Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Death Rite of the Dwarfs"

In space no one can hear you die...

...as we present the third chapter of the Mars Campaign from Ziff-Davis' SpaceBusters #1 (1952)

This Bernie Krigstein-rendered story concludes the Space Busters tales from issue #1!

But we're not proceeding to #2 when we return to SpaceBusters after another two=part InterPlanetary Police tale!

There was a major artistic shift between issues, resulting in much of the already-completed work for #2 by Krigstein being "written-off" and later published by other companies who acquired the comic division's assets after Ziff-Davis dropped the line (except for G.I. Joe) in 1953!

The second issue contains an artistically-rebooted series with a new "look" created by illustrator, Murphy Anderson, fresh off a run on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip!

That's what you'll see in three weeks as we present those missing tales in the correct order (Space Busters #1.5, as it were!)

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Charge of the Battle Women"

Continuing the Mars Campaign of the Earth-Belzar War from Ziff-Davis' SpaceBusters #1.

Part One can be found HERE.

It's a fascinating look at male-female relationships as shown in comic books of the 1950s, proving those Lois Lane comics and their attitudes towards women weren't an aberration.

Note: Jerry Siegel, the writer who co-created Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, was the editor (and possibly writer) of this series!

BTW, you'll notice the Amazons on the cover by legendary pulp/comics/paperback/trading card artist Norman Saunders (shown above) are wearing considerably less...armor!

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 SpaceBusters

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Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Empress of Belzar"

Space Busters was a war/military comic...set in the future.

Think of it as a less-sophisticated version of Starship Troopers, sorta "Sgt Fury or Sgt Rock in Space"!

Interestingly, it featured a woman (albeit a non-combatant) as a regular member of the front-line team.
(A rarity in comics until the late 1980s)

As to the plot...the planet Belzar has invaded our Solar System, managing to conquer everything from Pluto to Mars, with Earth next in line.

However, Earth's military is about to launch a counter-attack...

Unlike the other strips we've been running, this wasn't a spacegoing police force, but a "marines in space" series.

(BTW, for those who were wondering, Space Busters wasn't "inspired" by Robert Heinlein's Hugo Award-winning Starship Troopers since it pre-dates it by more more than half a decade!)
Illustrated by EC Comics mainstay Bernie Krigstein (who was also the artist on ZD's Space Patrol, based on the TV series), this premiere tale from Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #1 (1952) was likely scripted by editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel!

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Starship Troopers #0

Markosia Comics

Monday Mars Madness RACE FOR THE MOON "Face on Mars"

Perhaps the most famous story from Harvey's Race for the Moon...

...is this tale from #2 by writer/peniler Jack Kirby and inker Al Williamson which doesn't take place on the Moon...but on Mars!

Why is it so famous?

When NASA's Viking satellite reached Mars in 1976, it took this photo...

Keep in mind that this was the era of the Chariots of the Gods? fad, and to many, this pic was confirmation that aliens had either come thru the Solar System and stopped off not only on Earth, but Mars as well, or were from Mars initially!

And, there were those who remembered this little comic tale from their childhood.

The truth was a bit more mundane. Click HERE for NASA's explanation.

To this day, there are still those who say it's a cover-up, that there is life on Mars, and that "the face" is a relic of their existence.

Judge for yourself.

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Mars in the Movies

A History

Friday Fun RACE FOR THE MOON "Lunar Trap"

In tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon...

...we present a change-of-pace tale from the 1950s, when we thought we'd be fighting with the Soviet Union over control of the Moon...

 

This tale from Harvey's Race for the Moon #2 (1958) features a fierce, fighting, female cosmonaut...extremely progressive for the time!
Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Al Williamson (who, along with fellow EC alumnus Reed Crandall, was doing a lot of work for Harvey at the time)!
Not sure who wrote it, but speculation is that Kirby himself scripted it.
Either way, a decent story with solid storytelling and magnificent rendering!

Space: the FInal Frontier (for Christmas Gifts)!

