Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "Tale About Time: The Quest Begins"

Remember the phrase "Everything you think you know is wrong!"...

...because this sequel to the three-parter we just ran HERE, HERE, and HERE will redefine the concept!

The questions continue to pile up, and one of the most famous artists of the Silver Age takes over the storytelling....next Wednesday!

(Not that Jim Aparo was any slouch, but this guy is known even outside comics!)

This sequel to the tale from Space Adventures #60 (1967) was by the first story's scripter, Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom, and appeared almost a year later in Space Adventures #2 (1968).

No, that's not a typo.

This is "Volume 2" of Space Adventures, which had been cancelled the year before with #60!

However, while this is Vol 2, #2, it's the first issue of the revival since there was no Vol 2 #1!

Geez, the time travel paradoxes in this story are easier to explain than comic book numbering!
BTW, you may have noticed that the primary plot from the first tale...

...biological warfare, has been left by the wayside, in order to simplify the synopsis!

(Remember, there's a year-long gap between the original issues in 1967-68, not just a couple of weeks)

But you and we know that plot element's there, and it's the subtext for the remainder of this saga!

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Injection

Volume 1

(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Secret of the Saucer"

Intrepid reporter Paul Mann had heard many tales about locals seeing flying saucers...

 ...now he's encountered an apparent alien who saved him (and the town) from a biological weapon stolen by a Communist spy.

Mann is taken into a flying saucer where he's about to (as we said in the 60s) "blow his mind"...

The finale of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was deliberately left open-ended.
A sequel, also using the artist "round-robin" concept, and also written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonym, appeared almost a year later.
Luckily for you, it'll be here...

Next Wednesday!

The art for this chapter was by up-and-comer Jim Aparo, who started at Charlton and went to DC when editor Dick Giordano moved there and offered him, Pat Boyette, Steve Ditko, and writers Denny O'Neil and Steve Skeates work after Charlton cancelled all their super hero and adventure/sci-fi titles in 1968!

Aparo became DC's primary Batman artist during the 70s and 80s as well as handling other series like Aquaman and Phantom Stranger.
One last note, this art from the reprint in Charlton's Ghost Manor #77 (1984) left out the "Chapter 3" header seen here...

...because the reprint left out the entire first chapter, though the events in it were referenced in the remaining two parts!

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Injection

Volume 1

(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Plague"

We Have Already Seen...

Small town newspaper reporter Paul Mann researches a story about how, 100 years earlier, a flying saucer landed and aliens cured a local boy, ending a feud between two families that had gone on for generations.

With saucer sightings recently on the increase, Mann wonders if he'll encounter one...

But can Mann be prepared for the senses-shattering Secret of the Saucer?

Find Out Next Wednesday!

The second part of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was illustrated by artist Pat Boyette, an artist who usually did his own penciling, inking, and lettering, giving his work an immediately-distinctive visual style.
There's a kool tribute page to Boyette HERE.
You'll note the art is much cleaner and sharper than the previous chapter.
That's because it's not from Space Adventures, but the reprint in Charlton's Ghost Manor #77 (1984), which, curiously, left out the previous chapter entirely (but did run the final chapter, making the reprint a two-part, not three-part story)!
Here's Page One from the original printing...

Note the "Chapter Two" subhead was removed in the reprint!

BTW, all three parts of this story (and the sequel) were written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom.

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Injection

Volume 1

(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Healers from Nowhere"

Here's a two-issue tale of disease and death from...elsewhere...that features a round-robin of artists...

...including one of the greatest of all time and a couple who are almost on his level!

Sooner than you think, Mr Mann...like next Wednesday!

This rather low-key story from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was the first chapter of a three-part book-length tale that gets wilder as it goes on.

Not that unusual for comics of the Silver Age...except for three things:

1) It was a full-length story in an anthology title.

Anthology books usually had two or more stand-alone stories.

2) The story produced a three-part sequel, which was published a year later!

3) Most importantly, each chapter of this tale was illustrated by a different artist!

This premiere was rendered by "Melonius Thonk" (a play on then-popular jazz musician Thelonius Monk) a pen-name used to cover an apparent artist jam since every page has different stylistic elements.

As you'll see, the remaining two chapters were rendered by extremely distinctive artists who penciled and inked their own work!

BTW, the entire story from the final issue of this book's first run was written by future Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow scribe Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom.
Note that the printing on this story is pretty bad.
Unlike other comics publishers who used outside printers, Charlton was famous for pinching pennies by printing their own books using presses that were designed to handle cardboard boxes and other pretty hard materials, not fragile newsprint!
Because the paper was heavier and slicker for covers, the printing on them was cleaner than the insides, but hardly perfect.
But the printing inside Charlton's books could be pretty spotty, as in this case...

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Injection

Volume 1

(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR "Princess of Doom!"

We Have Already Seen...

x

Well, we've gone totally-off script from the ERB novella!

Not to mention...what's up with Tangor's hair???

Did he find an unlimited mousse supply somewhere?

Murphy Anderson handled the art duties on this never-reprinted installment from DC's Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle #218 (1973) with his usual classic-style finesse.

The question is...who scripted it?
Various sources attribute either Marv Wolfman or Denny O'Neil, with no definitive answer available.
This open-ended chapter ended the strip's run in Tarzan...but there's one more tale to tell...as you'll see next week!

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Beyond the Farthest Star

by Edgar Rice Burroughs