Reading Room STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES "One Last Chance"

A never-reprinted, Ditko-rendered, Silver Age tale...

...is the sort of thing we delight in presenting to our blog's loyal fans!

I rather like the idea that the protaganists will never know if they succeeded in saving the future...or inadvertently destroyed it!

Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories V3#2 (1968) was written entirely by Steve Skeates, though the stories in the anthology were illustrated by different artists.

Apparently editor Dick Giordano had planned to allow a single writer to carry each issue, with Denny O'Neil penning all the stories in the first issue and Skeates scripting the the tales in the second one.

Giordano's departure to DC scuttled the concept, and from the third issue onward, a variety of writers would fill the pages.

BTW, though the tale was never reprinted, the cover was...

...to represent a different Ditko-illustrated story reprint in Charlton's Space War #31 (1978)!

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room UNLIKELY TALES "Time Machine"

When two Steves...a long-established pro and eager young up-and-comer...collaborate...

...you get this time-travel tale, set only 14 years from now, with a novel twist!

It's amazing what the comics creators of 1967 thought 70 years later would look like!

Considering that we Baby Boomers thought by 2000 we'd have bases on the Moon and flying cars, it's not unreasonable...

Written by up-and-comer Steve Skeates and illustrated by Spider-Man and Dr Strange co-creator Steve Ditko, this never-reprinted story from the Unlikely Tales anthology collection in Charlton Premiere #4 (1968) offers a surprise twist on the usual "time-traveler from the future may change history" concept.

Trivia:

Skeates wrote all the stories in this issue, a rarity for someone just starting out in the industry.

All the stories were both penciled and inked by their respective artists, also a rarity in a business where, in order to meet deadlines, creators usually either penciled or inked, but not both.

The artists in this issue included Ditko, as well as Pat Boyette, Jim Aparo, and Charlton mainstay Rocke Mastroserio.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room UNLIKELY TALES "Expedition"

Exploring jungles in "deepest, darkest Africa" was a common sci-fi/fantasy trope...

...even into 1968, when this never-reprinted story appeared in Charlton Premiere #4 an anthology under the banner Unlikely Tales.

All the stories in the issue were written by up-and-comer Steve Skeates with a different artist on each tale.

This particular one was rendered by another up-and-comer Pat Boyette with the rest of the tales illustrated by vets Steve Ditko, Rocke Mastroserio, along with another newcomer, Jim Aparo.

Trivia note: all the artists in this issue inked their own pencils, a rather uncommon occurrence in the deadline-driven comics business where the need for speed and high-volume output tended to preclude allowing artists to do both.

Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Hit and Run!"

Our final pre-Halloween entry...

...is from the final issue of The Spectre's stint as a horror host de-powered from being one of the DC Universe's most powerful characters!

Here's one of the stories you'd find under this kool Nick Cardy cover for DC's Spectre #10 (1969)...

Wow!
No wonder God "demoted" the Spectre!

Writer Steve Skeates and artist Jose Delbo showed that, despite once being a near-omnipotent entity, the Ghostly Guardian is still...only human!

BTW, this issue also had an usual text feature...its' own obituary by DC's resident historian, Mark Hanerfeld!

The Spectre did return, and sacrifice his...existence...to save both Earth One and Earth-Two in the Justice League's annual team-up with the Justice Society in DC's JLA #82-83 (1970).

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Showcase Presents

The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)