Space Force Saturdays PERIMETER PATROL SERVICE "Mission to Malooka"

Meet the Perimeter Patrol Service in their never-reprinted premiere...

...from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #5 (1951)!

This story is a superb example of pulp/comic space opera of the era with all the classic elements:

Square-jawed heroes!

Rockets & ray-guns!

Literal bug-eyed monsters!

No scantly-clad women in this particular tale, but the other Perimeter Patrol Service sagas have them!

BTW, this premiere appearance is illustrated by Murphy Anderson, who had just finished his first run on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip.

He would later specialize doing sci-fi/fantasy at DC Comics, including Hawkman, Adam Strange, and Superman!

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Space Hero Saturdays LARS OF MARS "Secret Origin"

What if 1950s sci-fi shows like Captain Video or Space Patrol were real?

Or if the aliens shown on the screen were real aliens?

And what if the alien was the Space Hero???

As you've just read, that was the premise of the short-lived (two issues) Ziff-Davis series Lars of Mars!

Created by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and Murphy (Buck Rogers) Anderson, this premiere story from the first issue of his own title (which, oddly enough,  was #10!) established the somewhat-silly premise.

During his run, Lars battled Commies, crooks, and other interplanetary aliens while protecting his "secret identity" from his nosy producer (who bore a disturbing resemblance to Lois Lane).

You'll be seeing all of Lars' stories here (including his final tale from the 1980s (in 3-D, no less) over the next six months.

Watch for them!

Trivia:

The cover paintings for both issues of Lars of Mars were painted by Allen Anderson...who was not related to interior artist Murphy Anderson!

Here's a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"-style factoid (done in only four degrees)...

• 1) Ziff-Davis also published a short-lived adaptation of an actual 1950s sci-fi tv series, Space Patrol, illustrated by Bernie Krigstein.
• 2) Krigstein illustrated the first issue of another Ziff-Davis sci-fi series: Space Busters!
• 3) Bernie was replaced on interior art for the second (and final) issue of Space Busters by...Murphy Anderson!
• 4) Allen Anderson did the painted cover for the Space Busters issue (#2) illustrated by Murphy! (Norm Saunders had painted #1's cover!)

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MARTIANS! MARTIANS! MARTIANS!

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featuring the covers of both issues of Lars of Mars!

Macabre Monday Madness THE SPECTRE & THE FLASH "Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor" Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art penciled by Flash artist Carmine Infantino and inked by Spectre artist Murphy Anderson

...while visiting Earth-Two, The Flash is possessed by the ghost of World War I fighter pilot Luther Jarvis, who feels his comrades who survived the war allowed him to die due to their cowardice!
Using the Scarlet Speedster as a cats-paw to give him an davantage in a dogfight, the ghostly pilot pits the mind-controlled Flash Against The Spectre!

Next Week: Back to Our Usual Monday Madness!

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Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC WORLDS "Space Treasure"

What's it like to be just another working stiff doing his job...but in outer space?

This tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #5 (1952) offers some insight...

Lovingly-rendered by Murphy Anderson, the story was created between his stints on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip, and certainly has the "look" of the legendary comic!

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Life and Art of Murphy Anderson

The Comic Book Trade Paperback You SHOULD have Bought...but DIDN'T!

Remember this spectacular wraparound cover?

This superb, never-reprinted Murphy Anderson illustration encapsulates what made DC's science fiction line in the 1950s and 60s so entertaining!

• Adam Strange and Alanna! (DC's premiere Silver Age space-going heroes!)
• Winged Apes! (DC was famous for using apes almost anywhere you could think of!)
• A ridiculous, physically-impossible image (giant arrow thrown by aforementioned winged [but normal-sized] ape through the Earth) that you just must know the story behind! (Though, sadly, in this case, there's no actual story behind this particular piece!)

Fireside's Mysteries in Space (1980), a $7.95 trade paperback reprint compiled from Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Tales of the Unexpected, and From Beyond the Unknown came and went quickly through bookstores.

Sadly, it didn't sell well, and many copies were returned to the publisher and pulped!

It's not available in e-book form, and a different 1999 trade paperback, Mystery in Space, doesn't reprint any of the stories featured in this compilation!

When you can find a copy now, it runs from $30 to $100, depending on condition!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Reading Room SENSATION MYSTERY "Vengeance of the Invisible Men!"

Here's a kool, never-reprinted, 1950s sci-fi tale...

...using a combination of different genre cliches!

Illustrated by the legendary Murphy Anderson, this story from DC's Sensation Mystery #110 (1952) combines the following cliches:

Glasses that enable somone to see things nobody else can see!

Creatures from the center of the Earth rising up to attack up!

A heroic human in alien/creature form stopping the enemy from destroying/enslaving humanity!

All of which leads me to believe the unknown writer of this tale is Gardner Fox, who was also working for DC as well as being well-versed in such concepts because he was both an established pulp and paperback novelist and an avid sci-fi fan!

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Space Force Saturdays MARS COMPANY in "Winner"

In the early 1970s, DC experimented with pulp-style illustrated prose tales...

...in genre (sci-fi, horror, western, and romance) titles!

Written by Denny O'Neil, and rendered in retro 1950s Buck Rogers style...

...by Murphy Anderson, this never-reprinted text feature from DC's Strange Adventures #227 (1971) seems more a tribute to classic 1940s-50s "hard" sci-fi pulps instead of a then-current "new wave" science fiction tale!
Since it featured the last story about Earth's interplanetary fighting force, Mars Company, we felt it would be the perfect "capper" to the SpaceBusters saga, which Murphy re-conceived just before its' cancellation!

Murphy seemed to be DC's "go-to" guy when they needed retro-style material in the 1960s-70s!

He was the artist for Silver Age revival try-outs of Golden Age characters in Brave & Bold (Starman & Black Canary) and Showcase (Dr Fate & HourMan and The Spectre), as well as the first few issues of The Spectre's own Silver Age title!

Anderson was also the initial artist on DC's Bronze Age version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, as well as filing-in where needed on other Burroughs strips including Korak and Beyond the Farthest Star!

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Mysteries in Space

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