Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Conspiracy"

Exposed by the Aliens, the remaining Venusian "False Men" change their plans...

...as the story takes a personal turn for Captain Johner...

With only four pages per quarterly issue to work with, fans' patience must have been stretched to the limit!

Aren't you glad RetroBlogs fans only have to wait a week between chapters?

Creator/writer/artist Russ Manning builds up suspense in this tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #14 (1966).

The storyline's taking some interesting turns, including learning Johner has a first name!

Be here next week as the cavalry comes a'chargin!

BTW, note the sales figures on the last page!

This book was selling 235,000 copies an issue!

Publishers today would kill for those numbers!

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Captain Johner and the Aliens

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Day of the Nightmare"

We Have Already Seen...

...Commander Zarz and his crew of aliens have discovered "false men" among the humans who greeted them when they arrived on Earth!

Are humans fickle, or what?
Make you wonder why aliens would even want to interact with us!
Creator/writer/artist Russ Manning is certainly using the "color hold" technique to best advantage when showing other dimensions, giving the strip a distinctive "look" at a time when other artists like Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby were doing their own wild (and equally-unique) versions of alternate realities!
This tale from Gold Key's Magnus: Robot Fighter #13 (1966) adds the worrysome aspect of a wide-ranging threat that won't be easily-stopped.
But that's a story for another time...

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Time-Distorters"

Commander Zartz and the Aliens have helped Johner and General Curso capture non-human impostors...

...but the extraterrestrials can't prove it!

So, not so much other aliens, but humans with some sort of time technology!

From the future?

From the past?

The last caption promises an explanation...

Plus, more cool, unique color-hold graphics from creator/writer/illustrator Russ Manning in this tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #12 (1965)!

Be here next Monday as the mystery deepens...

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "False Men"

When Last We Left the First Extraterrestrials on Earth...

After an initial misunderstanding, it seems human/alien relations are going smoothly...

So, it turns out Johner's friends may not be the first aliens on Earth!

These "false men" not the shapeshifters Zarz's people use as spies, but something that can posess other life-forms!

But whether they're a race of previously-unknown Earthlings or from another world is a question for the future...

This tale by creator/writer/artist Russ Manning, from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #11 (1965), introduces a new plotline that will run through a number of issues.

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Fear of the Unknown"

Continuing the saga of the first Aliens on Earth...

...we discover Earthmen are as frightened of the Aliens as they were when Earthmen landed on their world!

First, let me apologize for not posting a Captain Johner & the Aliens tale last week.

Monday was the 4th of July, so we were going to post CJatA on Tuesday, but the passing of actress Noel Neill preempted it, and, at that point, with an-already scheduled Flash Gordon for Wednesday, we thought it best just to bump the strip a week.

Today's tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #10 (1965) continues the established pattern of xenophobia that both species apparently share.

It was also the final story to be reprinted in Gold Key's 1960s one-shot reprint anthology of the Aliens tales, leaving the audience for that book with a semi-cliffhanger.

Unlike them, we'll continue next week...

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Talk-Down"

We Leave the Combined Human/Alien Crew on the Alien Homeworld to See...

Houston, we have a problem...

A couple of questions...

How can any gas penetrate the hull of an airtight ship?

Why didn't Johner simply head for the areas not covered by the gas belt (which is clearly shown covering the Equator and temperate zones, but not the polar regions)?

Robert Shaefer & Eric Freiwald return as writers for this tale from Gold Key's Magus, Robot Fighter #9 (1965), while creator/illustrator Russ Manning continues on the art.

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Alien Welcome"

As the first human visitors tour the aliens' home world...

...tbey discover the two species are not so different, after all!

Written and illustrated by series creator Russ Manning, the tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #8 (1964) intrroduces more background about the alien homeworld, including weapons technology like the previously-unseen helmet-guns!

(In the first chapter, the aliens used hand weapons, like the Earthmen.

Perhaps, at home, among civilians, their police/soldiers don't want to display obvious weaponry...)

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Dream Makers"

The alien ship (with a crew partially-consisting of humans) reaches its' homeworld...

...where surprises await the Earthmen!

Note that we readers never see the Dream Makers' true forms.

This Russ Manning created/scripted/illustrated tale from Gold Key's Magnus: Robot Fighter #7 (1964) predates classic Star Trek's similarly-themed ep "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" by four years.

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Case of Nerves"

While we've been observing aliens serving on a human vessel...

...we've neglected the humans traveling on the alien ship!

Yes, its Tuesday, and we usually run CJatA on Mondays, but it was Memorial Day, and we took the day off!

Now on to the unusual art in this story from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #6 (1964).

The areas of color without black lines are called "color holds".

Before computer coloring, they were incredibly-difficult to do properly!

Creator/artist Russ Manning used "keyline" (red line art) to indicate where the areas for color were to be...

...because red ink photographs like black ink on the printer's film and the original negative would have both the red and black lines as guides for the color overlay cutters to trim to.

(note Manning's instructions to the printer on the euuper-left of the page.

But once the colors were cut, the red ink areas would be erased on the black printer's film, leaving just the black line art and the color areas with no holding lines!

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Forced Landing"

Continuing the adventures of a combined human/alien crew...

...we see how working together can have unexpected benefits!

Writers Eric Freiwald & Robert Schaefer and creator/artist Russ Manning take a deceptively-simple story and add an unexpected twist with this tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #5 (1963).
Nicely done...

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Suspense in Space"

We Rejoin Our Combined Human/Alien Team of Explorers...

...as they face a life-or-death situation!

It's amazing how writers Eric Freiwald & Robert Schaefer and creator/artist Russ Manning manged to tell a complete (and exciting) story in just four pages, as they did with this tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #4 (1963).
Today's comic creators with their bloated "epics" could take a lesson from them!

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Matter of Judgement"

When Last We Left Our Astronauts...

With half his crew on an alien ship and half the alien crew on his, Johner heads home to Earth...

Written by Eric Freiwald & Robert Schaefer and illustrated by Russ Manning, this morality tale from Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter #3 (1963) also sets up a potential menace in another group of aliens who are, in fact, hostile!
There's more space opera action to come, next week!