Friday Fun ALIEN WORLDS "Small Change"

Summer's starting to wind down...

...so let's say "goodbye" with a never-reprinted, "fun" tale from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984)!

BTW, writer Bruce Jones and artist Brent Anderson also teamed up for an amazing run on Marvel's Ka-Zar the Savage in the '80s.

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Ka-Zar: SavageDawn

by Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson

(collecting 1-5 of Ka-Zar the Savage)

Monday Madness LIANA

Here's a tale of future love published exactly 50 years ago...

...Nestled none too securely in the grim world of the future, Liana longs for the miracle that will end the pain of her lonely existence!
But, miracles can have dangerous side-effects, as Liana will soon find out!

This tale originally appeared in The Monster Times #14 (July 31, 1972), written and illustrated by Bruce Jones, who went on to write and illustrate (but rarely both at the same time) for DC and Marvel.
BTW, if you wonder why the caption in the first panel is so hard to read, it's because this was published as two pages in a tabloid 11 1/2"x 16 1/2" format (like 1970s Marvel and DC "Treasury" editions), so I repeated the text below the first page!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder HUNT BOWMAN AND THE LOST WORLD Part 3

Nope, you don't have to reboot your tablet/laptop/desktop/smartphone...

...this story was published in b/w instead of color!

We Have Already Seen...

...hapless astronaut Hunt Bowman, put in suspended animation by a NASA experiment, slept through World War III, which reduced Earth to a barren world populated by savages.

Finally defrosted, he meets a mute woman flying a jetcycle and armed with advanced focused-energy weapons.

She flies him to a nearby small city where he discovers...an exact look-alike of himself!

You'll note all three of my theories are still equally-valid...

1) Since Bowman is from the past, is this guy also from the past...or Bowman himself, returned from further into the future?
2) Is he a clone, created from Bowman's cells taken before he went into space?

3) Is this not only a future Earth, but an alternate universe as well?

Regrettably, we'll never know the answer, since this was the final issue of Blackthorne's revival of Planet Comics! (The book being printed in b/w instead of the previous issues' full color might've been a tip-off!).
Neither the Golden Age nor Bronze Age versions of Hunt Bowman have appeared in new tales since!

Next Week...

A New Wednesday World of Wonder!
Don't Miss It!

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Prison Ship

by Bruce Jones and Estaban Maroto

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder HUNT BOWMAN OF THE LOST WORLD Part 2

The original Hunt Bowman was an marksman with a bow and a decent shot with a handgun!

The new "astronaut-frozen-in-time" Buck Rogers-wannabe is obviously not the same guy!

To Be Continued

NEXT WEEK!

Since Bowman is from the past, is this guy also from the past...or further into the future?

Or is he a clone, created from Bowman's cells taken before he went into space?

Or is this not only a future Earth, but an alternate universe as well?

Makes you wonder why writer Bruce Jones and artist Ken Hooper even tried to adapt the original Lost World strip!

Except for the character's name, it has nothing in common with the 1940s series!

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Prison Ship

by Bruce Jones and Estaban Maroto

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder HUNT BOWMAN IN THE LOST WORLD Part 1B

When Last We Left Our Hero...

...he's the Buck Rogers-ripoff "astronaut frozen and defrosted centuries later in a post-apocalyptic Earth" guy underneath this incredibly-kool Dave Stevens cover, which is based very loosely on what's about to occur in the story...

Computer system...in a cave?

The cliches just keep coming!

While writer Bruce Jones has done some absolutely spectacular work in comics, I'd say this is not one of his award-winning moments!

Clearly, the Dave Stevens cover (above) is the reason Blackthorne's Planet Comics V2N1 (1988) is $50 (or more) on the back-issue market!
Note also that Stevens did exactly what the original Fiction House Planet Comics' cover artists did in the 1940s...take a plot element and hyper-cheesecake it!
(Not that I'm complaining...)
Nonetheless, if you want to see what develops, be here next Wednesday.

Warning: the remaining issues do not have Dave Stevens covers!

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Just Teasing

by Dave Stevens

Out of Print 12x18" book of frameable full-page cheesecake posters taken directly from Stevens' original art used for comic and book covers...including the Planet Comics cover...without any logos or lettering!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder HUNT BOWMAN IN THE LOST WORLD Part 1A

After almost a year reading this feature, you think you know about Hunt Bowman and The Lost World?

Prepare to be disillusioned!

Needless to say...

Continued Next Wednesday!

In 1988, Blackthorne Publishing relaunched Fiction House's Planet Comics with all-new revamped/rebooted versions of several strips, only one of which was from Planet Comics.

(Oddly, the other strips in Planet were from other, non sci-fi Fiction House titles!)

In the case of Lost World, writer Bruce Jones and artist Ken Hooper went the Buck Rogers route taking a human from the then-present and putting him in suspended animation to awaken in a post-apocalyptic far future.

The revived Planet Comics lasted only three issues and has never been reprinted.

Correction: the stories have never been reprinted, but the cover to #1, by the late, legendary Dave Stevens has been reprinted as both a print and a poster several times since.

That cover is the reason why back issues of #1 go for over $50 on the secondary market.

You'll see it next week.

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Prison Ship

by Bruce Jones and Estaban Maroto

Reading Room LAND OF THE FHRE aka SAVAGE WORLD 2.0

If you enjoyed Tuesday's short story "Savage World"...

...you'll find this version, using the same art...but a different script...a most fascinating read!

Noted Bronze Age writer/artist Bruce Jones was heavily-influenced by the Fleagle Gang and the EC Comics line in general.

Since the previously-published version of this tale in Witzend #1 (1966) was a rewrite of an unknown writer's script by Wally Wood, Bruce was given the opportunity to do a similar re-write, also without altering the art, for this publication in Pacific Comics' Alien Worlds #4 (1983).

Jones' version places the tale further into the future and makes the second half a dream sequence

The story also appeared in color for the first time, using the blueline/greyline method of hand-colored artwork with a black-line overlay, trying to simulate the traditional flat-color separations.

That's why the black linework isn't as crisp and sharp as in the b/w version.

The coloring was done by fantasy painter Joe Chiodo, another illustrator inspired by the work of 1950s comic artists.

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Al Williamson Adventures