Wednesday Worlds of Wonder PSYCHO "Swordsman of Sarn in 'City of Living Light!' "

Created in 1971 for Skywald's b/w magazine Science Fiction Odyssey...

...this cover by Jeffrey Catherine Jones and the following story by writer Gardner Fox, penciler Jack Katz, and inker Vince Colletta were left homeless when the book was cancelled before publication.

However, both were presented in Skywald's Psycho #12 (1973!)!

Enjoy!

This was obviously-meant to be an ongoing high-adventure series in the John Carter/Gullivar Jones mold.

Sadly, there was no follow-up!
Note: Though the cover for Psycho #12 didn't really display Jeff Jones' art to best advantage...

 ...when the cover was reprinted in Toutain Editor's 1984 #36 (1982) in Spain...

...it got the treatment it deserved!

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Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood!

(which covers both the company's b/w magazines and color comics!)

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Spooky Space Force Saturdays KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Monster-Men of Space!"

It's time for more spooky interstellar adventure with Kenton of the Star Patrol...

...as another talented artist takes the reins from Wally Wood and Joe Orlando for Kenton's final tale!

This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #6 (1952) is penned by Gardner Fox and rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who left comics for fine art (including numerous official portraits of US Presidents).

Previous Kenton artists Joe Orlando and Wally Wood did the cover for the issue...

...but, when the cover was reused for IW/Super's Eerie #1 (1958), which contained stories from Spook Comics, the art looked decidedly-different!

Was the Eerie cover the original version, which was modified to make the alien match the Kinsler-drawn aliens?
Ironically, when the Kenton story was reprinted, it had a totally-new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito featuring aliens who looked nothing like the Monster-Men...

And there's yet another twist to the tale of this tale, which we'll tell...next week, when we go from Strange Worlds and Strange Planets to Strange Galaxies!

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Strange Worlds

Volume 1
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Spooky Space Force Saturdays WEIRD WORLDS "Space Vampires"

How did this tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951)...

...end up being used (almost verbatim) in Eerie Publications' Weird Worlds #V1N10 (1970)?

In the early 1970s, Eerie Publications used photostats and negatives from defunct comics companies as source material for their b/w magazine line.

About a year in, they started using South American artists eager to break into the US comics market and American artists like Dick Ayers and Chic Stone who were losing work as the Silver Age ended and comics companies cut back their lines, to re-do old stories with a more contemporary style.

Some illustrators totally-redid the art, using new "camera angles" and clothing/technology designs reflecting contemporary tastes.

In this particular case, artist Cirilo Munoz just lightboxed and re-inked the existing Wally Wood/Joe Orlando artwork!

Editor Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos rewrote the opening captions and changed the hero's name, but otherwise left Gardner Fox's original script intact.

The same premise was utilized (even more graphically) almost 35 years later in the 1985 film LifeForce, based on the 1976 novel Space Vampires by Colin Wilson.

Want to bet Wilson read "Vampires of the Void" as a kid or "Space Vampires" as an adult?

Next Week: More Spooky Space Force Action!

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The Worst of Eerie Publications

Spooky Space Force Saturdays KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Vampires of the Void"

Strap on your blasters and activate your ato-jets, kids...

Art by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood

...as we join our space-faring hero against gorgeous aliens who suck the life from humans!

Now that's a sci-fi horror tale...and illustrated by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando!

Gardner Fox scripted the story published in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and it actually makes sense, given the scientific knowledge of the era.

Add a kool (if slightly misleading) cover by Wood and Orlando...and you've got a cult classic!
Hard to believe it's only been reprinted twice!
But...it has been re-told twice more!
What do we mean by that?

Be Back Next Week to Find Out!

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Strange Worlds

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Space Hero Saturdays JET POWERS "InterPlanetary War"

Like any respectable Space Hero, Magazine Enterprises' Jet Powers visited Mars...

...and ran right into the middle of an interplanetary war...but one that, for a change, didn't involve Earth!

But, the Queen doesn't realize a danger threatening not only Mars, but Earth as well, lurks within her own court...in a sequel tale to this one by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell from ME's Jet Powers #3 (1951)!
Jet Powers was a typical all-American scientist/pilot/adventurer who fought foes of democracy on Earth, in space, and even other dimensions!

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