Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Edge of Fear"

 Will Those Using Artificial Intelligence Do So with Intelligence and Ethics?

This story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #10 (1958) offers one take on the matter!

Writer Joe Gill and artist Steve Ditko told a fascinating tale about AI-augmented human intelligence over a half century ago that seems to be unfolding today...with vastly different results!

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Steve Ditko Archives

Impossible Tales

Volume 4

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Friday Fun PETER RABBIT "Trouble on the Moon!"

As Artemis prepares to launch, we wanted to present a Moon-themed Space Mouse story...

but all we could find was this strip also by Space Mouse's writer/artist/animator Frank Carin!

This never-reprinted tale from Avon's Peter Rabbit #30 (1955-6) isn't based on the classic Peter Rabbit character created by Beatrix Potter.
Avon Comics had been running a comic since 1947 reprinting the similar Peter Cottontail newspaper strip by Harrison Cady (based on books by Thornton Burgess) under the name Peter Rabbit Comics.

Perhaps due to not wanting to pay to license the Harrison Cady strip, the series was rebooted with a totally-new, very Americanized, contemporary version of the character, as of #7 (1950), which continued until #34 (1956).

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Golden Treasury of
Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics
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FLYING SAUCERS "Far Out Physical"

With all the current mishigas about UFOs/Flying Saucers...

...we thought we'd present a tale or two from the 1960s-70s comic anthologies dedicated to the topic!

You'll note that the aliens' world balloons are left blank!

Editor Don (D J) Arneson wrote all the stories in the four-issue run of Dell's Flying Saucers.
He also made sure the various artists presented a fairly-consistent "look" to the aliens.
(Note: the series ran five issues, but the fifth was a reprint of #1)
In the case of this tale from #1 (1967), Sam Glanzman brought his realistic, natural style to a story using many of the already-established elements of UFO lore.
Trivia: Both Dell and Gold Key produced anthology comics about alien visitors and their kitchenware-shaped vessels during this period.
Gold Key's UFO: Flying Saucers ran for twenty five issues, changing the title to UFO and Outer Space as of #14!

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Voyage to the Deep

TPB reprinting the complete four-issue sci-fi/fantasy 1960s series illustrated by Sam Glanzman, plus some kool features!
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Space Hero Saturdays LOST WORLDS "First Man to Reach the Moon"

In this 1952 tale, Mankind doesn't reach the Moon until 2021!

For the record, most sci-fi stories of the era show a manned Moon landing occurring by 2000!

While we don't know who wrote this story from Standard's sci-fi anthology Lost Worlds #6 (1952), the illustrations are by Art Saaf, a steady contributor to comic books from the beginning of the Golden Age to the end of the Bronze Age (1940-1980).

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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Reading Room SPACE PATROL COMICS "Push Button Tyrant"

Ziff-Davis' Space Patrol comic featured stories based on the 1950s TV series...

...and unrelated one-shot tales, like this never-reprinted "Cold War of the Future" story from #1 (1952).

Boy, they were obsessed in the 1950s that the Commies would win the Cold War!
The writer and artist are officially unknown, but I see a great deal of Carmine Infantino's penciling style in a number of panels.

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Lunar Reading Room / Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "A Nation is Born"

Here's the original Golden Age version of a Bronze Age story...

..we ran on Tuesday!

Illustrated by Golden Age journeyman Rafael Astarita, this tale appeared in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and was reprinted in IW's Strange Planets #9 (1959).

It was then re-illustrated, with only minor changes to the script (including a re-titling), in Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy V1N8 (1971) as we showed on Tuesday.

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Showcase Presents

Strange Adventures

Volume 1
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Reading Room CONQUEST "Beowolf the Mighty"

How do you liven up those boring, tired old ancient myths?

...why, turn the story's antagonist into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, of course!
Note, the monster is a lot bigger inside the story than portrayed in the symbolic splash panel!

Usually, Grendel is a demonic or ape-like beast.
Certainly, he's never been portrayed as a dinosaur before (or since)!
Conquest, a 1955 one-shot from Eastern Color which featured tales of real-life adventurers...except for Beowolf (which is usually spelled "Beowulf").
We don't know who the writer is so there's no way to tell if it was his/her idea or artist Bill Ely's to make Grendel a dinosaur!
BTW, Ely had a lot of experience rendering dinosaurs in sci-fi tales for almost every comics company of the 1950s and 60s, including a stint as the artist for DC's resident time-traveler, Rip Hunter: Time Master!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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