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!

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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!)
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Visit Amazon and Buy...

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Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mr Dumpty Gets Mended" and "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater"

More holiday fun with Walk Kelly's adaptations of nursery rhymes...

...starting with a never-reprinted revisionist short from Dell's Four Color Comics #140: Easter with Mother Goose (1947), showing the Easter Bunny succeeding where All the King's Horses and All the King's Men failed!

Revisionism continues the next year, with another never-reprinted short (with guest-stars Jack and Jill), this time from Dell's Four Color Comics #185: Easter with Mother Goose (1948)...

Should we ask why Peter isn't actually living with his wife?

Trivia: this issue features the now-repaired Humpty Dumpty on the cover!

All script and art by Walt (Pogo) Kelly!

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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Quangle-Wangle's Hat"

There's something different about the story in today's post!

Can you deduce what it is?

Read carefully...

Figure it out?

1) This never-reprinted piece by Walt Kelly from Dell's Four Color Comics #185: Easter with Mother Goose (1948) is a poem, not a fairy tale, nor a nursery rhyme!
2) Unlike most of Kelly's Easter and Christmas-themed tales, it has no holiday story element except the introduction by the Easter Bunny and Easter Chick!
3) Plus, the source poem is quoted verbatim, without any editorial changes at all!
As far as I've been able to ascertain, this is the only time this occurred in any of Kelly's holiday-book projects!
Mind you, Walt did run things like Clement Clarke Moore's "Night Before Christmas" unedited/uncut (several times, in fact), but those were already Yuletide-oriented!

The poem's author was writer/artist Edward Lear, whose work was a curious mash-up of the literary styles of Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss, which made him the late 1800s-early 1900s most beloved and extensively-read children's author!

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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hickory and Dickory Help the Easter Bunny"

Though the rodent duo in this tale are named after the classic nursery rhyme "Hickory, Dickory, Dock"...

...the rhyme featured only a single, anonymous, mouse...and there's no one named "Dock" in the story!

Walt (Pogo) Kelly scripted and illustrated this story from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949), which was the mouse duo's second (and last) appearance!

The first was several months earlier, in Dell's Four Color Comics #201: Christmas with Mother Goose (1948), where they assisted (as you might have guessed) Santa Claus!

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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Little Bunny"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly went into full-on "cute" mode with his holiday stories...

...including this never-reprinted one from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #185 (1948)!

Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

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Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard"

It's March!

Spring is, well, springing, and Easter is only a few weeks away!

So, we're going to be presenting some kool never (or very rarely) reprinted holiday goodies by Walt (Pogo) Kelly and others!

Written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, this never-reprinted feature from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949) was typical of Kelly's holiday offerings.

Either retell a fairy tale or nursery rhyme with added holiday elements, or craft a new tale based on the characters!

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Merry Christmas

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...

...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.

Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly.

(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)

Any suggestions?

Merry Christmas to All!