Space Hero Saturdays LANCE LEWIS: SPACE DETECTIVE "Amoeba Men of Saturn"

Another Golden Age interstellar private eye joins our feature...

...as he meets the first of two alien races who will become his arch-foes, and rescues the woman who will become his constant...(ahem)...friend and companion!

Referred to as both "Saturnians" and "Amoeba Men", these aliens would return to wage a full-scale interplanetary war with Earth.

This story from Nedor/Standard's Mystery Comics #4 (1944) was Lance's second appearance ever.

Both the writer and artist are currently unknown, even to the Grand Comic Database.

Since Mystery Comics was cancelled as of #4, Lance moved over to Startling Comics, where he became the cover feature from his premiere in #44 to the book's demise as of #53.

Several years after this series ended, an unrelated Space Detective series written by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson with art by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando ran in its own title at Avon Comics.

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Space Heroine Saturdays TARA "Eight Hands of Tenslith!"

Prowling the spaceways, robbing from the rich to give to the poor...

We continue the space-spanning saga of the Queen of the Space Pirates with this tale from Nedor's Wonder Comics #17.

Art was, again, by Gene Fawcette, one of the better illustrators of the period, who usually penciled and inked his sci-fi, horror, and good-girl material (or strips that combined them like Tara) for Fiction House, Avon, and Better.

BTW, the cover for this issue features characters from the Tara story that appeared in Wonder Comics #16. 
You can see the cover, along with her second appearance HERE.

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Space Heroine Saturdays TARA "Fabulous Jewel of Morn"

She's back...the female space pirate who proves...

...in the eternal void, gender is irrelevant when strategy and weaponry can triumph over brute strength!

Though this tale is in Nedor's Wonder Comics #16, the cover by Alex Schomberg during his "Xela" airbrush art period, is from the next issue...Wonder Comics #17!

The cover features both the villain and jewel from the story in #16, so we're using it here.
In fact, none of the covers featuring Tara go with the stories in their respective issues!
Weird!

Penciled and inked by Gene Fawcette.

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Space Heroine Saturdays TARA "Outlaw of the Universe!"

An origin story, or as we say in comics "Who She Is and How She Came to Be"!

And it hasn't been reprinted since initial publication in Nedor's Wonder Comics #15 (1947)

Yes, I said #15, even though the cover by Alex Schomberg (aka "Xela") is from #16!

I'll explain later...

Tara continued in Wonder Comics until the book was cancelled, then popped over to fellow Nedor title Thrilling Comics for her final appearance!
You'll be seeing another chapter of her saga once a month as part of Space Heroine Saturdays!

As to why the cover for the next issue is used here:

1) the cover for #15 featured a different character.

2) The cover used on #16 actually shows a situation from this issue (#15)!

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Reading Room BLACK TERROR COMICS "Space Speedsters and the End of the World"

Combine When Worlds Collide, Damon Runyon's Broadway tales, Flash Gordon, and Front Page...

...and you get this really-weird one-shot tale!

So, we got...Armageddon, gangsters, intrepid spacemen (and women) and spaceships, newspaper reporters, and comedy relief.

Did I miss anything?

This never-reprinted tale from Nedor's Black Terror Comics #23 (1948) seems like part of an ongoing series, but I can't find any other stories featuring the lead characters!

Illustrator (and possible writer) Stan Asch was one of the steadily-working artists who were the backbone of the comics industry in the Golden Age.

With over 300 stories and covers to his credit, he co-created Johnny Thunder and Dr Mid-Nite for DC Comics, and later assisted both Milton Caniff (on Terry and the Pirates) and Al Capp (on Lil' Abner).

Was this a try-out for an ongoing strip that didn't sell?

We'll never know...

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