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

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays OUTER SPACE "Third Planet"

Some stories are truly a "product of their time"...
...such as this Silver Age story that reflects the pacifist attitudes of the 18-30 year-olds of the era.
That's how the tale ended in the idealistic 1960s.
If they re-did it today, in the far more cynical 2020s, one (or both) commanders would have had a strike force ready to attack the second the other side disarmed.
This tale from the Charlton one-shot Outer Space (1968) was illustrated by Pat Boyette.
As to who wrote it, it could have been Boyette (who had already proven himself as a writer with several stories for Charlton's anthologies as well as a couple of issues of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt), or Joe Gill, who co-created several pacifist heroes including Peacemaker with Boyette, and GunMaster with Dick Giordano!
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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder GRAPHIC SHOWCASE "Eyes of Mars" Part 3

When Last We Left an Earthman (not named John Carter) on Mars...

...well, now that you know what's going on...jump in!
Sadly, there was no fourth installment!
Happily, writer-artist Michael Kaluta went on to become a full-time comics/sci-fi illustrator, becoming the definitive comic artist for The Shadow...
...as well as working on actual Edgar Rice Burroughs interplanatary fantasy, but not John Carter of Mars...

...but Carson of Venus which you can read by clicking HERE!
Next Wednesday...a new World of Wonder!

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Friday, July 17, 2026

Space...Hero??? Saturdays NORGE BENSON "Gang of Hoodlum Penguins"

 Since We're Suffering through a Heat Wave...

..let's return to frigid Pluto for another interplanetary adventure with Norge Benson, as we discover that some penguins on Pluto speak perfect English, and others talk with Brooklyn accents...just like on Earth!
Think I'm joking?
Read on...
So, what'd youse tink?
Or for dose...I mean "those", who don't speak Brooklynese..."What did you think?"
I'll warn you now, future installments only get loonier!
Illustrated by Al Walker, who spent his entire comics career at Fiction House, this second appearance in Planet Comics #13 (1941) presents a somewhat less snarky (though no less humorous) version of the "Earthman on Pluto" concept shown in the earlier Cosmo Corrigan strip, mixing alien versions of both Arctic and Antarctic animals with total disregard to anything even remotely resembling exobiology!
But it is fun, and that's all that matters!
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Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder GRAPHIC SHOWCASE "Eyes of Mars" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...disturbed that, due to the development of warp drive, Earth's scientists are bypassing the planets of the Solar System as uninhabitable, Lt Cezer Leason, a pilot in the Space Patrol, steals his scout craft and heads to Mars!
His ship damaged by a meteor storm, Leason crashes on the surface of the Red Planet and discovers it is, in fact, inhabited!
Rescued by two rebel warriors, he and his new-found friends are captured and brought before the beautiful Queen of Mars...
To Be Continued...Next Wednesday
As we explained previously; the Edgar Rice Burroughs-inspired creator of this story from CCCS's Graphic Showcase #2 (1967) is none other than Mike (The Shadow) Kaluta!
The strip was probably intended as weekly installments in a high-school/college paper, but was repurposed for use in the fanzine.

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Monday, July 13, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness WEIRD THRILLERS "Menace of R Day"

In the 1950s, it was believed that war could be ended by 1999...
...and that other menaces would threaten the Earth, instead!
This somewhat-hokey, but entertaining, sci-fi tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #1 (1951) was both penciled and inked by Ross Andru.
Andru would later partner with Mike Esposito with Ross as the penciler and Mike doing the inking.
Whether this was because Esposito was faster at inking than Ross, or Andru enjoyed doing only pencils is unknown.
Considering Andru seemed pretty damn good at inking, it's a pity he eventually gave it up.
BTW, the writer of this never-reprinted tale of mechanical mayhem is unknown.
Next Week: the Return of

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Thursday, July 9, 2026

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "What Went Wrong?"

You think you've prepared for every contingency...but is that truly possible?
Can anyone always account for the "human" factor?
Illustrated by Bob Forgione, whose credits at Timely/Atlas included a number of sci-fi stories including an issue of Speed Carter: SpaceMan, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #1 (1956) is one of those "average guy inadvertently saves the world" tales that writers (in this case, unidentified) love to tell.
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Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder GRAPHIC SHOWCASE "Eyes of Mars" Part 1

 In the pre-Internet days...

...comic creator wanna-bes had to print samples of their work in "fanzines", then sell them at comic conventions and through mailing lists.
Here's the very first published efforts of a wanna-be who made good...
The Edgar Rice Burroughs-inspired creator of this story from CCCS's Graphic Showcase #1 (1967) is none other than Mike (The Shadow) Kaluta!
The strip was probably intended as weekly installments in a high-school/college paper, but was repurposed for use in the fanzine.
Graphic Showcase ran three issues, with "Eyes of Mars" appearing in all three.
You'll see them over the next two weeks...
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Volume 1
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