Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS TREASURY "Christmas Carol"

Here's a "Reader's Digest" condensed version of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol...

...in only 10 pages, illustrated by Mike Sekowsky and adapted from the novelette by an unknown scripter.

This was included in Dell's 100-page one-shot anthology, Christmas Treasury, published in 1954.

It included a wide range of material from a graphic story retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ, to a tale about Santa Claus, to actual Christmas carols (complete with sheet music), to Clement Clarke Moore's "Night Before Christmas", to features about "Christmas Around the World", to this Dickens story!
Usually, a comic adaptation of A Christmas Carol takes anywhere from 30 to 50 pages, like the Marvel Classics Comics version we presented HERE.
But this one is pretty concise, leaving out only a couple of details, and hitting all the major plot points!

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A Christmas Carol / Scrooge

Collectibles Store!

Space Hero Saturdays MANHUNTER 2070 "Incident on Krobar 3"

A mere 47 years from now...

...the 21st Century's Deep Space will look a lot like the 19th Century's Wild West!

This short appeared in the back of DC's Showcase V1 #90 (1970), leading into the final three issues of the series' original run, dedicated to one of Mike Sekowsky's more innovative projects...

Sekowsky had quite a bit of latitude at DC as a writer/artist/editor during this period, revamping Wonder Woman, Metal Men and Supergirl (in Adventure Comics) while also presenting a couple of potential series in Showcase, Jason's Quest and Manhunter 2070.

This prequel was written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky, inked by Dick Giordano.

We re-presented the entire never-reprinted saga...

"Planet of Death" Part 1

"Planet of Death" Part 2

"Planet of Death" Conclusion

"Space Duel"

"Starker's Origin"

"D.O.A." Part 1
"D.O.A." Conclusion
"Next Issue"

"Never Trust a Red-Haired Greenie!" Part 1

"Never Trust a Red-Haired Greenie!" Part 2

"Never Trust a Red-Haired Greenie!" Conclusion

The story ended on a cliffhanger, and the apparent death of Starker.

For twenty years, except for a cameo in the revived Showcase's 100th issue, during a multiverse and time-spanning tale featuring almost every character who headlined a strip in Showcase...except James Bond from #43's adaptation of the movie Dr No...Starker had disappeared from the DC Multiverse.

HA!

Fooled Ya!

In 1990, Howard Chaykin and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez created Twilight, a mini-series combining and "updating" an assortment of DC Comics' 21st Century-based characters including (from left-to-right) Star Hawkins & Ilda, Tommy Tomorrow, Karel Sorenson (and the rest of the not-pictured Star Rovers), and Manhunter 2070 (who apparently survived the ambush), along with the Space Cabbie, Knights of the Galaxy, Space Ranger, and even the Space Museum!

It was also revealed that interplanetary private eye Star Hawkins was actually Axel Starker, brother to Manhunter 2070, whose full name was Jon Starker...contradicting the only-child storyline from the Showcase series.

Note: Star Hawkins was co-created by artist Mike Sekowsky (who, as a writer/artist/editor created Manhunter 2070) and writer John Broome, so the two characters were "brothers" sharing a "father", as it were.

Chaykin had already radically re-envisioned several other characters, including Blackhawk and The Shadow, and while his controversial Shadow updating (continued by Andy Helfer, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Kyle Baker) wasn't considered "official", the changes he introduced into Blackhawk became part of post-Crisis on Infinite Earths canon.

As to where Twilight stands in terms of continuity...well, we're not sure.

The events in the story have never been referenced in any other DC titles, nor has it ever been reprinted.

Which may be just as well, since Jon Starker dies during the tale.

But, Manhunter 2070 still had one more life left!

DC's continuity being what it is (or isn't) these days, it seems you can't keep an interplanetary bounty hunter dead for long.

In 2012, comics legend Walt Simonson wrote and illustrated a one-shot graphic novel, Judas Coin...

The coin falls into the hands of various people throughout recorded history (including a number of both notable and almost-forgotten DC characters)...

...the final chapter takes the reader to a near-future we have more than a passing familiarity with...

Yep, Starker survived!

Part 1

Conclusion

Have a look at Manhunter 2070, a worthy addition to our collection of Space Heroes!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Monday Medical Madness TWILIGHT ZONE "Plague"

Submitted for your approval...

...a tale so frightening, it couldn't be told on TV...but it did appear in comic books...in The Twilight Zone!

There wasn't a sequel to this never-reprinted story by writer Leo Dorfman and illustrator Joe Orlando (with an assist from Mike Sekowsky) from Gold Key's Twilight Zone #20 (1967)!

Perhaps it's best we never know,,,

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Andromeda Strain

by Michael Crichton

and the sequel

Andromeda Evolution

by Michael Crichton & Daniel H Wilson

Reading Room SPACE ACTION "Dictator of Japetus"

It appears that, even in the future, Mankind will still have dictators!

Personally, I've never seen the appeal of someone, who wasn't elected by the majority of the populace, arbitrarily-deciding matters for us!

Penciled by then-up-and-comer Mike Sekowsky, this tale from Ace's Space Action #3 (1952) is typical space opera of the period with a little political intrigue thrown in, and reads better than most of the stories that ran in Space Action.

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Marvel Masterworks

Tales of Suspense

Volume 1

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Frightened Ones!"

Ever hear the phrase "It's all a matter of perspective"?
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #4 (1956) validates it!

Penciled (and possibly inked) by Mike Sekowsky, this short proves "there's always someone bigger than you"!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder IRONJAW "Saga of IronJaw!" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Embodiment of Toxic Masculinity...

...sometime in a post-apocalyptic future, the barbarian known as IronJaw rescues a woman from a group of soldiers, slaughtering almost the entire squad!

But it's not due to altruism or s sense of justice, but simply horniness!

So while he indulges his lust, the unit's sole survivor reports to the king about their attacker...and the birthmark he bore which indicates the barbarian is, in fact, the supposedly-dead heir to the throne!
The current usurpers aren't happy with the news and order IronJaw captured ASAP...

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas/Seaboard's IronJaw #1 (1975) actually serves as a decent example of "world-building from scratch".
And, the writer intended the lead character to be a real asshole...

To say writer Michael Fleisher was "politically-incorrect" long before the phrase was coined is putting it mildly!
If you really want to take a look at how polarizing the guy was in the comics/sci-fi community, click HERE!
Warning: it ain't for the faint-hearted!
BTW, Fleisher ended up scripting extended runs of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian color comic and the Savage Sword of Conan b/w magazine from 1981 through 1985 as well as Marvel's comic adaptations of both the Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan movies!