Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Octopus-Kings of the Lost Planet"

Sometimes the cover of a comic doesn't match the contents...

...until you look closer!

While there is no comic tale called "Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet" in Strange Worlds #2 (1951), there is a text story...

Written by "W Malcolm White", a name that only appears in three text stories in Avon Comics, so its safe to state that it's a pen-name.

The illustrators for the cover and interior spot illustrations are unknown.

Regrettably, the files and records of Avon Comics are long gone, so we'll probably never know.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "I Couldn't Stop the Runaway Comet!"

With most of America still in a deep freeze, let's see if we can warm you up...

...with this scientifically-inaccurate, never-reprinted tale about death by extreme heat from Atlas' Strange Worlds #5 (1959)!

There's also a really kool Easter Egg within the story!

See if you can find it!

No, we're not going to explore whether God exists or not.

Though popularized as fireballs in bad science fiction, the fact that comets were really composed primarily of rock and ice which vaporized as they approached the Sun, creating the "tail", was known as far back as Issac Newton's time.

So the whole idea of the comet generating heat like a star was ludicrous...even in the 1950s!

Though the writer is unknown, the artist was Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko.

That fact is crucial for understanding the Easter Egg...

The name "Victor Sage", used here for the extremely-fallible protagonist, later became "Vic Sage",  the secret identity of one of Ditko's more durable creations...Charlton's The Question!

Besides becoming a DC mainstay with his own title and spotlighted appearances in the Justice League animated series, the character was the basis for Rorschach in Alan Moore's "reimagining" of classic comic character archetypes in Watchmen!

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Marvel Masters of Suspense Omnibus

Volume 1

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "I Captured the Abominable Snowman!"

Last month, we presented Jack Kirby's epic tale about the Abominable Snowman HERE...

Now let's see a rather intimate story of one man's obsession with Yeti, illustrated by Steve Ditko!

Like the Jack Kirby-illustrated Abominable SnowMan story, no one (including Marvel) is certain who scripted this tale from Atlas' Strange Worlds #1 (1958).
It ain't Stan Lee, because almost everything he scripted featured his name/signature on the splash panel along with the artists' names!

And, you'll note that neither tale shows the "real" Yeti, just people or other creatures mistaken for it!
There's a third variation on this story, by a different artist, which we'll present on Thursday!

BTW, this was the second comic with the Strange Worlds title.

The first one was published by Avon Comics from 1950 to 1955.

This series ran for five issues in 1958-59.

Since then there have been several one-shots with the title from various publishers, usually reprinting stories from the Avon series.

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Marvel Masters of Suspense Omnibus
Volume 1

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
(which reprints this story)

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Invasion from the Abyss!"

Since 1938, Halloween and alien invasions go hand-in-hand...

...even when the "aliens" are from inside the Earth, rather than outer space!

This story from Avon's Strange Worlds #3 (1951) was a "Fleagle Gang" production.

The "Fleagles" were a group of artists including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and George Woodbridge who would help each other out on tight deadlines by doing a "jam" with individuals penciling and inking different pages and even different panels on a single page, producing some absolutely-amazing visuals!

Trivia: the group was named by EC Comics editor/writer/artist Harvey Kurtzman.

The idea of advanced beings living inside the Earth and invading/reconquering the surface was very popular in the early 1950s.

Richard Shaver and pulp magazine editor Ray A Palmer caused a media firestorm with series of stories presenting a theory that combined the "civilization inside the Earth" concept with another pop culture phenomenon...flying saucers!

Numerous readers wrote in, claiming that they had actually seen creatures and vehicles exactly as described in the stories!

The "Shaver Hoax" (as it came to be known) influenced 1950s sci-fi/fantasy ranging from the pilot episode of the TV's Adventures of Superman to movies like Brain Eaters.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Abduction of Henry Twigg"

Here's a dream come true for all us fanboys and nerds (Yep, I'm one)...

