Atomic Kommie Comics: Rex Dexter of Mars

Friday, October 19, 2018

Friday Fun REX DEXTER OF MARS "Who He Is and How He Came to Be" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Interplanetary Hero...

...he was experiencing his revised origin (as compared to his origin as shown in his premiere appearance HERE!)

So far, we've witnessed Rex's great-grandfather Montague leaving Earth in 1939, Rex's childhood after being born on Mars, and his romance as a young man with Cynde, also a descendent of the group who traveled from Earth with Montague Dexter in 1939!

Many of the plot elements from the original origin were altered in this new version which led off Fox's Rex Dexter #1 (1940), which was hoped to be a new, ongoing title, spun-off from Mystery Men Comics!
However. sales weren't strong enough to warrant continuing the separate title, and Rex remained in Mystery Men Comics until the end of its' run!
Next week: Our final Rex Dexter story, featuring space zombies!

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Friday, October 12, 2018

Friday Fun REX DEXTER OF MARS "Who He Is and How He Came to Be" Part 1

Remember the Origin of Rex Dexter...

...as shown HERE?

Well, forget it!

Everything you knew was wrong!

(Well, not everything, but it's a lot more dramatic when you say it with italics and/or bold lettering!)

This is the one, true, totally-accurate, never to be contradicted, origin story...which begins before Rex was born...

We'll use this convenient stopping point in the plot to point out a couple of things!

In the first story, Rex is the son of Montague, who left Earth in 1939, and he is a young adult in 2000!

In the second story, Rex is the great-grandson of Montague, who left Earth in 1939, and he is a young adult in 2040!

In the first story, Cynde is a woman Rex meets when he arrives on Earth!

In the second story, Cynde, the great-granddaughter of another couple who traveled from Earth with the Dexters in 1939, accompanies him to Earth!

There are numerous other differences, as you'll see NEXT FRIDAY!

So, why re-tell and revise Rex's origins?

Rex was introduced in Fox's Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939), and turned out to be one of the more popular strips, along with Blue Beetle!

So, after a year, publisher Victor Fox decided to give each of the two strips their own one-shot...

...which would combine a brand-new origin story about each character with selected reprints from Mystery Men Comics!

The Blue Beetle never had an origin story, since his first tale showed him already established and in action, so an origin was no problem.

But Rex's origin had been told in his first appearance!

Fox instructed creator/writer/artist Dick Briefer to re-tell the origin, and Briefer decided to "tweak" the series' concept a bit, as you'll see, next week!