Showing posts with label World of Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World of Fantasy. Show all posts

Thursday, August 22, 2024

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Bright New World!"

How do you prove the theoretically-unprovable?
This never-reprinted story from Atlas' World of Suspense #1 (1956) presents one possible way!
It's a cute story with a kool "gotcha" ending...if you don't think about it too much!
But writer Carl Wessler and artist Al Hartley ignored a number of simple (and obvious) facts...
1) Jet engines aren't rockets.
They require an oxygen-rich atmosphere to function, otherwise they konk out!
2) Commercial aircraft, while somewhat airtight, are not designed for use in a total vacuum, where there's no external pressure!
The hull and windows would blow outward within minutes, if not seconds!
(Especially if they were made by Boeing!)
3) Any phenomenon creating a "tunnel" between Earth and Uranus in our atmosphere would've been noticed by scientists, even with the relatively-unsophisticated instruments of the period!
(They wouldn't have understood it...but they would have noticed it!)
4) Nobody paid attention to the little green tourists (in magenta robes)wandering around?
5) Though I love the point that Earth (Most likely just America) was, even then, expensive to live in, I have to ask; what were the Uranians using for money?
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Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Brain Destroyer!"

This title reminded me of Don (da Con) Trump...
...even though the story itself has nothing to connect it to the Republicans' hilarious convicted criminal candidate!
No matter whether you agree for my reason for running the story, it's still a long-lost, never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) you probably would never have seen otherwise.
Plotted by Stan Lee, written by Larry Lieber, and illustrated by Carl Burgos, it's typical of the sort of stuff Atlas was running as it transitioned into what we would know as Marvel only a couple of years later.

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Thursday, June 27, 2024

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Beware the Future!"

Does a never-reprinted tale from the 1950s offer a clue as to how Don (the Con) Trump became President?
And can it happen...again?
Judge for yourself...
This Stan Lee-plotted, Larry Lieber-scripted, Al Williamson-illustrated tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #16 (1959) points out a uniquely-human foible...if we "know" things will be OK, we don't see the need to take action ourselves to make sure they do turn out OK...and things can go horribly-wrong as a result!
In 2016, many Bernie Saunders supporters, POed because Bernie wasn't nominated as the Democratic candidate figured they'd protest by staying home and not voting in the general election, believing there were still enough Dems and intelligent Repugs and Independents voting to assure Trump wouldn't get into the White House!
Didn't quite work out, did it?
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Monday, October 2, 2023

Monday Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Cry for Help!"

Over the centuries, men have come up with many excuses for deserting their families...
...but I've never heard of "for the advancement of science" as a reason!
Illustrated by Kurt (Lois LaneSchaffenberger, and likely plotted (if not also scripted) by editor Stan Lee, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956) points out how the family is truly our most important social construct, and how it should not be neglected!
And, you never know when it'll save your life!

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Thursday, September 21, 2023

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "One Night"

Spaceship crewmen on shore leave at a distant port...
...sounds like a recipe for trouble and proof that some things never change!
Like many Baby Boomers (who, ironically, were this story's target audience of 6-13 year old children in 1956), Pete Cooper didn't plan for his retirement!
As a result, he made a gaffe that assured his fate would be exactly what he feared!
Illustrated by penciler Bob Forgione and inker Jack Abel, this never-reprinted morality play appeared in Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956)!
The writer is unknown.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Clock Strikes NEVER!"

Here's a fascinating Silver Age tale about time travel...
...from the period when Atlas Comics was transitioning into Marvel Comics!
Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko, this story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) has some intriguing concepts, including the idea that nothing can travel back before its' creation date, which would rule out time travel into the distant past (before the temporal travel device was created)!
But my big question is...who is "Fate"?
He pops up at the beginning of Page 4 and remains lurking in the background for the rest of the story, becoming a second narrator!
Besides looking visually-kool, what's his purpose?
He doesn't interfere...or even warn/advise the protaganist!
Since the story's narrator refers to Fate in the third person, we know the blue guy is not the one hosting the tale!
Like the identity of the story's writer, it's a mystery that'll never be solved...

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Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Frightened Ones!"

Ever hear the phrase "It's all a matter of perspective"?
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #4 (1956) validates it!

Penciled (and possibly inked) by Mike Sekowsky, this short proves "there's always someone bigger than you"!

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Thursday, March 23, 2023

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "When Will They Come?"

At one time or another, we all think we don't fit in and don't belong where we are...
...perhaps we're more like this tale's nameless protagonist than we think!
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #1 (1956) certainly offers an original excuse for breaking up with someone!
"I discovered I was an alien left behind on Earth, but now my people have come back for me so I can't see you any more."
While the writer is unknown, the artist is Robert "Bob" Bean, who's had an interesting career.
After illustrating stories and covers in almost every genre for numerous publishers including Atlas, Avon, St John, Charlton, Toby, and Lev Gleason, he left comics in the late 1950s and helped found Wylde Films, an industrial movie studio and is currently has also producing and directing cartooning correspondence course videos for Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Brain Picker!"

Nuclear accidents mutating everyday people were common in pre-Marvel tales...
...plotted or written by Stan Lee for Atlas Comics...except they didn't result in costumed superheroes...or costumed supervillains!
If this never-reprinted story by plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Matt Baker and inker Vince Colletta, from Atlas' World of Fantasy #17 (1959) had appeared after the intro of the Fantastic Four in 1961, I don't doubt Frederic Kane would've become an ongoing super-villain and scientist brother Phillip would've become his nemesis, probably working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and/or Professor X to stop him!
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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Robot Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Iron Hulk!"

...who was so emotionally-attached to her, it sacrificed itself to save her!
But, that wasn't the first time that plot was used...
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959), scripted by either Stan Lee or Larry Lieber, is extremely similar to the previously-presented 1963 story, minus the "Christmas present" element and making the robot look like a life size toy soldier.
Note the lovely art by Joe Sinnott.
While most of you know Sinnott as one of the best inkers in the business, he was also a competent penciler as well.
Ironically, Joe didn't ink most of his own pencil work, since it was subcontracted by Vince Colletta's prolific studio for use by CharltonGold Key, and Dell and inked by Colletta himself!
You'll see another story with the same theme on Thursday.
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