Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Part 1

It's the sci-fi novella so nice, TV adapted it twice...

...first on Outer Limits, then, two years later, on Classic Star Trek!

Will human ingenuity, cunning, and strength triumph?

Or will the alien win?

Be here THURSDAY for the answer!

This extremely-faithful adaptation was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.

The Fredric Brown-penned short story it's based on first appeared in Street & Smith's Astounding Science Fiction (June, 1944) pulp magazine.

The tale was voted one of the Top 20 Science Fiction Stories before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers Association and included in the must-have (if you're a serious sci-fi fan) anthology... 

...which is still in print.
(Note: this is the dust jacket/cover of the hardcover 1st edition, one of the coolest and most effective cover designs ever, IMHO of course, and a proud part of my personal collection!)

You can read the taut tale of terror online HERE.
Feel free to compare to the comic.

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From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

(Including "Arena")

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Monday Madness CHAMBER OF CHILLS "Delusion for a Dragon Slayer"

The late Harlan Ellison wrote the novella this adaptation was based upon...

...and considering he had already written a couple of scripts for Marvel, I'm not sure why he didn't pen this retelling of his own tale...under this slightly-misleading (though really kool) Gil Kane/Tom Palmer cover...

This cover-featured adaptation of Harlan Ellison's novella "Delusion for a Dragon Slayer" by writer Gerry Conway and artist Syd Shores in Marvel's Chamber of Chills #1 (1972) was part of editor Roy Thomas' attempt to do new comic adaptations of prose tales by big-name sci-fi/fantasy authors in a group of anthology titles.

Sadly, none of the books survived past the first year without going totally-reprint, or switching over to featuring new horror characters like The Living Mummy. 

This particular tale shows the weaknesses of the project all too well, with the art failing to really separate Warren Glazer Griffin's fantasy world from the real one, thereby weakening the whole point of the narrative!

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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

by Harlan Ellison

(which contains the short story this comic tale is adapted from!)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATARI FORCE Part Three "Conclusion"

We Have Already Seen...

...an encounter with a huge Cthulhu-like alien propels the Atari Institute's experimental mutiverse-spanning vessel Scanner One into an unknown realm,where they make a forced landing on a planet with a beautiful, deserted futuristic city.

While exploring, alien ships attack them, but a different alien vessel rises up from below the city to defend the moribund metropolis and the Atarians.
Using their advanced technology to interpret data sources found in the city, the Earthmen learn the attacking aliens are "Zylons", and the fighter craft that saved them was designed to destroy the attackers!
In a fit of righteous anger, Commander Champion and Security Officer O'Rourke decide to carry the battle back to the Zylons.
But the crew's medical officer, Dr Orion, perceives his crewmates acting our of character, and searches for the reason why...

Considering DC's Atari Force V1N3 was published in 1982, I don't think it'd be a spoiler to reveal the Dark Destroyer did, in fact, survive...and would become the Atari Force's primary nemesis!

Though the Zylon vessels and the other fighter craft (as shown in the comic) are based on the Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders of Battlestar Galactica...

Art by Bob Larkin

...they were, in the video game itself, based on the X-Wings and TIE Fighters of Star Wars!
But that's another story...which we'll tell next month!

Next Week...

A NEW World of Wonder!

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Art of Atari

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATARI FORCE Part Three "Chapter Three: Star Raiders"

When Last We Left the Multiverse-Spanning Crew of Scanner One...

...after being thrown into an unknown dimension, the Atari team crash-lands on a planet with a beautiful, though long-abandoned, city!

While exploring it, the team is attacked by alien ships.

The humans' demise seems certain, until another type of ship rises from the uninhabited city and fires on the saucer-like ships...

What could be affecting the crew, increasing their aggressive tendencies?

The Action Concludes...

NEXT WEDNESDAY!

BTW, do those two types of alien ships look just a little...familiar?

Could it be...?

Be here to find out!

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Art of Atari

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ATARI FORCE Part Three "Chapter Two: Planet of the Doomed"

We Have Already Seen...

...attacked by a gigantic, multi-tentacled creature, the crew of Atari's experimental multiverse-spanning ship Scanner One hastily-activate the vessel's dimension warp engines..without setting a course!

The Action Continues...

NEXT WEDNESDAY!

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Visit Amazon and Buy...

Art of Atari