Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Octopus-Kings of the Lost Planet"

Sometimes the cover of a comic doesn't match the contents...

...until you look closer!

While there is no comic tale called "Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet" in Strange Worlds #2 (1951), there is a text story...

Written by "W Malcolm White", a name that only appears in three text stories in Avon Comics, so its safe to state that it's a pen-name.

The illustrators for the cover and interior spot illustrations are unknown.

Regrettably, the files and records of Avon Comics are long gone, so we'll probably never know.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Monday Madness ATOMIC SPY CASES "Operation H.M."

Think we're paranoid about the (unnamed, but obvious) enemy discovering our atomic secrets?

Look at how nutso we were back in the 1950s!

(BTW, the "Based on TRUE Stories" caption is a total lie!)

The lead story from this Avon Comics 1950 one-shot with a Norman (Mars Attacks) Saunders cover exemplifies the "Russkies/Chinese under the bed" paranoia that's making a comeback today!
Although with Putin going Don da Con-level bonkers...ya never know!
Regrettably, neither the writer nor artist(s) are known.

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROCKET TO THE MOON Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

The first appearance of Maza of the Moon. Art by Robert A. Graef

...Held captive by P'an-Ku, Ted Dustin, along with scientist Shen Ho, plan their escape...

Note: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to eras of both the original novel and the comic.

While there was the potential for one or more sequel stories to this "scientific romance", none was ever done either in prose or comic form.

However, the novel does fit into a "Kline-verse" that links it to OAK's other tales set on other worlds as show HERE.

Note: 

This 1951 one-shot comic from Avon Comics , based on the novel Maza of the Moon by Otis Adelbert Kline, was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by the legendary Joe Orlando and Wally Wood.

Now that's a pop culture pedigree!

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Maza of the Moon

by Otis Aldelbert Kline

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROCKET TO THE MOON Part 3

When Last We Left Our Space-Spanning Hero, Ted Dustin...

...he had arrived on the Moon to try to negotiate with the inhabitants, who are bombarding Earth after they mistook a reconnaissance missile sent by Ted as an attack from Earth!

Note: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to eras of both the original novel and the comic.

Can Ted escape?
Is Earth doomed?
Be here next Wednesday for the astounding finale!

This 1951 one-shot comic from Avon Comics was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood, based on the high-adventure sci-fi novel Maza of the Moon by Otis Adelbert Kline..

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Maza of the Moon

by Otis Aldelbert Kline

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROCKET TO THE MOON Part 2

When Last We Left Our Spacegoing Hero...

...well, now you know the source material for the comic!

(And isn't that a kool Frank Frazetta cover?)

Brilliant young scientist Ted Dustin sends an unmanned test rocket to the Moon, and the inhabitants of the satellite, believing it to be an attack, respond with missiles of their own.

Despite being able to make video contact with the Moon people, the language barrier proves insurmountable and the bombardment of Earth continues.

In desperation, Dustin launches himself in an experimental rocket to the Moon...

Note: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to eras of both the original novel and the comic.

What does Ted encounter?
Be here next Wednesday and find out!

This 1951 one-shot comic from Avon Comics was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood.

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROCKET TO THE MOON Part 1

Here's a comic story adapted from a sci-fi high adventure novel...

...see if you can guess which one?

Hint: the comic's name is not the same as the novel's!

Note: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to eras of both the original novel and the comic.

Be here next Wednesday, when the story truly lives up to its' title!

And, if you haven't figured out what novel this story is adapted from, you'll see the cover of the book!
(We'll give you a clue, the novel was written in the same era as Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Barsoom and Carson of Venus stories by an author who also wrote high adventure series set on Mars and Venus!
This 1951 one-shot comic from Avon Comics was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood, who shared penciling and inking duties! 

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Invasion from the Abyss!"

Since 1938, Halloween and alien invasions go hand-in-hand...

...even when the "aliens" are from inside the Earth, rather than outer space!

This story from Avon's Strange Worlds #3 (1951) was a "Fleagle Gang" production.

The "Fleagles" were a group of artists including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and George Woodbridge who would help each other out on tight deadlines by doing a "jam" with individuals penciling and inking different pages and even different panels on a single page, producing some absolutely-amazing visuals!

Trivia: the group was named by EC Comics editor/writer/artist Harvey Kurtzman.

The idea of advanced beings living inside the Earth and invading/reconquering the surface was very popular in the early 1950s.

Richard Shaver and pulp magazine editor Ray A Palmer caused a media firestorm with series of stories presenting a theory that combined the "civilization inside the Earth" concept with another pop culture phenomenon...flying saucers!

Numerous readers wrote in, claiming that they had actually seen creatures and vehicles exactly as described in the stories!

The "Shaver Hoax" (as it came to be known) influenced 1950s sci-fi/fantasy ranging from the pilot episode of the TV's Adventures of Superman to movies like Brain Eaters.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3