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!

Friday Fun BLAST "R.O.T.C.NoteBook"

When is Dan DeCarlo Art Not Dan DeCarlo art?

When it's by one of the best DeCarlo imitators in the business...Stan Goldberg!

Written by Nick Cuti and illustrated by the aforementioned Stan Goldberg, this never-reprinted feature from the short-lived MAD Magazine clone G&D Publishing's Blast #1 (1971) featured an awesome assortment of established pros like Goldberg, Bill Everett, Jim Mooney, and Bob Jenney, along with talented up-and-comers like Cuti, Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, and Marv Wolfman!

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Reading Room (and Bonus Video) STAR*REACH "Why Viking Lander/Mars?" by Ray Bradbury

A very kool, never-reprinted adaptation of a Ray Bradbury poem...

...first performed by the legendary author at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con the week after the Viking probe landed on Mars!
Sadly, there's no extant video or audio recording of the event, but we did find a more recent reading by Robert Picardo ("The Doctor" on Star Trek: Voyager)

AFAIK, the poem's never been reprinted in any of the Bradbury anthologies, or anywhere else, for that matter!

It's only appearance was in Star*Reach #6 (1976), illustrated with absolutely beautiful art by Alex Nino!

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Star*Reach
Greatest Hits

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Valley of the Worm!" Conclusion

We Have Already Witnessed...

James Allison lies on his deathbed, re-living a past life.

A millennia or more ago, he was Niord, a barbarian prince and warrior, defending his people, the Aesir, from all manner of threats, both human and inhuman.

Aided by Gorm, a Pict he defeated in battle but refused to kill, who then became an ally, he guides his people to a new home...

Note: Though Niord says his people are of "Asgard", it's doubtful, even though this tale is now canon in the Marvel Multiverse, that he refers to the mystical Asgard of Norse legend.

Bonus: Here's the title page from the story's first publication in Weird Tales V23N02 (1934), featuring both Niord and the "Worm", illustrated by Hugh Rankin.

Next Week:

A New World of Wonder

Don't Miss It!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Valley of the Worm!" Part 1

We've Spent a Month in A Futuristic Dimension...

...now let's go the other way, to a world where technology is non-existent and only a strong sword arm will keep you alive!

To Be Concluded Next Wednesday!

Based on a short story by Robert E (Conan the Barbarian) Howard, Adaptors Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway and penciler Gil Kane & inker Ernie Chua/Chan turned in an absolutely magnificent version of the tale using a lot of Howard's own prose in captions and dialogue!
Though meant as a stand-alone story in it's initial publication in the pulp Weird Tales and subsequent reprintings as well as this adaptation in Marvel's Supernatural Tales #3 (1973), it has since been incorporated into both the Conan Mythos and the Marvel Comics Universe in the 2020 Marvel mini-series Conan: Serpent War! which included Conan and other Howard characters as well as Moon Knight and Khonshu!
Trivia: There was another REH tale featuring James Allison (the dying protagonist in this story) called "Garden of Fear".
It was adapted by Roy Thomas, Barry Smith & Sal Buscema as a Conan story in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian V1N9 (1971), eliminating any references to Allison in the present day!
Allison's ancient incarnation in this story was Hunwolf the Wanderer and the tale was first published in the second issue of the pulp Marvel Tales, published by Martin Goodman, the first publisher of Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics!
There were seven James Allison tales.
Who sez comics ain't educational?