Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROBOTMEN OF THE LOST PLANET "Chapter One: the Massacre of Mankind!"

Last week, we showed you a 1970s version of this robo-apocalyptic tale...

...now witness the sheer terror of the original 1950s version!

The art for this 1952 one-shot title from Avon Comics is by Gene Fawcette, an Avon mainstay who did everything from horror to Westerns to romance.
If you compare the two tales, you'll see the robots are totally different in this version.
They're based on a still-popular toy first marketed in the early 1950s... Obie the Popping Martian/Panic Pete/Bug-Out Bob!
Who came up with the idea is unknown, and there was no attempt at an actual tie-in between the toy and the comic...

Beyond that, the most unusual aspect of this tale is the scripter...Walter Gibson, aka "Maxwell Grant", the primary writer of the legendary pulp character, The Shadow!

Yeah, that guy!

Gibson, a trained magician-turned writer did very little "hard" sci-fi during his long career...except in 1951-54, where he edited (and wrote under several pseudonoms) most of the contents of Charlton's short-lived pulp magazine (only two issues) Fantastic Science Fiction, as well as Charlton's Space Adventures comic for its' first eleven issues and co-creating and scripting Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes for Charlton's newly-created Space Western Comics!
(Yes, it really existed, as shown HERE!)
He also wrote this comic and several other one-shots for Avon Comics.

For the record, Gibson also wrote two volumes of prose adaptations of Twilight Zone TV episodes (with a couple of original tales mixed in), but none of those were sci-fi.
BTW, while this was the only tale adapted into b/w in the 1970s, there were two more chapters of the man vs funky robot saga!
You'll see them next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that...

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Panic Pete!

Space Hero Saturdays SPACE DETECTIVE "SpaceShip of the Dead!"

We're about to join Avenger (aka Space Detective) and Teena...

...as they begin their final published adventure, fighting crime in a future time!

Don't worry Teena, you'll meet up with Beast Man and Vulcan Woman sooner than you think...like NOW, by clicking HERE for Part 2 and HERE for Part 3!

Though the writer and inker are unknown, the penciler of this kool 3-part tale (and the b/w inside front cover synopsizing this tale) from Avon's Space Detective #4 (1952) is Gene Fawcette.

Blending the hard-boiled gumshoe, sci-fi and superhero genres, Space Detective burst onto the comics scene in 1951.

Future-era wealthy philanthropist Rod Hathway and his secretary Dot Kenny fight interplanetary evil and helped the innocent as Avenger and Teena using the methods of 1940s gumshoes combined with the technology of the far future!

Blasters instead of revolvers!

Personal jetpacks instaed of taxis!

Stories, whose titles included "Opium Smugglers of Venus" and "Bandits of the Starways", delivered fast-paced action.
And you can read the complete four-issue Space Detective saga by clicking HERE!

Weird Trivia:

1) Despite the fact that neither character wore a mask, nobody ever commented "hey, ain't you that famous Hathway guy?" or somesuch.

(Maybe they were too busy looking at Teena's cleavage?)

2) Nobody ever calls Rod "Space Detective"! He's always called "Avenger".

3) The original user of the name "Avenger", a Doc Savage-style pulp/comic character, hadn't been published since 1944.

The trademark had lapsed, so it was used on this unrelated character from a different company.

This sort of thing is far more common in comics/pulps than you might think.
In fact, only a few years after the final issue of Space Detective, a new Avenger (a Russkie-smashing superhero) popped up, as shown HERE!
And, in fact, Rod Hathaway wasn't even the first "Space Detective"!
There was another one, Lance Lewis: Space Detective, published by Nedor Comics, a few years earlier, as shown HERE!

However, he was only a back-up strip, and never had his own book, though he was featured on the cover of Startling Comics for a while!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "Mystery of Asteroid 9!"

Tuesday, we brought you the 1970s tale "Terror Asteroid"...

...today, we're presenting the original version of the story...from 1952!

It's not as visceral (even thought this was the era of horror comics), but still quite cool!

Penciler Gene Fawcette and inker Vince Alascia illustrated the first telling of this tale in Avon Comics' Strange Worlds #9 (1952).

The writer is, sadly, unknown.

The issue also had this kool inside cover contents page illustrated by Everett Raymond Kinsler...

...who also illustrated the story Ransom--One Million Decimars! in that issue.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sci-Fi Art: a Graphic History

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTHMAN ON VENUS Part 4

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Inside front cover art by Wally Wood

WOW!

Don't just sit there!

Start reading!

Well, that's it for our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

BTW, both Doggo's and Yuri's "deaths" were exaggerations.
Both survived to return in the sequel novels, Radio Beasts and Radio Planet.
Only the first novel, Radio Man/Earth Man on Venus, has been adapted into comics form.
Too bad, since the later novels are even better.

Next Week

We Return to Earth for another

Wednesday World of Wonder!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Gene Fawcette

...an experiment in "teleportation by radio wave" inadvertantly sends technician Miles Cabot to the planet Venus, where he discovers humanoids (including a ravishingly-beautiful woman) known as "Cupians" and giant intelligent ants (who've enslaved the humanoids) who call themselves "Formians"!

Both species communicate only via telepathy on a frequency close to radio waves, so Cabot builds a device to comunicate with them.
He becomes friends with Formian Doggo and Cupian Princess Lilla, which leads to his involvement with Lilla's evil cousin Yuri, who betrays Cabot to the Formians with whom he's formed an alliance...

Next Wednesday:

The Fateful Finale!

Continuing our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story by Ralph Milne Farley (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 2

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Reprint cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

...an experiment in "teleportation by radio wave" inadvertently sends technician Miles Cabot to the planet Venus, where he discovers humanoids (including a ravishingly-beautiful woman) and giant intelligent ants (who've enslaved the humanoids)!

Both species communicate only via telepathy on a frequency close to radio waves, so Cabot attempts to build a device...

 Next Wednesday:

Exile and Treachery...

Continuing our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story by Ralph Milne Farley (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner