Reading Room DO YOU BELIEVE IN NIGHTMARES? "Man Who Crashed into Another Era"

Here's a short story featuring dinosaurs, illustrated by Steve Ditko...

...just before his stint on Charlton's Gorgo!

Ok, so it was the old "It's only a dream" scenario.

You got to admit, it's well-done!

From St John's Do You Believe in Nightmares? #1 (1957), a short-lived anthology produced just before St John went out of business.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room CAPTAIN 3-D "Man From the World of 'D'" IN COLOR!

You won't need a pair of red/blue 3-D glasses to read this version of...

...as presented in the hardcover anthology Simon & Kirby SuperHeroes from Titan Books, restored from scans of both the original art and first-generation photostats used in the original book's production in 1953.

...and here's the original text intro to the character...

(For this you will need 3-D glasses.)

BTW, if you want to see the original 3-D version of this tale, click HERE!

Script by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Art by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Simon, Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko (inks).
Taking comic book line art and modifying it to produce a 3-D effect with red and blue colored art was technically simple, so almost every company attempted at least one 3-D book between 1952-55.
Most were 3-D versions of existing comics including Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, even Katy Keene.
However, Captain 3-D was the Simon & Kirby team's attempt to jump on the 3-D bandwagon with NEW material.
As you've just read, Captain 3-D had both a cool premise and nice set-up, playing up the use of glasses to both empower the hero and perceive villains. (The John Carpenter movie They Live! used a similar gimmick)
Unfortunately, a legal battle involving the 3-D process all but killed the financial viability of producing 3-D books, and, though material was already finished, there was never a second issue of Captain 3-D!

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Simon & Kirby Superheroes 

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE WAR "Blue Men of Bantro"

How Often Do You Read a Story Where a Writer or Artist of the Tale is the Space Hero?

Now's your chance, courtesy of writer Joe Gill and artist Steve Ditko...neither of whom look like the writer and artist in this story!

Yes, it's a little weird, and the idea that our sand would regenerate the metabolisms of aliens is, to say the least, highly-implausible!

But you can't deny the "meta" impact of the ending!

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Art of Ditko

...which reprints many Ditko short stories, including this one!
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Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "My Secret"

You may ask "Why is a simple crime story being published in a sci-fi comic?"

The answer will surprise you...

Y'know, Donald Trump and his ilk could take a lesson from this Steve Ditko-rendered tale...illegal alien makes good and government rewards him with a free pass!

Originally-published in Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957), this oft-reprinted story's author is unknown, but suspected to be Charlton mainstay Joe Gill.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "What Happened?"

It's a question I've groggily-asked on more than one New Year's Day...

...but here it's the title of an example of classic Ditko storytelling!

Most likely scripted by Joe Gill, this taut tale from Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957) is one of those fun "gotcha" shorts in the vein of both EC Comics' sci-fi line and, later, TV's The Twilight Zone.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "You Are the Jury"

We Close Out 2024 with a Trial...

...unlike any we've ever seen...with the stakes being the survival of the planet Earth, itself!

What would you decide, considering the state of the planet (and the USA) as of December 31, 2024?

Illustrated by Steve Ditko and scripted by an unknown writer, this tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V1N11 (1954) presents an interesting dilemma.

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Steve Ditko Archives Vol 1

Strange Suspense

(Which reprints this story)

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Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories