted tale!

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, and penciled/inked by Joe Sinnott, this cover-featured tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) was a combination of the "giant monster with weird name" and Twilight Zone "switch ending" tropes Lee was so fond of.

You'll note the "monster" is rendered pretty much the same on both the cover and insides, while the Earthmen and aliens are vastly-different!

I'm not certain which was done first, but the difference between the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers-style renderings by Sinnott and the...well...Kirbyesque versions on the cover are striking!

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Brush Strokes with Greatness

Life and Art of Joe Sinnott

Monday Mars Madness (JOURNEY INTO) UNKNOWN WORLDS "End of the Earth"

There's a lot of never-reprinted Atlas/Marvel comics out there...

...including almost all of this anthology series!

By not accepting handouts from others, mankind is taught to, once more, be self-sufficient! 

Earth will not be a welfare state!
One other point: though the city containing all surviving humans is in Africa, there aren't any non-white people there!

Illustrated by Vernon Henkel, this never-reprinted cover and feature from Atlas' Unknown Worlds #36 (1950) is typical of sci-fi comics of the 1940s-early 1950s (pre-EC Comics' sci-fi line)

BTW, though the book is #36, it's really the first issue!

The previous issues were titled Teen Comics, before that, All-Teen Comics, and before that, All-Winners Comics!

Also note, I called it "Unknown Worlds", even though the cover says "Journey into Unknown Worlds"!

The indicia (which lists the actual title in official records) leaves out the "Journey into...", so that's what we, and indexers, go by.

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Mars in the Movies

A History