Reading Room ADVENTURE COMICS "Invasion"

Here's a"lost" story you'd think was from one of Atlas/Marvel's early 1960s sci-fi titles...

...because it features a kool a pencil and ink job by Silver Age legend Don Heck!

But you'd be wrong!

Heck had an undeserved reputation as a hack artist, mostly due to poor inking by actual hacks like Vince Colletta, who was notorious for leaving out pencilers' linework to get the job done faster.

When Don had a good inker or inked himself, his work was on a par with any of the other acknowledged greats of the field.

But since he was almost as fast a penciler as Jack Kirby, publishers didn't utilize his inking talents as often as they could've.

This tale hasn't been seen since it appeared in the back of DC's Adventure Comics #424 (1972).

We're pleased to present it to an audience that was probably unaware of its' existence.

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Don Heck

A Work of Art

Earth Day Reading Room NIGHTMARE "Pollution Monsters!"

"The Devil made it do it!" is given new meaning...

...in this never-reprinted tale from 51 years ago (the year Earth Day was first celebrated) which reads like one of Atlas' (pre-Marvel Comics) late 1950s-early 1960s monster stories!

Before we continue, two points:

1) Penciler Don Heck was one of the primary artists of both Atlas era and Silver Age Marvel comics stories, including numerous giant monster tales.
(Inker Mike Esposito, though he entered the field at the same time as Heck, didn't do much work for Atlas or Marvel until the late 1960s.)

2) The story is broken into two parts, even though it's only 10 pages, much like those Atlas Comics stories.

Is it a deliberate homage?
Writer Mike Freidrich was one of the first generation of comic fanboys turned professional creatives, so he was very familiar with the inherent tropes...

One big difference between this story and those Atlas-era giant monster stories...we don't win!

We might, but there's no guarantee in this cover-featured tale from Skywald's Nightmare #1 (1970)!

It's over 50 years later...and it's still frightening!

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Climate Change
A Personal Journey Through the Science

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Jet-Men of Zurko"

Previously, Speed battled beings from the center of the Earth...

...now he battles self-propelled aliens from an unnamed star in this tale from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #4 (1954).

According to Marvel's writers, aliens are idiots who can be tricked by everything from photos of ancient ruins to comic book panels showing monsters or high-tech weaponry that doesn't really exist!
Remember the end of Fantastic Four #2 (1961) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?

Reed Richards showed cut-out comic book panels from Journey into Mystery and Strange Tales to the Skrull fleet commander stating the creatures and super-science weapons shown were real and ready to use against alien invaders!
(Of course, the idea that Jack Kirby could draw stuff that could scare the pants off hostile aliens does have a real appeal...)
And, I remember at least a couple of other pre-Silver Age Marvel stories with a similar concept, including one where movie special effects techs frightened aliens with fake robots from a sci-fi film they were shooting on location...
Written (as are all the Speed Carter stories) by Hank Chapman and illustrated by new artists Mike Sekowsky, Don Heck, and Jack Abel.

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Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr

by Isaac Asimov

(under the pen-name "Paul French")

Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!

David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn

Trump Reading Room / CoronaVirus Comics CHAMBER OF DARKNESS "Day of the Red Death!"

Don da Con's "let them eat cake" moment, including partygoers withour masks, yesterday..

...reminded me of an updated version of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of disease, "Masque of the Red Death"! Here's that updated  "adaptation", set present-day, which freely admits the source material!

In fact, out of the mouth of the legendary Stan (the Man) Lee himself...

A rich, uncaring guy who has the power to destroy the entire world and wouldn't hesitate to allow a plague to do so...as long as he was safe!

Now who does that remind us of?

Writer Roy Thomas had been a teacher before turning to writing/editing comics, and he loved utilizing classic literature in his work!

Don Heck, whose Marvel work was usually inked by others, apparently relished the opportunity to do both penciling and inking, as he had done in his 1950s horror and war comics work!

In addition, John Romita Sr turned in a wonderfully-rendered cover which was somewhat obscured by the black tints used to create "mood".

Look at the original art to see the detail you might've missed on the printed version...

Kool, eh?

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Raven and the Red Death

Adapted by Richard Corben

CoronaVirus Comics CHAMBER OF DARKNESS "Day of the Red Death!"

Here's another "adaptation" of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of disease...

...which, for a change, freely admits the source material!

In fact, out of the mouth of Stan (the Man) Lee himself...

A rich, uncaring guy who has the power to destroy the entire world and wouldn't hesitate to allow a plague to do so...as long as he was safe!

Now who does that remind us of?

Writer Roy Thomas had been a teacher before turning to writing/editing comics, and he loved utilizing classic literature in his work!

Don Heck, whose Marvel work was usually inked by others, apparently relished the opportunity to do both penciling and inking, as he had done in his 1950s horror and war comics work!

In addition, John Romita Sr turned in a wonderfully-rendered cover which was somewhat obscured by the black tints used to create "mood".

Look at the original art to see the detail you might've missed on the printed version...

Kool, eh?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Raven and the Red Death

Adapted by Richard Corben

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Creatures Who Captured Earth!"

Do you know the two famous sci-fi stories' plots that were combined to create this tale?

Hint: one original involves robots/androids,, and the other is about cannibalism...

This never-reprinted story by Stan Lee/Larry Lieber and Don Heck from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) was based on two classic sci-fi tales...

"With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson, which premiered in Astounding Science Fiction...

...and was expanded into the novel The Humanoids, (and a sequel, The Humanoid Touch, over 30 years later)!

Though never done on film or tv, the story was adapted to radio on Dimension X (which you can hear HERE) and the basic plot was re-used in the classic Star Trek episode "I, Mudd".

The other plot point, involving decoding an alien text to discover a secret agenda, was probably taken from the 1950 Galaxy Magazine short story "To Serve Man" by Damon Knight.

(Note that the classic Twilight Zone episode adapting the tale wouldn't appear until three years later.)

Also note that, while the comic tale was never reprinted, it was redone only two years later by another of Atlas/Marvel's major artistic stars!

We'll have that story tomorrow...