Best of Holiday Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Mummers from Mercury"

70 years ago, the world almost ended on New Year's Day...

...but it was saved by the participants of the annual Mummers Parade!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures #1 (1953) was illustrated by Albert Tyler and Dick Giordano.

The writer (who was probably from Philadelphia) is unknown.

The Mummers Parade is usually held every New Years Day in Philadelphia.
Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange.
This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year.

Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution.
Prizes were offered by merchants beginning in the late 1800s.
January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
January 1, 2021 was the 120th Anniversary of the event, but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was cancelled.
The Parade returned in 2022, and will happen on New Years Day, 2024!

Monday Madness THIS MAGAZINE IS CRAZY "Russians are Stealing Our Comics!"

Russians using pop culture to spread disinformation is nothing new...

...as this never-reprinted feature from Charlton's MAD clone This Magazine is Crazy V4N8 (1959) by an unknown writer and artist (or writer/artist) demonstrates!

The really sad thing is how few of these strips survive to this day!

Nancy, Dennis the Menace, and Beetle Bailey are still being published.

Peanuts is in reprints only, with no new strips since creator Charles Schultz retired.

Abernathy and They'll Do It Every Time are gone and pretty much forgotten.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Friday Fun EH! "Squeeeezerama in 5-D!"

Movie theaters are still struggling, post-covid, to get people back into the seats...

...much like back in the 1950s, when TV first competed with the cinemas for the attention of the viewing public!

Illustrated by Dick Ayers and likely written by editor Al Fago, this story from Charlton's Eh! #2 (1954) exaggerates (but not by much) the lengths to which movie studios went to lure the audience back to theaters!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "Lunar Rendezvous"

A 1950s-style script with art that tries to offer a 1960s "psychedelic" feel...

...in this never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V2#6 (1969)

Sam Glanzman was an amazingly-versatile artist, whose work in every genre from sci-fi to war to romance to Westerns was usually exemplary.

Whether this was a rush job...or he was experimenting with a new inking style...or he simply had an off-week, it's just not up to his usual high standards.

BTW, you may notice the indicia says "Vol 1 Number 6", but the book is actually from Vol 2 Number 6!

Charlton's first Space Adventures title ran from 1952-56 (1-21), then 1958-64 (23-59) for a total of 58 issues.
(There wasn't a #22 in either part of the run).

This tale was from a 1968-69 revival of the title that lasted only 7 issues.

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Voyage to the Deep

TPB reprinting the complete four-issue 1960s series illustrated by Sam Glanzman, plus some kool features!

Friday Fun HILLBILLY COMICS "Man Who Hated the Moon!"

Here's a tale of a guy like the good ol' boys who support the disgraced, impeached President...

...from a short-lived 1950s title telling their stories!

Yep, these are the people Don da Con and other Republicans play to while decrying the "educated elites".

"Bubbleville', according to Repug Mike Huckabee, represents the big cities of New York, Washington and Hollywood where the educated (but not smart) people live.

"Bubbaville", I guess, is everywhere else in the good ol' USA.

And that's where the "real people" are.

The ones who are smart...without all that fancy book-learnin'. 
The ones we city-folk call "deplorables"!

Written and illustrated by the highly-underrated Art Gates, this never-reprinted piece from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #1 (1955) shows the "wisdom" the Cheeto Benito's audience is famous for!

Friday Fun FROM HERE TO INSANITY "Century's Most Practical Inventions"

What could be a better way to end the week...

...than a never-reprinted Basil Wolverton story?

Charlton tried several times to match the success of EC's MAD, both as a color comic and a b/w magazine!

This particular book, From Here to Insanity V3N1 (1957), was comic-book sized, but tried to look like a b/w magazine with "spot color" elements!
The remaining seven issues in the series were the same b/w magazine format as MAD.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room ROCKET SHIP X "Our Atomic Future"

Remember when we thought the Day After Tomorrow would be...

...and all the world's woes could be solved with nuclear power?

If you're an older Baby Boomer, or one of the Greatest Generation, you might remember this tale from Fox's one-shot Rocket Ship X (1951) or something similar to it, since the unhindered (but safe) use of atomic power was being promoted as the ultimate solution to the world's oil/gasoline problems!

Oddly, when it was reprinted in Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #5 (1956), only the first page was shown!

Sadly, no records exist to identify the writer and artist (or writer/artist) of this unfulfilled prophecy.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics

Reading Room SPACE WARS "Strange World"

A never-reprinted short story that could've been produced as an episode of the original Twilight Zone...

...from Charlton's Space War #22 (1963).

Was this a longer tale edited down to only three pages?

It certainly feels like it, since there are many unanswered questions like...

If these people are Tibetan, why are they dressed like the Flintstones...and why do they speak English?
How would they know anything about the Earth-Uranus War?
And why is it we have no idea how only Heffner survived?
Pencils by Dick Giordano, inks by Vince Colletta.
The writer is unknown, but the Grand Comics Database postulates Joe Gill as the most likely candidate.

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Taylor History of Comics: Volume 3
Science Fiction Comics

Baker Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Spymaster"

With a cover by Dick Giordano...

...and interiors by Matt Baker, this never-reprinted tale from 1959 has a moral that'll be lost on most of the readers of 2021!

If retold in the cynical, dog-eat-dog world of 2021, the "big chain" drugstore would be welcomed with open arms since its' prices would be lower, the little drugstore would be driven out of business, and the Earth would fall under alien control...

An ironic lesson in lost morality originally-published in Charlton's Out of This World #14 (1959) by writer Joe Gill, penciler Matt Baker and inker Vince Colletta.
We're giving artist Matt Baker his own "Reading Room" during Black History Month to showcase his amazing illustrating versatility!

Horror, war, romance, sci-fi, crime...there was nothing he couldn't draw!
One of the few Black artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, Matt drew only one Black character in his own strip...Voodah, whom he co-created.
you can read his premiere adventure HERE!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Holiday Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Mummers from Mercury"

Over 6 decades ago, the world almost ended on New Year's Day...

...but it was saved by the participants of the annual Mummers Parade!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures #1 (1953) was illustrated by Albert Tyler and Dick Giordano.

The writer (who was probably from Philadelphia) is unknown.

The Mummers Parade is usually-held every New Years Day in Philadelphia.
Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange.
This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year.

Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution.
Prizes were offered by merchants in the late 1800s.
January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
January 1, 2021 was the 120th Anniversary of the event, but, due to the pandemic, it's been cancelled.
Let's hope no aliens take advantage of it and invade...