Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Reading Room MYSTERY IN SPACE "Singling"

A well-done graphic story can be understood without captions or word balloons...
...as this never-reprinted tale from DC's Mystery in Space #111 (1980), illustrated by Jim Aparo, demonstrates!
Scripter Gerald J Brown penned only a few stories before disappearing from comics.
He was also a writer/editor of the prozine Night Voyages. which ran for 10 issues between 1977 and 1984.
This particular issue of Mystery in Space was the first issue of a revival of the legendary anthology which was cancelled 14 years earlier, in 1966.
Sadly, the book only lasted for 7 issues before being cancelled again...

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Monday, September 14, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness NIGHTMARE "Massacre of Mankind!"

Look at this tale and tell us...if you can...when was it created?
Was it
The Golden Age (1940s)?
The Atomic Age (1950s)?
The Silver Age (1960s)?
or
The Bronze Age (1970s)?
The answer will surprise you!
One hint: The artist who drew it worked in all four eras!
It was written and laid-out in the 1950s, but penciled and inked in the 1970s!
Scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and laid-out by Gene Fawcette back in 1952, the tale was fully-penciled and inked by Bill (Sub-Mariner) Everett for Skywald's b/w anthology Nightmare #2 (1971)!
It's actually the first chapter in a three-part tale, but the other two parts were never re-done!
You'll see the complete original tale starting TOMORROW!
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Monday, August 31, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Guardian of the Stars!"

What's kooler than a Jack (King) Kirby cover?
How about the Steve Ditko story it leads into?
Did the cover or the story come first?
The total redesign of the robot indicates whichever was done first wasn't provided to the other artist as reference!
Also, shouldn't the title be "Guardian of the Earth"?
Of course, that would be a "spoiler", ruining the drama shown on the cover...
Illustrated by Steve Ditko, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #17 (1959) was probably plotted by Stan Lee, though the scripting doesn't read like his work.
Trivia: Though both the Jack Kirby cover and the Steve Ditko story have been reprinted, they weren't reprinted together!
Each was reprinted in an expensive Omnibus devoted to that particular artist's work!
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Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ALIEN WORLDS "Ride the Blue Bus"

As Our Economy Collapses, We Ask "Is This the Future Don the Con has in mind for us?"
Thanks to him, we are edging ever closer and closer to it!
This never-reprinted post-apocalyptic tale by writer Bruce Jones and artist George Perez from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984) has an odd quirk.
Both Toby's friend, Juke, and the unnamed bus driver are illustrated as Black.
Yet neither is colored differently than the blond/blue-eyed Toby!
Was this deliberate?
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Friday, July 17, 2026

Space...Hero??? Saturdays NORGE BENSON "Gang of Hoodlum Penguins"

 Since We're Suffering through a Heat Wave...

..let's return to frigid Pluto for another interplanetary adventure with Norge Benson, as we discover that some penguins on Pluto speak perfect English, and others talk with Brooklyn accents...just like on Earth!
Think I'm joking?
Read on...
So, what'd youse tink?
Or for dose...I mean "those", who don't speak Brooklynese..."What did you think?"
I'll warn you now, future installments only get loonier!
Illustrated by Al Walker, who spent his entire comics career at Fiction House, this second appearance in Planet Comics #13 (1941) presents a somewhat less snarky (though no less humorous) version of the "Earthman on Pluto" concept shown in the earlier Cosmo Corrigan strip, mixing alien versions of both Arctic and Antarctic animals with total disregard to anything even remotely resembling exobiology!
But it is fun, and that's all that matters!
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Thursday, July 16, 2026

Reading Room STRANGE STORIES OF SUSPENSE "Beware...a Martian"

Here's a tale of racism and innuendo involving an "illegal alien"...
...that all Reich-wingers should take note of!
Written by Carl Wessler, penciled by Al Williamson, and inked by Ralph Mayo, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Stories of Suspense #14 (1957) uses science fiction to tell a civil rights parable, substituting a Martian (and the paranoia about his race) for a African-American, Hispanic, Japanese, or other minority group about whom equally-inane fantasies have been concocted!
Note: it's interesting that Nardo the Martian has the same appearance as DC's J'Onn J'Onzz: the Martian Manhunter (except for skin color), as well as MM's specific ability to shape-shift, not a talent usually attributed to inhabitants of the Red Planet!
Note: J'Onn had debuted almost two years earlier!
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Monday, July 13, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness WEIRD THRILLERS "Menace of R Day"

In the 1950s, it was believed that war could be ended by 1999...
...and that other menaces would threaten the Earth, instead!
This somewhat-hokey, but entertaining, sci-fi tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #1 (1951) was both penciled and inked by Ross Andru.
Andru would later partner with Mike Esposito with Ross as the penciler and Mike doing the inking.
Whether this was because Esposito was faster at inking than Ross, or Andru enjoyed doing only pencils is unknown.
Considering Andru seemed pretty damn good at inking, it's a pity he eventually gave it up.
BTW, the writer of this never-reprinted tale of mechanical mayhem is unknown.
Next Week: the Return of

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