Space Hero Saturdays DAN HASTINGS "and the Demons of Mexady"

One of the earliest comic book characters "inspired" by Flash Gordon...

...also had one of the most convoluted publication histories!

For one thing, the title character didn't even appear in the first two installments in Centaur's Star Comics (#1 above and #2 below) until the very end!

Instead, this pair of two-page chapters concentrate on Mexady's Ming the Merciless-type dictator and his reluctant chief scientist!

As of Centaur's Star Comics #3, our stalwart hero, his scientist friend, Dr Carter, the scientist's son (and Dan's sidekick) Bob...

...and the scientist's hot daughter, Gloria (whom the alien dictator immediately lusts for), finally get some attention!

Within four pages, we've gone from a World War (placed on hold) to a War of the Worlds!
And that was just the beginning!

The strip was created/written/illustrated by Fred Guardineer, one of the busier creatives of the Golden Age!

Though he's best known for his numerous magician characters including DC's Zatara, and Quality's Tor the Magic Master and Merlin the Magician, Fred worked in every genre, including Western, romance, high adventure, sci-fi, and even costumed super-heroes!
After his initial serial in Centaur's Star Comics 1-9, Dan Hastings popped up in titles published by MLJ/Archie, St John, and publisher Harry Chesler's various imprints!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room: DAN HASTINGS "Radium Raiders from Earth's Core"

Originally a Flash Gordon clone, even using Alex Raymond art swipes....

...by the time the wandering strip took up residence in Scoop Comics, it had gotten away from interplanetary adventures to intraplanetary tales!

I suspect this tale from Dynamic's Scoop Comics #1 (1941) was meant to be an interplanetary adventure with several panels redrawn/relettered to make it a "civilization at the earth's center" story.

Both writer and artist(s) are unknown.

Originally proposed as a newspaper strip packaged by the Harry A Chesler Studio in 1937, Dan Hastings was reworked into comic book format when comics using new material instread of strip reprints took off in 1939!

The series went thru several different publishers, starting at Chesler/Dynamic, moving to Centaur, then MLJ (later Archie), finally back to Chesler/Dynamic, with minor modifications to cast and premise at each company.

This tale was the first of his final run at Chesler/Dynamic, where he faced more Earth-bound foes, including thinly-disguised Axis surrogates (with more advanced tech than the real-life Germany and Japan).

Reading Room DAN HASTINGS "Enemy That Wouldn't Die!"

Previously, we showed you a one-off sci-fi story from the 1950s...

...which, it turns out, was a reworked tale from the 1940s!

This original version of the twice-told tale featured ongoing hero Dan Hastings and appeared in Dynamic's Dynamic Comics #20 (1946), illustrated by Ralph Mayo.

Such reuse of already-paid material was not uncommon for some of the smaller comic publishers and packagers.

Sometimes art was reused several times, with totally-rewritten dialogue and different characters, as was done in this case!

BTW, I covered Dan Hastings' history along with another story HERE.

Reading Room ZIP-JET COMICS "Space Doom"

Here's a one-shot tale in the Flash Gordon / Buck Rogers vein...

...that's not quite what it seems to be.

Did I say "in the Flash Gordon / Buck Rogers vein"?

Numerous panels are swiped almost verbatim by artist Ralph Mayo from those strips!

Quinto, the villain, looks like Ming the Merciless with five o'clock shadow!

When I came across this tale from St John's Zip-Jet Comics #2 (1953), I had the feeling it was an older story that was reworked.

(In fact, the entire Zip-Jet run consisted of modified reprints, with a couple of new covers and splash pages tossed in!)

Be here Thursday to see the original version of this tale!

Why not tomorrow?

It's a sacred day on our calendar!

Stop by and find out...