Space Hero Saturdays SPACE MOUSE II "Secret Weapon"

Space Heroes take many forms...not all of them human!

 ...as shown in this never-reprinted introductory tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960).

Writer Carl Fallberg and artist John Carey did such an amazing job on this intro to the character, that when it was adapted in 1963 into a cartoon short (May be NSFW/NSFS due to racial stereotyping of Siamese cats using "Asian" accents) directed by Alex Lovy shown HERE, most (but not all) of the plot, script, and visuals were kept intact!
Though the cartoon didn't result in a Space Mouse TV series (or even additional cartoon shorts featuring the character), it did spawn a number of additional comic book stories as well as a five-issue Space Mouse comic!

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Friday Fun with SPACE MOUSE II!

He's not this rodent...

...whose strip ran through several Avon Comics funny animal titles in the early 1950s!

In 1959, a year after Avon ceased publishing comics, Dell Comics introduced a new Space Mouse...

...who was published as a Walter (Woody Woodpecker) Lantz project, though Lantz had no input into the character's creation or direction!

Note: In many cases, I'm skeptical of the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, the one about this character (click HERE) rings true, so, unless anyone can disprove it, I'm sticking with it!
Movie-tv animator/comic book artist John Carey designed the character and illustrated almost all his appearances including covers, stories, and one-page features and text pieces!
Along with the cover shown above, here's a few examples of Carey's work from Space Mouse's premiere in Dell's Four Color Comics: Space Mouse #1132 (1960)...

The b/w pages are from the inside covers of the comic, which were printed without color (or just black and one other color) to save money...a standard practice in comics until the 1970s.

Ironically, the last page would've benefitted from using color to play up the bulls-eye/target joke!

Tomorrow in
Space Hero Saturdays...
The Introductory Comic Story!
Plus
A Link to the Animated Version
(which is not available on YouTube!)
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Visit Amazon and Buy...

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Volume 2
(Which has the Space Mouse "Secret Weapon" cartoon!)
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Friday Fun DIPPY DUCK "Dangerous Dave"

We've showed you a couple of tales from a one-shot funny animal comic by Stan Lee and Bill Everett...

...now here's a short from another such one-shot by Stan and artist Joe Maneely!

Much like Everett did with Marvin Mouse, who looked more like a rat than a mouse, Joe Maneely tried to do a totally "non-Donald" duck!

Sadly, the end result didn't look much like a duck!

The versatile Maneely could do humor, as shown HERE, but this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Dippy Duck #1 (1957) shows even he had his off-days!

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Friday Fun MARVIN MOUSE "Shoe-In"

The late Stan (the Man) Lee wrote numerous graphic story classics!

This ain't one of them, but it does show off his "Catskill comic" (aka vaudville) sense of humor!

A caption at the end of the book read "And remember, every issue Marvin Mouse magazine brings you the best in laughs, adventure, and fun ... don't miss a single issue!"

No problem!

The book ended up a one-shot and the already-completed material intended for #2 became filler in the backs of other humor titles.

(Editor Stan Lee was very frugal and didn't let anything go to waste!)
Most of the never-reprinted Atlas' Marvin Mouse #1 (1957) consisted of single-page or half-page Marvin Mouse features plus a Dippy Duck story.
There was another multi-page Marvin tale, which we presented HERE!
Note: Dippy Duck was another funny animal comic written by Stan Lee launched at the same time...which also lasted only one issue!
Hey, they can't all be hits!

Space Hero Saturdays VIC VERITY MAGAZINE "Rocket Rex"

Take a handsome hapless hero, a hot helpless heroine, a sinister sneering villain, add spaceships and ray guns...

...and, you've got classic 1940s-50s sci-fi action...with a unique twist!

Oh, did we mention they were anthropomorphic animals?

This never-reprinted story from Vic Verity Magazine #7 (1946) was obviously the first episode of a projected series.

Unfortunately, it appeared in the last magazine the short-lived Don Fortune Publishing ever produced!

Both the writer and artist are, at this point, unknown.

But the other stories in the comic were the work of CC Beck, Otto Binder, and others who worked on the Fawcett Comics line, so the odds are that the writer and artist for Rocket Rex are also from that ensemble.

Friday Fun TOM CAT COMICS "Dog Daze"

It's hard to believe the Comics Code Authority OKed this rather violent and vicious tale!

But, apparently, having "funny" animals do it to each other renders the violence acceptable!

The identities of the writer and artist(s) of this tale from Charlton's Tom Cat Comics #4 (1956) have been lost to the mists of time, which may be just as well...

Friday Fun HOT DOG "Harry Hotdog in Alarm! Alarm!"

It's my birthday, so I thought I'd present a never-reprinted tale about a birthday present...

... from Magazine Enterprises' Hot Dog #1 (1954) which utilized then-state of the art tech!

I bet you thought Siri and Alexa were terrible as alarm clocks!

At least that's what i hear from those who utilize them as such!

Harry Hotdog was Magazine Enterprises' primary attempt at creating a funny animal series, running four issues.

It wasn't bad, by any means, but it wasn't really distinctive, either