Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Monster-Men of Space"

It's time for interstellar adventure with Kenton of the Star Patrol...

...as another talented artist takes the reins for his final tale!

This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #6 (1952) as penned by Gardner Fox and rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who left comics for fine art (including numerous official portraits of US Presidents).
Previous Kenton artists Joe Orlando and Wally Wood did the cover for the issue...

...but, when the cover was reused for IW/Super's Eerie #1 (1958), which contained stories from Spook Comics, the art looked decidedly-different!

Was the Eerie cover the original version, which was modified to make the alien match the Kinsler-drawn aliens?
Ironically, when the Kenton story was reprinted, it had a totally-new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito featuring aliens who looked nothing like the Monster-Men...

And there's yet another twist to the tale of this tale, which we will tell...tomorrow, when we go from Strange Worlds and Strange Planets to Strange Galaxies!

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Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Sirens of Space"

Kenton goes hand-to-hand with space pirates...

...and to think he gets paid to do this sort of stuff!
Where do I sign up for the Star Patrol?

This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #5 (1951) demonstrates Joe Orlando and Wally Wood's talent for rendering both exotic machinery and beautiful women.
It's also their final Kenton story, but not their final work on the character.
He did the cover for the next issue, which features the final tale in the Kenton series, but illustrated by another artist!

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Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Alien Raiders"

When interstellar crime occurs, there's only one man to call...

...as this exciting tale from Avon's Strange Planets #3 (1951) demonstrates!

This second Kenton story is Joe Orlando and Wally Wood's first work on the strip (Joe Kubert illustrated the character's first appearance).

Orlando and Wood would subsequently do all but the last Kenton tale, despite a very hectic schedule in 1951, including other Avon Comics work, illustrating the ongoing Captain Science strip plus miscellaneous short stories for Youthful Publishing, and numerous EC Comics assignments in various genres, before going exclusively to EC for a couple of years.

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Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Corsairs of the Coalsack"

Space Squadron, Space Patrol, Star Rangers, Space Sentinels...

...with all those law-enforcement organizations prowling the spaceways of 1950s sci-fi, it's surprising there were any villains who dared commit crimes in the Milky Way!

This premiere appearance (but second printing) of Kenton of the Star Patrol is from Avon's Strange Worlds #1 (1950) is written by Gardner Fox, and illustrated by Joe Kubert.
It first appeared in Avon Publishing's Out of This World Adventures #2 (1950), a weird half-comic/half pulp magazine experiment that lasted only two issues.
Kenton was one of only two ongoing strips in Strange Worlds, an anthology for both sci-fi/fantasy and the occasional horror tale.
(The other one was Crom the Barbarian.)
You'll be seeing Kenton's entire short-lived series here over the next few weeks.

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