Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Vengeance on Venus"

There have been numerous "Space Patrol" series in pop culture...

...as far as I can tell, this is the first!

As was typical in such series of the period, the non-human is the sidekick, but he is treated as an equal.

The Space Patrol was more a para-military organization than just a police force, occasionally engaging in pitched battles involving fleets of spaceships.

This premiere tale from Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies V2N12 (1939) was written and illustrated by Basil Wolverton, easily one of the most idiosyncratic creators ever to work in comics, and a major artistic influence on the underground comics of the 1960s-80s.

Nick Nelson and Kodi traversed the Solar System for a half-dozen tales before disappearing into the ether.

You'll see them all over the next couple of months
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Basil Wolverton in Space
Reprinting the entire Space Patrol series along with other kool tales and extras!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Stranded on the Sands of Mars"

Since it's Halloween Eve we're offering a preview of our next Saturday feature...

...this strip, which was the first of numerous unrelated series in various media to use the title "Space Patrol", including three different TV series!

Nobody could combine horror and sci-fi like Wolverton...as we showed HERE!

The multi-talented Basil wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this wild tale from Amazing Mystery Funnies #23 (1940).

I'd love to see someone animate these classics of surreal storytelling.

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Creeping Death from Neptune

Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton

Volume One

CoronaVirus Comics AMAZING MYSTERY FUNNIES "Daredevil Barry Finn vs the Infectious Insects!"

One of a number of rich, handsome, heroic, layabouts who fought evil...

...because they had the wealth and spare time to do so!

This never-reprinted story from Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies V2N09 (1939) was conceived, written and illustrated by Tarpe Mills, one of the few female creatives working in comics before World War II put most of the male writers and artists in military service.

Tarpe's imagination also produced the The Purple Zombie, the original Cat-Man, and, most famously, Miss Fury.

Such "gentleman adventurers" as Barry Finn were popular in literature and media of the period.

Examples include The Saint, Lord Peter Wimsey, The Falcon, Boston Blackie, and Bulldog Drummond.

His nemesis, Zaroff (named after the villain of The Most Dangerous Game, but a scientist, not a hunter) constantly did typical mad scientist stuff which Finn would always thwart.

The brash young hero kicked butt for eight chapters, none of which has been seen since their original publication.

It may be time to change that...

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Miss Fury
Sensational Sundays 1944-1949

Reading Room: BROTHERS 3 "Battle of Ahmid Bey"

Why should we send thousands of troops to Iraq (again)...

...when all we needed in 1937-38 was three guys (one of whom wasn't an American) to hold off an entire Arab army?

According to Fatts Dugan, it wasnt even a "real fight"!

Y'know, come to think of it, where's the French Foreign Legion these days?

They used to be the world's premier desert fighters!

One of comics legend Will Eisner's earliest solo efforts, this one-shot was probably intended as an ongoing strip, but reader response was probably minimal as it wasn't colorful or exciting enough compared to the interplanetary adventures and fantasy tales in the same issue, so it wasn't continued.

BTW, though it was a one-shot, the story was published three times!

1) Comics Magazine Company's Funny Picture Stories V1N04 (1937)

2) Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies V1N02 (1938)

3) Able Manufacturing's Super-Dooper Comics #4 (1946)

Al Plastino (1921 – 2013)

Though most fans know his 1940s-60s work on DC's Superman and Batman...

...Al Plastino had quite a varied output, ranging from Golden Age comics to almost becoming Charles Schultz's replacement on Peanuts!

Mark Evanier has a nice pro/fan tribute to Plastino HERE.

And, you can read about a recent controversy involving Al's long-missing art for a Silver Age Superman story featuring the late President Kennedy HERE.

As for me, I'd like to link you to a tale from Plastino's early days...and a character he co-created, which unfortunately went nowhere.

The wild thing about The Rainbow, is that he was one of the first comic characters inspired to become a super-hero by reading a comic book!

Have a look HERE.

Lost Heroes of the Golden Age---FOUND!

The Amazing Alex Ross has reimagined a group of long-gone heroes (and a few villains) from various defunct companies in a new series set in a new continuity--SuperPowers!
Buy the book! It's one of the best things he's ever done!
We've found a new line of goodies (tees, messenger bags, mousepads, magnets, sketchpads,etc.) based on the original appearances of the characters he's resurrected...
The Arrow
AirMan
Amazing-Man
America's Best Comics (one of the first hero anthology titles)
The Black Terror
The Black Terror 2
Captain Battle
Cat-Man
Cat-Man 2
The Claw
DareDevil (now the "Death-Defying Devil")
Detective Eye
Doc Strange
The Face (Now known as "Mr Face")
The Face 2
Fantom of the Fair
Fantom of the Fair 2
Fighting Yank
Fighting Yank 2
The Flame
The Flame 2
Green Giant (jolly, he ain't)
The Green Lama
Green Mask
Miss Masque (now known as "Masquerade")
Monster of Frankenstein (the basis for the F-Troop)
The Owl
The Owl 2
PyroMan
Skyman
Zip-Jet, the Rocketman
and The Lost Heroes of the Golden Age
Note that these products use the original 1940s-1950s comics covers, NOT Alex Ross' artwork.
For that, you should BUY SuperPowers! (did I say that already?)