Showing posts with label retro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retro. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Reading Room MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Doorway to the Future!"

Is this a "lost" Kirby Klassic from the 1950s?
Read this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein #33 (1954) and judge for yourself...
When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".
Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.
This story is a prime example.
The figure poses, faces, machinery, even the futuristic buildings all but scream "KIRBY"!
The Grand Comics Database lists the story's artist as Marvin Stein with a "?", but considering the volume of work Simon & Kirby did for Prize before leaving to form their own company, Mainline, and the fact Stein worked primarily for their studio, it's not unlikely this was an "inventory" story meant for insertion wherever editorial material page count came up short.
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown, but it might also be Kirby...
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Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Doorstep"

We've been showing aliens who dare to land on Earth "who's the boss" for centuries...
...but this is one time that may not have been the best approach!
Adapted from a short story by Keith Laumer, this tale from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #2 (1973) has a kool "Twilight Zone" twist ending, but couldn't have been adapted for the show due to the crudeness of tv special effects work at the time.
OTOH, writer Gerry Conway, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Tom Sutton had no such constraints, and they do EC Comics' writers and artists proud with a tale that would have fit right in with Weird ScienceWeird Fantasy, or the merged Weird Science-Fantasy books!
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(featuring "Doorstep")
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Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Reading Room MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Into the 4th Dimension"

Is this a lost "Kirby Klassic" from the 1950s?
Read this never-reprinted tale from Prize's Monster of Frankenstein #31 (1954) and judge for yourself...
When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".
Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by the legendary Jack (King) Kirby.
This story is a prime example.
The Grand Comics Database lists the story's illustrator as Marvin Stein, who worked primarily for the Simon & Kirby studio, so this most likely was an S&K "inventory" story laid-out by Kirby and meant for insertion wherever editorial page count came up short.
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...
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Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3
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Saturday, May 30, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays PLANET COMICS "Fero: Interplanetary Detective and the Kidnapped Councilman's Daughter"

When we first met himFero battled scientific menaces on present-day (1940s) Earth.
As of his next appearance, without explanation, he's set in the far future!
This tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #6 (1940) was written and illustrated by Al Bryant under the pen-name "Allison Brant".
The change in venue from present to future without any in-story explanation (not even a caption like "returing from the past to the 21st Century..." or some-such) seems odd considering the same writer/artist did this follow-up tale.
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Friday, May 29, 2026

Friday Fun JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Atom and Evil"

Dan DeCarlo defined the look of teen humor comics for half a century...
...which is an appropriate point to make as we re-present a series from the 1950s that looks at teen life in the early 2000s!
Written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo and inked by Fred Eng, this story from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) has the "feel", both in writing and art, of an Archie tale!
At this point, Dan was freelancing, working for StandardAtlas (later Marvel) and Archie!
Archie co-creator Bob Montana's version still set the visual standard for the company's flagship character, but DeCarlo was given leeway to adapt the characters to his art style, which would become the defining "look" for the entire line by the late 1950s, and remain so until the mid-1990s, when they stared to experiment with more realistic, and even anime-inspired art!
Ironically, Archie Comics published a series about Archie and his gang set in the far future...
...from 1989 to 1991, which combined then-current fashions with the same retro-tech look as Jetta!
Though based on DeCarlo's design concepts, Dan didn't do any covers or art for the 16-issue series!
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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta
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Thursday, May 28, 2026

Reading Room MYSTICAL TALES "Lair of the Thunder Lizard!"

Bernie Krigstein was one of the most under-appreciated artists of the 1950s...
...and this kool tale he illustrated just begged to be unearthed for the first time in almost 70 years!

Scripted by Carl Wessler and rendered by Bernie Krigstein, this never-reprinted piece from Atlas' Mystical Tales #8 (1957) is a low-key character study enhanced by Krigstein's naturalistic art.
Bernie was already phasing out of comics and into mainstream commercial art (including book and magazine illustration).
This tale was one of his last stories before leaving the comics field altogether.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Reading Room: MYSTICAL TALES "Nomad of Outer Space!"

It's mind-blowing how much Atlas (pre-Marvel) stuff hasn't been reprinted...
...such as this story from Atlas' Mystical Tales #1 (1956)!
While hunting thru files for un-reprinted Jack Kirby tales for a previous Kirby Reading Room mini-marathon, I came across a lot of never-reprinted material!
This Bob Powell-rendered story is just the tip of the iceberg!
Sadly, we don't know the writer of this tale...
BTW, despite the title, Mystical Tales was an almost-totally "hard sci-fi" anthology!
Only a handful of stories from the anthology's 8-issue run have been reprinted, all in the 1970s, which makes even the reprints at least 40 years old!
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Volume 1
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Friday, May 22, 2026

Friday Fun BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Heads Down the Home Stretch"

...under coach Pop Flye's guidance, Rube has developed into a top-notch pitcher.
But even a first-rate hurler needs a great team behind him!
Fortunately, the formerly-mediocre Badgers are inspired by the pitching prodigy and...
Regrettably, there was no "next issue" of Baseball Comics, so no World Series appearance for Rube Rooky.
But we still have this one-shot wonder from 1949 by writer/penciler Will Eisner and inker Tex Blaisdell to remember.
And, after Kitchen Sink Press reprinted this issue in 1991, there was a second issue  in 1992 reprinting a horror comics baseball story and a Will Eisner Spirit story about baseball, but without The Spirit!

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(A follow-up published decades later)
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