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

Thursday, November 12, 2026

Reading Room SPACE ACTION "Dictator of Japetus"

It appears that, even in the future, Mankind will still have dictators!
Personally, I've never seen the appeal of someone, who wasn't elected by the majority of the populace, arbitrarily-deciding matters for us!
Penciled by then-up-and-comer Mike Sekowsky, this tale from Ace's Space Action #3 (1952) is typical space opera of the period with a little political intrigue thrown in, and reads better than most of the other stories that ran in Space Action.
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Volume 1
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Monday, November 9, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness ALARMING TALES "I Want to Be a Man!"

Following up on a kool guest-post about artificial intelligence...

...is this little tale about an AI who aspires to be more than mere machine!
Written and penciled by Jack (King) Kirby and inked by Kirby with Simon & Kirby Studios partner Joe Simon, this story from Harvey's Alarming Tales #2 (1957), this short feature would be quite different if done today, since miniaturization would enable David to put FABIAC in a human-sized form with close-to-human features...as Kirby himself did with X-51 aka Aaron Stack aka Mr Machine aka Machine Man 20 years later!

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Saturday, November 7, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "Power of the Slave Giants' Goddess"

...so, let's go to dinner!
But, is it truly over?
Don't miss the next exciting adventure of Flick Falcon and Adele!
Using the pen-name "Orville Wells" (a variation of "Orson Welles", who a couple of years earlier, frightened America with a dramatic radio adaptation of HG Wells' War of the Worlds performed like a news broadcast), writer-penciler Don Rico's wild imagination goes full-speed, combining science fiction and fantasy elements with equal aplomb in this never-reprinted tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #3 (1940).
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Vol 3
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Thursday, November 5, 2026

Reading Room THRILL-O-RAMA "Old Hulk"

A never-reprinted tale from an influental artist...
...whose greatest contributions were to animation, not comics!
(And no, it's not Alex Toth!)
During the mid-1960s, Harvey Comics jumped back into superhero and sci-fi/fantasy comics with several titles combining a mixture of reprints and new material.
This tale from Thrill-O-Rama #1 (1965) was one of the "new" ones, though it's likely left over from Harvey's previous sci-fi anthology, Race for the Moon (1958).
Though the writer is unknown, the artist is Doug Wildey, who spent several years in comics, but found working in tv animation steadier and more profitable!
His many credits include Jonny Quest, Godzilla, and, Return to the Planet of the Apes!
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the Complete Original Series
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Conclusion

...actually we haven't seen this...nor will we!
It's a "symbolic" cover, designed to hook you into reading the comic.
And, hoo boy, does it work!
On a post-apocalyptic Earth several centuries from now, a rescue team checks up on a scientific research outpost that went mysteriously silent.
They find one mutilated survivor, and the group splits up to search for others...
Wow!
Now THAT'S an introduction!
Up-and-comer Mark Schultz created, wrote, and illustrated this tribute to dinosaurs in general and EC Comics of the 1950s in particular.
Dennis Kitchen, editor-publisher of Kitchen Sink was so sure of the potential for this series, he didn't even wait to see how the sales were on Death Rattle #8, as shown by this ad in the back of the book...
The book ran for 14 issues, and sold well.
There was also a one-shot 3-D issue adapting earlier stories to the 3-D format.
Problem was that Mark Schultz, like Dave Stevens, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and a number of other creatives, though incredibly-talented, was also exceedingly sloooooowww, so the book went from bi-monthly to quarterly to semi-annually.
Kitchen Sink tried using back-up tales (overseen by Schultz) by other writers and artists while Schultz did the lead stories, but the book always had trouble keeping a regular schedule.
Even with that, the series built up a devoted following and tie-in merchandise like t-shirts, action figures and other goodies were grabbed off comic store shelves as fast as they were stocked.
Marvel's Epic imprint reprinted the early b/w tales in color under the name Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.
Interest from licensees in this version resulted in mainstream media tie-ins including a popular arcade game, home video console games, and an animated tv series...which resulted in its' own comic series from Topps that did new stories based on the tv show and sequels to Xenozoic Tales comic stories!
The stories continue to be reprinted (most recently in an IDW "Artists Edition"), and there are rumors of a feature film that could lead to an ongoing franchise!
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Friday, October 23, 2026

Friday Fun HOMER THE HAPPY GHOST "Dinosaur Egg"

Atlas Comics had a Casper the Friendly Ghost "Clone"...

...written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Dan DeCarlo, who encounted...a dinosaur!
This never-reprinted story from Atlas' Homer the Happy Ghost #13 (1957) is no sillier than the literally thousands of tales about Harvey's Casper, and a heckuva lot wittier!

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Part 1

With one simple, invented word and a passion for dinosaurs and EC Comics...
...a young writer-artist named Mark Schultz created one of the more successful comic series of the 1980s!
What has Jack discovered?
Find Out...
NEXT WEDNESDAY!
Plus, we'll toss in some background about both the series and the creator!
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Xenozoic
by Mark Schultz

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