Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 2

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Reprint cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

...an experiment in "teleportation by radio wave" inadvertently sends technician Miles Cabot to the planet Venus, where he discovers humanoids (including a ravishingly-beautiful woman) and giant intelligent ants (who've enslaved the humanoids)!

Both species communicate only via telepathy on a frequency close to radio waves, so Cabot attempts to build a device...

 Next Wednesday:

Exile and Treachery...

Continuing our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story by Ralph Milne Farley (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 1

After the success of Princess of Mars and the other Barsoom tales...

..."scientific romances" became a major genre in pulp fiction, with tales of Earthmen transported to alien worlds appearing in both genre and mainstream magazines!

Next Wednesday:

the Adventure Continues...

One of the more successful "high-adventure on other worlds" series was the Radio Man saga by Ralph Milne Farley.

Set on Venus, the tales of radio expert Miles Cabot were different enough from John Carter's adventures to warrant several sequel magazine serials, all of which were compiled as stand-alone novels.

Here's a kool article about the series at ERB.com.

The first story, Radio Man, was retitled Earth Man on Venus when Avon reprinted it in the 1950s.

Art by Ray Johnson

Simultaneous with the paperback reprint was a one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Tales Twice Told STRANGE WORLDS "Lost Kingdom of Athala"

Here's a tale that would make a great "popcorn" CGI action flick!

It's hokey, doesn't make much sense, but boy, it's loaded with action and it looks great!

Written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Joe Orlando & Wally Wood, and inked by Wood, this fast-paced story from Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951), would make a great Saturday afternoon flick, thanks to current state-of-the-art special effects!

EXTRA: Here's the b/w inside cover for this issue, which featured an illustrated preview of all the stories in the issue by Wally Wood.

Note the heavy use of "craftint" texturing which Wood used to create a distinctive "look" for his art...

The script was re-used, almost verbatim, in 1970 by Eerie Publications, but the artwork for the retelling was nowhere near as good.

You'll see that version on Thursday!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURERS' CLUB "Whick! Whock! Whick! Whock!"

Let's end the too-brief run of this retro (even when it was published almost 50 years ago) series...

...with a story about the world's most unique timepiece as we present the final chapter of The Adventurers' Club!

This never-reprinted story from DC's Adventure Comics #430 (1973) featured a new creative team, writer Arnold Drake and artist Luis Dominguez (who had illustrated the only cover the Adventurers' Club appeared on as shown last week) and an oddly-red-headed Nelson Strong!

Though the Adventurers' Club strip ended, Nelson Strong would reappear a couple of decades later in DC's Swamp Thing #145-150 (1994-5) as a big-game hunter attempting to capture Swampy.
Nelson dies in the attempt and is briefly resurrected as an Elemental!
Bet that would've been a helluva Adventurers' Club story, eh?

Next Wednesday

A New World of Wonder!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURERS' CLUB "Voodoo Lizards!"

Last Wednesday, we introduced you to Nelson Strong and the Adventurers Club...

This cover scene by Luis Dominguez does not appear in the comic!

...where the requirement for entry was a tale about an "exciting or unusual adventure".

Note: though Carter states he's getting "great action pictures" for his publisher (indicating a print magazine or book), he's using a movie camera, not a standard "still-photo" camera!
This never-reprinted story from DC's Adventure Comics #427 (1973) could be considered either science fiction or fantasy with a horror twist.

Either way, writer John Albano and artist Jim Aparo did a great job evoking mood and telling a cohesive story in only 8 pages, eh?

Trivia: Luis Dominguez, who illustrated the cover above (the only cover the Adventurers' Club was ever featured on) took over the art for the next (and last) tale featuring the group.

You'll see it next Wednesday.

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURERS' CLUB " 'Scortch' Jordan's Tommy Gun"

The first ongoing feature during Adventure Comics' short-lived 1970s return to an anthology format...

...was this strip with a Boris Karloff-lookalike host.

It's unclear whether writer John Albano (who had been scripting Supergirl until it left Adventure) or Adventure Comics editor Joe Orlando conceived the series.

This never-reprinted tale from DC's Adventure Comics #426 (1973) clearly shows the "ghost" to be of non-supernatural origin, but later stories lean towards supernatural elements.

When The Spectre was reintroduced in Adventure, for a memorable run by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo, the cover title (though not indicia) became Weird Adventure Comics.

I mentioned the visual of the host, Nelson Strong, was "Karloff-esque".

Here's Karloff from his one-season 1950s tv series Colonel March of Scotland Yard.

Does he look like the visual inspiration for Nelson Strong?
I'd be willing to bet on it...

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ROCKET TO THE MOON Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

The first appearance of Maza of the Moon. Art by Robert A. Graef

...Held captive by P'an-Ku, Ted Dustin, along with scientist Shen Ho, plan their escape...

Note: May be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to eras of both the original novel and the comic.

While there was the potential for one or more sequel stories to this "scientific romance", none was ever done either in prose or comic form.

However, the novel does fit into a "Kline-verse" that links it to OAK's other tales set on other worlds as show HERE.

Note: 

This 1951 one-shot comic from Avon Comics , based on the novel Maza of the Moon by Otis Adelbert Kline, was scripted by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by the legendary Joe Orlando and Wally Wood.

Now that's a pop culture pedigree!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Maza of the Moon

by Otis Aldelbert Kline