Reading Room SENSATION MYSTERY COMICS "Last Dream!"

Wonder Woman lost her cover feature in DC's Sensation Comics as of this issue (#107 in 1952)...

...when the book was retitled Sensation Mystery, and featured "mysteries" like this one!

(Sensation Comics was Wonder Woman's "sister" title, much as Action Comics is Superman's "brother" comic and Detective Comics is Batman's "brother" book!)

In 1952, horror comics became the "hot" genre, with most comics publishers going "all in" to see who could be the goriest!

DC, though, tried to stay relatively innocuous, refusing to go for the gore.

While their sales didn't skyrocket as many other publishers' did, they managed to stay below the radar during the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" mania.

And, it certainly made reprinting any of the material produced during this period a breeze after the Comics Code was imposed!

This John Broome-written, Carmine Infantino-penciled, and Frank Giacoia-inked tale was typical of DC's output during this period.

(Some say Sy Barry inked it, but expert art identifier Martin O'Hearn thinks it's Giacoia, and I agree with him.)

Straightforward, logical, and effectively-told, it's almost a template for the various stories the anthology would carry until the book's cancellation a year later with #116.

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Reading Room WEIRD THRILLERS "Fisherman of Space"

Weird Thrillers was a 1950s sci-fi comic with painted covers...

Art by Allen Anderson

..which helped set the Ziff-Davis comic series apart from others on the newsstands!

All Ziff-Davis comics, no matter the genre, had painted covers, usually by the same artists who did cover art for their large pulp magazine line.

(Avon Comics also used paintings from time-to-time, but not throughout the line, and not on a consistent basis.)

Z-D was a latecomer to the comics business, publishing their first title in 1950 and canceling most titles by the end of 1952, continuing one book, G.I. Joe, until 1957.

During the comic division's brief existence, Z-D published over fifty titles, mostly one-shots and two-issue runs, covering every genre in fiction...except superheroes!

(The closest they came to superheroes were Lars of Mars and Crusader from Mars, both of whom were Martians operating undercover on Earth, and neither lasted past their second issue.)

Weird Thrillers (and it's one-shot predecessor Weird Adventures) ran a total of six issues.

Here's an example of why they lasted longer than most other Z-D titles...

This time-traversing tale from Weird Thrillers #2 (1951) was penciled by Alex Toth and inked by Sy Barry.

The writer is unknown, which is a shame, since it's a decent story with a clever, scientifically-accurate solution.

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Reading Room WEIRD THRILLERS "SandFlower of Venus"

Alien worlds have potentially-lethal animals and plants...

...but the most dangerous creature in the Universe is...Man!

I take it back.

The most dangerous creature in the Universe is Woman!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #1 (1951) was probably illustrated by a round-robin of Dan & Sy Barry, Murphy Anderson, and Frank Giacoia.

The writer is unknown.

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