Monday Mars Madness WAR OF THE WORLDS "Part II: The Conquest of Earth!"

Yeah, we could've called this chapter...

...but then HG Wells' ghost would've risen from the grave and bitch-slapped us!

(and rightly so!)

We Have Already Seen...

...projectiles from Mars have landed on Earth in 1898, unleashing aliens with heat-rays destroying everything in range of their landing sites.

Unfortunately, the aliens are now mobile...

To Be Continued...
NEXT MONDAY!

Adapted by Chris Claremont, penciled by Yong Montano, and inked by Dino Castrillo, it's a pretty straighforward visualization of the original novel, without updating to the present, as most adaptations of the tome have done.

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Complete War of the Worlds

(Mars' Invasion of Earth from HG Wells to Orson Welles)

Classic WAR OF THE WORLDS Movie Posters!

Because Halloween makes me think of War of the Worlds, here's a link to a batch of 6 limited-edition posters from the first (and best) movie version of HG Wells' classic novel.

Photographed from the original posters (not from second-generation repros, tiny pix in books or low-rez internet files), the art has been lovingly-restored and digitally-remastered.

And, best of all, every one of the posters features those really-kool Martian war machines!

And there's even a couple of foreign versions...

Enjoy!

Monday Mars Madness WAR OF THE WORLDS "Part I: The Coming of the Martians"

In October 1976, Marvel's sequel series to HG Wells' War of the Worlds had just been cancelled...

...and the publisher released this adaptation of the original novel just in time for Halloween!

To Be Continued...
Next Monday!

Adapted by Chris Claremont, penciled by Yong Montano, and inked by Dino Castrillo, this never-reprinted (in America) 45-year old tale is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the original novel, which was the basis for Marvel's just-cancelled KillRaven: Warrior of the Worlds series!

Note: it's not meant as a tie-in to the series, so Dave Cockrum, who was aiding Art Director John Romita as his Associate while also drawing X-Men, deliberately designed the tripods and Martians to look different from the ones in KillRaven!

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Essential KillRaven

(Includes everything involving the character in the Marvel Universe up to 2006)

Monday Mars Madness WAR COMICS "Greg Gilday and the Martians"

Perhaps the last thing readers of Dell's War Comics expected...

...was a series about an interplanetary war and a superhuman hero!

But that's what they got when this strip premiered in Dell's War Comics #2 (1940)!

In the Golden Age, creators, unrestrained by preconceptions, tried genre mash-ups we wouldn't dream of doing today, hoping to find a "hook" to grab readers!
Drawn (and probably written) by Richard Fletcher, this never-reprinted series only ran three chapters before disappearing despite the final strip ending with a caption promising more adventures!
Note: the Richard Fletcher who did this strip is not the Dick Fletcher who worked with Chester Gould before taking over as the artist on the Dick Tracy newspaper strip in 1977.
This guy is Richard Martin Fletcher.
The Dick Tracy artist was Richard E Fletcher and didn't begin his art career until after being discharged from the Army in 1945.

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Ray Bradbury's

Martian Chronicles

Monday Mars Madness STRANGE ADVENTURES "Science-Fiction Convention on Mars!"

You gotta ask: how can three of the best creatives of the Silver Age of Comics...

...make such an exciting concept so dull?

Writer Gardner Fox, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Joe Giella (together and separately) produced some of the koolest tales of the Silver Age!

Yet, this story from DC's Strange Adventures #73 (1956) almost put me to sleep!

The premise is great, the concepts are well-thought out, but the rendering of it is...well...drab!

Why aren't the Martians more visually-interesting?

They're just bald guys!

Couldn't they be using disguises (either masks or holograms) while on Earth and then reveal themselves to be Martians when the convention-goers arrive on Mars?

It's not like penciler Gil Kane has any problem with rendering kool-looking humanoid aliens, as shown HERE!

And would it have killed them to give the creatives an extra page?

Jamming in all that exposition into the last page really limited Gil into what he could present.

(Remember, DC worked "full script", so Kane knew how much room the captions and dialogue balloons needed to take!)

Using two pages for that last sequence would've helped enormously!

And what about the weird rays that destroy any spaceships?

Natural?

Artificial?

We'll never know...

In comparison, this tale from Dell's Four Color #1288: Twilight Zone has a less-epic, but much more "fun" feel to it!

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Showcase Presents

Strange Adventures

Volume 1

(which reprints this tale...but in black and white)

Monday Mars Madness ALARMING TALES "Hero"

Here's a short (in more ways than one) space-opera tale...

...though you won't get my pun until the end...

This story of size and space travel from Harvey's Alarming Tales #2 (1957) was produced by writer Jack Oleck, and illustrator Marvin Stein (with what appears to be uncredited layout help by Jack Kirby).

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3