Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "By the Dark of the Moon"

The cover depicting this tale has a gothic horror feel...

...but, in fact, the story is hard science fiction!

No ghosts or ghoulies at all!

(Halloween was over a week ago!)

Was this story's ending rewritten to conform to the Comics Code?

Scripted by Carl Wessler and ilustrated by John Giunta, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) features a last panel with a rather convoluted explanation that seems, as the saying goes "out of left field".

Or is it just the result of trying to cram a lot of story into only four pages?

We'll never know...

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Brain Destroyer!"

This title reminded me of Don (da Con) Trump...

...even though the story itself has nothing to connect it to the Republicans' hilarious convicted criminal candidate!

No matter whether you agree for my reason for running the story, it's still a long-lost, never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) you probably would never have seen otherwise.
Plotted by Stan Lee, written by Larry Lieber, and illustrated by Carl Burgos, it's typical of the sort of stuff Atlas was running as it transitioned into what we would know as Marvel only a couple of years later.

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Reading Room: WEIRD "Frankenstein: the Monster's Story"

Here's a one-off tale taking elements of several of the Frankenstein Monster's many incarnations...

...and combining them into a fascinating tale!

Written by the magazine's associate editor Roger Elwood and illustrated by it's editor/art director Carl Burgos (who created comics' first android hero, Timely's Golden Age Human Torch), this story from Eerie Publications' Weird V1N10 (1965) is one of the few stories (after Mary Shelly's original) that doesn't leave the door open for a sequel!

Trivia: despite the numbering, this is the first issue of the magazine!

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The Worst of Eerie Publications

Space Hero Saturdays ZANY "Buck Dodgers" and "Flush Gordon"

A couple of comic strip parodies from one of the many 1950s MAD Magazine imitators...

...specifically, Candar's Zany #3 (1959), illustrated by Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos, writer unknown, though it might have been Burgos himself.

From Candar's Zany #2 (1958), artist and writer unknown.

The "Max Oboy" credit spoofs artist Mac (Green Lama) Raboy, who illustrated the Flash Gordon Sunday strip after co-creator/artist Alex Raymond left for other projects.

These HTF and never-reprinted space adventure parodies, were from Candar Publishing, which published risque titles like French Cartoons and Cuties and College Laughs.

Though Zany only ran four issues, it had a pretty damn good lineup of writers and artists including the aformentioned Burgos (who was also the editor for the first two issues), Bill Everett (who also painted all four front covers), Joe Sinnott, Dick Briefer, John Forte, Don Orehek, Morris Waldinger, Paul Reinman, and Pete Costanza!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Friday Fun WILD "I Was an 88 Pound Weakling"

As we enter the final weekend of summer vacation...

...lets look at a parody of a classic tale of humiliation and redemption on the beach!

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Wild #5 (1954) spoofs the plot of this ad...

...which had already become a cliche!

Penciler Al Hartley,  inker Carl Burgos, and an unknown scripter (likely the book's editor Stan Lee) knew the audience would get the joke especially since the ad ran in almost every comic of the 1950s!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room ALARMING ADVENTURES "Earth Went Haywire"

Here's a never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Alarming Adventures #3 (1963)...

...about a "forgotten man" who saves the world from Armageddon!

With today's "decompressed storytelling, this five-page short would be, at least, a mini-series with numerous full-page and double-page spreads...collected, of course into a tpb reprint!

The creators are unknown, but knowledgable sources have suggested Carl Burgos, Bernard Baily, and Stan Goldberg as the artists...

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Space Hero Saturdays ZANY "Buck Dodgers" and "Flush Gordon"

A couple of comic strip parodies from one of the many MAD Magazine imitators...

From Candar's Zany #3 (1959), illustrated by Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos, writer unknown, though it might have been Burgos himself.

From Candar's Zany #2 (1958), artist and writer unknown.

Note: "Max Oboy" is a spoof of Mac Raboy, Golden Age Captain Marvel Jr and Green Lama comic artist who replaced Alex Raymond on the Flash Gordon Sunday strip from 1948 to his passing in 1967.

These HTF (and never-reprinted) space adventure parodies, were from Candar, which published risque titles like French Cartoons and Cuties and College Laughs.

Though Zany only ran four issues, it had a pretty damn good lineup of writers and artists including the aformentioned Burgos (who was also the editor for the first two issues), Bill Everett (who also painted all four front covers), Joe Sinnott, Dick Briefer, John Forte, Don Orehek, Morris Waldinger, Paul Reinman, and Pete Costanza!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Monday Madness STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL "Threat!"

Here's a fascinating tale that makes perfect sense...

...up to the last two panels, when it all falls apart!

Wait...

If Harlow disappeared after the machine merely slowed, why didn't the rest of them disappear after it was wrecked?

Wouldn't the logical thing to do be to insure the machine be kept running at that slightly-lower level?

I suspect writer Carl Wessler didn't think through the consequences of the machine's destruction in this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Tales of the Unusual #10 (1957)!

What's your opinion, dear reader?

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Friday Fun ZANY "TV or Not TV?"

With schoolrooms closed and the Internet streaming education to homebound students...

...let's see how they thought we would handle this sort of situation in 1958!

According to this somewhat prophetic feature from Candar's Zany #1 (1958), their supposition looks pretty accurate!

The art's by Carl (Human Torch) Burgos, who shows an amazing knack for humor!

Zany, one of dozens of MAD magazine imitators, lasted only four (never reprinted) issues.

But within those few pages lurked a number of top-notch Golden and Silver Age artists, including Burgos, Paul Reinman, Don Orehek, Joe Sinnott, Stan Goldberg, Dick Briefer, Pete Costanza, John Forte, and Bill Everett (who painted all four issues' covers)!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Frankenstein Reading Room: WEIRD "Frankenstein: the Monster's Story"

Here's a one-off tale taking elements of several of the Monster's many incarnations...

...and combining them into a fascinating tale!

Written by the magazine's associate editor Roger Elwood and illustrated by it's editor/art director Carl Burgos (who created comics' first android hero, Timely's Golden Age Human Torch), this story from Eerie Publications' Weird V1N10 (1965) is one of the few stories (after Mary Shelly's original) that doesn't leave the door open for a sequel!

Trivia: despite the numbering, this is the first issue of the magazine!

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The Worst of Eerie Publications