Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "Return to Mars"

We Have Already Seen...

...now that you're caught up, watch as, unarmed and with Adele by his side, Flick prepares for another journey.

Writer-penciler Don Rico's wild imagination goes full-speed, combining science fiction and fantasy elements with equal aplomb in this never-reprinted tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #2 (1940).

It's interesting to note the three-armed slavers introduced last time aren't native to Mars, as Flick thought...though no mention is made about whether the giants they control are Martians or not. 

Also, rather odd for a kids' story, is the fact that sexual attraction can be used to break the alien slavers' control!

Inker Claire Moe (who usually scripted, penciled and inked her own material for Fox, Centaur, and Novelty), helped out probably due to a tight deadline.

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Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith and the Headless Men of the Gold Comet"

Newspaper comics had Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Brick Bradford...

...but comic books had the even wilder exploits of adventurers like Space Smith!

Wow!

Dianna's no mere helpless female sidekick, as this tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #4 (1940) proves!

Fletcher Hanks was no stranger to visualizing assertive women.

His Fantomah strip in Fiction House's Jungle Comics presented a jungle heroine with super-powers on a par with Wonder Woman (whom she pre-dated by a year)!

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I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

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Fletcher Hanks

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith and the Leopard Women of Venus"

Prepare yourself for a redefinition of "space opera" as we again enter the imagination of Fletcher Hanks!

BTW, if you want to even vaguely understand what's going on, read HERE and HERE before continuing...

Some call Fletcher Hanks the "Ed Wood of comics", but there's no mistaking the sheer imagination behind the deceptively-primitive art.

When comic books featuring new material (they were initially comic strip reprints) first appeared in the late 1930s, it was an "anything goes" market as publishers would run whatever they could lay their hands on from comic strip and pulp magazine professionals as well as talented (read "cheap") amateurs.

Some, like Siegel & Shuster, Simon & Kirby, and Finger & Kane created what would become American icons.

Others. like Hanks, were like mayflies, briefly appearing...then disappearing, leaving little behind.

Even comics geeks had forgotten about Hanks' material, which sat un-reprinted for over half a century, until Fantagraphics produced a couple of books collecting his work from the various anthology titles it appeared in!

We're now presenting the entire Space Smith series in Space Hero Saturdays, including Hanks' work and the later, more conventional tales by others (including a few surprise contributors).

Watch for them...

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I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

by

Fletcher Hanks

Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "To Mars and Back"

You know the scientist-hero of this strip is stark-raving bonkers...

...when, after seeing a test item come back through his teleporter inside-out, he leaps into the device!

This premiere tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #1 (1939) ends right there.

No "To Be Continued" caption or anything else.

The next page begins another strip, Sub Saunders.

But fear not, Flick Falcon will return for 20 more issues of Fantastic Comics!
Unlike Brick Bradford or Doctor Who, both of whom used other people's tech to jaunt around the Universe (and eventually the Multiverse), Flick created his own mode of travel, avoiding tedious (and dangerous) interplanetary travel by ship.
BTW, "Orville Wells" was a pen-name, probably inspired by Orson Welles, who had, only a few months before, panicked America with the legendary War of the Worlds radio show.
The artist (and probably writer) was Don Rico, who would become one of the premier creatives working in 1940s-50s comics before turning to writing novels.
(You can read one of his wildest comic tales HERE!)
Unlike contemporary Fletcher Hanks, whose Stardust and Space Smith strips also premiered in this issue, Rico's never received the attention and acclaim his equally-offbeat work deserves.
(That's not to put-down Hanks in any way.
His wild creations are equally as deserving of critical study by aficionados of sci-fi/fantasy.)
BTW, this never-reprinted tale was Rico's very first published comics work.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room SCIENCE COMICS "Build an Arctic Schooner"

Man it's c-c-c-old outside!

How am I gonna get around?

Why, with this kool cut-out transport courtesy of an unnamed artist in Fox's Science Comics #3 (1940)!
(BTW, despite the title, it was a science fiction comic!
A later Science Comics from Ace Publications was a comic about real-life scientists and actual science!)

Though the caption seems to indicate it's something we've seen before, there's nothing in any of the stories in the issue even vaguely like it!

I'll peruse the previous and later issues to see if it appeared in any of the tales...

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith in the Battle of the Earth Against the Martian Ogres"

One of the longest story titles ever leads into our "When Last We Left Our Hero" synopsis...

