Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Lord of Tyndall's Quest" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Elves...

(actually, it's easier if you read the first two tales HERE and HERE, then continue...)

Despite the book selling very well, Marvel didn't use WeirdWorld to leap into the mystical fantasy market for another year.

But. when they did, it was with a new art team and a new approach, both in terms of plot and illustration.

Before we continue with the story on Monday, you might want to familiarize yourself with the geography of WeirdWorld, courtesy of co-creator Doug Moench and new art team of John Buscema, Rudy Nebres, and Peter Ledger...

See you on Monday!

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "Lord of Tyndall's Quest" Part 1

In the late 1970s, the publishing world clamored for more Tolkein-esque fantasy...

...to satiate the demand caused by the release of the animated Lord of the Rings movie!

So Marvel took a one-shot story that received a suprisingly-strong audience response and had co-creators Doug Moench and Mike Ploog expand the storyline...

A quest we'll learn more about...tomorrow!

You'll note that Alex Nino is inking this never-reprinted tale from Marvel Premiere #38 (1977), instead of Ploog inking his own pencils.

Ploog had done the pencils for this story shortly after the first tale over a year earlier and when the go-ahead was finally given, he had left Marvel for other projects, so Nino stepped in with one of his few inking assignments over another artist, and did a spectacular job!

Reading Room WEIRDWORLD "An Ugly Mirror on WeirdWorld"

And so the saga begins...

...with this never-reprinted tale tucked away in the back of the one-shot Marvel Super Action #1 (1976).

You may note two of the pages are scans of the original art, not the printed book.

Whenever possible, we'll run originals because, quite frankly, some of the printed pages had serious flaws.

The tale, by writer Doug Moench and artist Mike Ploog might have remained simply a one-off, except for the first Lord of the Rings movie.

The animated film (which adapted both Fellowship of the Ring and most of Two Towers) generated an amazing amount of fan interest, resulting in a complete reprinting of JRR Tolkein's entire output, as well as publishers looking to capitalize on the revived interest in mystical fantasy.

Marvel, seeing a potential series in WeirdWorld, offered Moench and Ploog a color try-out, which you'll see tomorrow.

Our Halloween Treat...WeirdWorld!

Every Halloween we do something unique...

This year, it'll be re-presenting the never-reprinted WeirdWorld saga.

In response to the then-current release of Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings (though writer/co-creator Doug Moench was admant about having never read JRR Tolkien), the series featured art by co-creator Mike Ploog (who worked with Bakshi on Lord and Wizards as well as co-creating Werewolf by Night and the motorcycle-riding Ghost Rider), John Buscema, Rudy Nebres, Peter Leger, P Craig Russell, and Pat Broderick.

It's never been collected in book form or even a reprint mini-series.

But, beginning October 1st, it'll be here, in chronological order.

Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Behold the Man" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Frank Brunner

Time traveler Karl Glogauer journeys to Palestine almost 2,000 years in the past to confirm the existence of Jesus Christ.

With his time machine damaged beyond repair and discovering he's gone a decade too far back, the now-stranded Glogauer encounters John the Baptist...

Published in the magazine New Worlds (which Moorcock himself edited) in 1966, the non-linear story running two parallel plot/timelines won the Nebula Award for "best novella".

Moorcock expanded it to novel length...

Art by Robert Foster

...and it is that version which is best-known to American audiences and served as the basis of this never-reprinted adaptation in Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #6 (1975) by writer Doug Moench and artist Alex Nino.

Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Behold the Man" Part 1

With Christmas behind us, we're going to present a controversial (albeit award-winning) tale...

...about the guy whose birthday we just celebrated!

To Be Concluded...

Tomorrow!

In the 1960s, science fiction experienced an influx of a "New Wave" of writers who wanted to go beyond "hard" sf and experiment, both in form and in content, with a more literary/artistic sensibility.

New Wave writers often saw themselves as part of the modernist tradition, writing "soft" or metaphysical stories instead of the technology-oriented or "hard" sf of Asimov, Heinlein, et al.

The leading proponent of the movement was Michael Moorcock, editor of the British magazine New Worlds as well as an established and successful "hard" sf writer.

...to be continued