Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 7 - A Mountain Explodes!"

Trapped on an alien world, a group of humans and their alien allies fight to survive...

...fighting savages and the clock as a rogue planet hurtles towards them!

Ah, the classic Daffy Duck "Scarlet Pumpernickel" trope; when you're stuck for a climax to your story, unleash a volcano, even if it's totally-unrelated to anything else in the story!

This tale from Treasure Chest V14N17 (1959) is the penultimate chapter in the serialized storyline, so writer Frances Crandall and artist Fran Matera decided to "go for broke"!

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 6 - Laughing Death"

In the year 1970, two 'tweens and two adults ended up on an alien world...

...where both scientifically-advanced inhabitants and savages co-exist!

Out of the frying pan and into the fire...but science will provide an answer!

This tale from Treasure Chest V14N16 (1959) feels like a chapter from an old movie serial, moving from one peril to the next.
Note that the comic was a bi-weekly, so the readers had to wait two weeks, unlike movie audiences who only had a week between serial chapters at their local theatre!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Werner Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 5 - Into New Peril"

Journey back to 1970, when two 'tweens and two adults were...

...and transported to another world.

Ever get the feeling we're about to go from "space opera" to "horse opera"?

This tale from Treasure Chest V14N15 (1959) introduces other aliens, but they're apparently extremely-primitive!

Next Monday, we'll see if the writer and artist follow the then-standard Western story motif of "explorers/settlers meet noble savages and make friends", or if they go off on a different tangent!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 4 - Marooned on a Doomed World!"

We (inadvertently) skipped a week, but, we're back...

...as the tweens from 1970 (and their adult chaperones) explore an uninhabited alien city...

(Ahem) Perhaps they could use the same sort of material the flying saucer was fabricated from?

As this tale from Treasure Chest V14N14 (1959) demonstrates, even "men of science" can miss the obvious.

Hopefully, next Monday, the genius who designed the spaceship will figure it out!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 3 - People or....?"

When Last We Left the Kids from 1970 Who Were...

...they were plummeting towards the surface of a planet in a far-distant solar system...

They've discovered an uninhabited alien city, operational technology run by an unseen intelligence, and a flying saucer in the space of just six pages in this tale from Treasure Chest V14N13 (1959)

Yet, they're taking all this pretty calmly!

Kids back then must've been made of sterner stuff than today's coddled tweens!

We'll see what happens when they board the flying saucer two weeks from now!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 2 - Red Menace!"

We Have Already Seen...

Despite the miscolored hair and clothing, this is Jean Martin and Tom Pratt on the cover.

...in the far-flung future of 1970 (Well, it was "far-flung" when this story was published in 1959!)

Tween-ager Jean Martin and her friend, Tom Pratt, are given a tour of experimental spaceship "Starlight II" by Jean's father, Colonel Martin, the ship's pilot.

The doors suddenly snap shut and the shop lifts off!

(Note: this is one time the kids didn't accidentally hit a switch or button, as usually happens in these stories!)

So why is this chapter called "Red Menace"?
Since there aren't any Communists in this tale from Treasure Chest V14N12 (1959), I'm presuming that one of the two celestial bodies they're approaching is red!

We'll see which one they land on when the story continues next Monday!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 1 - Off to the Stars!"

In pop culture, lots of kids besides comics' Buzzy Bean went into space...

...as early as 1970, according to this tale from Treasure Chest V14N11 (1959)

Oops!

We'll find out how this liftoff happened when the story continues next Monday!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

Best of Reading Room RACE FOR THE MOON "Garden of Eden"

From the final issue (#3) of Race For the Moon comes a tale with spectacular Jack Kirby/Al Williamson artwork combining both realistic 1950s spacesuits and architecture and way-out technology and alien costuming.
Note that the female, Anizaar, looks a lot like Zsa Zsa Gabor in the then-current flick Queen of Outer Space, but in a kooler costume than the simple ones shown in the movie!  
Trivia: Zsa Zsa didn't play the title role! "The Queen" was Laurie Mitchell!
The story itself is a clever reworking of several science-fiction tropes common to the era (1958).
See of you can identify them all...

I dunno...while I'm certainly on the humans' side, that last panel sounded like a rather nasty threat...

Design of the Week Redux: BUNNY? DADDY?

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another...unless it's really popular, in which case we keep it up one more week!

Since Easter is coming, we thought we'd present an absolutely adorable piece by the legendary Walt (Pogo) Kelly featuring a bunny with a surprised look on his faces a the egg in his basket hatches, producing yet another cute animal...a baby duck!

You just don't see stuff like this anymore!
So, why not order some kidswear, or even holiday greeting cards with this one-week-only graphic?
Everyone who sees it will go "Awwww."