Coming Monday to Hero Histories...

Riddle Me This, Caped Crusader Aficionados...

...how many of the legendary 1960s TV series' episodes were based on actual comic book stories?
The answer is...more than you think!

There's even a book reprinting a number of those graphic tales...but not all of them!

But, did you know a 1960s TV series tie-in novel with an original story (not a novelization of series episodes or the feature film) also adapted several comic stories into its' narrative?

We re-presented (starting HERE) this never-reprinted, original 1966 novel by "Winston Lyon" (actually noted Golden Age/Silver Age comics writer William Woolfolk) which combined elements of both the comic book and TV series versions of the Caped Crusader!

What we didn't realize at the time, was how much of the comic book version was actually taken directly from the comics!

Three different comics stories, each one featuring a different villain/villainess, were utilized to present multi-chapter crimes to baffle the Dynamic Duo!
We're presenting these tales in the order the foul fiends perpetuate their perfidy in the novel, along with links to the actual chapters for each one...

Monday!

Wednesday!

Friday!
The Four-Color Fun Starts Tomorrow at Hero Histories !
Same Bat-Time!
Same Bat Blog!
One hint...The campiest is yet to come !

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Valley of the Worm!" Conclusion

We Have Already Witnessed...

James Allison lies on his deathbed, re-living a past life.

A millennia or more ago, he was Niord, a barbarian prince and warrior, defending his people, the Aesir, from all manner of threats, both human and inhuman.

Aided by Gorm, a Pict he defeated in battle but refused to kill, who then became an ally, he guides his people to a new home...

Note: Though Niord says his people are of "Asgard", it's doubtful, even though this tale is now canon in the Marvel Multiverse, that he refers to the mystical Asgard of Norse legend.

Bonus: Here's the title page from the story's first publication in Weird Tales V23N02 (1934), featuring both Niord and the "Worm", illustrated by Hugh Rankin.

Next Week:

A New World of Wonder

Don't Miss It!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Valley of the Worm!" Part 1

We've Spent a Month in A Futuristic Dimension...

...now let's go the other way, to a world where technology is non-existent and only a strong sword arm will keep you alive!

To Be Concluded Next Wednesday!

Based on a short story by Robert E (Conan the Barbarian) Howard, Adaptors Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway and penciler Gil Kane & inker Ernie Chua/Chan turned in an absolutely magnificent version of the tale using a lot of Howard's own prose in captions and dialogue!
Though meant as a stand-alone story in it's initial publication in the pulp Weird Tales and subsequent reprintings as well as this adaptation in Marvel's Supernatural Tales #3 (1973), it has since been incorporated into both the Conan Mythos and the Marvel Comics Universe in the 2020 Marvel mini-series Conan: Serpent War! which included Conan and other Howard characters as well as Moon Knight and Khonshu!
Trivia: There was another REH tale featuring James Allison (the dying protagonist in this story) called "Garden of Fear".
It was adapted by Roy Thomas, Barry Smith & Sal Buscema as a Conan story in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian V1N9 (1971), eliminating any references to Allison in the present day!
Allison's ancient incarnation in this story was Hunwolf the Wanderer and the tale was first published in the second issue of the pulp Marvel Tales, published by Martin Goodman, the first publisher of Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics!
There were seven James Allison tales.
Who sez comics ain't educational?

Space Hero Saturdays STAR TREK Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by legendary science fiction author Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the scripts for the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and a Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!
  
  
  How's that for an "Easter Egg"?

Friday Fun / Baker Reading Room MGM's LASSIE "Down to the Sea"

As a dog owner, I say, there's nothing more fun than a playful dog!

Especially one who can do almost anything, except administer CPR!

Note: the b/w page is the comic's inside back cover, which was usually b/w or two-color.
The last page is the comic's back cover!

After the last movie in the original series came out in 1951, the comic continued, with Lassie linked to new humans, including photographer Rocky Langford and his girlfriend Gerry Lawrence on their trip to South America!

Penciled by Matt Baker and inked by long-time artistic partner Ray Osrin (who inked, among other Baker stories, It Rhymes with Lust), this tale from Dell's MGM's Lassie #20 (1955) is from the first issue of Matt's three-issue tenure as the feature's primary artist.

The writer is unknown.

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Space Hero Saturdays MOON ZERO TWO Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Space Western Hero...

Clementine Taplin arrives on the Moon and hires down-on-his-luck, former hot-shot space pilot Bill Kemp to find her space-miner brother, Wally.
Kemp considers doing it while he completes another job: diverting an asteroid composed primarily of sapphire to crash on an unoccupied area of the moon so it can be mined.
He succeeds, barely surviving the perilous task.
Returning to the Moon, the pilot is warned not to help Clementine.
Not the sort to bow to threats, Kemp takes the job and he and Taplin go in search of her brother. They find him at his remote mining location...dead!

It's actually a pretty good film with a lot of kool elements including...

• A real differentiation between "old style" 1970s-1999 tech used by the poor hero and 2020 tech used by rich villains!
• Set, prop and costume design motifs that proved so popular that they popped up for more than a decade on shows from UFO to Space:1999 to Starlost to Star Maidens to Blake's 7.
• A nice snarky action-hero performance by extremely-underrated actor James Olsen, whose main fault seems to be having a receding hairline at a time when a full head of hair was more important than acting ability in film.

Script adaptation and art by Paul Neary for this comic from Fleetway's House of Hammer #5 (1976).
The cover was by Brian Lewis.

For more background and pix from the film, there's a kool page covering all things MZ2 HERE!

and a special bonus...
Moon Zero Two: the Movie!

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