Friday Fun FAIRY TALES "Gingerbread Boy"

Finishing off the last of my delicious Christmas gingerbread cookies while sitting at the computer...

...inspired me to run this never-reprinted story from Ziff-Davis' Fairy Tales #11 (1951).
Note: the cover contains a spoiler!

This is not so much a fairy tale as a folk tale or fable.

In most versions it's a fox who carries the Gingerbread Boy across the river and devours him!

The comic strip's art is by Leon Winik, who probably also did the cover, which matches the third panel on the final page above perfectly!

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Golden Treasury of

Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics

It's a New Year! Are You Ready for "A-DAY"?

Are you scared because you think the world is on the brink of war?

HA!

Back in the 1950s, we lived with the concept on a daily basis...and even told comic book tales about it!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #1 (1950) offered some interesting, and (to some) subversive messages.

Illustrated by long-time pro Ogden Whitney, it shows how, unfortunately, human nature can destroy a potential Utopia...while ignoring how current technology wasn't (and still isn't) up to keeping "cheap" atomic power reasonably safe.

Something to ponder, even more than seven decades later...

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Victory on Valda"

Editor Jerry Siegel wanted Space Busters to look more like...

... the recently-revamped and revitalized Buck Rogers strip!

But artist Marvin Stein ended up using the original Buck strip as reference in his tryout, and lost the gig!

With a looming deadline, Siegel contacted the Buck Rogers strip's artist, Murphy Anderson (who had recently left the series) to provide redesigns...

...as well as the cover-featured story!

(Note: the cover is by Allen Anderson...no relation to Murphy!)

Personally, I'm not crazy about the purple-red color scheme, but at least it matches the uniform on the cover.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Mission to Baldor!"

We're on to Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2, and the first of the "redesigned" stories...

...as artist Marvin Stein takes a crack at making the "Marines in space" series look more like Buck Rogers!

This never-reprinted story appeared in the back of Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) because editor/writer Jerry Siegel had nothing else to fill the empty pages!
Unfortunately, Stein had gone "old school" 1930s-40s Buck Rogers, when Siegel had wanted "modern" 1950s Buck Rogers.
So Siegel got the guy who had been illustrating the modern Buck Rogers...Murphy Anderson!

You'll see his work in two weeks!
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Showcase Presents

Weird War Tales
Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy Military Tales

Friday Fun SPACE PATROL COMICS "Testtube Tyler"

Let's jump into the weekend with a workplace joke...but with a sci-fi twist!

This never-reprinted one pager from Ziff-Davis' Space Patrol #2 (1952) was Testtube Tyler's sole appearance.

Obviously, Cedrick never reappeared either.

And, to top it off, the writer and artist (who may be one and the same or two different people) are unknown.

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Frog Men Against Belzar"

After the stories for Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 were written and drawn...

...most of them were shelved, as a new artist, Murphy Anderson, was brought on board to revamp the series' look!

However, the Bernie Krigstein and Martin Stein-illustrated stories that didn't make it into Space Busters #2 did find new homes!

This particular tale is the most-reprinted Space Busters story of all, appearing in St John's Daring Adventures #6 (1954), Decker's Great Exploits #1 (1958) and IW's Strange Planets #18 (1964)..under a new Ross Andru/Mike Esposito cover as shown above!

Oddly enough, though the aliens invading Mars remained "Belzarians" and the Terrans were referred to as "Earthians", the individual heroes went through a name-change.

Blond/blue-eyed Captain Brett Crockett received a new name, becoming "Captain Andall", while his balding and mustached sergeant, Bolo, became "Sgt Bala".
And the nickname "SpaceBusters", used incessantly in the two issues of the series, is nowhere in sight...

We proudly present the lead story of Space Busters #1.5, which is also the final story of the Mars Campaign...

There's another SpaceBusters tale that didn't appear in SpaceBusters Comics...and you'll see it in a couple of weeks!
Warning: Bring your red/blue 3-D glasses!

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Death Rite of the Dwarfs"

In space no one can hear you die...

...as we present the third chapter of the Mars Campaign from Ziff-Davis' SpaceBusters #1 (1952)

This Bernie Krigstein-rendered story concludes the Space Busters tales from issue #1!

But we're not proceeding to #2 when we return to SpaceBusters after another two=part InterPlanetary Police tale!

There was a major artistic shift between issues, resulting in much of the already-completed work for #2 by Krigstein being "written-off" and later published by other companies who acquired the comic division's assets after Ziff-Davis dropped the line (except for G.I. Joe) in 1953!

The second issue contains an artistically-rebooted series with a new "look" created by illustrator, Murphy Anderson, fresh off a run on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip!

That's what you'll see in three weeks as we present those missing tales in the correct order (Space Busters #1.5, as it were!)

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Charge of the Battle Women"

Continuing the Mars Campaign of the Earth-Belzar War from Ziff-Davis' SpaceBusters #1.

Part One can be found HERE.

It's a fascinating look at male-female relationships as shown in comic books of the 1950s, proving those Lois Lane comics and their attitudes towards women weren't an aberration.

Note: Jerry Siegel, the writer who co-created Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, was the editor (and possibly writer) of this series!

BTW, you'll notice the Amazons on the cover by legendary pulp/comics/paperback/trading card artist Norman Saunders (shown above) are wearing considerably less...armor!

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 SpaceBusters

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