Since the 1890s, and the heyday of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, science fiction-themed presents have found a place under the Christmas tree and in Xmas stockings for the young (and young at heart)!
Continuing that entertaining tradition, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is proud to offer our line of retro-design sci-fi/fantasy collectibles, The Future WAS Fantastic!™, for both kids AND adults!
We're talking 12-month calendars, mousepads, mugs, magnets, t-shirts, sweatshirts and other goodies featuring some of the niftiest illustrations from the comic books, pulp magazines, and movie posters of the 1930s-1960s, all digitally-restored and remastered!

Spaceships with wings and big fins!

Ray Guns that can zap an entire army in a flash!

Slimy Aliens!

Killer Robots!

Heroes in bubble-helmeted tight spacesuits!

Heroines in even tighter space suits!

Never did the future look so...stylish!
If you're looking for something in the vein of Star Wars or Star Trek (You did know that George Lucas wanted to remake Flash Gordon, but King Features didn't want to trust a young director whose biggest credit at that point was American Graffiti, didn't you?), here's the stuff that provided the visual inspiration for today's hi-tech flights of fantasy!
Enjoy, and may your rocket tubes never overheat...

Make your Christmas tree SpaceMan Jet's landing pad!

Flash Gordon!

Buck Rogers!
Brick Bradford!
Even...Rocket Kelly!
Have you ever noticed that space-faring heroes almost NEVER have a first name like "Dave" or "Melvin"? (Yeah, there was DAN Dare, but his last name was "Dare" for chissakes!)
It's always something dramatic and/or futuristic!
Makes you wonder what their parents were thinking when they filled out the birth certificate..."Yeah, "Brick"! That's a good name for the kid!"

Jet Powers was one of the last of that breed of high-adventure heroes, a kick-butt, blast-first-and-ask-questions-later kinda guy who crossed space and time like you and I cross the street!
As rendered by Bob Powell, one of the most versatile illustrators of the Golden Age (He did everything, sci-fi, romance, war, horror, etc), Jet was a ruggedly-handsome guy with distinctive white hair and a nose that had been broken and reset! (Think of a combo of Bruce Willis and Peter Graves.)
Besides being good in a fight, Jet was a scientific wiz with his own mountaintop base and spacecraft!
He operated as a freelance agent for the United States, meeting the President himself at least once just to receive orders!
In four issues of his own title Jet battled Mr Sinn, an evil scientist equal to himself, who was colored bright green, but like Ming the Merciless, was an alien variation of the "Yellow Menace" villain stereotype.
Powers also met, rescued, and fell in love with Su Shan, formerly a servant of Sinn. Of course, Sinn wanted her back, so Jet had to keep rescuing her for the entire series!
You can read his exciting adventures by clicking HERE!

Atomic Kommie Comics™ has returned him to interplanetary action as SpaceMan Jet, along with the SpaceBusters, in our The Future WAS Fantastic!™ series, even giving him his own section.where all four of his spectacular star-spanning covers adorn mugs, shirts and a plethora of other goodies!

For the special someone in your life with a taste for retro sci-fi / fantasy, you can't go wrong with one of these items as a Christmas present!
(Heck, if I didn't already have them, I'd want 'em!)

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Bob Powell's Complete Jet Powers

Reading Room: JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY "Man Trouble"

To help ease the pain of returning to school on August 15th, here's fun with the futuristic femme, Jetta!

...in this case, her very first apperance from Jetta of the 21st Century #5 (1952), which was actually the first issue.

(Issues 1-4 were a romance comic called Today's Romance!)

Ya gotta love the futuristic slang they thought would be popular in the early 1950s!
Written and penciled by the legendary Dan DeCarlo, but may not have been inked by him.

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Dan DeCarlo's Jetta

Best of Reading Room RACE FOR THE MOON "Garden of Eden"

From the final issue (#3) of Race For the Moon comes a tale with spectacular Jack Kirby/Al Williamson artwork combining both realistic 1950s spacesuits and architecture and way-out technology and alien costuming.
Note that the female, Anizaar, looks a lot like Zsa Zsa Gabor in the then-current flick Queen of Outer Space, but in a kooler costume than the simple ones shown in the movie!  
Trivia: Zsa Zsa didn't play the title role! "The Queen" was Laurie Mitchell!
The story itself is a clever reworking of several science-fiction tropes common to the era (1958).
See of you can identify them all...

I dunno...while I'm certainly on the humans' side, that last panel sounded like a rather nasty threat...