Showing posts with label Sergius O'Shaughnessy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sergius O'Shaughnessy. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "Tale About Time: There Shall Be an Ending!"

...reporter Paul Mann is plucked from 1967 by the Esroms, peaceful humans from the year 4000 AD who travel in time machine/spacecraft that are mistaken for "flying saucers".
Mann and the Esroms pursue the Honjnosians (evil humans also from 4000 AD) to the time before the Big Bang when Paul falls out of the ship into the ether of the pre-universe...
Remember, Bronsky's diagram was for a bioweapon, specifically an unstoppable plague!
You'll note the use of the "breaking the fourth wall" storytelling technique with Mann addressing the reader directly in several panels, (with one panel of other characters thinking Paul's a bit looney).
Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonym scripted this conclusion to the book-length tale from Space Adventures V2#2 (1968).
The art is by the highly-underrated Pat Boyette with what looks like minor redrawing by Jim Aparo in several panels featuring Paul Mann to maintain visual continuity.
Sadly, there were no further adventures of Mann and the men from 4000 AD...
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(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "Tale About Time: Race to the End of Time"

...actually, the characters are handling the plot synopsis shtick pretty well, so I'll just let them explain...

Not to be negative (ouch), but things aren't looking good for Paul Mann.
If you want to see how he escapes from the edge of Time and Space, be here next Wednesday!
Denny O'Neil (using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom) scripted this "part 2 of 3" in Space Adventures #V2N2 (1968).
No, that's not a typo.
This is "Volume 2" of Space Adventures, which had been cancelled the year before with #60!
However, while this is Vol 2, #2, it's the first issue of the revival since there was no Vol 2 #1!
(Geez, the time travel paradoxes in this story are easier to explain than comic book numbering!)
The amazing art is by none other than Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange!
At this point, Ditko had left Marvel and was freelancing for Charlton, Tower, ACG, and Warren, working in every genre imaginable, producing some of the best work of his career, much of which has, sadly, not been reprinted!
BTW, you may have noticed that the primary plot from the first tale...
...biological warfare, has been left by the wayside, in order to simplify the synopsis!
(Remember, there's a year-long gap between the original issues in 1967-68, not just a couple of weeks)
But you and we know that plot element's there, and it's the subtext for the remainder of this saga!
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(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "Tale About Time: The Quest Begins"

Remember the phrase "Everything you think you know is wrong!"...
...because this sequel to the three-parter we just ran HEREHERE, and HERE will redefine the concept!
The questions continue to pile up, and one of the most famous artists of the Silver Age takes over the storytelling....next Wednesday!
(Not that Jim Aparo was any slouch, but this guy is known even outside comics!)
This sequel to the tale from Space Adventures #60 (1967) was by the first story's scripter, Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom, and appeared almost a year later in Space Adventures #2 (1968).
No, that's not a typo.
This is "Volume 2" of Space Adventures, which had been cancelled the year before with #60!
However, while this is Vol 2, #2, it's the first issue of the revival since there was no Vol 2 #1!
Geez, the time travel paradoxes in this story are easier to explain than comic book numbering!
BTW, you may have noticed that the primary plot from the first tale...
...biological warfare, has been left by the wayside, in order to simplify the synopsis!
(Remember, there's a year-long gap between the original issues in 1967-68, not just a couple of weeks)
But you and we know that plot element's there, and it's the subtext for the remainder of this saga!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Secret of the Saucer"

 ...now he's encountered an apparent alien who saved him (and the town) from a biological weapon stolen by a Communist spy.
Mann is taken into a flying saucer where he's about to (as we said in the 60s) "blow his mind"...
The finale of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was deliberately left open-ended.
A sequel, also using the artist "round-robin" concept, and also written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonym, appeared almost a year later.
Luckily for you, it'll be here...
Next Wednesday!
The art for this chapter was by up-and-comer Jim Aparo, who started at Charlton and went to DC when editor Dick Giordano moved there and offered him, Pat Boyette, Steve Ditko, and writers Denny O'Neil and Steve Skeates work after Charlton cancelled all their super hero and adventure/sci-fi titles in 1968!
Aparo became DC's primary Batman artist during the 70s and 80s as well as handling other series like Aquaman and Phantom Stranger.
One last note, this art from the reprint in Charlton's Ghost Manor #77 (1984) left out the "Chapter 3" header seen here...
...because the reprint left out the entire first chapter, though the events in it were referenced in the remaining two parts!
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(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Plague"

Small town newspaper reporter Paul Mann researches a story about how, 100 years earlier, a flying saucer landed and aliens cured a local boy, ending a feud between two families that had gone on for generations.
With saucer sightings recently on the increase, Mann wonders if he'll encounter one...

But can Mann be prepared for the senses-shattering Secret of the Saucer?
Find Out Next Wednesday!
The second part of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was illustrated by artist Pat Boyette, an artist who usually did his own penciling, inking, and lettering, giving his work an immediately-distinctive visual style.
There's a kool tribute page to Boyette HERE.
You'll note the art is much cleaner and sharper than the previous chapter.
That's because it's not from Space Adventures, but the reprint in Charlton's Ghost Manor #77 (1984), which, curiously, left out the previous chapter entirely (but did run the final chapter, making the reprint a two-part, not three-part story)!
Here's Page One from the original printing...
Note the "Chapter Two" subhead was removed in the reprint!
BTW, all three parts of this story (and the sequel) were written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom.
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
(which shares a number of plot elements with this story)