Best of Wednesday Worlds of Wonder TALOS OF THE WILDERNESS SEA

It was Going to be an Epic 12-Issue Mini-Series...

...but cutbacks at DC dictated that the already-penciled and scripted first two issues Jan Strnad & Gil Kane (the guys who had revamped The Atom into a high-adventure/barbarian hero in two Sword of the Atom mini-series) be combined into a double-length one-shot whose sales would determine if the project would continue.

Unfortunately, despite the genre pedigree both creatives had, the unknown character didn't attract a large enough audience (as The Atom had), and only the single, open-ended, never-reprinted issue exists!

Here are links to the almost 40-year old "lost" project!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Friday Fun HARVEY "Saps on Skates!"

This Ain't the Movie Rollerball...

...which wouldn't even come out until three years after this never-reprinted story from Marvel's Harvey #4 (1972)!

Written and laid out by Stu Schwarzberg, finished pencils and inks by Henry Scarpelli!

Stan Lee wrote and Stan Goldberg illustratd the first couple of issues, then turned it over to Schwarzberg as writer and Scarpelli as artist for the remaining four issues!
Trivia: Marie Severin did touch-ups on Scarpelli's first issue to keep characters "on-model".

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History
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Best of Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SPACE CLUSTERS by Arthur Byron Cover & Alex Nino

It's a Time-Lost, Totally-Original, Never-Reprinted Graphic Novel...

 by noted sci-fi novelist Arthur Byron Cover and incredibly-unique graphic illustrator Alex Nino, which you've likely never seen!
It's Weird!
It's Wild!
It's the Very Embodiment of a World of Wonder!
So What Are You Waiting for?
Here are the Links...
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Best of Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS

For September, we're presenting compilations of previous series you may have missed!

...starting with the never-reprinted DC adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "scientific romance" (as they called it back then) Carson of Venus by Len Wein & Michael J Kaluta!

Click on the Links to Enjoy!

"Mars--or Bust!"

"Girl in the Garden"

"Battle Cry!"

"Gathering Tarel"

"Terror from the Sky!"

"Mutiny at Sea"

"Duare: Princess of Venus"

"Catastrophe!"

"Into the Land of Noobol"

"Lost on Venus"

"Babes in the Woods"

"Into the Noboolian Valley"

Sadly, the series ends on a cliffhanger...

Friday Fun HARVEY "Playing Post Office!"

We Suspect a Lot of Millennial (and Younger) Readers...

...will be confused by the plot (and even the concept) of this never-reprinted story from Marvel's Harvey #2 (1970)!

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Stan Goldberg (doing s superb Dan DeCarlo imitation), this book and Mille the Model were Marvel's last attempt at trying to hold onto the teen humor market that Archie Comics had dominated since the mid-1960s.

By 1973, both books were gone from the newsstands, and Stan Goldberg, as well as his successor, Henry Scarpelli, had moved over to Archie, where they were kept very busy until they retired!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History
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Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Rich Buckler & Wayne Howard (with additional art by John Romita Sr)

Reporter Cliff Sutherland and photographer Ann O'Hara may be on to the scoop of the century.

An alien robot, which went inert after Klaatu (the alien humanoid it accompanied) was shot and killed (without provocation) when he tried to initiate contact with people of Earth isn't as unmoving as the US government believes!
The duo conceal themselves nearby, hoping to catch the automaton in motion...which they do!
They witness the robot enter the alien vessel...which sealed up and apparently deactivated after Klaatu was killed.

And now things get really weird...

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

The original story by Harry Bates appeared in Street and Smith's Astounding Science Fiction V26N2 (1940) with the following illustrations by Frank Kramer...all of which feature Gnut!

"Farewell to the Master" has been reprinted numerous times, usually in anthologies about Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, or compilations of stories which were adapted into films or TV shows.

But the graphic adaptation from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973) has never been reprinted, and no other comic book/comic strip version has ever been done!
However, there was another prose adaptation of the short story...

This book, written by Arthur Tofte, published by Scholastic Books in 1976, combined "Farewell to the Master" with the screenplay for the 1951 movie into a new novel which presents Klaatu and a rather verbose Gnut (not "Gort") as a pair of equal partners, representing their respective civilizations within a galactic organization calling themselves "The Watchers"!
Finally, Lux Radio Theatre produced a one-hour radio adaptation in 1954, narrated by Paul Frees and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu!
Regrettably, it doesn't use Bernard Herrmann's magnificent soundtrack but it's still worth listening to.
You can link to it HERE!

KLATTU BARADA NIKTO!

Which translates to:

Shogun Warriors Return Next Monday!

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Day the Earth Stood Still

3-Disc Blu-Ray Special Edition

(Contains both the 1951 and 2008 versions plus kool extras)

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Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Part 1

You know the story...sorta.

You've seen (and/or heard) the story adapted...sorta.

Now read the most faithful adaptation of the tale...short of the original novelette!

And before you go any further, "Gnut" is pronounced "Nut".

That's one of the reasons it was changed when the story by Harry Bates was adapted in 1951 into a movie...

Aw, you guessed!

As you've surmised, there were quite a few changes made when the silver screen version was created and produced!

And, when writer Roy Thomas, penciler Ross Andru and inker Wayne Howard went back to the source material for the never-reprinted Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973)...well, let's let Rascally Roy himself tell you about that...

Be here NEXT MONDAY for the ASTOUNDING conclusion...plus some kool extras (which will explain why I capitalized "astounding"!)

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Day the Earth Stood Still

3-Disc Blu-Ray Special Edition

(Contains both the 1951 and 2008 versions plus kool extras)

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Friday Fun BLAST! "Ethics" & "I Know Him From Somewhere!"

Over a Month Ago...

We brought you never-reprinted examples of Stan Goldberg's amazing Dan DeCarlo-esque artwork from the short-lived MAD magazine clone BLAST!

Here's the last two we could find!

Note: Richard Nixon had four brothers: Harold, Donald, Arthur, and Edward.

Four of the five Nixon boys were named after historic British kings.

None of his siblings looked like Richard!

Enjoy!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

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Friday Fun SUPERMAN GOES PLOP!

From DC's Plop! #5 (1974)...

Easily one of the funniest gags about Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane ever told!

Though the writer of this short is unknown, the art is by long-time DC artist Murphy Anderson!
Trivia: The piece was actually conceived and illustrated as a one-pager, as shown in the original art below!

Note that the original panel six, showing Clark climbing back through the office window is omitted in the final version!
Blue pencil/marker didn't show up under the cameras that were used to shoot line art as film or photostats, so, while it looks a little tacky, it was common practice to mark corrections/alterations using them directly on original art!
(Nobody in those days was concerned about reselling original art to collectors/fans!)
The feature been reprinted twice since Plop!, but only in digest-sized comics, which muddy a lot of the detailed Sergio Aragones background art!

See Superman the Movie!