Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Into the Lair of Demons" Part 1

The Shogun Warrior Known as Combatra Has...

...well, lets let our in-comic narrator explain the whole thing!

Genji!!!

NO!!!

To Be Continued...Next Monday!

Writer Doug Moench, penciler Herb Trimpe, and inker Dan Green certainly know how to keep you on the edge of your seats in this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Shogun Warriors #5 (1979), eh, True Believers!
BTW, is there a nickname for Shogun Warriors fans?
Note: Since Genji is the sole human piloting this version of Combatra, unlike the Japanese version which has a pilot for each module...

...the Shogun Warriors version has an AI which can telepathically-interact to receive her commands...and then act independently!
Presumably, it possesses strategy and combat programming/skills to do so!

Friday Fun HARVEY "Saps on Skates!"

This Ain't the Movie Rollerball...

...which wouldn't even come out until three years after this never-reprinted story from Marvel's Harvey #4 (1972)!

Written and laid out by Stu Schwarzberg, finished pencils and inks by Henry Scarpelli!

Stan Lee wrote and Stan Goldberg illustratd the first couple of issues, then turned it over to Schwarzberg as writer and Scarpelli as artist for the remaining four issues!
Trivia: Marie Severin did touch-ups on Scarpelli's first issue to keep characters "on-model".

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

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Friday Fun HARVEY "Playing Post Office!"

We Suspect a Lot of Millennial (and Younger) Readers...

...will be confused by the plot (and even the concept) of this never-reprinted story from Marvel's Harvey #2 (1970)!

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Stan Goldberg (doing s superb Dan DeCarlo imitation), this book and Mille the Model were Marvel's last attempt at trying to hold onto the teen humor market that Archie Comics had dominated since the mid-1960s.

By 1973, both books were gone from the newsstands, and Stan Goldberg, as well as his successor, Henry Scarpelli, had moved over to Archie, where they were kept very busy until they retired!

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Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Mech-Monster" Conclusion

When Last We Left our Mecha...

...while reviewing the capabilities of their mecha, the new human pilots discovered each has specific, unique, transformational capabilities!

Meanwhile, Maur-Kon, disappointed that his mystic-powered creations had failed to defeat the Shogun Warriors, decided to match their technological power with a new mechanical menace of his own...a move that not all his associates approve of!

To Be Continued...Next Month!
In its' original Japanese incarnation, Combatra (aka Combattler V) is, like the various Voltrons and Power Ranger Zords, a multi-part/multi-operator robot!
Here's a pic of the original team...
...and here's the TV series' opening sequence, demonstrating how the separate vehicles merge...

Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Mech-Monster" Part 1

 When Last We Saw Our Mecha...

...they had finally defeated the first creature (which became multiple creatures) the villainous Maur-Kon threw against them!

But Dr Tambura, leader of the alien Followers of the Light who recruited the three human pilots for the mecha is concerned about the fact it took three issues to achieve victory...

The following page shows how each of the Shoguns can transform into another form (as established in their respective Japanese animated series)...

Trivia: Raideen and Dangard Ace are solo pilot mecha in both American and Japanese versions, but Combatra has five pilots in Japan and only one in America!

But both Raideen and Dangard Ace have support teams/aides who assist the pilot!

None of the Japanese characters or plotlines are carried over to the American Shogun Warriors!

To Be Continued Next Monday!

Coming up with Toho-style kaiju/mecha threats to the Shogun Warriors was a trying task to writer Doug Moench and penciler Herb Trimpe!

But, they were chosen for the project due to the success of Marvel's ongoing Godzilla series...which they were responsible for!
Oddly, while the Godzilla series embraced continually-utilizing Marvel characters as guest-stars, Shogun Warriors resisted doing so until the very end of the series!

Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Rich Buckler & Wayne Howard (with additional art by John Romita Sr)

Reporter Cliff Sutherland and photographer Ann O'Hara may be on to the scoop of the century.

An alien robot, which went inert after Klaatu (the alien humanoid it accompanied) was shot and killed (without provocation) when he tried to initiate contact with people of Earth isn't as unmoving as the US government believes!
The duo conceal themselves nearby, hoping to catch the automaton in motion...which they do!
They witness the robot enter the alien vessel...which sealed up and apparently deactivated after Klaatu was killed.

And now things get really weird...

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

The original story by Harry Bates appeared in Street and Smith's Astounding Science Fiction V26N2 (1940) with the following illustrations by Frank Kramer...all of which feature Gnut!

"Farewell to the Master" has been reprinted numerous times, usually in anthologies about Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, or compilations of stories which were adapted into films or TV shows.

But the graphic adaptation from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973) has never been reprinted, and no other comic book/comic strip version has ever been done!
However, there was another prose adaptation of the short story...

This book, written by Arthur Tofte, published by Scholastic Books in 1976, combined "Farewell to the Master" with the screenplay for the 1951 movie into a new novel which presents Klaatu and a rather verbose Gnut (not "Gort") as a pair of equal partners, representing their respective civilizations within a galactic organization calling themselves "The Watchers"!
Finally, Lux Radio Theatre produced a one-hour radio adaptation in 1954, narrated by Paul Frees and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu!
Regrettably, it doesn't use Bernard Herrmann's magnificent soundtrack but it's still worth listening to.
You can link to it HERE!

KLATTU BARADA NIKTO!

Which translates to:

Shogun Warriors Return Next Monday!

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Day the Earth Stood Still

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