Showing posts with label Frank Giacoia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frank Giacoia. Show all posts

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Space Force Saturdays WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Conclusion

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the exploratory vessel Space Beagle encounter Coerl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!
But this is not a friendly housecat!
It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but kill and deceive...
Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...
...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...
Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...
Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.
Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with other short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, the title of which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".
BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Fox settled out of court for #50,000!
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(which includes "Black Destroyer")
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Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Reading Room SENSATION MYSTERY COMICS "Last Dream!"

Wonder Woman lost her cover feature in DC's Sensation Comics as of this issue (#107 in 1952)...
...when the book was retitled Sensation Mystery, and featured "mysteries" like this one!
(Sensation Comics was Wonder Woman's "sister" title, much as Action Comics is Superman's "brother" comic and Detective Comics is Batman's "brother" book!)
In 1952, horror comics became the "hot" genre, with most comics publishers going "all in" to see who could be the goriest!
DC, though, tried to stay relatively innocuous, refusing to go for the gore.
While their sales didn't skyrocket as many other publishers' did, they managed to stay below the radar during the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" mania.
And, it certainly made reprinting any of the material produced during this period a breeze after the Comics Code was imposed!
This John Broome-written, Carmine Infantino-penciled, and Frank Giacoia-inked tale was typical of DC's output during this period.
(Some say Sy Barry inked it, but expert art identifier Martin O'Hearn thinks it's Giacoia, and I agree with him.)
Straightforward, logical, and effectively-told, it's almost a template for the various stories the anthology would carry until the book's cancellation a year later with #116.
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(which features this story...but in black and white!)
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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Conclusion

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the exploratory vessel Space Beagle encounter Coerl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!
But this is not a friendly housecat!
It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but kill and deceive...
Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...
...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...
Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...
Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.
Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with other short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, the title of which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".
BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.
Fox settled out of court for #50,000!
Support Atomic Kommie Csmics!
Visit Amazon and Buy...
(which includes "Black Destroyer")
Paid Link

Thursday, July 7, 2022

Reading Room NIGHT OF MYSTERY "Giant from Earth!"

Though this never-reprinted tale appeared in a one-shot 1950s horror anthology comic book...
...it's really a straight sci-fi tale with no horror elements whatsoever!
I can't be certain, but it looks like the artists for this tale from Avon's Night of Mystery (1953) are Mike Sekowsky (pencils) and Frank Giacoia, Joe Giella, or Bernard Sachs (inks).
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