Space Hero Saturdays SPACE WESTERN COMICS "Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in 'Death from U-235' "

As we promised earlier...

...here's another exciting, never-reprinted adventure featuring cowboys and aliens from Charlton's Space Western Comics #40.

Ah, for the days when a cowboy's devotion to the good 'ol USA overrode living in luxury on another world with a beautiful space princess...

(Never thought you'd read that sentence on the 'Net in 2025, eh?)
Scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson, and illustrated by an unknown artist!

Don't worry, owlhoot.

There's lots more space-spanning, six-shooting action to come, so keep us bookmarked!

Baker Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Bordoni the Great"

Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia's cover introduces a never-reprinted Matt Baker-penciled story...

..and there's not a single Baker-trademark beautiful woman in sight!

Cue The Twilight Zone music...

Writer Joe Gill and inker Vince Colletta join penciler Matt Baker in a simple, but effective story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #16 (1959) that could've worked as a standard-budget TV episode in the 1950s!
The tale reads like a set of storyboards with dramatic camera-angles and lighting effects!

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Friday Fun / Baker Reading Room CANTEEN KATE vs The Comics Code Authority!

Besides Romance Comics and Scantily-Clad Heroines like Phantom Lady & Rulah... 

...pioneering Black comic book artist Matt Baker also did a military humor strip featuring (what else) a scantly-clad, beautiful WAC (Womens' Army Corps) officer assigned to run a canteen at a US military base not far from the front lines in Korea!

(She actually encountered North Koreans in a couple of tales)

The following, "Foxhole Floozie", appeared in St John's Fightin' Marines #7 (1952), where Kate's strip appeared in almost every issue from #2 to #12...while she also had her own comic book!

Straightforward, fun story with a little harmless cheesecake thrown in, illustrated by a master of the craft!

However...

When Charlton Comics bought out St John Publishing's inventory and began reprinting it, the brand-new Comics Code Authority literally got its' panties in a bunch, insisting on some ridiculous changes in the retelling of this tale in Charlton's Fightin' Marines #17 (1956)

Start with putting a bra/bathing suit top on Kate, and putting a boulder over her shapely legs in the opening panel and removing the story's title "Foxhole Floozie"!

Plus, throughout the tale, her tasteful shorts are replaced with mid-calf length Capri pants, and there's an olive-drab t-shirt under her uniform shirt, covering her cleavage!

One additional point...

Usually, when Charlton, Avon, and other publishers modified previously-published art to conform to the Comic Code's demands, they usually did it only to the black plate art, but, to save money, not to the existing cyan, magenta, and yellow plates!
Here, the reprint is totally-recolored!
Plus the retouching is so clean that it looks like the original artist, Matt Baker did it himself!
Did Charlton have the original art along with photostats and photo negatives, and asked Baker (who was doing freelance work for Charlton) do the reworking himself?
In truth, it's the sort of thing I'd expect editor Dick Giordano to do!

But, sadly, we'll never know the answer, since all involved parties are no longer on this mortal coil!

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Baker Reading Room MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS "No. 9 Swanson St."

Matt Baker Illustrated Few Medical-Oriented Tales...

...that didn't involve a hot 'n heavy romance featuring a doctor, nurse, or both!

But, this never-reprinted story is one of them!

From Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #14 (1959), this Joe Gill-scripted, Matt Baker-penciled, and Vince Colletta-inked tale of a medical technician who eneded up at the wrong address wouldn't have been out of place as an episode of The Twilight Zone!

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Baker Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Return of the Pied Piper"

A Corrupt Politician Who Steals Public Funds!

As common back in 1959, when this never-reprinted story was published, as today, 65 years later!

Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Matt Baker (with only a single beautiful woman in sight) and inked by Vince Colletta, this story from Charlton's anthology Out of this World #13 (1959) is dependent on the reader being familiar with the classic fairy tale of "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"!
Wonder how many kids today know about the tale and would get the "punchline"...

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Space Hero Saturdays OUTER SPACE "Blueprint for Survival"

Sometimes a Space Hero is just an ordinary guy...

...or someone extraordinary pretending to be ordinary!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Outer Space #21 (1959) follows the standard convention of movie/TV sci-fi of the era with friendly aliens who look perfectly human, but dress better (or at least more futuristically than us!
Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Matt Baker, inked by Vince Colletta.

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