Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "It Crawls by Night!"

The new issue of Monsters Unleashed is out...

...cover-featuring another retro-kool Kirby Kreature from the Atlas Comics days!

Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, the cover-featured story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #26 (1962) has one of "the silliest premises done well" I've ever seen!

Think of Little Shop of Horrors without the comedic aspects.

It's certainly helped by a kool Kirby/George Klein cover that doesn't betray the creature's humble veggie origins, making him look more like Groot than a rutabaga...

When it was reprinted in Marvel's Fear #8 (1972), a new cover by John Severin downplayed the "conquer the Earth" thrills for a more Gothic/Lovecraftian image...

Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!

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Monsters Unleashed: Prelude

Reading Room TALES TO ASTONISH "Monstrom! The Dweller in the Black Swamp!"

Last week, a mini-series debuted...

Art by Francesco Francavilla

...featuring Marvel's heroes and heroines vs monsters from the company's pre-superhero "Atlas Comics" days in the 1950s!

So, what we're going to do over the next few Fridays for the run of the title is present the first appearance of the cover-featured monster!

Art Adams

(Yes, the first issue was last week, but we had a different bloated orange swamp monster to deal with that Friday!)

So let's play "catch up" with..."Monstrom!The Dweller in the Black Swamp!

This story from Atlas' Tales to Astonish #11 (1960) by writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers has been reprinted a number of times, almost always as the cover feature...

Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, and Marie Severin

Ron Wilson, Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia

Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!

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Monsters Unleashed: Prelude

Frankenstein Reading Room GHOST RIDER "vs Frankenstein!"

When Titans Clash!

And, it was the cover-featured story for Ghost Rider #10 (December 1952), though not illustrated by Frank Frazetta as were some of the earlier covers!

This particular one was by interior artist Dick Ayers, who illustrated almost all of stories in Ghost Rider.

BTW, as a matter of fact, this book was the Halloween issue!

(Comics were cover-dated 2-3 months ahead of their actual on-sale date, so this issue was on-sale in October, 1952!)

And now, on with the tale...

Aw, shucks, it wasn't really the Monster of Frankenstein!

This was, more often than not, the modus operandi used by baddies (and the hero) in Original Ghost Rider tales.

What seems to be supernatural, is just sleight-of-hand.

However, there were a couple of tales where things were, in fact, what they appeared to be, such as League of the Living Dead!

Enjoy!

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Kirby Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "There Dwells a Dragon"

We wind up our week of never-reprinted Kirby Klassics...

...with one that was an original idea and not a reworking of an earlier tale!

Penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this writer of story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #81 (1962) is, so far, anonymous.

Pity, because the tale is pretty darn good.
Hope someday, one of the many dilligent souls who are constantly researching such things can come up with the answer...

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Kirby: 
King of Comics

Kirby Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Genie with the Light Brown Hair

I Dream of Jeannie this ain't...

...as Jack Kirby once again takes us where another artist has gone before, and puts his own distinctive stamp on it!

Yes, this never-reprinted cover story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #76 (1962) is another reworking of an earlier tale!

Plotter Stan Lee took the concept from "Forever is a Long Time", which appeared in Atlas' Adventures into Weird Worlds #14 (1953) and reworked it.

Scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers did a commendable job, giving the story several touches that make it different from the original, giving it a poetic touch lacking in the 1953 version.

If you want to compare them, "Forever is a Long Time" was reprinted in Marvel's Beware! #4, 1973.

But, if you don't have that almost-as-difficult-to-find-as-AiWW #14-issue, don't worry!

It'll be popping up at our "brother" RetroBlog, Seduction of the Innocent before September is over!
BTW, note the difference between the cover and interior versions of the genie.
The cover genie is evil, malaevolent, sinister.
The genie in the tale, while a little pissed-off, is really the victim, and Mike Morgan is the villain of the piece.
Makes you wonder what the time-frame was between the creation of the cover and the interior art.
Which came first?
Guess we'll never know...

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Kirby: 
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Kirby Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Sorcerer"

Behind a never-reprinted Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers cover...

...lurks a never-reprinted tale rendered by Jack (King) Kirby!

Enjoy...

Was this tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) originally a seven-page story?
The fight between the dragon and the knight that begins on the bottom of page 5 ends in a flash in the first panel of page 6!
Considering that battle is the focus of the splash page, I really expected a bit more!
Was there a page between 5 and the last page?
Only plotter Stan Lee, writer Larry Leiber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers could tell us.

Trivia: The story is the same as "Handyman", illustrated by Gray Morrow, from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #48 (1956), which was also the cover-featured story for that book, with a Bill Everett-rendered cover!
It's also never been reprinted!

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Hand of Fire:

The Comics Art of Jack Kirby