Space Force Saturdays ALIEN ENCOUNTERS "Earth Invasion"

There's a twist ending to this alien invasion tale you won't see coming...

...if you're under 35!

I'm serious!

Ah, video arcades...

Kids today have no idea how important those darkened chambers filled with video consoles and pinball machines were to us in the pre-XBox/PlayStation/Nintendo days...and how much money we spent, quarter-by-quarter, in them!

Yeah, there's still Chuck E Cheese, Dave & Busters, and their ilk, but those are kiddie venues!

Written by Larry Shell and illustrated by Steve (Swamp Thing) Bissette, this never-reprinted tale from FantaCo's Alien Encounters one-shot (1981) captures the long-lost era perfectly.

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Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games
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Frightful Friday Fun CRAZY "Drag-ula!"

No, it's not a tale of a transvestite Transylvanian...

...(that's Rocky Horror Picture Show) but our final Dracula tale is a humorous look at the original "bat man" from Atlas' CRAZY #2 (1954)

As was usual with the lead tale in Atlas' CRAZY, this tale was lovingly-rendered by the amazing Bill Everett!

Heck, Bill might even have written it, since he had a number of scripting credits already!

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Sincerest Form of Parody
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Spooky Space Force Saturdays JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "Planet of Terror!"

 Our Final Halloween-Horror Themed Tale is Illustrated by Basil Wolverton...

...but likely not scripted by him!

Even the Grand Comics Database, which normally attributes scripting of Basil's tales to him is uncertain what to make of this somewhat disorienting ending! of this sinister story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #7 (1951)!

You'll note the inset art for the story on the cover, by an unknown artist, has none of the elements of the tale itself!

What's the truth?

We'll likely never know...

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Brain Bats of Venus

Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton

Volume Two

1942-1952
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Spooky Space Hero Saturdays WEIRD THRILLERS "SandFlower of Venus"

Alien Worlds May Have Potentially-Lethal Flora and Fauna...

...but every Space Hero knows the most dangerous creature in the Universe is...Man!

I take it back.

The most dangerous creature in the Universe is Woman!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #1 (1951) was probably illustrated by a round-robin of Dan & Sy Barry, Murphy Anderson, and Frank Giacoia.

The writer is unknown.

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Halloween Reading Room PHANTOM WITCH DOCTOR "Out of the Deep!"

 Avon's Phantom Witch Doctor (1952) was a unique one-shot...
...with a lead story featuring the title character and a trio of totally-unrelated tales (including this one) backing it up!

Whether the creature is a Lovecraftian-type Elder-God, a stranded alien, or just a sentient life-force is never really explained.

Another unsolved puzzle is who the writer and artist(s) for this short story were.

But what's life without a few mysteries, eh?

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Horror Comics of the 1950s
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Reading Room FANTASTIC WORLDS "Boy Who Saved the World!"

The short-lived anthology Fantastic Worlds featured Earth-based stories...

...contrasting with the other anthology from Standard Comics, Lost Worlds, which was a space-opera book.

This superb kid-friendly tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #6 (1952) was drawn by Alex Toth and Mike Peppe, though the writer is unknown.

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Taylor Illustrated History

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Enjoy an Autumnal ADVENTURE IN ROMANCE with "September Squall"

Since it's September and the cold winds are beginning to blow...

...we thought we'd re-present one of the few romance comic stories actually tied-in with the season from an experimental magazine-sized comic book which featured romance stories with high adventure, historical, and Western tales in a kool cross-genre mash-up!

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Reading Room / Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "Sabotage on Space Station 1"

Tuesday, we presented a 1970s tale with a 1950s flavor...

...now you'll see where that "flavor" came from!

Damn, we humans are good at this sort of world-saving stuff, eh?

This Norman Nodel-illustrated tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #7 (1952) could have been the basis of an episode of Space: 1999 or Classic Star Trek with just a couple of tweaks!

As to why it was reworked...

Eerie Publications had been using photostats and negatives from defunct comics companies as the source material for their b/w magazine line.

About a year in, they started using South American artists eager to break into the comics market and American artists like Dick Ayers and Chic Stone (who were losing work as the Silver Age ended and comics companies cut back their lines) to re-do old stories with a more contemporary style.

Some illustrators totally-redid the art, using new "camera angles" and clothing/technology designs reflecting contemporary tastes.

In this particular case, artist Cirilo Munoz just lightboxed and re-inked the Nodel artwork!

Editor Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos eliminated the opening captions and modified a couple of captions and dialogue balloons, but otherwise left the unknown writer's original script intact.

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics
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