Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ALIEN WORLDS "Ride the Blue Bus"

As Our Economy Collapses, We Ask "Is This the Future Don the Con has in mind for us?"

Thanks to him, we are edging ever closer and closer to it!

This never-reprinted post-apocalyptic tale by writer Bruce Jones and artist George Perez from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984) has an odd quirk.

Both Toby's friend, Juke, and the unnamed bus driver are illustrated as Black.

Yet neither is colored differently than the blond/blue-eyed Toby!

Was this deliberate?

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George Perez

StoryTeller
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Space Hero Saturdays ALIEN WORLDS "Few and the Far"

In space, things aren't always as they seem to appear...

...as this never-reprinted tale from Pacific's Alien Worlds #1 (1982) demonstrates not once, but twice...

Admit it.

Writer Bruce Jones and artist Al Williamson fooled you!

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Al Williamson Adventures
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Prepare for the RetroBlog Thanksgiving Turkey!

Due to time constraints...

...this year's Thanksgiving Turkey is going to be a little smaller, but no less tasty!

And this year, it'll be served at

Pop Art Martial Arts!
Behold!
The Coming of...

Proof positive that even the greatest comic creators can have an "off" day!

Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "...friend in need..."

In Space, No One Can Hear You...

...Dream (bet you thought I was going to say "Scream" didn't you?), as this story from over 30 years ago proves!

This tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #5(1984) had appeared a decade earlier in a somewhat different form!

You'll see that version...Thursday!

Writer-artist Ron Harris is best-known as the artist for the Dallas and Star Trek newspaper strips in the late 1970s-early 1980s.

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Star Trek: the Newspaper Strip

Volume One

Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "Tangled Web"

One of the joys of doing a blog like this is discovering people who, all too briefly, worked in comics...

...then moved on, sometimes without a trace!

This never-reprinted tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #4 (1984) is written and illustrated by Ruth Raymond.

It's her only comics credit, and, sadly, I can't find a single reference to her outside of the Grand Comics Database!

Was "Ruth Raymond" a pseudonym?

Both the scripting and art, though a tad awkward, show enormous potential.

It's sad to think this talented creative wasn't given a chance to grow.

If anybody has any info, please leave a link in the comments section!

Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "Guest"

I love alien invasion stories...

...but, no matter how well humans prepare or how lucky we Earthlings are, not all of them have a happy ending.

E.T. the Extraterrestrial had come out over a year earlier, creating a new genre of "cute/cuddly/harmless alien visitors" that made unwary humans complacent.

Writer/artist Darren Auck's never-reprinted cautionary tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #2 (1984) was one of several rather...visceral...responses to it.

Enjoy.

BTW, Darren Auck is best known as a humor artist, writing and illustrating a number of tales for Marvel's What the--? (a humorous version of What if...?) and Ren & Stimpy!

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Vanguard Illustrated #1-6 Set

There's only one set available...and it's at a bargain price!

Friday Fun ALIEN WORLDS "Small Change"

Summer's starting to wind down...

...so let's say "goodbye" with a never-reprinted, "fun" tale from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984)!

BTW, writer Bruce Jones and artist Brent Anderson also teamed up for an amazing run on Marvel's Ka-Zar the Savage in the '80s.

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Ka-Zar: SavageDawn

by Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson

(collecting 1-5 of Ka-Zar the Savage)

Perez Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "The Trains Belong to Us"

It's said that a good graphic story can be told without captions or dialogue!

This never-reprinted, cover-featured tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #6 (1984) is a damn (in more ways than one) good graphic story!

And you thought those who complained graffiti made cities look like hell were exaggerating...

Though both Cavaleri and Perez worked for DC for years before doing this short, this was their first (and, I believe, only) collaboration!

Thursday:

One of George's first published stories

Reading Room LAND OF THE FHRE aka SAVAGE WORLD 2.0

If you enjoyed Tuesday's short story "Savage World"...

...you'll find this version, using the same art...but a different script...a most fascinating read!

Noted Bronze Age writer/artist Bruce Jones was heavily-influenced by the Fleagle Gang and the EC Comics line in general.

Since the previously-published version of this tale in Witzend #1 (1966) was a rewrite of an unknown writer's script by Wally Wood, Bruce was given the opportunity to do a similar re-write, also without altering the art, for this publication in Pacific Comics' Alien Worlds #4 (1983).

Jones' version places the tale further into the future and makes the second half a dream sequence

The story also appeared in color for the first time, using the blueline/greyline method of hand-colored artwork with a black-line overlay, trying to simulate the traditional flat-color separations.

That's why the black linework isn't as crisp and sharp as in the b/w version.

The coloring was done by fantasy painter Joe Chiodo, another illustrator inspired by the work of 1950s comic artists.

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Al Williamson Adventures