Reading Room CRUSADER FROM MARS COMICS "Prison Planet"

One of the oldest plots in fiction is "hero fakes going bad"...

...so why not try to "freshen it" by transposing the concept to outer space?

Both the writer and artist(s) for this one-off tale from the back of Ziff-Davis' Crusader from Mars #2 (1952) are unknown.
The Grand Comics Database lists Marvin Stein, but if it is Stein, he had a lot of layout assistance from his Simon & Kirby studiomates, including Joe Simon and Jack Kirby!
Neither Jon Barrett nor this version of Space Police ever re-appeared.

Reading Room CAPTAIN QUICK & THE SPACE SCOUTS "Hermits of Callisto"

The Space Scouts and their mentor finally leave Mars...

...only to find a mystery on a moon of Jupiter!

A poignant (and ironic) end to a short-lived series nobody remembers!

Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#3 (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 Simon & Kirby's studio was packaging the book for Prize.
Beyond being set in the near future, there was no connection to Tom Corbett.

Reading Room CAPTAIN QUICK & THE SPACE SCOUTS "Martian Canal Frog and the Jewel Flowers"

Let's strap on our rocket packs for another adventure with...

...who are still on Mars, as we saw last time!

Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#2 (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 Simon & Kirby's studio was packaging the book for Prize.
Beyond being set in the near future, there was no connection to Tom Corbett.

Reading Room 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 Tom Corbett: Space Cadet comic series.

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 Simon & Kirby's studio was packaging the book for Prize.
Beyond being set in the future, there was no connection to Tom Corbett.

This "Captain Quick" is no relation to the suave secret agent character played by Adam West in early 1960s Quick 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 (378, 400, and 421)!

Reading Room: CRUSADER FROM MARS "Mission through Space"

Though we've presented a couple of stories (HERE & HERE) about the short-lived...

Art by Allen Anderson

...we haven't shown you his never-reprinted origin!

So let's correct that oversight right now!

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 have no non-interference Prime Directive.)
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 stong 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.

Reading Room CRUSADER FROM MARS "Beachhead on Saturn's Ring"

Ziff-Davis had two short-lived titles about visitors from the Red Planet...

...Lars of Mars (which we covered HERE) and this one, about a pair of Martian criminals sent to dispense justice throughout the Solar System.

Yeah, you read that right...

You thought maybe they were a husband-and-wife alien police officer team like Katar and Shayera Hol, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl?

Nope!

Tarka murdered his rival for the love of a woman and committed the first felony on Mars in 50 years. The Martian government branded his arm and sentenced him to exile.

Together with his fellow criminal Zira, they were sent to Earth to rid it of crime.

If they failed, then they would be destroyed--and so would Earth.

Using their advanced technology, they battled evil both on Earth, and occasionally in outer space, as seen here.

The writer for this tale from Crusader from Mars #2 (1952) is unknown, but probably is the book's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

The penciler appears to be Marvin Stein, but the inker is unknown.

Reading Room: CRUSADER FROM MARS "Night of Terror"

Ziff-Davis had two short-lived titles about visitors from the Red Planet...

...Lars of Mars (which we covered HERE) and this one, about a pair of Martian criminals sent to dispense justice on Earth.

Yeah, you read that right...

You thought maybe they were a husband-and-wife alien police officer team like Katar and Shayera Hol, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl?

Nope!

Tarka murdered his rival for the love of a woman and committed the first felony on Mars in 50 years. The Martian government branded his arm and sentenced him to exile.

Together with his fellow criminal Zira, they were sent to Earth to rid it of crime.

If they failed, then they would be destroyed--and so would Earth.

Using their advanced technology, they battled evil both on Earth, and occasionally in outer space.

The writer for this tale from Crusader from Mars #2 (1952) is unknown, but may be the book's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

The penciler appears to be Marvin Stein, but the inker is unknown.

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Reading Room: RACE FOR THE MOON Kirby Klassics

Since it's Jack Kirby's Birthday, we're presenting some kool odds n' ends from...

including some never-reprinted stuff...

...like this contents page by Kirby and Marvin Stein from RttM #2!

This story by Kirby and Al Williamson from the same issue...

Here are the covers to the other two issues...

Beautiful.

Absolutely Beautiful!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Note: this ended up getting bounced by a day due to problems associated with Hurricane Irene.

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Reading Room: RACE FOR THE MOON "Thing on Sputnik 4"

As the Space Shuttle makes it's final journey...

...let's look at a tale created during early days of space travel, before Man had made it beyond the stratosphere, when we had NO idea of what awaited us "out there", but it was so kool to speculate...

From Race for the Moon #2 (1958).
Beautifully-rendered by Jack Kirby and Marvin Stein.
It's both amazing and depressing to see what we hoped to achieve in the (then) near-future, and to then see what we actually did...

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