Wednesday World of Wonder WORLD OF FANTASY "Prison 2000 A.D."

In January, We're Doing One-Shot Tales Instead of Continued Stories...

...beginning with this tale, which utilizes a concept that's commonplace today, but all but unknown when this story appeared in Atlas' World of Fantasy #16 (1959)!

WOW!

Editor/conceptualizer Stan Lee and plotter/penciler Jack Kirby were doing what we now call "virtual reality"...in 1959!

The story was reprinted in Marvel's Strange Tales Annual #2 in 1963, than lay unseen for more than a half-century before finally being resurrected in, oddly, Monsters: the Marvel Monsterbus by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby...

...when, despite the "monsters" in the title, the only requirement is that the story was conceptualized/plotted by Lee, scripted by Lieber (Stan's brother, BTW) and plotted/penciled by Jack Kirby!
But there are lots of kool Kirby sci-fi/sci-fantasy stories, some never-previously reprinted!
So don't let the title put you off!

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Space Hero Saturdays JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

Sometimes "heroes" are everyday people...

...placed in unique situations, like colonizing a distant world, as in the tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "One Night"

Spaceship crewmen on shore leave at a distant port...

...sounds like a recipe for trouble and proof that some things never change!

Like many Baby Boomers (who, ironically, were this story's target audience of 6-13 year old children in 1956), Pete Cooper didn't plan for his retirement!

As a result, he made a gaffe that assured his fate would be exactly what he feared!

Illustrated by penciler Bob Forgione and inker Jack Abel, this never-reprinted morality play appeared in Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956)!

The writer is unknown.

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Sci-Fi Art: a Graphic History

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!"

You saw a later version of this tale HERE...

...but this is the original story, behind a very misleading, but extremely-kool, cover by Bill Everett!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) was more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than the later tale following the same basic plot!

But they're both equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Monday Mars Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "What Went Wrong?"

You think you've prepared for every contingency...but is that truly possible?

Can anyone always account for the "human" factor?

Illustrated by Bob Forgione, whose credits at Timely/Atlas included a number of sci-fi stories including an issue of Speed Carter: SpaceMan, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #1 (1956) is one of those "average guy inadvertently saves the world" tales that writers (in this case, unidentified) love to tell.

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Mars in the Movies

A History

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Sting of the Scorpion, Cunning of the Centaur"

What's cooler than dealing with an alien menace in deep space?

Why, dealing with two alien menaces (who are also fighting each other) in deep space, of course!

The names of the constellations "Scorpio" and "Sagittarius" are Earth culture-based and their shapes as scorpions and centaurs can only be discerned from Earth.

So, why did evolution produce species that resemble Earth-based creatures in those distant star-systems?

And, why do centaurs have wings?

Probably tight deadlines, because it's an inherently-silly premise.

(And I won't even go into why Johnny says they're crashing into a star, when it's obviously a planet...)
This concludes our re-presentation of the never-reprinted Speed Carter: SpaceMan series.
Though next week is the final Space Squadron tale, that's not the end of those series here!

In two weeks, we'll present a gallery of the complete covers from both series along with a couple of interesting foreign variants!
After that...we're still considering if we should go with more military/police space opera (we have several kool series available) or just return Saturday posts to being whatever strikes our fancy!
Your opinion would be appreciated...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics