Baker Reading Room MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS "No. 9 Swanson St."

Matt Baker Illustrated Few Medical-Oriented Tales...

...that didn't involve a hot 'n heavy romance featuring a doctor, nurse, or both!

But, this never-reprinted story is one of them!

From Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #14 (1959), this Joe Gill-scripted, Matt Baker-penciled, and Vince Colletta-inked tale of a medical technician who eneded up at the wrong address wouldn't have been out of place as an episode of The Twilight Zone!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Baker Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Return of the Pied Piper"

A Corrupt Politician Who Steals Public Funds!

As common back in 1959, when this never-reprinted story was published, as today, 65 years later!

Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Matt Baker (with only a single beautiful woman in sight) and inked by Vince Colletta, this story from Charlton's anthology Out of this World #13 (1959) is dependent on the reader being familiar with the classic fairy tale of "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"!
Wonder how many kids today know about the tale and would get the "punchline"...

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Space Hero Saturdays OUTER SPACE "Blueprint for Survival"

Sometimes a Space Hero is just an ordinary guy...

...or someone extraordinary pretending to be ordinary!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Outer Space #21 (1959) follows the standard convention of movie/TV sci-fi of the era with friendly aliens who look perfectly human, but dress better (or at least more futuristically than us!
Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Matt Baker, inked by Vince Colletta.

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Art of Glamour

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Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "What Happened?"

It's a question I've groggily-asked on more than one New Year's Day...

...but here it's the title of an example of classic Ditko storytelling!

Most likely scripted by Joe Gill, this taut tale from Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957) is one of those fun "gotcha" shorts in the vein of both EC Comics' sci-fi line and, later, TV's The Twilight Zone.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Man Who Stepped Out of a Cloud"

Let's have a look at a Steve Ditko story...

...that shows both his storytelling and rendering talents at their best.

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #5 (1957) is a superb example of how to tell a complete story in just five pages.

While the script isn't the greatest, Ditko tells the story effectively with both "talking heads" (and very distinctive, individualistic talking heads, at that), and kool graphics showing things impossible to portray convincingly with the SFX technology of the 1950s.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Repair Stop"

Today's comics creators have lost the ability to tell a straightforward story...

...in a short story format!

It wasn't always this way....

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this efficent, effective tale from Charlton's Outer Space #18 (1958) sets up the minimal plot, conveys multiple points of view, and delivers a satisfying ending...all within four pages!

If it was done today, it'd be a book-length tale!

You'll note Ditko's heavy use of pen, rather than brush for inking, resulting in a less-lush, less organic "feel" and a lot more cross-hatching instead of feathering than his work only a year later, when he was transitioning from Charlton over to Atlas/Marvel.

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

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Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Last Ship from Earth"

Ever hear the phrase "Damned if you do, damned if you don't"?

Well, Commander MacKenzie Smith is about to live it!

This never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V2N32 (1960) asks the questions: "What happens if the cure is worse than the disease?" and "Do you blame the person who found/brought you the cure?"

Sadly, even the Grand Comics Database isn't sure who created this story, though they propose two prolific Charlton contributors, writer Joe Gill and artist Bill Montes as the creatives.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

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Reading Room SPACE WAR "Comeback"

What's cooler than re-presenting an over six decade-old never-reprinted Steve Ditko story?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

I love what I do!

And, as they say, if you love what you do, it ain't work!

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this story from Charlton's Space War #10 (1961) has some weird "echoes" of the origin of Captain Atom II in Charlton's Space Adventures #33 (1960)...by the same creatives!

(We showed it HERE!)

Could this story have been created before "Introducing Captain Atom" and held in inventory until a slot opened up?
We'll never know...

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Conquered Earth"

Ever wonder if Steve Ditko could do Jack Kirby-style epic star-spanning storytelling?

Well, wonder no more, True Believer!

Illustrated by Ditko, written, most likely, by Joe Gill, this tale was tucked in the back of Charlton's Out of This World #4 (1957), which featured three Ditko-rendered stories out of four tales!

Ah, those were the days...

When the story was reprinted in Charlton's Space War #31 (1978), it was finally cover-featured, with the cover for a different (and still never-reprinted) Ditko-illustrated tale...

...which we re-presented a couple of days ago, as shown HERE!

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2