Friday Fun KOOKIE "Bongo & Bop...a Breather"

We Met These Kool Kats a Couple of Years Ago...

...so it's high (in more ways than one) time we checked in on the slackers they called "beatniks" back in the 1960s...

This never-reprinted story from Dell's Kookie #1 (1962) by writer John Stanley and artist Bill Williams was part of an attempt to produce an on-going series featuring young adults in a (then) contemporary setting.

Bongo and Bop were the slackers of the ensemble, like Dobie Gillis' Maynard G Krebs amped up to 11!

Note: this was the only time their real names (George and Robert) were ever used!

Sadly the title only lasted two issues!

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Beatniks

Guide to an American Subculture

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Lunar Reading Room FOUR COLOR COMICS "Maybes About the Moon"

As the Artemis II Moon Shot is Postponed Until April...

...we're presenting a never-reprinted feature from the days before we had even landed on the moon the first time!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics #1253 (aka Space Man #1) appeared in 1962, just as our Mercury space program was getting under way, so it's a lot of speculation.

Illustrated by Jack Sparling, but the writer is unknown.

BTW, even though it appeared in Four Color Comics, it's in black and white because it appeared on the inside back cover.

The inside covers of comics used to be printed with only one color, black, instead of the four colors CYAN, YELLOW, MAGENTA, and BLACK (CYMK), that make up all the colors in standard comic printing, as a cost-saving measure!

Space Hero & Heroine Saturdays KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP! "Part 1-Off to the Stars!"

 In pop culture, lots of kids besides comics' Buzzy Bean went into space...

...as early as 1970, according to this tale from Treasure Chest V14N11 (1959)!

Oops!

We'll find out how this liftoff happened when the story continues next month!

Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!

Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.

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Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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Friday Fun PETER RABBIT "Trouble on the Moon!"

As Artemis prepares to launch, we wanted to present a Moon-themed Space Mouse story...

but all we could find was this strip also by Space Mouse's writer/artist/animator Frank Carin!

This never-reprinted tale from Avon's Peter Rabbit #30 (1955-6) isn't based on the classic Peter Rabbit character created by Beatrix Potter.
Avon Comics had been running a comic since 1947 reprinting the similar Peter Cottontail newspaper strip by Harrison Cady (based on books by Thornton Burgess) under the name Peter Rabbit Comics.

Perhaps due to not wanting to pay to license the Harrison Cady strip, the series was rebooted with a totally-new, very Americanized, contemporary version of the character, as of #7 (1950), which continued until #34 (1956).

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Golden Treasury of
Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics
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Monday Mecha Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Iron Hulk!"

Last Christmas, we presented a tale about a child and her robot...

...who was so emotionally-attached to her, it sacrificed itself to save her!

But, that wasn't the first time that plot was used...

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959), scripted by either Stan Lee or Larry Lieber, is extremely similar to the previously-presented 1963 story, minus the "Christmas present" element and making the robot look like a life size toy soldier.

Note the lovely art by Joe Sinnott.

While most of you know Sinnott as one of the best inkers in the business, he was also a competent penciler as well.

Ironically, Joe didn't ink most of his own pencil work, since it was subcontracted by Vince Colletta's prolific studio for use by Charlton, Gold Key, and Dell and inked by Colletta himself!

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Brush Strokes with Greatness

Life and Art of Joe Sinnott
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FLYING SAUCERS "Far Out Physical"

With all the current mishigas about UFOs/Flying Saucers...

...we thought we'd present a tale or two from the 1960s-70s comic anthologies dedicated to the topic!

You'll note that the aliens' world balloons are left blank!

Editor Don (D J) Arneson wrote all the stories in the four-issue run of Dell's Flying Saucers.
He also made sure the various artists presented a fairly-consistent "look" to the aliens.
(Note: the series ran five issues, but the fifth was a reprint of #1)
In the case of this tale from #1 (1967), Sam Glanzman brought his realistic, natural style to a story using many of the already-established elements of UFO lore.
Trivia: Both Dell and Gold Key produced anthology comics about alien visitors and their kitchenware-shaped vessels during this period.
Gold Key's UFO: Flying Saucers ran for twenty five issues, changing the title to UFO and Outer Space as of #14!

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Voyage to the Deep

TPB reprinting the complete four-issue sci-fi/fantasy 1960s series illustrated by Sam Glanzman, plus some kool features!
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Space Hero Saturdays LOST WORLDS "First Man to Reach the Moon"

In this 1952 tale, Mankind doesn't reach the Moon until 2021!

For the record, most sci-fi stories of the era show a manned Moon landing occurring by 2000!

While we don't know who wrote this story from Standard's sci-fi anthology Lost Worlds #6 (1952), the illustrations are by Art Saaf, a steady contributor to comic books from the beginning of the Golden Age to the end of the Bronze Age (1940-1980).

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3
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Reading Room SPACE PATROL COMICS "Push Button Tyrant"

Ziff-Davis' Space Patrol comic featured stories based on the 1950s TV series...

...and unrelated one-shot tales, like this never-reprinted "Cold War of the Future" story from #1 (1952).

Boy, they were obsessed in the 1950s that the Commies would win the Cold War!
The writer and artist are officially unknown, but I see a great deal of Carmine Infantino's penciling style in a number of panels.

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Taylor Illustrated History

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