Space Hero Saturdays STAR WARS the Lost Comic Books!

Since today is May the 4th Be With You Day...

...we're showing the covers of the only Star Wars comics that have never been reprinted in their original format!

Blackthorne's three-issue mini-series from 1987, Star Wars 3-D!

The stories are new tales by Len Wein, Patrick Zircher, Jim Nelson, and Caesar MacSombol!

While these comics have been reprinted (as shown below), the reprints aren't 3-D!

Would you like to see the 3-D versions?

Let us know!

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Star Wars Omnibus

Wild Space

Volume 1

(Which reprints the issues shown above...but in 2-D!)

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Bet You've NEVER Seen Santa Claus Like THIS...

Ah, the Silver Age of Comics!

When situations like the one portrayed above were the norm, rather than the exception.
From DC's Hot Wheels #6 (1970), the last issue of the first comic based on a TV series based on a toy line.

Ironically, it was the Christmas issue...

Long before He-Man, Micronauts, GI Joe and Transformers presented toys as animated action heroes, Hanna-Barbera's Hot Wheels animated series (based on the still-highly successful Mattel toys) featured a politically-correct team of teens battling evil while engaging in auto races in nifty cars (with their seat belts firmly buckled, of course)!
Yes, it sounds like Scooby Doo...but without the annoying talking dog...

To see this never-reprinted story, click HERE.

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Duare: Princess of Venus"

When Last We Left the First EarthMan on Venus...

...now let the fun begin!

OK, it's an unlikely coincidence, but remember, Carson thwarted a previous kidnapping attempt HERE.
Apparently, when he's not nearby, potential kidnappers are far more successful!
The adaptation of Pirates on Venus races along with this action-packed chapter from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #52 (1973).

Considering this was a bi-monthly series, writer Len Wein and artist Mike Kaluta felt the pressure to deliver a serialized tale that would hold the audience's interest for two months at a time...and they always delivered!

Be here
Next Wednesday
for the astounding conclusion!

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Pirates of Venus & Lost on Venus

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Mutiny at Sea"

We Have Already Seen...

BTW, I find it strange an American would take the side of a monarch against rebels.

Note also, the re-drawing of a couple of heads by editor Joe Kubert in the first panel below...

The adaptation of Pirates on Venus races along with this action-packed chapter from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #51 (1973).

Considering this was a bi-monthly series, writer Len Wein and artist Mike Kaluta felt the pressure to deliver a serialized tale that would hold the audience's interest for two months at a time...and they always delivered...as you'll see next Wednesday!

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Pirates of Venus & Lost on Venus

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Terror from the Sky!"

It's not easy when you lose your only friend on an alien world...

...but if there's anything a lifetime of reading/watching science fiction has taught me, it's that things are not as they seem...

There's Always Hope...as We'll See...

Next Wednesday!

Remember, while the "you're not really dead because your alien biology is different from mine" concept is a cliche these days, the novel Pirates of Venus was written in 1932, and was a relatively new idea back then.

(One of the things that drove me nuts about reviews of the movie John Carter was the complaint it was "so derivative" of everything from Flash Gordon to Superman to Star Wars...when the 1911 story Princess of Mars was the inspiration for the aspects of those properties that people were complaining John Carter copied!)

Len Wein and Mike Kaluta keep the story racing along in this chapter from DC's Korak Son of Tarzan #50 (1973).

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Pirates of Venus & Lost on Venus

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Gathering Tarel"

When Last We Left the First EarthMan on Venus...

...he apparently was getting rather, well...horny (in a Comics Code-approved way, of course)!

Talk about going from bad to worse!
While this chapter from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #49 (1972) doesn't end promisingly, trust us, it's going to get better...next Wednesday!

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Pirates of Venus & Lost on Venus

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Battle Cry!"

We Have Already Seen...

Wein and Kaluta have brought us up to date!
Buckle your swashes and read on...

Needless to say...

Continued Next Wednesday!

To his credit, Edgar Rice Burroughs made each of his series as different from the others as possible.
Except for an American protaganist and a beautiful woman to lust after, Barsoom, Amtor, Caspak, Pelucidar, and the Moon have vastly-different enviroments, unique flora and fauna, and differently-structured humanoid civilizations and governments!
Written by Len Wein and illustrated by Mike Kaluta, this tale from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #48 (1972) continues the adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Pirates of Venus, the first of the Carson of Venus series!

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The Complete Ace Books Carson of Venus Series

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Girl in the Garden"

When Last We Left the First EarthMan on Venus...

...attempting to reach Mars, Carson Napier fails to take the Moon's gravity into consideration and his trajectory takes him to Venus instead!

Ejecting from the ship before it crashes, Napier encounters a giant crustacean which almost devours him but for the intervention of three humanoids who bring the shaken and stranded Earthman to their home...

Do We Have to Tell You?

Continued Next Wednesday!

Writer Len Wein and illustrator Mike Kaluta continue the high adventure with the second installment of their adaptation of Burroughs' Pirates of Venus from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #47 (1972).
To readers of the time, it must have been frustrating to only have 5 to 7 pages of Carson at a time, since the book was bi-monthly!
But it was probably the only thing keeping the detail-oriented, but notoriously-slow Kaluta on Carson, The Spawn of Frankenstein strip in Phantom Stranger, and The Shadow (both of which which were also bi-monthly) along with several cover assignments per month!

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The Complete Ace Books Carson of Venus Series

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS "Mars--or Bust!"

Starting this week, we're presenting runs of short-lived series on Wednesdays...

...beginning with one of the very best from two future comic legends!

To Be Continued

Next Wednesday!

When Gold Key lost the license to Edgar Rice Burroughs properties in 1971, DC snapped it up right away!

The then-new Conan the Barbarian title had proven pulp characters had viability as comics and both DC and Marvel were grabbing up pulp properties currently in paperback reprints to adapt.

While Marvel was concentrating on Robert E Howard's characters (and other barbarians) along with Doc Savage, DC got Doc's stablemates The Shadow and The Avenger as well as Burroughs' lineup.

Besides continuing the Tarzan and Korak titles (from their Gold Key numbering), DC decided to re-launch John Carter along with previously-unadapted series Pellucidar and Carson of Venus as back-ups!

Note: While Gold Key's Tarzan had visited Pellucidar in several multi-issue tales, the underground world and it's inhabitants never had stand-alone stories!

There was no shortage of eager creatives to handle the new series!

Writer Len Wein and illustrator Michael Kaluta got the nod for Carson and ran with it, as you can see in this premiere story just dripping with both period mood and pulp-style high adventure from DC's Korak: Son of Tarzan #46 (1972)!

The team adapts ERB's introductory Carson novel Pirates of Venus in a multi-issue arc.

Oddly, they leave out one of the more interesting aspects of the book...a number of references to other Burroughs characters including Tarzan, David Innes, Captain Zuppner, Abner Perry and Jason Gridley!

Whether this was DC's or the Burroughs Estates' decision is unknown, but I find it hard to believe serious fans like Wein and Kaluta would deliberately leave out the references...

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The Complete Ace Books Carson of Venus Series