...so buckle up your space-safety belts, 'cause now the action is non-stop!

An epic space battle worthy of feature-film treatment in only six pages!

Try doing that in today's comics!

BTW, isn't it odd how these Martians from Fox's Fantastic Comics #2 (1939) don't resemble the ones seen in Space Smith's previous adventure?
Some call Fletcher Hanks the "Ed Wood of comics", but there's no mistaking the sheer imagination behind the primitive art.

>When comic books featuring new material (they were initially comic strip reprints) first appeared in the late 1930s, it was an "anything goes" market as publishers would run whatever they could lay their hands on from both comic strip and pulp magazine professionals and talented (read "cheap") amateurs.

Some, like Siegel & Shuster, Simon & Kirby, and Finger & Kane created what would become American icons.

Others. like Hanks, were like mayflies, briefly appearing...then disappearing, leaving little behind.

Even comics geeks had forgotten about Hanks' material, which sat un-reprinted for over half a century, until Fantagraphics produced a couple of books collecting his work from the various anthologies it appeared in!

We'll be running the entire Space Smith series over the next year, including both Hanks'  work and the later, more conventional tales by others.

Watch for them...

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Visit Amazon and Buy..

I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

by

Fletcher Hanks

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith Meets Skomah the Brain"

Writer/artist Fletcher Hanks created a number of surreal series during his too-brief (1939-41) comics career...

...but none was weirder than this series, which he started, but others (like Jack Kirby), continued for almost the entire run of Fantastic Comics!

Now, that was FANTASTIC, eh?

Some call Hanks the "Ed Wood of comics", but there's no mistaking the sheer imagination behind the primitive art.

When comic books featuring new material (they were initially comic strip reprints) first appeared in the late 1930s, it was an "anything goes" market as publishers would run whatever they could lay their hands on from both comic strip and pulp magazine professionals and talented (read "cheap") amateurs.

Some, like Siegel & Shuster, Simon & Kirby, and Finger & Kane created what would become American icons.

Others. like Fletcher Hanks, were like mayflies, briefly appearing...then disappearing, leaving little behind.

Even comics geeks had forgotten about Hanks' material, which sat un-reprinted for over half a century, until Fantagraphics produced a couple of books collecting his work from the various anthologies it appeared in!

Since then, his work has discovered a new audience, eager to enjoy his unrestrained lunacy, like this premiere tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #1!

We'll be running the entire series once a month over the next year, including both Hanks' work and the later, more conventional tales by others.

Watch for them...

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I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

by

Fletcher Hanks

KOOBA COLA...the Soda Pop That NEVER Existed!

In 1940, Victor Fox, publisher of WonderWorld Comics, Mystery Men Comics, Weird Comics, and other titles featuring The Blue Beetle, Samson, and The Flame, among others, conceived an audacious marketing scheme.

Inspired by the success of Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola, he decided to promote Kooba Cola, "The World's Newest and Best-Tasting Soft Drink!" in ads across his entire line of comic books!

It was also "Delightfully Refreshing" and "Contained 35 USP units of Vitamin B-1 for the Sake of Health and Nutrition!"

And, when Fox's The Blue Beetle starred in a short-lived radio show that summer, he was sponsored by Kooba Cola!

Wait a second...
What's that?
You've never even heard of Kooba Cola?

That's because it didn't exist, except as a logo, a couple of mocked-up bottles used as props in ads and some art reference for illustrators.

(You'll note they couldn't even figure out what the color scheme for the label was!

It changed from ad to ad!)

Fox thought he could create a demand for Kooba, then license the name to one of the big soft drink companies, let them do the work of actually creating, bottling, and shipping the stuff, then he'd rake in royalties on the name!

It didn't work.

The "buzz" never developed.

The soda pop was never actually produced.

Even Kooba's "sponsorship" of The Blue Beetle radio show was just part of the show's script, not paid ads! (One of the reasons the show only lasted four months!)

But, such visionary hucksterness should not be forgotten!

(Besides, the ads were rather kool.)

So we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ decided to re-present the Soda That Would Not Die on collectibles ranging from Beachwear to mugs, messenger bags (and the irony of doing bags with "Kooba" on them hasn't escaped us!) and hoodies at KoobaCola 1 and KoobaCola 2!

So celebrate what could have been one of the bubbliest success stories of soft drink entrepreneurship, but instead fizzled out and fell flat!

(You just knew we were gonna do a pun like that, didn't you?)  ;-)

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