Atomic Kommie Comics: Carl Fallberg

Showing posts with label Carl Fallberg. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE MOUSE II "Secret Weapon"

Space Heroes take many forms...not all of them human!

...as shown in this never-reprinted introductory tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960).

Writer Carl Fallberg and artist John Carey did such an amazing job on this intro to the character, that when it was adapted in 1963 into a cartoon short (May be NSFW/NSFS due to racial stereotyping of Siamese cats using "Asian" accents) directed by Alex Lovy shown HERE, most (but not all) of the plot, script, and visuals were kept intact!
Though the cartoon didn't result in a Space Mouse TV series (or even additional cartoon shorts featuring the character), it did spawn a number of additional comic book stories as well as a five-issue Space Mouse comic!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
Paid Link

Friday, April 5, 2024

Friday Fun with SPACE MOUSE II!

He's not this rodent...

...whose strip ran through several Avon Comics funny animal titles in the early 1950s!

In 1959, a year after Avon ceased publishing comics, Dell Comics introduced a new Space Mouse...

...who was published as a Walter (Woody Woodpecker) Lantz project, though Lantz had no input into the character's creation or direction!

Note: In many cases, I'm skeptical of the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, the one about this character (click HERE) rings true, so, unless anyone can disprove it, I'm sticking with it!
Movie-tv animator/comic book artist John Carey designed the character and illustrated almost all his appearances including covers, stories, and one-page features and text pieces!
Along with the cover shown above, here's a few examples of Carey's work from Space Mouse's premiere in Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960)...

The b/w pages are from the inside covers of the comic, which were printed without color (or just black and one other color) to save money...a standard practice in comics until the 1970s.

Ironically, the last page would've benefitted from using color to play up the bulls-eye/target joke!

Tomorrow in
Space Hero Saturdays...
The Introductory Comic Story!
Plus
A Link to the Animated Version
(which is not available on YouTube!)
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...
Woody Woodpecker and Friends
Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
Paid Link

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Reading Room DONALD DUCK IN DISNEYLAND "TomorrowLand" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen..

...the Disney cartoon characters are given total access to Disneyland the day before it officially opens.

Splitting up to visit the various sections, Mickey Mouse and his nephews Morty and Ferdie go to TomorrowLand and meet Gyro Gearloose, who rigs the Rocket to the Moon flight simulator to actually work!

On the Moon, they run into the villainous Black Pete who stole Gearloose's spare space-travel device...

Yes, it's the "It was all a dream!" plotline!

Written by Carl Fallberg, penciled by Tony Strobl, inked by John Liggera (all of whom had extensive experience working on Disney characters), this section of the 100-page 25 cent comic Donald Duck in Disneyland is a classic example of Disney's knack for cross-media marketing for promotional purposes.
In fact, it was so effective that, when DisneyWorld opened in Florida in 1971, most of this issue (including this chapter) was reused in Walt Disney Comics Digest #32 (1971) as promotion for DisneyWorld along with new material about the elements of the theme park that differed from Disneyland!

Note: the various Disney characters did not appear in the actual TomorrowLand theme park.

They're just used here to introduce Disney-oriented kids to the concepts promoted by the exhibits.