Monday Mecha Madness WEIRD THRILLERS "Menace of R Day"

In the 1950s, it was believed that war could be ended by 1999...

...and that other menaces would threaten the Earth, instead!

This somewhat-hokey, but entertaining, sci-fi tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #1 (1951) was both penciled and inked by Ross Andru.

Andru would later partner with Mike Esposito with Ross as the penciler and Mike doing the inking.

Whether this was because Esposito was faster at inking than Ross, or Andru enjoyed doing only pencils is unknown.

Considering Andru seemed pretty damn good at inking, it's a pity he eventually gave it up.

BTW, the writer of this never-reprinted tale of mechanical mayhem is unknown.

Next Week: the Return of

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Reading Room LOST WORLDS "City That Escaped From Tomorrow"

In the 1950s, the popularity of sci-fi in tv and in movies carried over to comics...

...with a plethora of sci-fi anthology titles from almost every publisher, most of which ran material equal to the bulk of pulp and paperback science fiction of the era.

This never-reprinted tale from Standard's Lost Worlds #5 (1952) was penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito and Jim Mooney.
The writer is unknown.

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Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC WORLDS "Ace of Space"

Not to be confused with Space Ace (who went through several different incarnations)...

...this guy is a Cold War fighter pilot-type transposed to a Star Wars setting!

Darn those aliens!

Sending robot "drones" to do their fighting instead of going man-against-lizard as God intended!

Though the scripter for this tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #7 (1952) is unknown, the artwork is by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, with a couple of panels redrawn by Mike Sekowsky!

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Friday Fun ACE OF SPADES! The Swinging Seventies Black Super-Hero You NEVER Heard of...

 In 1971, two years before The Black Panther received his own series...

...a Black Super-Hero hit the newsstands of America for a two-issue run almost nobody remembers!

Who is he?

Where did he come from?

And why don't even the most obsessive comics fans remember him?

These, and other equally-valid questions are now answered at...

Not Safe for Work Comics!
In a Two-Part Post!
Part 1
Part 2

Warning!

The Answers May NOT Be Suitable For the Faint-Hearted!

Click at Your Own Risk!

Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Rich Buckler & Wayne Howard (with additional art by John Romita Sr)

Reporter Cliff Sutherland and photographer Ann O'Hara may be on to the scoop of the century.

An alien robot, which went inert after Klaatu (the alien humanoid it accompanied) was shot and killed (without provocation) when he tried to initiate contact with people of Earth isn't as unmoving as the US government believes!
The duo conceal themselves nearby, hoping to catch the automaton in motion...which they do!
They witness the robot enter the alien vessel...which sealed up and apparently deactivated after Klaatu was killed.

And now things get really weird...

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

The original story by Harry Bates appeared in Street and Smith's Astounding Science Fiction V26N2 (1940) with the following illustrations by Frank Kramer...all of which feature Gnut!

"Farewell to the Master" has been reprinted numerous times, usually in anthologies about Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, or compilations of stories which were adapted into films or TV shows.

But the graphic adaptation from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973) has never been reprinted, and no other comic book/comic strip version has ever been done!
However, there was another prose adaptation of the short story...

This book, written by Arthur Tofte, published by Scholastic Books in 1976, combined "Farewell to the Master" with the screenplay for the 1951 movie into a new novel which presents Klaatu and a rather verbose Gnut (not "Gort") as a pair of equal partners, representing their respective civilizations within a galactic organization calling themselves "The Watchers"!
Finally, Lux Radio Theatre produced a one-hour radio adaptation in 1954, narrated by Paul Frees and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu!
Regrettably, it doesn't use Bernard Herrmann's magnificent soundtrack but it's still worth listening to.
You can link to it HERE!

KLATTU BARADA NIKTO!

Which translates to:

Shogun Warriors Return Next Monday!

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Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Part 1

You know the story...sorta.

You've seen (and/or heard) the story adapted...sorta.

Now read the most faithful adaptation of the tale...short of the original novelette!

And before you go any further, "Gnut" is pronounced "Nut".

That's one of the reasons it was changed when the story by Harry Bates was adapted in 1951 into a movie...

Aw, you guessed!

As you've surmised, there were quite a few changes made when the silver screen version was created and produced!

And, when writer Roy Thomas, penciler Ross Andru and inker Wayne Howard went back to the source material for the never-reprinted Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973)...well, let's let Rascally Roy himself tell you about that...

Be here NEXT MONDAY for the ASTOUNDING conclusion...plus some kool extras (which will explain why I capitalized "astounding"!)

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Day the Earth Stood Still

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