Best of Reading Room GULLIVAR JONES "Web of Hate"

We're still in the mood for High Adventure...

..so, we're re-presenting, from the b/w magazine Monsters Unleashed #4 (1974), the first all-new, never-reprinted, Gullivar Jones sequel strip, produced by two then-newcomers to Marvel...

Dave Cockrum had been doing some inking over various pencilers including Rich Buckler, Don Heck, and George Tuska on The Avengers, but this was his first full art (Pencils and inks) assignment at Marvel.

Tony Isabella had co-plotted/scripted a number of other stories including the last Doc Savage two-parter with Gardner Fox, but this appears to be his first solo effort as a writer.

It's a fine job by both of them.

There's one more Gullivar Jones tale to be told.
And, like this one, it featured the Marvel debut of another soon-to-be superstar!
Who?
You're going to have to come back next Saturday to find out!

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

Reunited with his lost love, the First Earthman on Mars faces certain death...

Art by Jim Steranko

...as we present, from Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #21 (1973), the sixth (and final) chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation of his only novel...

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

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "What Price Victory?"

The First Earthman on Mars battles on to rescue his lost love...

Art by Gil Kane

...as menace after menace assaults him!

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

(Remember, there was only one Gullivar Jones novel!

No sequel!)

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

Note: Gray Morrow assumes the art chores (pencils and inks) for the final two issues of Gullivar's never-reprinted run.
But the writer of Gullivar's penultimate adventure from Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #20 (1972) is still George Alec Effinger.

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "Long Road to Nowhere"

Continuing the never-reprinted (and all-too-brief) adventures of the First Earthman on Mars...

Art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

...we'll let the protagonist of this interplanetary saga fill us in...

To be continued...Tomorrow!

The artist round-robin continues as long-time Superman artist Wayne Boring steps in for Creatures on the Loose #19 (1972), the fourth chapter of the short-lived, never-reprinted, comic adaptation, inked by long-time Supergirl artist Jim Mooney!
(Oddly, Wayne and Jim never worked together at DC!)
At this time, Boring also did the first three issues (#22-24) of the 1972 revival of Captain Marvel.
BTW, you'll note the splash page is partially-penciled by Gil Kane.
George Alec Effinger goes solo on the scripting and continues to the end of the series in Creatures on the Loose #21.

Best of Reading Room: GULLIVAR JONES "River of the Dead"

When Last We Left the First Earthman on Mars...

Art by Gil Kane and unknown inker

Meanwhile, we're continuing the adventures of his swashbuckling predecessor on Mars, Gullivar Jones, as we present the second, never-reprinted chapter of the short-lived comic adaptation from Creatures on the Loose #17 (1972)...

To be continued...Tomorrow!

You'll note that Sam Grainger has replaced Bill Everett as the inker on this never-reprinted story from Marvel's Creatures on the Loose #17 (1972).

Unfortunately, Everett's health was declining and he had to cut back on the volume of work he was doing, preferring to devote what time he had to working on his greatest creation, Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner.

He passed away a little over a year later.
Written by Roy Thomas, penciled by Gil Kane.