Cover Gallery SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN & SPACE SQUADRON

Here's a look at the covers for the complete run of Speed Carter: SpaceMan...

Art by Bill Everett

Oddly, though they're really nice pieces of art, they never relate to the stories inside the book!

Art by Carl Burgos & ?

Art by Bill Everett

Art by Mike Sekowsky & ?

Art by Mort Lawrence

Art by Joe Maneely

Bill Everett (who didn't do any inside art) did two covers, and Joe Maneely (who did all the Speed stories in the first three issues finally got to do a cover with the last issue!

Here are the covers for Space Squadron.

Note the variants in foreign editions with retitled and redrawn covers...

Art by Sol Brodsky & Christopher Rule.

Vignettes at bottom by George Tuska.

Art by Werner Roth

Canadian Edition

Easily one of the worst recompositing jobs I've ever seen!

Art by Werner Roth

British Edition

Why were the aliens' second heads removed?

Art by Werner Roth

Canadian Edition

Now, this is how you recompose a cover!

Art by Sol Brodsky & Joe Maneely

Art by Sol Brodsky

British

Art by Sol Brodsky &?

We've decided to keep Space Force Saturdays at least through Halloween, so watch this space (pun intended) next week!

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Sting of the Scorpion, Cunning of the Centaur"

What's cooler than dealing with an alien menace in deep space?

Why, dealing with two alien menaces (who are also fighting each other) in deep space, of course!

The names of the constellations "Scorpio" and "Sagittarius" are Earth culture-based and their shapes as scorpions and centaurs can only be discerned from Earth.

So, why did evolution produce species that resemble Earth-based creatures in those distant star-systems?

And, why do centaurs have wings?

Probably tight deadlines, because it's an inherently-silly premise.

(And I won't even go into why Johnny says they're crashing into a star, when it's obviously a planet...)
This concludes our re-presentation of the never-reprinted Speed Carter: SpaceMan series.
Though next week is the final Space Squadron tale, that's not the end of those series here!

In two weeks, we'll present a gallery of the complete covers from both series along with a couple of interesting foreign variants!
After that...we're still considering if we should go with more military/police space opera (we have several kool series available) or just return Saturday posts to being whatever strikes our fancy!
Your opinion would be appreciated...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Thing in Outer Space"

Here's a tale that, back in the 1950s, could only have been shown in comics...

...because even the era's state-of-the-art SFX technology was far too primitive to do it effectively!

Oh, Speed, you're such a kidder!

This story from Atlas' Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1954) was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bob Forgione.
You'll note that Forgione uses original artist Joe Maneely's designs for the Speed Carter universe, which previous artists Mike Sekowsky (issue #4) and George Tuska (issue #5) ignored in their issues.
In fact, Forgione tries to match Maneely's rendering style...and does a damned good job at it.
It's a shame this was Speed's final issue.

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Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr

by Isaac Asimov

(under the pen-name "Paul French")

Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!

David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON & SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Famous Explorers of Space" Part 6

Both Atlas' Space Squadron and Speed Carter: SpaceMan had "future history" features...

...set in the "past", like this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Space Worlds #6 (1953), illustrated by Christopher Rule, which took place in an unnamed period after the 1960s!

In the alternate future world of Speed Carter, we discover women (even female astronauts) are not always treated as equals...

...but, when push comes to shove, they're as brave and as any men when facing the dangers of deep space exploration!

This story of a future fighting feminist from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1953) is written (like all the Speed Carter-related tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bill Benulis, an artist who entered the comics field in 1949 and stayed only four years in the business.

He became a postman when the comics industry almost collapsed due to the "Seduction of the Innocent" witchhunt (that claimed comics caused juvenile delinquency) swept the country.

But, because he was so prolific, unpublished material by him kept appearing in comics until 1957!

Besides "Famous Explorers", Space Squadron/Space Worlds also presented "future history tales" about the guy who was young hotshot Jet Dixon's crusty Commander-in-Chief when he was a young hotshot pilot...

Young Blast Revere's final adventure (also from Atlas' Space Worlds #6) was illustrated by George Klein.

Both Klein and Christopher Rule were primarily inkers, because, while they were competent pencilers, they could ink faster than they could pencil.

So, in a business where the per-page rate was low, specializing in inking paid better!
BTW, this is the final "Famous Explorers" entry, since both Speed Carter and Space Squadron/Space Worlds were cancelled with #6!
But, there are still several more tales from both titles to tell....

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Kiss of Death"

In the 21st Century, servicemen on furlough still do what they did in the 20th Century...

...except, maybe, for the dagger?

This never-reprinted story of futuristic male/female relations from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1954) was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated (as were all Speed Carter tales in #6) by Bob Forgione.

You'll note that Forgione uses original artist Joe Maneely's designs for the Speed Carter universe, which previous artists Mike Sekowsky (#4) and George Tuska (#5) ignored in their issues.

In fact, Forgione tries to match Maneely's rendering style...and does a fair job of it.

It's a shame this was Speed's final issue.

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Space Sentinel's Sacrifice"

It is said that every Space Sentinel is ready to die in defense of Earth...

...a belief put to the test in this tense tale from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #5 (1954)!

While it's a good attempt at a poignant tale about how a veteran, even crippled, could contribute to the defense effort, it's hampered by the fact that the story revolves around a character we've never seen before, and thus have no empathy for him.

And, we have to ask, where is the BeastMen's unnamed planet, since the now-diverted meteor crashes into it only a few minutes after being diverted by the impact of Major Ramm's ship!
This story was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman!

Illustrator George Tuska later became the final artist on the original Buck Rogers comic strip (1959-67) and then assumed the art duties for almost a decade on Marvel's Invincible Iron Man!

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Adventures of Lucky Starr

by Issac Asimov

(The first three novels of the six-book space-opera series in one volume!)