Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Visitors from Space" and "Space Platforms--Way Stations of the Future!"

Besides comic stories, comic books often ran one-page features like these...

Standard's Lost Worlds #5 Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

...based on historical or scientific information available at the time...

Standards' Lost Worlds #6 Art by Rocco Mastroserio

...or speculation about future developments, again, based on then-current knowledge!

(I love that third panel, showing spacesuit-garbed scientists on a balcony on the satellite!)

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Cover Gallery SPACE ACTION

Here's the complete cover collection for Ace's Space Action...

Art by Lou Cameron

...which share something in common with the covers for Lost Worlds and Fantastic Worlds besides being science fiction-themed (We showed those covers HERE)!

Art by Matt Fox and/or Lou Cameron

Artist unknown

The answer?

None of the covers relate to any of the stories inside the books!

(But they're kool, eh?)

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "First Man to Reach the Moon"

In this 1952 tale, Mankind doesn't reach the Moon until 2021!

For the record, most sci-fi stories of the era show a manned Moon landing occurring by 2000!

While we don't know who wrote this story from Standard's sci-fi anthology Lost Worlds #6 (1952), the illustrations are by Art Saaf, a steady contributor to comic books from the beginning of the Golden Age to the end of the Bronze Age (1940-1980).

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Cover Gallery FANTASTIC WORLDS and LOST WORLDS

They ran for a combined total of only five issues...

Art by Alex Toth

...but Standard's short-lived sci-fi anthologies Fantastic Worlds and Lost Worlds had some first-rate talent both on the covers and inside them!

Art by John Celardo

Plus, all five covers had something in common quite unique in publishing...

...none of the covers had anything to do with any of the interior stories!

Art by Alex Toth & Mike Peppe

Despite the captions, which did mention titles from stories inside the books...

Art by Mike Sekowsky & John Celardo

...the art didn't depict anything even close to what was in the tales!

But they sure look kool, don't they?

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Men and Fire"

In 1952, outer space was the "final frontier"...

...and humans were going to tame it, no matter what the consequences!

This never-reprinted tale from Standard's Lost Worlds #6 (1952) was penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Andru and Mike Esposito.
The writer is unknown.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "City That Escaped From Tomorrow"

In the 1950s, the popularity of sci-fi in tv and in movies carried over to comics...

...with a plethora of sci-fi anthology titles from almost every publisher, most of which ran material equal to the bulk of pulp and paperback science fiction of the era.

This never-reprinted tale from Standard's Lost Worlds #5 (1952) was penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito and Jim Mooney.
The writer is unknown.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Outlaws of Space"

Some say space operas are just Westerns with rayguns instead of six-shooters...

...and here's a story that plays with those cliches, even down to the characters mentioning the parallels!

While we don't know who wrote this never-reprinted story from Standard's short-lived sci-fi anthology Lost Worlds #6 (1952), the art is by Alex Toth (pencils) and Al Rubano (inks).

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Setting the Standard

Comics by Alex Toth: 1952-1954

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Quest of the Chlorophyl Monsters"

Before reading this story, lots of kids didn't know what "chlorophyl" was...

...and to think some say comic books aren't educational!

This scientifically-semi-accurate tale from Standard's Lost Worlds #5 (1952) was penciled by Jack Katz and inked by Aldo "Al" Rubano.
(A traveling planet's surface would freeze during the periods it was in interstellar space, making it unusable for growing plants.
Plus, in deep space, the mobile world wouldn't receive enough sunlight to stimulate the chlorophyll in plants to function.
Theoretically, the aliens could use hydroponic gardens with artificially-produced "sunlight" in caverns inside the planet, but that's not mentioned in the story.)
The writer is unknown.