Friday Fun ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH IN "Five Year Plan for the Moon" & "...as Used by Our Astronaughts in Space!"

Though largely-forgotten today...

Wraparound cover of #12

Artist Unknown

...this 1960s comedy-variety TV series was ground-breaking in a number of ways.

Besides the show's anti-Establishment content, which was always a source of contention with NBC network censors, it had an amazing amount of tie-in merchandise...including a MAD-style magazine!
In 1969, with the first Moon landing about to occur, the mag took a couple of looks at the space program...

...and...

By the time these features appeared in the final issue of Laufer Publishing's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (#12 in 1969), the use of images of the actual performers from the show had been reduced to the cover and a couple of one-pagers based on long-running gags like the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award".
Laufer Publishing was best-known for the legendary 1960s-70s teen magazine Tiger Beat!

Here's a Kool video about the magazine, which Baby Boomers remember fondly!

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MEOW!

My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat's Teen Idols!
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Friday Fun AMAZING ADVENTURES "Adonis 2-PX-89"

 This week's Valentine's Day-oriented entry is a weird combo of sci-fi and humor...

Art by Allen Anderson

...which was probably written by the man who created the Clark Kent/Superman/Lois Lane love/hate triangle...

This cover-featured story from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #4 (1951) was illustrated by Henry Sharp who, during his decade in comics, illustrated only sci-fi or war stories!

Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was the editor of the Ziff-Davis comics line, and wrote many of the stories that appeared in it, so it's not unreasonable to assume this tale, which contains many plot aspects common to those tales of Superman and Lois Lane, was scripted by the same writer!

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Secret Wars Secret Love
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Friday Fun ACE OF SPADES! The Swinging Seventies Black Super-Hero You NEVER Heard of...

 In 1971, two years before The Black Panther received his own series...

...a Black Super-Hero hit the newsstands of America for a two-issue run almost nobody remembers!

Who is he?

Where did he come from?

And why don't even the most obsessive comics fans remember him?

These, and other equally-valid questions are now answered at...

Not Safe for Work Comics!
In a Two-Part Post!
Part 1
Part 2

Warning!

The Answers May NOT Be Suitable For the Faint-Hearted!

Click at Your Own Risk!

Friday Fun WORLD OF FANTASY "Man from Tomorrow!"

Admittedly, Humor is Subjective...

...but the conclusion to this tale made me chortle.
And since this is my blog, this is where it goes!



OK, not quite Twilight Zone level irony...but it'll do!

Illustrated by Carl Burgos, likely-plotted by the book's editor Stan Lee, and probably-written by Stan's brother and Atlas/Marvel writer-artist Larry Lieber (Stan's birth name is Stanley Lieber), this neve-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #17 (1959) of a con gone wrong hits all the right "silly" notes for me!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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Friday Fun JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Comic Strip!"

Did a Comic Strip Creative Ever Hold the Power of Life or Death...

...over everyone around him, or was this just a power-trip fantasy of writer Stan Lee and/or artist Steve Ditko?




Regrettably, we can't ask either of the creatives of this story from Marvel's Journey into Mystery #81 (1962), as they've both passsed beyond this mortal coil!
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Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
Volume 2
which reprints this story
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Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO "Soup to Nuts"

From the Late 1930s to the Late 1950s, the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...

...were multi-media stars, appearing in movies, radio, TV, and...comic books!

This feature from St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #7 (1949), illustrated by Lily Renee and Eric Peters, was typical of the sort of stuff you'd see (or hear) in their other media appearances!
The comic ran for 40 issues, from 1948 to 1956, including a 3-D issue!
But that wasn't the end of four-color fun for the pair!
With their old movies and 1950s TV series proving to be popular on syndicated TV, Hanna-Barbera revived the duo as an animated series in 1967 with Bud Abbott providing his own voice.
(Costello had passed away in 1959).
This resulted in a new comic book series from Charlton using the cartoon as a springboard for a 22-issue run from 1968 to 1971!

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Lily Renee, Escape Artist

by

Trina Robbins
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Friday Fun YAK YAK "TV for All!"

Those of you who grew up with a smart phone in your hand...

...will probably not understand a single thing (either in terms of technology or pop culture) in this feature about living in a household with only one screen and a limited selection of programming!

Ironically, cross-genre programming has become something of a staple in our media-dominated world!

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

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Art of Jack Davis
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Friday Fun ALL-NEW COMICS "Mummy Madness"

If You Like Slapstick Abbott & Costello-Style Comedy...

...you'll love this never-reprinted one-shot feature from Harvey's All-New Comics #5 (1943)!

The team of Huff & Guff, produced by Bob Powell's art studio, were obviously patterned after Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, and were meant to be an ongoing feature.

Sadly, the response to them must have been absolutely minimal, since no further stories about them ever appeared!

Bob Powell and his assistants remained prolific contributors to numerous publishers (including Harvey) in every genre from romance to horror to humor to Westerns and more, through the 1940s and 50s

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The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics: Volume 2

Bob Powell's

Terror

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Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO COMICS "Comics Convention!"

Like Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Berni Wrightson, and numerous others... 

...writer/artist Grass Green was part of the first generation of fanboys-turned-pros in the 1960s.

What few people knew was that Grass was one of the few Black fanboys!

While he occasionally worked in mainstream comics, as shown in this never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Abbott & Costello Comics #16 (1972), Green found his greatest professional success as the first Black underground/alternative comix writer/artist!

From the early 1970s to the late 1990s, Grass did quite a bit of work for Kitchen Sink, Renegade, Rip Off, and Fantagraphics' Eros imprint.

Sadly, Grass passed away from lung cancer in 2002.

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Black Comics

Politics of Race and Representation
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