Monday Mecha Madness UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "War Toy"

It's the July 4th Week of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of America!

Art by Mike Kaluta

So let's tell a tale of military AI!

Written by Tony Isabella, penciled by George Perez, and inked by Rico Rival, this tale of a sympathetic, benevolent, yet deadly robot from Marvel's anthology b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #2 (1975) was the only time a story that wasn't an adaptation of a classic sci-fi prose story was featured on the cover of the magazine!
Speaking of the cover, you'll note the published version (as compared to the original by Mike Kaluta seen above) had two planets added to it at editor Roy Thomas' request...even though the action takes place on Earth!

Trivia: When "War Toy" was reprinted in another Marvel anthology b/w magazine Marvel Preview #20 (1980)...

...artist Howard Chaykin included the character in a new cover painting which featured his character Dominick Fortune along with the retro-style spaceship from the EC tribute story "Good Lord!"

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Sci-Fi Art: a Graphic History

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Kirby Reading Room SECRET CITY SAGA "Let Sleeping Boojums Lie!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover by penciler Steve Ditko and inker George Perez

...actually, this scene hasn't happened...yet!

But, rather than recap, since this is the final chapter, let's jump into action...

And they did return!

Unfortunately, their comeback was cut short, with only a single issue appearing before the project was cancelled.

The KirbyVerse didn't sell well, due to changing audience tastes, and despite a revamp after this premiere mini-series, it failed to grab sufficient readers to warrant continuing.

The second mini-series, entitled Victory! was written and drawn, but, as we said, only the first issue saw publication.
There were a couple of semi-related mini-series TeenAgents and Satan's Six, also based on Kirby's concepts.
If you want to see them, we'll re-present them, so let us know!

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Kirby: Genesis

A retelling of elements of the Secret City Saga which also combines other Kirby projects like Galaxy Green, Captain Victory and Silver Star!

Perez Reading Room HOT STUF' "Uncle Sal and Cousin John Go Planet-Tripping"

This illustration by the late George Perez is not related to the story below...

...it's just incredibly-kool.

Note that the above was created only four years after the tale below was produced for Sal Quartuccio's fanzine/prozine Hot Stuf' #1 (1974).
Before websites like DeviantArt, such zines (sold at conventions and the then-new comic book stores) were the primary way for fans-turning-pros like George Perez to get their work out into the public's eye!

Written by Hot Stuf' editor Bob Keenan and inked by Bob Garrison, this was one of George Perez's earliest published tales.
And, to answer an obvious question, there was never a sequel to this "Harold and Kumar Meet Conan the Barbarian"-type story!

Perez was working as an assistant to already-established artist Rich Buckler (who also had a story in this issue) at the time, and George's first Marvel work, the final Gullivar Jones of Mars story (shown HERE) was published a couple of months after this!

The rest, as they say, is history...

Perez Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "The Trains Belong to Us"

It's said that a good graphic story can be told without captions or dialogue!

This never-reprinted, cover-featured tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #6 (1984) is a damn (in more ways than one) good graphic story!

And you thought those who complained graffiti made cities look like hell were exaggerating...

Though both Cavaleri and Perez worked for DC for years before doing this short, this was their first (and, I believe, only) collaboration!

Thursday:

One of George's first published stories

George Perez (1954-2022)

One of the most-successful of the second wave of fans-turned-pros...

...George Perez became his generation's Jack Kirby*, producing a massive (and magnificent) body of work spanning decades and genres**, yet never losing his modesty about his accomplishments...

...or his fanboy sense of humor, as this piece, done during his run on the Logan's Run comic demonstrates!
Besides super-heroes and tv/movie adaptations, George drew almost anything he was asked to do...including the massive JLA/Avengers crossover (two different versions) and the continuity-redefining Crisis on Infinite Earths!
He even did two Beatles-themed projects...

...The Beatles Story and the unreleased-in-America Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band**!

We've presented a few of his lesser-known stories...

Frank (Dune) Herbert's thought-provoking "Occupation Force"

The post-apocalyptic "Ride the Blue Bus"

Gullivar Jones "Martian Genesis"

...and next Tuesday and Thursday we'll present a couple more rarely-seen tales illustrated by George.

*To be fair, Kirby created far more characters than Perez, who specialized in revamping/revitalizing characters!
**Curiously, though he did numerous super-hero tales involving romantic relationships, George never did an actual romance comic story!
***Sgt Pepper was released in Europe (including England) and Asia.