Showing posts with label John Romita Sr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Romita Sr. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder Valentine's Day Special SAVAGE TALES "Fury of the Femizons"

Consider, on Valentine's Day, what the world might be like if the "fairer sex" ran the whole planet...
...as portrayed in this Women's Lib-era story from the b/w magazine Savage Tales #1 (1971)!
(Was it really over a half-century ago?
Lord, I feel so old...)

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by John Romita, Sr,  this tale had an unusual genesis, as detailed on the editorial page by editor Roy Thomas...

Women's liberation.
It's all around us, be we male or female.
marches, intellectual treatises, picketing, bra-burning, some four-letter forensics, and more burnings–not always of bras.
"Women are the equals of men every day, in every way!'
Men are beginning to believe it.
Women always knew it.
So what happens if maybe we come the full circle in, say the next hundred years or so?
What if women turn the rascals out–and we do mean out!
What would we have then?
A better world? Perhaps.
A gentler world? Could be.
different world? Believe it.
Stan Lee got to wondering-and, by and by, he set imaginative artist Johnny Romita to wondering along with him.
The result is, perhaps, something just a wee bit new under the sun.
Not quite sword-and-sorcery–certainly not science-fiction–and not exactly a political polemic.
Robin Morgan clobbers Buck Rogers in the 25th century!
Kate Millett zaps both Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless–then takes over Mongo for good measure!
The hand that rocks the cradle really rules the world!

A Valentine's Day look at a possible future World of Wonder...as seen from the not-so distant past. 
BTW: Almost every RetroBlog has a Valentine's Day Post!
Check out the list to the left to see them all!
Wolff Will Return Next Wednesday!

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Haunted House Reading Room ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS "House of Horror!" / DEAD OF NIGHT "House of Fear!"

While today's haunted house tale was the cover feature...
...the art, by the amazing Bill Everett, didn't quite get it right...as you shall see!
Why Everett did a demon/werewolf on the cover instead of the Jim Mooney-rendered skeleton shown is unknown!
When this story from Atlas' Adventures into Weird Worlds #6 (1952) was reprinted as the cover featured tale in Marvel's Dead of Night #1 (1973)...
...artist John Romita Sr got the skeleton right!
Thanks to early 1970s revisions in the Comics Code, the tale was reprinted almost verbatim!
But for some reason, the title was altered...
Nobody knows why...
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Thursday, September 15, 2022

Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...
Reporter Cliff Sutherland and photographer Ann O'Hara may be on to the scoop of the century.

An alien robot, which went inert after Klaatu (the alien humanoid it accompanied) was shot and killed (without provocation) when he tried to initiate contact with people of Earth isn't as unmoving as the government believes!
The duo conceal themselves nearby, hoping to catch the automaton in motion...which they do!
They witness the robot enter the alien vessel...which sealed up and apparently deactivated after Klaatu was killed.
And now things get really weird...
Cue the Twilight Zone theme...
The original story by Harry Bates appeared in Street and Smith's Astounding Science Fiction V26N2 (1940) with the following illustrations by Frank Kramer...all of which feature Gnut!
"Farewell to the Master" has been reprinted numerous times, usually in anthologies about Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, or compilations of stories which were adapted into films or TV shows.
But the graphic adaptation from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973) has never been reprinted, and no other comic book/comic strip version has ever been done!
However, there was another prose adaptation of the short story...
This book, written by Arthur Tofte, published by Scholastic Books in 1976, combined "Farewell to the Master" with the screenplay for the 1951 movie into a new novel which presents Klaatu and a rather verbose Gnut (not "Gort") as a pair of equal partners, representing their respective civilizations within a galactic organization calling themselves "The Watchers"!
Finally, Lux Radio Theatre produced a one-hour radio adaptation in 1954, narrated by Paul Frees and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu!
Regrettably, it doesn't use Bernard Herrmann's magnificent soundtrack but it's still worth listening to.
You can link to it HERE!

Thursday, February 18, 2021

Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Day After the Day the Martians Came!"

With NASA's Perseverance probe about to land on Mars...
Art by Ross Andru & John Romita
We thought we'd present a tale of the Martians returning the favor that also ties-in with Black History Month!
Wonder how?
Keep reading...
The short story this comic tale is based upon first appeared in the ground-breaking 1960s anthology Dangerous Visions, a collection of original novelettes and novellas conceived and edited by Harlan Ellison, which should be on any science fiction fan's bookshelf or eReader.
Several of the stories in the anthology, in particular this one and "Riders of the Purple Wage" by Phillip Jose Farmer, explored the subject of racial prejudice.
The never-reprinted comic adaptation from the first issue of Marvel's short-lived anthology Worlds Unknown, is scripted by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Ralph Reese, who began in 1966 as an assistant to Wally Wood and went solo within a couple of years, first as an inker, and later as a penciler/inker.
He's done work for all the major comics companies (usually on their anthology titles), as well as stints on the Flash Gordon newspaper strip and licensing art for Childrens' Television Workshop!
BTW, the Grand Comics Database lists John Romita as sole artist of the cover, but, IMHO, the figure poses are clearly Ross Andru, not Romita.
(And the GCD originally listed Marie Severin and Sal Buscema as the artists!)
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(where the prose version of this tale first appeared!) 

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON & SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Future History Chronicles" Part 1

Much as Star Trek fills in the gaps between the "past" (our present) and their future-set series..
...Atlas' two 1950s 21st Century series also did so with different strips that carried the same title, as seen, first, in this never-reprinted tale from Space Squadron #1 (1951) about the first manned space flight in 1953 (yes, 1953)!
The Famous Explorers of Space feature ran in all five issues of Space Squadron and the single issue of Space Worlds that used up material left homeless when Space Squadron was cancelled.
Sol Brodsky penciled and Chris Rule inked this premiere chapter, whose writer is lost to the mists of time!
When Speed Carter: SpaceMan came along a couple of years later, writer Hank Chapman ignored everything done in Space Squadron, producing stories that often contradicted "history" established in the earlier series.
(Having one of the first space pioneers in Space Squadron named "Carter" could've provided a perfect "hook" to link the two, but Chapman made the wise choice to not do so!)
Speaking of Chapman and his version of "Future History"...
...here's his version, set in the "distant past" of 2004!
The concept of Venusians all being beautiful women was a cliche even then.
The art on this story from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #1 (1953) is by a young up-and-comer named John Romita, who had a real knack for drawing gorgeous females.
I wonder whatever became of him?
One interesting note: the astronauts in this story, which takes place three generations in the "past" of Speed Carter: SpaceMan, have different uniforms and lower-end technology than what's shown in the "present-day" Speed Carter tales.
BTW, Space Squadron actually ran two "Future History" strips in each issue, one about Famous Explorers of Space, plus a series about the adventures of young Blast Revere, who in the Jet Dixon strip was the elderly commander of the Space Squadron!
...1960 (which was still "the future" in 1951)!
While the writer for Blast's never-reprinted debut (also in Space Squadron #1) is unknown, the artist should be familiar to Speed Carter: SpaceMan fans...Joe ManeelySpeed's designer/co-creator and primary illustrator for the first half of his run!
Blast Revere ran in all six issues of Space Squadron. and it's one-issue "sequel", Space Worlds.
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