Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "Great Stone Face!"

Despite the title, Black Cat Mystic was actually a sci-fi anthology...

...featuring the final work of the Simon & Kirby Studio!

NOTE: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

Penciled, inked, and probably scripted by Jack Kirby, this tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #59 (1957) is Jack's first look at what would become known as the "ancient astronauts" theory in the 1970s due to the interest generated by Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods.
At the same time, Kirby himself would expand the concept into The Eternals, (originally-titled Return of the Gods), which is now one of the lynchpins of the Marvel Universe.

Kirby would present a variation of the theme a couple of years after "Great Stone Face" in Race for the Moon's "Face on Mars" as shown HERE.

Note: Kirby and Stan Lee did a variation of the concept at Marvel in the 1960s with The Inhumans, who were created by Kree scientists visiting Earth in prehistoric times and genetically-manipulating humans to draw out dormant abilities.

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Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction
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Space Force Saturdays CAPTAIN QUICK & THE SPACE SCOUTS "Martian Canal Frog and the Jewel Flowers"

Strap On Your Rocket Packs for Another Adventure with...

...who are still on Mars, as we saw last time!

Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#2 (1955) is credited solely to Marvin Stein at the Grand Comics Database, the layout appears to be by Jack Kirby, which would make sense since Simon & Kirby's studio was packaging the book for Prize Comics!
Beyond being set in the near future, there was no connection to Tom Corbett!

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Pre-Code Classics

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Volume One

The First 7 Issues

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Monday Mecha Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "To Build a Robot!"

Does this tale take place in the present...or the future?

Or has it already happened, and we don't know it?

Considering the way industry tried to slow the introduction of the electric car, is it that far-fetched someone for their own ulterior motives is trying to suppress mobile artificial intelligence?

Or have we just seen the Teminator and Matrix films too many times?

Plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Christopher Rule had their own take in Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959), decades before James Cameron or the Wachowskis...and it didn't take multiple films to tell it, just four pages!

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Science Fiction

Simon & Kirby Library
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Tales Twice-Told BLACK MAGIC "Screaming Doll!"

You Saw This Tale on Tuesday...

...to be more precise, you saw a re-illustrated version of the same script!

This is the first, never-reprinted, rendering of the story!

Illustrated by Bill Benulis, and scripted by a currently-unknown writer (Though it could be Simon & Kirby Studio bosses Joe Simon and/or Jack Kirby) this story from Prize's Black Magic V4N4 (1954) has some oddly-unique attributes!

It's only 5 pages, when most of the stories are 6-8 pages.

(The re-drawn version is 6 pages!)

There's no half or full-page splash panel, though almost all Black Magic stories (except for one or two-pagers) have them!

Was the original story condensed/re-edited for space or content?

At the time (early 1954), there was a rising rage against comics in general and horror comics in particular due to Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent witch-hunt!

Sadly, we'll never know...

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

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Space Hero Saturdays CRUSADER FROM MARS "Mission Through Space"

Lars of Mars wasn't the only Martian Sent to Fight Evil on Earth by Jerry (Superman) Siegel!

This guy, along with a female "friend and companion" was sent to Earth to do similar work...but for a very different reason!

If I follow the "logic" of this concept correctly, the Martians send a proven murderer (along with someone who may be either an accessory to murder or an innocent who had nothing to do with the crime except having a murderer obsessed with her) to fight evil on Earth.
Send a convicted killer with emotional control issues (and advanced weaponry) to a primitive planet and tell him to clean it up?
And then, when he screws up. send a fleet of flying saucers in to straighten out the mess.
(Martians apparently don't have a non-interference Prime Directive.)
Also note that the American military seems to be made up of idiot bureaucrats!
The writer for this premiere tale from Crusader from Mars #1 (1952) is unknown, but probably is the book's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel, who co-created another short-lived Martian crime-fighter, Lars of Mars, the year before.

The artist is believed to be Marvin Stein, but the layouts have a strong Jack Kirby feel to them.
Considering Stein was doing a lot of work for the Simon/Kirby studio at the time, and Jack was reputed to be very generous in terms of helping his friends, it seems likely he provided roughs for Stein to render full pencils and inks over.
BTW, you may note that Tarka wears a very Superman-style costume in this tale, but on the cover, and in the next (and last) issue, the colors are reversed.

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Pre-Code Classics

Lars of Mars / Crusader from Mars

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Kirby Reading Room / Tales Twice Told BLACK MAGIC "A Beast is In the Streets!"

We Showed You the 1970s Redrawn for Extra Goriness Version On Tuesday...

...now here's the original by...do we really have to tell you?

Penciled and inked by Jack Kirby, this story from Prize's Black Magic #25 (1953) may have been scripted by Kirby as well.

Unfortunately, records are incomplete, and we will likely never know!

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Simon & Kirby Library: Horror!

(which includes this story)
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Remake Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Alien on Earth!"

Tuesday, we told the tale of a misunderstood alien...

...here's an earlier rendition of the oft-used concept, with one of the weirdest-looking Jack Kirby aliens I've ever seen (and that is saying something)!

Penciler Jack Kirby and inker Christopher Rule, who did the cover of the re-do, illustrated this tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #51 (1959).

As for who wrote it, the consensus on various sites, including the Grand Comics Database, is that it's the work of Kirby himself.

For those clever readers who noted both this story and the reworking in World of Fantasy were both published in 1959, this one came out six months earlier, and the "job number" for "Alien" (T-165) is earlier than the one on "Gargoyle" (T-345).

Usually, Stan Lee (either as editor or writer) made sure that such similar plots or reworkings were a couple of years apart.

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Atlas-Era

Journey into Mystery

Volume #4
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Remake Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Gargoyle From the 5th Galaxy!"

Is this a kool cover, or what?

But, this sandals-wearing Jack Kirby-Christopher Rule scarlet alien isn't inside the comic!

Instead, we get a more humanoid, less "traditional" gargoyle-looking green alien!

To be fair, he does breathe fire, like the guy on the cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber and superbly-rendered by Don Heck, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) was actually a re-do of an earlier story (illustrated by Jack Kirby, no less), which we'll present Thursday!

BTW, though the story was reprinted in the 1970s, the cover has never seen the light of day since its' original publication!

Pity...

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4
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