Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CHAMBER OF DARKNESS "Music from Beyond!" aka "Music of Erich Zann"

H P Lovecraft's "Music of Erich Zann" Served as the Basis For This Terror Tale...

...which featured the return of an EC Comics stalwart to horror comics!

Adapted by writer Roy Thomas and illustrated by Johnny Craig (with some redrawing by Marie Severin), the story from Marvel's Chamber of Darkness #5 (1970) is pretty successful...within the limitations of the Comics Code Authority's restrictions.

(Ironically, the Code "loosened up" with some major revisions after this story was created and published.

As pointed out HERE at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's site: "The 1971 code relaxed the restrictions on crime comics and lifted the ban on horror comics [while still prohibiting the use of “horror” and “terror” in titles].")

Note: You may have noticed a b/w splash page just before the end of the story.

When it was reprinted in Marvel's b/w magazine Masters of Terror #2 (1975), the spash was inserted into the story with the last two captions from the previous page's final panel.

Plus, the reprint changed the title to the Lovecraft prose tale's "Music of Erich Zann".

We hope you've enjoyed a month of Lovecraft comic adaptations, and suggest you continue to check us out every Wednesday for more Worlds of Wonder!

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At the Mountains of Madness, Call of Cthulhu and Music Of Erich Zann

by H P Lovecraft

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Halloween Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Shadow from the Steeple!"

We Have Already Seen...

...in this case, the splash page narration covers the matter pretty succinctly!

Writer (and noted pulp/comics historian) Ron Goulart adapted all three tales in this Cthuthu Mythos trilogy!

(The earlier two appeared HERE and HERE)!

Penciler Rich Buckler and inker Frank Giacoia handled the artwork in this tale from Marvel's Journey into Mystery V2N5 (1973) which orgiinally appeared in prose form in Weird Tales V42N6 (1950), fifteen years after the previous two parts of the trilogy.

Interestingly, Marvel's never-reprinted these three stories as part of an anthology of adaptations of famous fantasy/sci-fi authors' works!

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Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by HP Lovecraft and Others

(Which features all three of the prose stories adapted into this graphic trilogy!)

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Haunter of the Dark!"

Yesterday We Presented the First Entry in a Trilogy of Stories...

...from one of the first "shared universes" in fantastic fiction!

Now, another author we've all heard of adds to the storyline...

Appearing the issue after Robert Bloch's "Shambler From the Stars", this adaptation of H P Lovecraft's response to that tale by writer Ron Goulart, penciler Gene Colan and inker Dan Adkins, continues building on elements and aspects of the Cthuthu Mythos, mentioning events, items, and even characters that played roles in future stories!

However, the man who began the exploration of the universe of the Elder Gods, Lovecraft humself, passed away shortly after writing this story!

Tomorrow: the Conclusion of the Trilogy...by Robert Bloch!

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Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by HP Lovecraft and Others

(Which features all three of the prose stories adapted into this graphic trilogy!)

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Best of Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CARSON OF VENUS

For September, we're presenting compilations of previous series you may have missed!

...starting with the never-reprinted DC adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "scientific romance" (as they called it back then) Carson of Venus by Len Wein & Michael J Kaluta!

Click on the Links to Enjoy!

"Mars--or Bust!"

"Girl in the Garden"

"Battle Cry!"

"Gathering Tarel"

"Terror from the Sky!"

"Mutiny at Sea"

"Duare: Princess of Venus"

"Catastrophe!"

"Into the Land of Noobol"

"Lost on Venus"

"Babes in the Woods"

"Into the Noboolian Valley"

Sadly, the series ends on a cliffhanger...

Monday Madness DOC SAVAGE COMICS "Polar Treasure"

Our current arctic blast reminded me of the setting of an early Doc Savage novel...

...which was condensed into the shortest comics adaptation of any of the Man of Bronze's "supersagas" (as Phillip  Jose Farmer refers to them) we've ever seen!

Two notes:

1) the flying man on the cover is Ajax the Sun Man, who had his own strip in the book.

(Ajax is not in the Doc Savage tale.)

2) the story may be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the 1940s.

The first few issues of the 1940s Doc Savage Comics condensed and adapted Doc pulp novels.

This issue (#3 from 1941) took the 1933 pulp tale "Polar Treasure" and fit it into only eight pages!

Both writer and artist of the adaptation and cover are unknown.

Lester Dent wrote the original novel under the "Kenneth Robeson" house pen-name.

Trivia: both the original and paperback editions of the novel are #4 in their respective series.

Cover by Walter M Baumhaufer

Cover by Lou Feck or James Avati or Frank McCarthy

(After the first novel, "Man of Bronze", Bantam Books reprinted the stories out of original publication order, going with what they felt were the most exciting tales first.)

Bookmark us (if you haven't already) since we have a lot of cool never-reprinted material coming up this year!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTHMAN ON VENUS Part 4

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Inside front cover art by Wally Wood

WOW!

Don't just sit there!

Start reading!

Well, that's it for 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.)

BTW, both Doggo's and Yuri's "deaths" were exaggerations.
Both survived to return in the sequel novels, Radio Beasts and Radio Planet.
Only the first novel, Radio Man/Earth Man on Venus, has been adapted into comics form.
Too bad, since the later novels are even better.

Next Week

We Return to Earth for another

Wednesday World of Wonder!

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Radio Man

Annotated

by Ralph Milne Farley