Monday Madness AMAZING ADVENTURES "Cosmic Comics"

Ziff-Davis' 1950s sci-fi anthology Amazing Adventures...

...ran interesting "filler" pages including these humor strips by Harry Sahle from the first two issues.

Note the one above, from the inside back cover of #2, is b/w.

But the one above, from issue #1, while also an inside cover, is two-color!

Perhaps there were budget cuts between the printing of the two issues!
Sadly, these were the only two Cosmic Comic strips to run in any Ziff-Davis comics!

Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES "Deal to Die"

Here's a never-reprinted short tale with a Twilight Zone-style ending...

...from the final issue of Ziff-Davis' sci-fi anthology Amazing Adventures!

I wonder if Zoro's husband, Space Captain Ventra was as big a SoB as Bernice's spouse Harold Leighton!

Illustrated by the relatively-unknown Lawrence (Louis) Dresser, this story from Amazing Adventures #6 (1952) has no credited writer.

Too bad, because it's a memorable piece for a shorter-than-usual filler.
Trivia: There have been four different comic series entitled Amazing Adventures!
This 1950-51 six-issue book, from Ziff-Davis was the first.
The other three 1960-61 (scifi/fantasy anthology), 1970-76 (featuring ongoing series The Inhumans and Black Widow (ten issues), The Beast (seven issues), and War of the Worlds/Killraven (twenty-one issues), and 1979-81, X-Men reprints (fourteen issues), were all published by Atlas/Marvel.

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Reading Room WEIRD ADVENTURES "Dome of Death"

Reading this blog,  you might think that "sci-fi" just means "space opera" or "futuristic"...

...but it can be set on present-day (meaning when the story was created) Earth, as well!

This never-reprinted tale from the Ziff-Davis one-shot Weird Adventures #10 (1951) reads like a script for an anthology tv show or a b-movie.
It's mostly character interaction and a crime/thriller plot with some easily-done (even for the 1950s) sfx!

Illustrated by John Giunta, whose long career spans both the Golden and Silver Ages with work for literally every company in every genre!
However, Giunta may be best-known to today's audiences as the artist who gave the legendary Frank Frazetta his first job, when he hired the talented teen as a studio assistant!
The writer of this unusual tale is unknown, but could be Giunta himself!

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Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

Space Hero Saturdays LARS OF MARS "Secret Origin"

What if 1950s sci-fi shows like Captain Video or Space Patrol were real?

Or if the aliens shown on the screen were real aliens?

And what if the alien was the Space Hero???

As you've just read, that was the premise of the short-lived (two issues) Ziff-Davis series Lars of Mars!

Created by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and Murphy (Buck Rogers) Anderson, this premiere story from the first issue of his own title (which, oddly enough,  was #10!) established the somewhat-silly premise.

During his run, Lars battled Commies, crooks, and other interplanetary aliens while protecting his "secret identity" from his nosy producer (who bore a disturbing resemblance to Lois Lane).

You'll be seeing all of Lars' stories here (including his final tale from the 1980s (in 3-D, no less) over the next six months.

Watch for them!

Trivia:

The cover paintings for both issues of Lars of Mars were painted by Allen Anderson...who was not related to interior artist Murphy Anderson!

Here's a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"-style factoid (done in only four degrees)...

• 1) Ziff-Davis also published a short-lived adaptation of an actual 1950s sci-fi tv series, Space Patrol, illustrated by Bernie Krigstein.
• 2) Krigstein illustrated the first issue of another Ziff-Davis sci-fi series: Space Busters!
• 3) Bernie was replaced on interior art for the second (and final) issue of Space Busters by...Murphy Anderson!
• 4) Allen Anderson did the painted cover for the Space Busters issue (#2) illustrated by Murphy! (Norm Saunders had painted #1's cover!)

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MARTIANS! MARTIANS! MARTIANS!

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featuring the covers of both issues of Lars of Mars!

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN KEN BRADY: ROCKET PILOT "Boy Who Wasn't There!"

We met Captain Ken Brady and his co-pilot-sidekick Buzzy HERE...

...in his premiere appearance, conceived and produced by the co-creator of Superman and the definitive Bronze Age artist of Dracula!

This tale from Ziff-Davis' Lars of Mars #11 (1951) was written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Gene Colan.
It's both the character's second (and last) appearance and the second (and last issue) of the comic!
While the series isn't anything particularly innovative, it's a classic example of 1950s-style sci-fi.
And Gene, who was doing a little of everything from horror to romance to Westerns, showed his versatility with this too-brief strip's run.

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Outlaws of Vesta"

Continuing the (sadly) short-lived cosmic comic adventures of Buzz Corry and the members of 1950's TV/radio Space Patrol...

...with another tale from Ziff-Davis' Space Patrol #1 (1952)!

Yes, Tonga was still a "bad" girl at this point in the series.
Though the art is clearly Bernie Krigstein, there's debate as to whether the scripter is prolific comic writer Paul S Newman or Drift Marlo creator/writer Phillip Evans.

There's more Space Patrol excitement to come as we present every tale from its' two-issue run!

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Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Lady of Diamonds"

It's not the Basil Wolverton series we previously presented...

...but a comic based on a saga about those who protect the 30th Century space-lanes in both the video and audio realms!

Tonga later reformed and ended up as the Assistant Security Chief for the entire Space Patrol organization!

Space Patrol ran Monday thru Friday on tv and semi-weekly on radio from 1950 to 1955, using the same performers for both media.

For a more extensive look at the tv and radio shows go HERE.

This comic book adaptation from Ziff-Davis Publishing ran for only two issues in 1952, was written by Philip Evans (who did a lot of movie and tv tie-ins and co-created Drift Marlo, which we presented HERE and HERE), and illustrated by Bernie Krigstein (who also did SpaceBusters, a comic series about intergalactic Marines, before moving on to EC Comics, where he achieved his greatest fame).
The book ended, not due to poor sales, but because Ziff-Davis left the comic book business during the "comics cause juvenile delinquency" controversy of the early 1950s, deciding to concentrate on publishing slick magazines instead, and still continuing to this day as seen HERE.

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Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television

Space Patrol

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Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN KEN BRADY: ROCKET PILOT "Pirates of the Airways!"

If you look carefully, you can find a Space Hero almost anywhere...

...even someone who's a spacegoing FedEx driver, as shown in this story from the co-creator of Superman and the definitive artist of Dracula!

This back-up tale about a cargo-ship pilot and his buddy just doin' their jobs from Ziff-Davis' Lars of Mars #10* (1951) was written by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and illustrated by Gene (Tomb of Dracula) Colan.

*Though it's number "10", this was actually the first issue of Lars of Mars.

We're not sure which other Ziff-Davis title's numbering this run continues from.

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Secrets in the Shadows

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