Space Hero Saturdays JET POWERS "Fleets of Fear!"

When Last We Left Jet Powers...

...oh, heck, I'll let writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell explain what happened in the previous story...

He stops alien invasions and solves matters of the heart!

Jet Powers is truly a Renaissance Man!

Sadly, this was his final appearance in sci-fi...but not in comics.
When next he appeared, several months later, it was as "Army Air Ace" Jet Powers in the revival of Magazine Enterprises' WWII title American Air Forces!

Though he looked and sounded like the space-adventure hero, down to the curly white hair, there was no reference to his being a scientist, nor any use of sci-fi elements in the new Korean War-set stories!
This particular tale from Magazine Enterprises' Jet Powers #4 (1951) was one of two sequels to separate cliffhangers featuring the hero in the previous issue.
It's unusual that a series would have a pair of unrelated cliffhangers for one character in the same issue, but that's what writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell did!

Considering the previous issues had inter-related stories in the same book, I wonder if this was a case of the first parts of a pair of two-part stories being completed, but the second parts weren't ready when the deadline crept up on them.

(In those days, comics had to come out on schedule since they were dependent on their status as periodicals to qualify for lower postage/shipping rates.)

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Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN SCIENCE "Cat Men of Phoebus"

When Last We Left Our Space-Faring Heroes...

After defeating a threat to the Earth by aliens who crash-landed on the far side of the Moon, Gordon Dane and Rip waste no time in dealing with another group of aliens who just kidnapped Luana from their headquarters...

The art on this never-reprinted story from Youthful's Captain Science #2 (1950)  is by Gustav Schrotter.

The writer is unknown.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

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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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Mysteries in Space

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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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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 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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Michael Wm. Kaluta: Sketchbook Ser

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