Reading Room BLACK BUCCANEER "The Story Begins..."

In the Golden Age of Comics, pirates with their own strips were a fairly common sight...

...though few were the lead tale in the books they appeared in!

Appearing in every issue of the short-lived Blazing Comics, the Black Buccaneer was typical of the "heroic pirate" strips that most companies gave a test run.

Apparently, unlike mad scientists (who headlined a number of strips), publishers felt pirates who were actually villains wouldn't sell.

So they created pirates who were undercover agents for their governments, or framed for crimes they didn't do, or just misunderstood.

The writer for this intro tale from the first issue of the anthology title Blazing Comics from short-lived publisher Rural Home is unknown.

And, though it's not definitive, the general consusus is that Gil Kane and/or Leonard Starr illustrated it.

Be here tomorrow when we'll have some more pirate-themed stuff during our celebration of the new pirate/adventure series Black Sails!

Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Two Worlds to Win!"

The John Carter movie opens this week (March 9th)...

Art by Jim Steranko

Meanwhile, we're continuing the adventures of his swashbuckling predecessor on Mars, Gullivar Jones, as we present, from Creatures on the Loose #21 (1973), the sixth (and final) chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation...

People did write, and though Gullivar Jones' four-color adventures were at an end, he returned with new graphic adventures in a Marvel title only a year later!
But that's a story for another time...

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Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "What Price Victory?"

The John Carter movie is only a week away (March 9th)...

Art by Gil Kane

Meanwhile, we're continuing the adventures of his swashbuckling predecessor on Mars, Gullivar Jones, as we present, from Creatures on the Loose #20 (1972), the fifth chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation...

Has Gullivar been reunited with Heru only to die on the red Martian sands?

(Remember, there was only one Gullivar Jones book!

No sequel!)

When next we meet up with Gullivar...it's the fearsome finale of this story!

Note: Gray Morrow steps up to assume the art chores (pencils and inks) for the final two issues of Gullivar's Creatures on the Loose run.

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Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Long Road to Nowhere"

The John Carter movie is only a week away (March 9th)...

Art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Meanwhile, we're continuing the adventures of his swashbuckling predecessor on Mars, Gullivar Jones, as we present, from Creatures on the Loose #19 (1972), the fourth chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation...

To be continued HERE!

The artist round-robin continues as long-time Superman artist Wayne Boring steps in for an issue, inked by long-time Supergirl artist Jim Mooney!
At this time, Boring also did the first three issues (#22-24) of the 1972 revival of Captain Marvel.
George Alec Effinger goes solo on the scripting and continues to the end of the series in Creatures on the Loose #21.

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Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Wasteland on a Weirdling World"

The John Carter movie is only a week away (March 9th)...

Art by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott

Meanwhile, we're continuing the adventures of his swashbuckling predecessor on Mars, Gullivar Jones, as we present, from Creatures on the Loose #18 (1972), the third chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation...

To be continued HERE!

Ross Andru, right before beginning his stint on Doc Savage, came on for a single issue, replacing Gil Kane, who continued to do covers.
Gerry Conway and science fiction writer George Alec Effinger take over the scripting from Roy Thomas, who plotted the story and remains as editor.

One of the major problems this series faced was only having 10 pages every two months to tell the story.
And, because it was a bi-monthly, the writers felt compelled to recap not only the previous issue, but the entire story, which ate into the page count for a given issue's tale!

Had Marvel given the series a 15-page or full-book page count to work with (or 10 pages in a monthly title), the series might have gained more of an audience.
As it is, we're already midway thru the too-brief color comics run.

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