Showing posts with label Strange Tales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strange Tales. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Atomic Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Mister Black"

 Continuing our look at how American comics portrayed the bombing of Hiroshima...

...with a tale featuring a Japanese protagonist!
Was this story from Atlas' Strange Tales #93 (1962) an inventory tale from the 1950s?
Artist Bob Forgione lost his ongoing freelance work at Atlas when the company cut back in late 1956-early 1957 after losing their newsstand distributor.
When this story was finally published, Forgione was working steadily for DellACG, and DC.
It also appears to have been the last original tale by Bob that Atlas/Marvel published.
(All subsequent stories were reprints of earlier material.)
Also, could it have been reworked from an unpublished Witness tale?
Every comic company had a cloaked mystery man narrating stories about "everyday" people (and occasionally influencing them, as well).
Timely/Atlas' entrant in the Mysterious Traveler/Whistler/Phantom Stranger/Man in Black Called Fate competition was The Witness, who had his own one-shot comic and a number of stories scattered in other titles.
At any rate, an extremely-similar tale appeared only a couple of months later...by one of the now-revived and thriving Atlas/Marvel's hottest artists!
Be Here Sunday For the Final Horrific Hiroshima Tale!
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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Atomic Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Eyes that Never Close"

With the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima coming up...
...we're presenting several tales from the 1950s-60s relating to it.
This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Tales #61 (1958) treats the bombing as just another disaster, but one the criminal won't escape from.
Illustrated effectively by Bernie Krigstein, who tells a story in only four pages that most artists today would need twenty pages for.
BTW, the writer is unknown.

Be Here Thursday For the Next Horrific Hiroshima Tale!
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Thursday, May 8, 2025

Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!"

...but, while it has never been reprinted, that doesn't mean the story wasn't reused...this time with an oddly-contemporary aspect...
WTF???
Newspeople have a responsibility to uncover and tell the truth objectively and honestly?
Please don't tell FoxNews that...
We do know that Jack Kirby penciled this (also) never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Tales #86 (1961).
However, everything else is pure speculation.
It's thought Sol Brodsky inked the story (though it has aspects of Dick Ayers' style as well).
And, since it's not signed "Stan Lee" (as most confirmed Lee-scripted tales were),  the consensus is that Stan's brother Larry Lieber penned the story.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Reading Room WEIRD WONDER TALES / STRANGE TALES "When a Planet Dies!"

The current "deep freeze" covering the USA reminded me of the splash panel from this story...
...from Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #22 (1973), which was actually a reworking of this (literally) kool splash page from a cool story from Atlas' Strange Tales #97 (1962)!
While the art is credited to Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, who wrote it is not entirely clear.
A number of people, myself included, think it's scripted by Kirby!
Bonus: Here's the original art for the cover from a previous issue of Weird Wonder Tales that supplied the Dr Druid figure on the reworked splash page above...
Art by pencilers Jack Kirby and John Romita Sr (Dr Druid's face), and inker Joe Sinnott.
Now, here's the original art for the Strange Tales story's splash page...
Marvel production artist "flipped" a photostat of the Dr Druid figure from the Weird Wonder Tales cover and replaced the bearded aliens with it on a photostat of this splash page!
No original art was harmed in the making of the new splash! page!

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Beware the Uboongi!"

Let Us Gaze At Uranus...

...sorry, I can't resist occasionally reverting to 10-year old sense of humor when presenting a comic story, in this case from Marvel's Strange Tales #100 (1962).
OOPS!
Silly us, not warning the Russkies about which animals were dangerous...
Illustrated by Don Heck, the plotter and scripter are likely the book's editor, Stan Lee (plot) and his brother, Larry Lieber (script).
Note: Stan Lee's birth name is Stanley Lieber.
He used "Stan Lee" on his comics work because he hoped (as most writers do) to script the Great American Novel and wanted the Lieber name on that.
He eventually legally-changed his name to Stan Lee.

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Thursday, May 16, 2024

Reading Room / Tales Thrice Told STRANGE TALES "A Thouand Years Later..."

...today we give you the second version, by the legendary team of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko!
Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this story from Marvel's Strange Tales #90 (1961) is the second time in two years that Lee produced a story based on the "Adam and Eve on past/future Earth" cliche, this time adding the plot element of an immortal man who didn't fit in with society.
Lee would reuse the "Adam and Eve" concept one more time two years later...as we shall see Tuesday!
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Friday, January 12, 2024

Frigid Friday Fun WEIRD WONDER TALES / STRANGE TALES "When a Planet Dies!"

The current "deep freeze" covering the USA reminded me of the splash panel from this story...
...from Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #22 (1973), which was actually a reworking of this (literally) kool splash page from a cool story from Atlas' Strange Tales #97 (1962)!
While the art is credited to Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, who wrote it is not entirely clear.
A number of people, myself included, think it's scripted by Kirby!
Bonus: Here's the cover from a previous issue of Weird Wonder Tales that supplied the Dr Druid figure on the reworked splash page above...
Art by pencilers Jack Kirby and John Romita Sr (Dr Druid's face), and inker Joe Sinnott.
Here's the original art for the story's splash page!
A Marvel production artist "flipped" a photostat of the Dr Druid figure from the Weird Wonder Tales cover and replaced the bearded aliens with it on a photostat of this splash page!
No original art was harmed in the making of the new splash page!