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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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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Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "MysteryVision!"

Here's a tale that could've inspired the movie They Live! as well as several Twilight Zone eps...

...plus it has a rather unique aspect we'll explain at the conclusion...

"We take our leave of Herman Scudder, who discovered that "reading" people can be as easy as reading an eye-chart...in the Twilight Zone..."

(Sorry, instinctively channeled Rod Serling for a moment...)

Pencils and inks for this never-reprinted story from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #57 (1956) are by Jack Kirby, who rarely inked his own work since editors felt his time was better-spent penciling at a rate of up to four pages per day!

(Yes, I said per day!)

Probably written by either Kirby himself, or studio co-owner/creative partner Joe Simon.

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Art of the Simon and Kirby Studio

featuring images shot directly from the original art!

Reading Room CAPTAIN 3-D "Man From the World of 'D'" IN COLOR!

You won't need a pair of red/blue 3-D glasses to read this version of...

...as presented in the hardcover anthology Simon & Kirby SuperHeroes from Titan Books, restored from scans of both the original art and first-generation photostats used in the original book's production in 1953.

...and here's the original text intro to the character...

(For this you will need 3-D glasses.)

BTW, if you want to see the original 3-D version of this tale, click HERE!

Script by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Art by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Simon, Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko (inks).
Taking comic book line art and modifying it to produce a 3-D effect with red and blue colored art was technically simple, so almost every company attempted at least one 3-D book between 1952-55.
Most were 3-D versions of existing comics including Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, even Katy Keene.
However, Captain 3-D was the Simon & Kirby team's attempt to jump on the 3-D bandwagon with NEW material.
As you've just read, Captain 3-D had both a cool premise and nice set-up, playing up the use of glasses to both empower the hero and perceive villains. (The John Carpenter movie They Live! used a similar gimmick)
Unfortunately, a legal battle involving the 3-D process all but killed the financial viability of producing 3-D books, and, though material was already finished, there was never a second issue of Captain 3-D!

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Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "A Weemer is the Best of All!"

"Whimsical" is not a word you usually associate with Jack (King) Kirby...

...but in this case, it's perfectly appropriate!

Though Jack Kirby both penciled and inked (a rare occurrence) this tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #59 (1957), the identity of who wrote it is unknown, but it's probably Kirby himself or ex-partner Joe Simon who was the editor of the book at Harvey Comics!

BTW, Black Cat Mystic, despite the title, was a science-fiction, not horror, comic!

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BLACK CAT MYSTIC "Woman Who Discovered America 67 Years Before Columbus!"

From Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #60 (1957)...

...comes a Joe Simon/Jack Kirby tale that may have been created for Simon & Kirby's Strange World of Your Dreams, but not used until years later!

Prize's Strange World of your Dreams only ran for four issues.

Several stories planned for the fifth issue ran in Prize's Black Magic after SWoYD was cancelled.

But S&K left Prize and took any unused material with them, so this could be another tale meant for SWoYD #5!

BTW, I was unable to find any record of an actual Marina Dorotea De Vargas, so it's safe to presume this is an entirely-fictional tale.
And, yes, Columbus Day is tomorrow.
But, we have an ongoing Monday feature we couldn't interrupt 

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Strange World of Your Dreams

Comics Meet Dali & Freud!
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Space Hero Saturdays COSMIC CARSON "Iako's Attack!"

This totally-inaccurate cover from Fox's Science Comics #4 (1940) by Joe Simon...

...featuring characters who never appear in the strip (except for the hero) marks Cosmic Carson's only cover appearance ever!

Ah, but it's who's on the inside that counts...and for this issue, it's Jack (King) Kirby, who penciled and inked this story!

("Michel Griffith" was a Fox Comics pen-name that anybody who wrote or drew this strip used!)

Though this Cosmic Carson tale from Fox's Science Comics #4 (1940) ends on a cliffhanger, the story in the next issue neither resolves nor even mentions it, or the current plotline and characters!
Not surprising, since Kirby had been moved to other strips in the next month's production cycle.
Cosmic Carson, in and of itself, was one of the worst, most inconsistent, poorly-plotted and illustrated strips (with this one exception) in the history of comic books.
(And that's saying a lot!)
So enjoy this appearance, since it's the only one Cosmic Carson will make in any RetroBlog!

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