...in this Joe Kubert-illustrated tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #8 (1952)...

Talk about politically-incorrect...from both sexes!

But it's still entertaining, and that's what counts, eh?

Note: we've run stories from two different series named "Strange Worlds".

This tale is from the first one, published by Avon Comics in the early 1950s.

By the late 1950s, Avon Publishing had abandoned comic books and concentrated on "traditional" publishing (hardcovers and paperbacks) in various genres (including sci-fi and horror).

Curiously, when comics became "hot' in the 1960s, Avon did not reprint their comic library in paperback format the way Ballantine Books did with EC Comics, Signet did with DC Comics, and Lancer did with Marvel.

Considering they owned the material and didn't have to pay to reprint it like all the other publishers did, it seems like a lost opportunity for Avon to make some quick cash.

Note: We've recently re-presented several tales from the other Strange Worlds, published by Atlas Comics in the late 1950s, literally right before they became Marvel in 1961!

It's easy to tell which is which, since the Atlas/Marvel version features work by creatives like Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Steve Ditko who would be the creative mainstays of the Marvel Age of Comics, while the Avon books have art by illustrators who would make their mark at DC, like Joe Kubert and John Forte!

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "They Call Me...Space Pirate"

You know Joe Sinnott as one of the greatest inkers of all time...

...but, when he had the time, he could pencil a mean story, too!

This simple but effective, never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Worlds #5 (1959) gives an idea of the level of artistic talent available in the early days of the Silver Age to editor Stan Lee, who plotted the story which was likely scripted by his brother, Larry Lieber...who was also a competent penciler, but could be a tad long-winded, as panel 5 of the last page demonstrates!

Sinnott's layouts and storytelling are solid, but not as dynamic as fellow artists like Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Steve Ditko, all of whom he would later magnificently enhance with his detailed inking!

Joe would continue penciling through the 1960s for Vince Colletta's studio which provided art for Charlton, Dell, and advertising clients.

Unfortunately, Colletta did most of the inking on those stories, resulting in Sinnott's work being almost unrecognizable!

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Cover Gallery: STRANGE WORLDS Inside Front Covers featuring "Kenton of the Star Patrol"

Avon Comics often put their "contents page" on the inside front cover...

Issue #3 art by Wally Wood

...with an all-new illustration by the best artist available, instead of clip-art from the stories, as this gallery of the ifcs of Strange Worlds issues featuring Kenton of the Star Patrol shows!
(Note, BTW, that Kenton gets top billing, being the first image on each IFC!)

Issue #4 art by Wally Wood

Issue #5 art by Wally Wood

Issue #6 art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

Marvel, and several other publishers, now use the inside front cover to do a contents or synopsis page, but they usually use existing art from previous stories or from the current issue.

FYI, when stories from Avon Comics were reprinted by IW/Super Comics in the late 1950s-early '60s, the reprints usually left out the ifcs, since the film negatives and photostats for covers weren't stored with "repro" (as it's called by printers) for the interior pages.

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Best of Reading Room WEIRD WORLDS "Space Vampires"

How did the cover-featured tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951)...

...end up being used (almost verbatim) in Eerie Publications' Weird Worlds #V1N10 (1970)?

Eerie Publications had been using photostats and negatives from defunct comics companies as the source material for their b/w magazine line.

About a year in, they started using South American artists eager to break into the comics market and American artists like Dick Ayers and Chic Stone who were losing work as the Silver Age ended and comics companies cut back their lines, to re-do old stories with a more contemporary style.

Some illustrators totally-redid the art, using new "camera angles" and clothing/technology designs reflecting contemporary tastes.

In this particular case, artist Cirilo Munoz just lightboxed and re-inked the existing Wally Wood/Joe Orlando artwork!

Editor Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos rewrote the opening captions and changed the hero's name, but otherwise left Gardner Fox's original script intact.

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The Worst of Eerie Publications