With a series set in the year 2000...
...it's not surprising it's early history occurred in the 1960s!
Of course, it was the 1960s as seen from 1951!
You have to admire the innocent optimism that would have us performing such advanced space travel in only nine years...
Neither the writer nor artist(s) for this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Space Squadron #2 (1951) are known.
A couple of years later, in the future of an alternate universe
Remember when, in 2005, we landed on Mercury?
Me neither.
But, it must have happened, since it's history!
Look! I'll prove it...
See?
Told ya!
Writer Hank Chapman and artists Bill Benulis & Jack Abel wouldn't lie to us!
Chapman, who wrote the entire Speed Carter series, apparently wanted to emulate writers like E.E. "Doc" Smith and Issac Asimov in creating a cohesive universe with an established backstory.
Today, it's more or less standard practice for any ongoing series in print, movies, or tv, but back then, it was far from the norm.
This story from
Speed Carter: SpaceMan #2 (1953) references
the previous Famous Explorers tale in it's first paragraph, mentioning
James Carter and the exploration of Venus.
(Though saying Carter "discovered" Venus was inaccurate.)
Note: the astronauts in
this story, which takes place three generations in the "past" of
Speed Carter, have different uniforms and lower-end technology than what's shown in the
Speed Carter tales.
BTW,
Space Squadron actually ran two "Future History" strips in each issue, one about
Famous Explorers of Space, plus a series about the adventures of young
Blast Revere, who in the
Jet Dixon strip was the elderly commander of the
Space Squadron! but apparently was a real hell-raiser in his early days..which were the then-distant 1960s!
As shown in many military-themed strips, most overly-cautious senior officers were brain-dead maniacs when they were just cadets.
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Space Squadron #2 (1951) just transposed it to the near future!
Neither the writer nor artist are known.
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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
