Space Force Saturdays MARS COMPANY in "Winner"

In the early 1970s, DC experimented with pulp-style illustrated prose tales...

...in genre (sci-fi, horror, western, and romance) titles!

Written by Denny O'Neil, and rendered in retro 1950s Buck Rogers style...

...by Murphy Anderson, this never-reprinted text feature from DC's Strange Adventures #227 (1971) seems more a tribute to classic 1940s-50s "hard" sci-fi pulps instead of a then-current "new wave" science fiction tale!
Since it featured the last story about Earth's interplanetary fighting force, Mars Company, we felt it would be the perfect "capper" to the SpaceBusters saga, which Murphy re-conceived just before its' cancellation!

Murphy seemed to be DC's "go-to" guy when they needed retro-style material in the 1960s-70s!

He was the artist for Silver Age revival try-outs of Golden Age characters in Brave & Bold (Starman & Black Canary) and Showcase (Dr Fate & HourMan and The Spectre), as well as the first few issues of The Spectre's own Silver Age title!

Anderson was also the initial artist on DC's Bronze Age version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, as well as filing-in where needed on other Burroughs strips including Korak and Beyond the Farthest Star!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Footsteps of Disaster"

Return with us to the Swinging Sixties...

...when one of DC's most powerful characters was reduced to being a CryptKeeper-type host for PG-rated tales of "horror" as shown HERE...

Scripted by Mike Friedrich, penciled by Jerry Grandenetti, and inked by George Roussos, this intro to the final issue of the Ghostly Guardian's Silver Age series (#10 from 1970) is a combination of Golden Age and Silver Age talents quite common during the era.

Friedrich was one of the second wave of fans-turned pros, which also included Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin, Rich Buckler, Mike Ploog, and Steve Englehart.
He founded Star*Reach, initially a publisher of creator-owned projects, which evolved into an agency packaging stories for various publishers.

Both Grandinetti and Roussos were Golden Agers who stayed in the comics field literally until the day they died, thanks to their unique storytelling and technical skills.

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Showcase Presents

The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Shadow Show"

Once More We Delve into the Spectre's Journal of Judgement...

...to see a spooky tale about just desserts not seen (in color) since 1969!!

Though, as shown HERE, The Spectre was supposed to act as a judge, he was not to act as an executioner, he apparently does so in this tale from DC's The Spectre #9 (1969), written by DC's librarian, historian, and unofficial "continuity cop", Mark Hanerfeld, and illustrated by Jack Sparling!
You'd think a continuity expert would've known that...

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Showcase Presents

The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Abraca-Doom!"

As we pointed out HERE...

...One of Earth Two's mightiest characters had been reduced to a near-powerless horror-host/narrator in his own comic!

Written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Berni Wrightson, this rarely-reprinted story from DC's The Spectre #9 (1969) is an excellent example of simple, but effective, short story telling!

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Showcase Presents

The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "Tale About Time: There Shall Be an Ending!"

When Last We Left Our Hero...

...reporter Paul Mann is plucked from 1967 by the Esroms, peaceful humans from the year 4000 AD who travel in time machine/spacecraft that are mistaken for "flying saucers".

Mann and the Esroms pursue the Honjnosians (evil humans also from 4000 AD) to the time before the Big Bang when Paul falls out of the ship into the ether of the pre-universe...

Remember, Bronsky's diagram was for a bioweapon, specifically an unstoppable plague!

You'll note the use of the "breaking the fourth wall" storytelling technique with Mann addressing the reader directly in several panels, (with one panel of other characters thinking Paul's a bit looney).

Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonym scripted this conclusion to the book-length tale from Space Adventures V2#2 (1968).
The art is by the highly-underrated Pat Boyette with what looks like minor redrawing by Jim Aparo in several panels featuring Paul Mann to maintain visual continuity.
Sadly, there were no further adventures of Mann and the men from 4000 AD...

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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 "Tale About Time: Race to the End of Time"

We have Already Seen...

...actually, the characters are handling the plot synopsis shtick pretty well, so I'll just let them explain...

Not to be negative (ouch), but things aren't looking good for Paul Mann.

If you want to see how he escapes from the edge of Time and Space, be here next Wednesday!

Denny O'Neil (using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom) scripted this "part 2 of 3" in Space Adventures #V2N2 (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!)

The amazing art is by none other than Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange!

At this point, Ditko had left Marvel and was freelancing for Charlton, Tower, ACG, and Warren, working in every genre imaginable, producing some of the best work of his career, much of which has, sadly, not been reprinted!

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)