Best of Reading Room GULLIVAR JONES "Web of Hate"

We're still in the mood for High Adventure...

..so, we're re-presenting, from the b/w magazine Monsters Unleashed #4 (1974), the first all-new, never-reprinted, Gullivar Jones sequel strip, produced by two then-newcomers to Marvel...

Dave Cockrum had been doing some inking over various pencilers including Rich Buckler, Don Heck, and George Tuska on The Avengers, but this was his first full art (Pencils and inks) assignment at Marvel.

Tony Isabella had co-plotted/scripted a number of other stories including the last Doc Savage two-parter with Gardner Fox, but this appears to be his first solo effort as a writer.

It's a fine job by both of them.

There's one more Gullivar Jones tale to be told.
And, like this one, it featured the Marvel debut of another soon-to-be superstar!
Who?
You're going to have to come back next Saturday to find out!

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Two Worlds to Win!"

Reunited with his lost love, the First Earthman on Mars faces certain death...

Art by Jim Steranko

...as we present, from Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #21 (1973), the sixth (and final) chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation of his only novel...

People did write, and though Gullivar Jones' four-color adventures were at an end, he returned in new graphic adventures in a Marvel title only a year later!
But that's a story for another time...

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "What Price Victory?"

The First Earthman on Mars battles on to rescue his lost love...

Art by Gil Kane

...as menace after menace assaults him!

Has Gullivar been reunited with Heru only to die on the red Martian sands?

(Remember, there was only one Gullivar Jones novel!

No sequel!)

When next we meet up with Gullivar...it's the fearsome finale of this story!

Note: Gray Morrow assumes the art chores (pencils and inks) for the final two issues of Gullivar's never-reprinted run.
But the writer of Gullivar's penultimate adventure from Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #20 (1972) is still George Alec Effinger.

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Long Road to Nowhere"

Continuing the never-reprinted (and all-too-brief) adventures of the First Earthman on Mars...

Art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

...we'll let the protagonist of this interplanetary saga fill us in...

To be continued...Tomorrow!

The artist round-robin continues as long-time Superman artist Wayne Boring steps in for Creatures on the Loose #19 (1972), the fourth chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation, inked by long-time Supergirl artist Jim Mooney!
(Oddly, Wayne and Jim never worked together at DC!)
At this time, Boring also did the first three issues (#22-24) of the 1972 revival of Captain Marvel.
BTW, you'll note the splash page is partially-penciled by Gil Kane.
George Alec Effinger goes solo on the scripting and continues to the end of the series in Creatures on the Loose #21.

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Wasteland on a Weirdling World"

Things are looking desperate for the first (and possibly last) Earthman on Mars...

Art by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott

...but who could fill you in better than our currently-helpless hero himself?

To be continued...Tomorrow!

Ross Andru, right before beginning his stint on Doc Savage, came on for Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #18 (1972), the third chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation, replacing Gil Kane, who continued to do covers.Gerry Conway and science fiction writer George Alec Effinger take over the scripting from Roy Thomas, who plotted the story arc and remained as editor.

One of the major problems this series faced was only having 10 pages every two months to tell the story.
And, because it was a bi-monthly, the writers felt compelled to recap not only the previous issue, but the entire story, which ate into the page count for a given issue's tale!

Had Marvel given the series a 15-page or full-book page count to work with (or 10 pages in a monthly title), the series might have gained more of an audience.
But only ten pages of story every two months was, apparently, too little to hold the audience's interest.
As it is, we're already midway thru the too-brief color comics run.