Reading Room ADVENTURE INTO MYSTERY "Watcher!"

Here's a never-reprinted cautionary tale...

...from Atlas' Adventure in Mystery #7 (1957) whose "moral" is a little lost on me...

All Andrew Morris really needs is someone to doublecheck his time/space coordinates!
If he does decide to collaborate with others when he rebuilds, I'd hope he register a patent for for the system first!
Better safe, than sorry!
Marvin Stein does a fine job visualizing this tale by an unknown writer.

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

Volume 1
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Space Hero Saturdays CRUSADER FROM MARS "Mission Through Space"

Lars of Mars wasn't the only Martian Sent to Fight Evil on Earth by Jerry (Superman) Siegel!

This guy, along with a female "friend and companion" was sent to Earth to do similar work...but for a very different reason!

If I follow the "logic" of this concept correctly, the Martians send a proven murderer (along with someone who may be either an accessory to murder or an innocent who had nothing to do with the crime except having a murderer obsessed with her) to fight evil on Earth.
Send a convicted killer with emotional control issues (and advanced weaponry) to a primitive planet and tell him to clean it up?
And then, when he screws up. send a fleet of flying saucers in to straighten out the mess.
(Martians apparently don't have a non-interference Prime Directive.)
Also note that the American military seems to be made up of idiot bureaucrats!
The writer for this premiere tale from Crusader from Mars #1 (1952) is unknown, but probably is the book's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel, who co-created another short-lived Martian crime-fighter, Lars of Mars, the year before.

The artist is believed to be Marvin Stein, but the layouts have a strong Jack Kirby feel to them.
Considering Stein was doing a lot of work for the Simon/Kirby studio at the time, and Jack was reputed to be very generous in terms of helping his friends, it seems likely he provided roughs for Stein to render full pencils and inks over.
BTW, you may note that Tarka wears a very Superman-style costume in this tale, but on the cover, and in the next (and last) issue, the colors are reversed.

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Pre-Code Classics

Lars of Mars / Crusader from Mars

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Space Force Saturdays CAPTAIN QUICK AND THE SPACE SCOUTS "Mystery of the Moon of Mars"

Here's the first of three short features...

...that appeared in the second comic series based on the Tom Corbett: Space Cadet TV show!

Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#1 (1955) is credited solely to Marvin Stein at the Grand Comics Database, the layout appears to be by Jack Kirby, which would make sense since the Simon & Kirby studio was packaging the book for Prize Comics.
Beyond being set in the future, there was no stated connection to Tom Corbett, though they do seem to be part of the Space Service.

This "Captain Quick" is no relation to a suave secret agent character played by Adam West in early 1960s Quick chocolate milk flavoring commercials...

...which many attribute to causing the producers of a new show to cast him as their campy caped crusader!
BTW, in a weird bit of comic numbering, this second series' #1 is Tom Corbett's first #1!
The earlier series (from Dell Comics) began with #4 since the first three issues were part of the Four Color series (#s 378, 400, and 421) which was used to test sales for a particular project or licensed property before giving it an ongoing series!

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Pre-Code Classics

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Volume One

The First 7 Issues

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Reading Room WEIRD THRILLERS "Graveyard in the Antarctic"

The current cold wave reminded me of a recent TV mini-series about ill-fated Arctic explorers, The Terror! 

And here's a tiny true tale of frozen fear...from the back of Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #4 (1952)!

Illustrated by Marvin Stein, it's purportedly based on a true story.

But I've been unable to verify it, as all of Levick's known studies were about penguins, not seals!

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The Terror

by Dan Simmons

Reading Room / Halloween Horror MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Premonition of Death!"

Some things just can't be explained by current science...

...but that doesn't make them any less real!

Is this a lost "Kirby Klassic" from the 1950s?

When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's previously-humorous Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".

Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.

This never-reprinted story from V3N3 (1954) is a prime example.

The Grand Comics Database lists the story's illustrator as Marvin Stein, who worked primarily for the Simon & Kirby studio, so this most likely was an S&K "inventory" story laid-out by Kirby and meant for insertion wherever editorial page count came up short.

Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...

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Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

Volume 1

Reading Room WORLD OF MYSTERY "Night I Lost My Body!"

Some people lose their minds!

This guy will tell you about something even worse...

...in a never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Mystery #7 (1957)!

Illustrated by longtime Simon & Kirby Studio artist Marvin Stein, the story seems to have a very Jack Kirby "feel" to the panel structures and character poses.

Could Kirby have helped out by doing uncredited layouts?

We'll never know...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Red China has Landed a Robot Craft on the Far Side of the Moon!

Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Marvin Stein

We thought we'd be dealing with the Russkies on the lunar surface, but at this point, Putin has to buy rockets from North Korea!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Remember Makano"

It's the final battle in the series that may have inspired Don (the John) Trump's fantasy about a "Space Force"...

...appropriately enough, a tale that places emotion over logic!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) is the final story for the short-lived series.

Oddly, none of the sci-fi books about specific characters (this one and Lars of Mars, Crusader from Mars, and Space Patrol) lasted more than two issues!

But the anthologies lasted longer...Amazing Adventures ran six issues and Weird Thrillers ran five!

It must be admitted that Murphy Anderson's revamp gave the book a solid "shot in the arm" artistically, so why it was cancelled so abruptly remains a mystery!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Victory on Valda"

Editor Jerry Siegel wanted Space Busters to look more like...

... the recently-revamped and revitalized Buck Rogers strip!

But artist Marvin Stein ended up using the original Buck strip as reference in his tryout, and lost the gig!

With a looming deadline, Siegel contacted the Buck Rogers strip's artist, Murphy Anderson (who had recently left the series) to provide redesigns...

...as well as the cover-featured story!

(Note: the cover is by Allen Anderson...no relation to Murphy!)

Personally, I'm not crazy about the purple-red color scheme, but at least it matches the uniform on the cover.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Mission to Baldor!"

We're on to Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2, and the first of the "redesigned" stories...

...as artist Marvin Stein takes a crack at making the "Marines in space" series look more like Buck Rogers!

This never-reprinted story appeared in the back of Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) because editor/writer Jerry Siegel had nothing else to fill the empty pages!
Unfortunately, Stein had gone "old school" 1930s-40s Buck Rogers, when Siegel had wanted "modern" 1950s Buck Rogers.
So Siegel got the guy who had been illustrating the modern Buck Rogers...Murphy Anderson!

You'll see his work in two weeks!
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Showcase Presents

Weird War Tales
Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy Military Tales