Space Heroine Saturdays AURORA OF JUPITER "Man Who Wanted a World!"

There are Space Heroines as well as Space Heroes...

...so we present our first Space Heroine's one and (sadly) only appearance in the back of the obscure PL Publishing one-shot Captain Rocket Comics #1 (1951)!

Ironically, future sci-fi/fantasy novelist Harry Harrison both scripted and rendered this tale, which might have inspired later characters such as Barbarella!
The art combines several different styles on different pages so it could've been a rush job with a group effort to meet the deadline, which matches Harrison's recollections that he had some assistance on a couple of stories.
PL Publishing was an American publisher who printed and distributed their books in Canada.

As a result, very few copies of any of their eight short-lived titles ever reached fans in the US!

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Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN ROCKET "Monstroids of the Underworld"

The final (in more ways than one) Captain Rocket comic tale...

...is not an outer space adventure, but an inner space one!

We had an atomic war in 1962...and nobody told us?

And Cap's adventures take place eons (or many millions of years) from now?

Writer/artist Harry Harrison handled the creative chores of the never-reprinted final story from PL's Captain Rocket #1 (1951), as he did every other story in this book.

Captain Rocket didn't have a second issue, and the character never reappeared, though his name has been appropriated for video games and halloween costumes for a totally-different character!

Little is known about PL Publishing, one of the least successful comic publishers in history, lasting less than a year and producing only eight titles, none of which ran more than three issues!
BTW, there was a third Captain Rocket story in that issue...but it was a text feature based on the cover!
We ran it last year, and you can read it HERE!

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Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN ROCKET "Graveyard of the Rocketeers"

He's the one-shot hero whose name has been usurped by many others since...

...but this is the never-reprinted, original Captain Rocket!

Accept no substitutes or imitations!

The lead story of PL's Captain Rocket #1 (1951) tosses us right into the action with just a one-paragraph synopsis to introduce the character.
It's not bad, but nothing to rave about either.
Written and illustrated by Harry Harrison who left comics when the Dr Wertham-led "Seduction of the Innocent" mania almost destroyed the comics industry in the mid-1950s.
Harry became a sci-fi/fantasy writer and editor whose credits included the Stainless Steel Rat novels and the novel Make Room! Make Room! which was the basis for the movie Soylent Green!
Cap would appear in two more stories, but only one was a comic!
Curious as to how that could be?

Keep following Space Hero Saturdays and you'll find out!

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Space Hero Saturdays SPACE FALCON "Pirates of the Stratosphere"

If you're a Golden Age or sci-fi comics fan, or just following Space Hero Saturdays, you know about SpaceHawk...

...but I seriously doubt you've even heard of Space Falcon!

If you don't know who Space Falcon is, it's quite understandable.

His only, never-reprinted, appearance was in PL Publishing's first and only issue of Captain Rocket (1951)!

In fact, PL was one of the least successful comic publishers in history, lasting less than a year and producing only eight titles, none of which ran more than three issues!
However, the creative who scripted and illustrated this tale, Harry Harrison, is probably better-known to you due to his later literary work: the Stainless Steel Rat novel series and the movie Soylent Green, based on his novel Make Room! Make Room!

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Monday Mars Madness CAPTAIN ROCKET "Meets the Mind Stealers"

Welcome to a story about Martians...

...who weren't Martians!

There were three never-reprinted Captain Rocket stories in his one and only issue from the short-lived PL Publishing, but only two were comics!

The third was a text feature!

The cover (which omits Cap's rather dorky helmet in favor of a kool transparent one) and this text feature from PL's Captain Rocket #1 (1951) were written and illustrated by Harry Harrison, who later gave up illustrating and became a major sci-fi/fantasy writer (including the novel Make Room! Make Room! which was the basis for Soylent Green!

And here's a weird note: Though this tale involves Saturnians, the little vignette in the upper left of the cover warns us..."We must prepare for an invasion from MARS!"

Since there are no Martians in either of the comic stories, was the tiny Cap head shot referring to the aliens in the text feature, who might have been written as Martians, but changed by the editor into Saturnians (perhaps because he felt Martians were too much of a cliche)?

Or was there another, unpublished, Captain Rocket tale that got bounced into the never-printed second issue?

The answers are lost in the mists of time...

BTW, the headlined cover feature "Man Who Wanted a World" wasn't even a Captain Rocket tale!
It was the debut (and only) appearance of space heroine Aurora of Jupiter!

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Keep Warm in Winter...

...the classic comic book way!

It's recommended you read the entire never-reprinted tale while sipping hot cocoa by a roaring fire!

Speaking of romance...
Valentine's Day is coming!
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Harry Harrison (1925-2012)

Noted sci-fi-author Harry Harrison passed away this week...

...and while he's best-known to the average person for the movie Soylent Green, based on his novel Make Room! Make Room!, sci-fi aficionados (myself included) love his Stainless Steel Rat and DeathWorld series.

But many sci-fi fans are not aware of his almost decade-long stint as a comic book professional, doing everything from writing to editing to penciling and inking over 150 stories in almost every genre from horror to war to romance to Western.

(Oddly, he never did a super-hero story!)

In tribute to his passing, our brother blog, Seduction of the Innocent™ is running one of his horror tales "Terror of the Vampires Kiss".

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