Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Perfect Crime!"

A never-reprinted cross-genre tale from Journey into Mystery...

...combining crime and science fiction, is our entry for this Sunday!

You'll note the last two panels are re-lettered.

I suspect the Comics Code Authority felt it was too cruel to allow the criminal to die for something he technically didn't commit!

This was one of the two tales backing up Mighty Thor's very first appearance in Marvel's Journey into Mystery #83 (1963).

Ah, you've heard about that story, but not this one, eh?

Don Heck penciled and inked the tale.

Stan Lee plotted it, but experts are not sure if he scripted it.

Lee usually signed the later short stories he scripted, but only Heck's signature is here.

Just about everything Lee didn't script at this point was handled by his brother Larry Lieber.

(Stan's birth name is Stanley Leiber. He used "Stan Lee" on his comics work because he wanted his real name on the Great American Novel he planned to write.

When he finally realized he would be forever known for his comics and not any prose novel he might write, he legally changed his name to "Stan Lee".)

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Thor Masterworks
Volume 1 
featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we're presenting!

Space Force Saturday SEEKER 3000!

Comics Have Tried to Emulate the Success of Star Trek...

...as Marvel did when it took a crack at the genre with this one-shot in 1978 to test audience reaction.

You can read it by clicking on these links...

Part 1

Conclusion

Despite promoting the series in a special science fiction issue of their Prozine FOOM (as shown HERE), the best the project got was a serialized reprint in Marvel UK's sci-fi anthology, Future Tense.
It then disappeared from everybody's radar!
Apparently, two British readers found that reprint enough to inspire their imaginations.
And, two decades later, after they turned professional, the duo pitched a sequel to the original tale!
After a highly-promoted reprint (with a couple of promotional articles detailing the new series) of the decades-old original story...

...a 4-issue limited series appeared in 1998 with an extra-long premiere issue!

"A New Beginning"

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Conclusion

Then three regular-sized issues...

"Medusae"

Part 1

Part 2

"HumanKind"

Part 1

Part 2

"Mind Bomb"

Part 1

Part 2

Personally, we loved the original tale and enjoyed the sequel, which was left open-ended for more adventures with the crew of Seeker.

Sadly, over 25 years later, it's been forgotten yet again, without even a reprint hardcover or trade paperback to inspire yet another generation of creatives to continue their interstellar exploration!

But here's your chance to see "what might have been" by clicking on the links!

Enjoy!

Reading Room WEIRD WONDER TALES / STRANGE TALES "When a Planet Dies!"

The current "deep freeze" covering the USA reminded me of the splash panel from this story...

...from Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #22 (1973), which was actually a reworking of this (literally) kool splash page from a cool story from Atlas' Strange Tales #97 (1962)!

While the art is credited to Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, who wrote it is not entirely clear.

A number of people, myself included, think it's scripted by Kirby!

Bonus: Here's the original art for the cover from a previous issue of Weird Wonder Tales that supplied the Dr Druid figure on the reworked splash page above...

Art by pencilers Jack Kirby and John Romita Sr (Dr Druid's face), and inker Joe Sinnott.

Now, here's the original art for the Strange Tales story's splash page...

A Marvel production artist "flipped" a photostat of the Dr Druid figure from the Weird Wonder Tales cover and replaced the bearded aliens with it on a photostat of this splash page!

No original art was harmed in the making of the new splash! page!

Holiday Reading Room presents MARVEL CLASSIC COMICS' "A Christmas Carol"!

There have been numerous comic adaptations of Charles Dickens' legendary Yuletide ghost story...

...but this never-reprinted one from (believe it or not) Marvel Comics, has the distinction of being illustrated by more artists than any other version!

Credited to "Diverse Hands", the art styles I recognize include Bob Hall, Frank Giacoia, Frank Springer, Dave Cockrum, Marie Severin, Carmine Infantino, Steve Leialoha, John Romita Sr, Al Milgrom, Mike Esposito, and probably anybody who wandered into the Bullpen while this book was in production in 1978!

Trivia: 

This was the final title in the Marvel Classics Comics line which had started out as color reprints of the early '70s b/w Pendulum Press "comic adaptations of classic stories" series.
After a dozen issues, Marvel began doing their own adaptations, continuing for another two dozen issues.

Scripter Doug Moench was no newcomer to adapting prose to comics having worked on comics versions of literary properties including Doc Savage, The Shadow, James Bond, and Fu Manchu!

Colorist Francoise Mouly later became the art editor of The New Yorker, co-creator of the legendary comic anthology Raw, and is currently the publisher/editorial director of Toon Books.

You can read this HTF story by clicking HERE for Stave One, then just clicking the links at the bottom of each post!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the Space Beagle encounter Coeurl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!

But this is not a friendly housecat!

It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but deceive...

Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...

...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...

Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...

Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.
Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with later short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".

BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Fox settled out of court.

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Part 1

A 1930s pulp story adapted into comic form in the 1970s...

...and a clear inspiration for aspects of movie and tv science fiction ranging from Forbidden Planet and Alien to Star Trek and Space: 1999 (among others)!

Will Coeurl deceive the crew and return with them to Earth?

Or will he simply kill the humans and commandeer the ship?

Find out in the conclusion next Wednesday, plus read some kool background info about the comic adaptation!

This tale from issue 5 (1974) of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

It's based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).
It was later expanded in Vogt's novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which continued the voyages of the starship and crew!

Support Atomic Kommie Csmics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Voyage of the Space Beagle
(which includes "Black Destroyer")
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