Space Hero Saturdays NORGE BENSON...plus DINOSAURS in ""Plutonian Prehistoric Peril"

When Last We Left Our Hapless Hero...

...he was returning to Pluto after spending a couple of issues on a jungle planet where he met the scantly-clad Princess Jolie...

This tale starring Space Hero Norge Benson from Fiction House's Planet Comics #22 (1943), while out of reprint order, proves artist Al Walker and whoever the writer is haven't lost their sense of the ludicrous!

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Planet Comics

Volume 6
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Friday Fun KANDI THE CAVE KID "Dinosaur"

Creationists believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old...

...so to them, this could be considered a chapter in a history textbook!

This never-reprinted story from Dell's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #15 (1943) was the final appearance of the Walt Kelly-created character.

Besides both print adaptations of theatrical cartoons and new tales of existing Warner Brothers characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dell introduced a number of new characters to fill out the pages of the comic anthology, including Kandi and Pat, Patsy & Pete.

Kandi was one of the shorter-lived ones, with only a half-dozen short tales from #3 to #15.

Space Hero Satudays BRANT CRAIG: INTERPLANETARY DETECTIVE "Space Pirates of Lanthus IV"

He's not the first "Interplanetary Detective"...

...that honor goes to Planet Comics' Fero: Planetary Detective (who went "inter"planetary in his second appearance)!

But Brant Craig was the longest-lasting, with seven appearances!

Yeah, let's not worry about the innocent spacemen who were just killed during this raid, or their families.

They're just collateral damage...

This never-reprinted premiere from Youthful's Captain Science #2 (1951) was probably illustrated by Bill Molno.

The writer is unknown.

Brant Craig continued through the remaining five issues of Captain Science.

When the book was re-titled Fantastic, Brant (and Captain Science) made their final bows in the first issue.

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Friday Fun / Robot Reading Room ROMEO THE ROBOT "Origin"

A Sentient Robot with an ongoing series...from DC !

But, I'd bet you never heard of him!

You certainly didn't see him since none of his stories have ever been reprinted!

The above debut tale from DC's Action Comics #68 (1944), scripted and illustrated by Jack Farr, is the first of four appearances by the mirthful mechanical man!
He bounced from book to book, used whenever editors had a four-page slot to fill, with his last appearance almost a decade later, in 1952!
Farr, a cartoonist who began his career back in the 1920s doing newspaper and slick magazine cartoons, made a transition to comic books quite easily, working for almost everyone (even EC Comics) at one point or another, with the bulk of his work done for DC Comics from 1943 to 1953.
He went back to newspaper/magazine cartooning during the near-death of the comic book business during the "Seduction of the Innocent" scandals of the mid-1950s, 

The RetroBlogs Summer Blogathon BEGINS...with the ONLY MULTI-PART/MULTI-SERIES SuperHeroine Crossover in Comics History!

Yep!
You Read That Right!
Two Comic Books!
(Police Comics & Feature Comics)
Six Issues...in Three Instalments!

Police Comics #20

Feature Comics #69
This Wednesday!

Police Comics #21

Feature Comics #70
on July 22nd

Feature Comics #71

Police Comics #22

on July 29th

at our "sister" RetroBlog

Heroines!

It's two heroines (plus a hapless hero, The Raven), in a multi-chapter story arc with criminals, crazy coincidences, and catfights!

It took three months to tell the complete story during the Golden Age, but you lucky ducks will get it in three weeks!

Reading Room: WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Plaything"

Ever feel like you're totally-insignificant?

Well, there might be a very good reason, as shown in Key's Weird Tales of the Future #6 (1953)!

"As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods. They kill us for their sport."

–Shakespeare "King Lear"

While the writer is unknown, the artist was Tony Mortellaro, who did hundreds of tales in various genres for Key and Atlas/Marvel, (where he became Associate Art Director under John Romita in the 1970s).

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Space Hero Saturdays PLANET COMICS "Fero: Interplanetary Detective and the Kidnapped Councilman's Daughter"

When we first met him, Fero battled scientific menaces on present-day (1940s) Earth.

As of his next appearance, without explanation, he's set in the far future!

This tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #6 (1940) was written and illustrated by Al Bryant under the pen-name "Allison Brant".

The change in venue from present to future without any in-story explanation (not even a caption like "returing from the past to the 21st Century..." or some-such) seems odd considering the same writer/artist did this follow-up tale.

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Planet Comics

Volume 2

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Friday Fun BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Heads Down the Home Stretch"

When Last We Left Our Wholesome Hero...

...under coach Pop Flye's guidance, Rube has developed into a top-notch pitcher.

But even a first-rate hurler needs a great team behind him!

Fortunately, the formerly-mediocre Badgers are inspired by the pitching prodigy and...

Regrettably, there was no "next issue" of Baseball Comics, so no World Series appearance for Rube Rooky.

But we still have this one-shot wonder from 1949 by writer/penciler Will Eisner and inker Tex Blaisdell to remember.
And, after Kitchen Sink Press reprinted this issue in 1991, there was a second issue  in 1992 reprinting a horror comics baseball story and a Will Eisner Spirit story about baseball, but without The Spirit!

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Baseball Comics #2

(A follow-up published decades later)
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