Reading Room: EXPLORERS IN THE UNKNOWN "Hostile Asteroid"

In the 1960s, we were about to reach the Moon...

...so the idea that we would first explore the Solar System, then nearby stellar systems, within a few decades wasn't unreasonable.

We developed a new metal alloy, Zakanite, just to use it on ID tags and insignia?
There's not a nut or bolt on the ship made from it..or even the crewmens' ID tags and insignia?
And you wonder why Congress cut NASA's budget in the mid-1970s!
We do learn there's only three officers (including the ship's commander) in the ship's complement.
Because there's only four pages in each story, there's no character development between them.
This odd tale from Gold Key's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea #8 (1966) was written by Dick Wood (who wrote the entire series) and illustrated by Nevio Zaccara (who remained the strip's artist until the final chapter).

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Space Patrol"

Magazine Enterprises' Space Ace was a curious strip...

...starting out relatively-sophisticated, as we'll show you here in this tale from ManHunt #1 (1947)...

 ...and progressively becoming more juvenile as it's first incarnation progressed, as seen in the final tale of that version.
When the series was rebooted, it was extremely, shall we say, "kid-friendly" as shown HERE and HERE, but ended with more adult-oriented scripts and art as seen HERE and HERE!
The Grand Comics DataBase attributes the art to Fred Guardineer (who also did the final story), but it doesn't look like Guardineer's other work, so I'm skeptical as to the accuracy of the assessment.

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Reading Room: EXPLORERS IN THE UNKNOWN "Demons of Deep Space"

Space, the final frontier...

...where, even if you're in a backup strip in Gold Key's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea comic, if you wear red...WATCH YOUR ASS!

This scientifically-inaccurate tale from VttBotS #7 (1966) was written by Dick Wood (who wrote the entire series) and illustrated by Nevio Zaccara (who remained the strip's artist until the final chapter).

Reading Room: EXPLORERS IN THE UNKNOWN "Manhunt in Space"

These are the voyages of the Hunter I, it's ongoing mission...

...to fill four pages per issue of Gold Key's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Starting with this story in VttBotS #6 (1966), the Hunter I crew had adventures set in the near-future of the late 1990s-early 2000s, much like then-current films like Green Slime, Wild Wild Planet, and Battle in Outer Space.

With only four pages per issue, there was little character development (or even names) for the crew, but lots of action!

The entire never-reprinted series was written by Dick Wood, and this first tale was illustrated by the Alberto Giolitti Studio.

If that name is familiar, Alberto Giolitti (and his studio) handled the art for the first few years of Gold Key's Star Trek comic from #3 to #39, as well as numerous other movie/tv tie-ins.

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Death in Deep Space"

The final chapter in the short, but exciting, life of Space Ace 2.5!

Art by Al Williamson, the Fleagle Gang, and a special guest-star!

Can you guess who?

Only 50,000 credits?

Last time it was 1,000,000,000.

Space Ace must be slipping!

A hearty Atomic Kommie Comics™ "well done" to all those who spotted the legendary Wally Wood's distinctive style in a number of panels of this tale from Jet #4 (1951)!

It's a spectacular send-off for the character, written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Al Williamson and inked by Williamson, the Fleagle Gang, and Wally Wood.

Space Ace would reappear in a one-shot that reprinted the first Space Ace's tales from Manhunt in 1954.

The two Lawrence Woromay-illustrated tales were reprinted when Super/IW Comics reprinted the complete contents of Jet #1 & #2 in Jet Power #1 & #2 in 1958.
This story has been reprinted in several fanzines and prozines, but never in color.

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Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Invisible Death"

The second sci-fi character to use the name Space Ace returns...

...in a tale of greed and avarice on both sides of the conflict!

"..a full pardon for any...er..crimes I may have committed here and there!"

Helluva hero, that Space Ace!

The extremely-Wayne Boring-style art in this tale from Jet #2 (1951) is by little-known artist Lawrence Woromay, whose comics career spanned the 1950s and 1960s and various genres including sci-fi, war and horror.

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Desert Devils"

We jump forward three years in real time and centuries in fictional time...

..to bring you the totally-different, all-new (at the time) Space Ace!

Compare this with the previous version of Space Ace, and you'll really see the differences!

And people bitch about Marvel and DC's now-constant rebooting of their characters!

It's been going on since comics began, just not on such a large scale!

After the last Space Ace strip in Manhunt #7 (1947), the name was revived for a new strip appearing in a new sci-fi themed title...Jet #1 (1950), with few elements (like the Mars colony setting) retained, but moved several centuries further into the future, and with a new, freelance crimefighter instead of a policeman with sidekick.

And, you'll note the almost-medieval clothing and armor most of the colonists now wear and buildings that look like stone castles, as opposed to the high-tech garb and structures in the previous tale!

They also decided to  play up the fact that humans would be almost super-human under Mars' lower gravity, resulting in some very Superman-esqe panels!

Speaking of Superman, the extremely-Wayne Boring-style art is by little-known artist Lawrence Woromay, whose comics career spanned the 1950s and 1960s and various genres including sci-fi, war and horror.

But this version of Space Ace wouldn't even last as long as his predecessor!

His next (and last) appearance will be presented Monday.

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Harp of Death"

This is the last story of the first of three incarnations of Space Ace by the same publisher...

...none of whom have any relation to the 1980s video game character!

While it's not confirmed as to who wrote the tale from Manhunt #7 (1947), it's clearly illustrated by Fred Guardineer, creator of numerous Golden Age characters including Zatara, Tor the Magician (both of whom spoke their incantations backwards), Blue Tracer, Alias the Dragon, and Moon-Man.

This 1930s-40s Buck Rogers-style character ran in the first seven issues of Magazine Enterprises' Manhunt anthology comic, which featured law enforcement officers past, present, and future.

As of #8, Ace was replaced by a Western hero, Trail Colt, and the ManHunter of the 21st Century wouldn't be seen for a couple of years.

When he did reappear, he was (literally) a new man...as we shall see tomorrow...

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Reading Room: SPACEBUSTERS "Frog Men against Belzar"

You thought the SpaceBusters story ended with the book's cancellation after #2?

Art by Bernie Krigstein, adapted from page 1.

Nope!

Though the publisher (Ziff-Davis) went out of business, the published (and unpublished) material ended up at several other companies, including St John Publishing.

This particular story features the uniform and weapon designs from SpaceBusters #1, before Murphy Anderson was brought on board for #2 and revamped everything to look more like his work on the Buck Rogers newspaper comic strip.

Bernie Krigstein illustrated this story, as he did all the tales in SpaceBusters #1.

Oddly enough, though the aliens invading Mars remained "Belzarians" and the Terrans were referred to as "Earthians", the heroes went through a name-change.

Blond and blue-eyed Captain Brett Crockett received a new name, becoming "Captain Andall", while his balding and mustached sergeant, Bolo, became "Sgt Bala".
And the nickname "SpaceBusters", used incessantly in the two issues of the series, is nowhere in sight...

The story saw publication three times in ten years, ironically making it the most-printed of all the SpaceBuster tales!
First in Daring Adventures #6 (1954) from St John (where it was not the cover feature).
Then, it was reprinted in Great Exploits #1 (1957) by Ajax/Farrell (who purchased some of St John's material when they left the comics business to concentrate on magazines), where it finally became the cover feature (as seen at the top of this post).
Finally, it was reprinted in 1964 by Super/IW Comics, with a new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Side note; I really enjoy playing detective, piecing together clues to discover "lost" items like this, or to correct historical inaccuracies like who really was the first Black superheroine.

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