Showing posts with label golden age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label golden age. Show all posts

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith and the Crustaceans of Ganymede"

Space Smith Doesn't Seem to be Quite Himself...
...as another artist fills-in for Fletcher Hanks, bringing a rather Buck Rogers-esque feel to the strip!
While the scripting on this story From Fox's Fantastic Comics #7 (1940) has that Fletcher Hanks "feel", the art, definitely, is not Hanks!
It looks like the artist is trying for the same look as Dick Calkins' original Buck Rogers newspaper strip, which was incredibly-popular at the time!

The next issue would feature a totally-Fletcher Hanks tale....for the last time!
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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Complete Newspaper Dailies
Volume 1: 1929-1930
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Thursday, February 26, 2026

Lunar Reading Room PLANET COMICS "Life on Other Worlds: A Trip to the Moon"

 Pre-Sputnik/Space Race Comics About the Moon were Really Wild...

...and boy, could they be talky!

(I wonder if the letterer could've charge by the word!)

This chapter of Fiction House's Planet Comics' ongoing feature "Life on Other Worlds" appeared in #59 (1949) and, unlike other entries, was never-reprinted later in the comic's run!
The writer is unknown and the artist (who signed "Bay" on the art) also did so on two other Fiction House assignments, but appears nowhere else in published comics.
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Thursday, February 12, 2026

Lunar Reading Room / Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "A Nation is Born"

Here's the original Golden Age version of a Bronze Age story...

..we ran on Tuesday!
Illustrated by Golden Age journeyman Rafael Astarita, this tale appeared in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and was reprinted in IW's Strange Planets #9 (1959).
It was then re-illustrated, with only minor changes to the script (including a re-titling), in Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy V1N8 (1971) as we showed on Tuesday.
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Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Lunar Reading Room / Tales Twice Told STRANGE GALAXY "Moon is Red"

In the late 1960s-early 1970s, numerous b/w comic magazines popped up...
...to publish risque older material the Comics Code Authority banned from color comic books from the mid-1950s onward!
Despite being drawn in 1970, this tale from Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy #V1N8 (1971) has the feel of a 1950s tale, which isn't surprising since Eerie both reprinted stories from defunct publishers when they could find photostats/printing film or re-illustrated stories using old scripts nearly verbatim when they couldn't.
In fact, this story's script is adapted from a tale in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) called "A Nation is Born", which we'll re-present Thursday so you can compare them!
BTW, this issue, despite being #8, was actually the first issue under that title.
What it was before then is unknown, since the publisher did numerous titles in various categories including astrology, romance, crime, etc.
"Oswal" was the pen-name of Osvaldo Walter Viola, an Argentinean writer/artist who began his career in the early 1960s creating Argentine's first super-hero, Sónoman.
His only American comics work was for Eerie Publications' titles.
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Saturday, January 10, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Without a Body!"

It's the Last Chapter of Captain Midnight's Adventures in Space...

...as he and Xog, Ruler of Saturn come to final blows!





Xog was never seen or heard from again, even though the comic ran for one more issue!
Illustrated by Leonard Frank, this cover-featured tale from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #66 (1948) proved to be the last journey into space for the intrepid hero as he returned to Earth-bound adventures!

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Thursday, December 25, 2025

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...
...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).
Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.
Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly.
(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)
Any suggestions?
Merry Christmas to All!

Thursday, December 18, 2025

Holiday Reading Room PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE: NEW TESTAMENT "Story of Jesus: Part One"

The origin tale of Jesus Christ has, usually, been presented tastefully, even reverently!
Here's the most-reprinted comic book version of all...
The story continues with a caption mentioning that Mary and Joseph escaped and then takes up with Jesus as a 'tween.
Originally published by All-American Comics under the DC Comics logo in 1942, later editions were done by EC Comics after publisher MC Gaines sold his rights to most of the All-American line to National Allied Publications who combined the two groups into National Periodical Publications.
(National Allied and All-American had been marketing and distributing their books together, usually using the DC Comics logo, which was the result of an earlier buyout of Detective Comics Inc by National!)
Retaining the rights to the Picture Stories series, Gaines used it as the cornerstone of his new EC Comics imprint.
Note: EC Comics, now famous (or infamous) for its horror/sci-fi titles and MAD was originally conceived as Educational Comics with lots of wholesome, young-kid oriented material like Tiny Tots Comics and Land of the Lost!
Don't remember them?
Their sales (except for the Picture Stories of the Bible) were pitiful.
That's why "Educational" Comics became "Entertaining" Comics, though they continued reprinting Picture Stories (but without the EC logo on the front after the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" scare...)
Note: the entire Picture Stories series (including this tale) was written by Montgomery Mulford & Edward Wertheim and illustrated by Don Cameron!
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Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "First Christmas Tree"

 An never-reprinted tale from Dell's  first Santa Claus Funnies (1942)...

...details a "legend" (involving young Jesus Christ) about how the tradition of Christmas trees came to be!
Well, it's as plausible as any theory that combines Christianity with the pagan tradition of decorated fir trees...
If the artwork looks "classier" than the usual comic book art, that's because illustrator Arthur Jameson was already a major artist in the pulp magazine field when he debuted in comic books with this tale!
As a result, his work was largely confined to fairy tale-themed and holiday comics.

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