Space Hero Saturdays MAN O' MARS

Here's a kool klassic from the 1950s...the lead story from a 1953 one-shot that combined all the great cliches of space opera (spaceships, ray guns, aliens, half-naked space babes) in one tight ten-page tale set only thirteen years from now...

These days, this story would be a six-issue mini-series with tie-ins to several other titles.

The rest of Fiction House's Man O' Mars one-shot from 1953 was made up of unrelated reprints from earlier issues of Planet Comics.

The interior artist is Maurice Gutwirth, but the writer is unknown.

The original cover was done by Maurice Whitman, one of the Golden Age's more prolific artists with credits at almost every company of the era!

When the book was reprinted by IW Comics in 1958 from the original printing plates, the covers weren't included, so publisher Israel Waldman commissioned Angelo Torres...

...who created a superb Frank Frazetta-style cover, doing his fellow Fleagle Gang member proud!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Supermen"

Yes, you read the title correctly..."Supermen"!

But this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957) isn't about your usual muscle-bound heroes...

After all, who said only human minds and bodies were being affected?

Written by Jack Oleck and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this oft-reprinted tale is one of only four stories the prolific Oleck scripted for Charlton...and all four were illustrated by Ditko!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Creativity of Ditko

Space Heroine Saturdays TARA "Key of the Cuchin Van!"

We continue the space-spanning saga of Tara, Queen of the Space Pirates 

...with this tale from Nedor's Wonder Comics #18 (1948).

The Grand Comics DataBase lists Gene Fawcette, who did the previous stories, as the penciler/inker, but it looks like fellow Wonder Comics artist George Roussos, who used a more standardized layout and looser inking style.
Check out the

Tara: Queen of the Space Pirates™

Collectibles Store

Monday Moon Madness RACE FOR THE MOON "Lunar Trap"

Today's the scheduled launch to the Moon of NASA's Artemis test ship...

But, it won't be like the 1950s, when we thought we'd be fighting with the Soviet Union for control of the Moon!

 

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!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Monday Madness ATOM-AGE COMBAT "Hungry Moss"

Here's a story from the 1950s that might've inspired the 1960s cult flick The Green Slime!

This tale from the fifth (and final) issue of the 1952-53 comic book Atom-Age Combat is one of only three stories in the entire series with actual sci-fi or alien elements!
Most of the tales were of the World War III / Atomic War type showing a long-feared "US vs the Russian and/or Chinese Commies" war using advanced technology and limited nuclear weaponry.

While the writer is unknown, the art is by longtime war comics artist Dick Ayers, best-known for Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

Monday Madness RACE FOR THE MOON "Saucer Man"

From the era when actual space travel was brand new...

 ...and flying saucers were probably real, here's a tale from Harvey's Race for the Moon #3 (1958).

Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Al Williamson, an absolutely magnificent combo, rivaling Kirby's pairings with Wally Wood and Joe Sinnott!

Science fiction was in a state of flux as real-world science began catching up with our imaginations.

Instead of far-future sagas with warp-drive ships, tales of "the day after tomorrow", when we would make our first landings on the Moon and Mars came into vogue.

That didn't mean that visitors from beyond our Solar System were left out, but the technology we used to respond to them (friendly or not) was much closer to "present-day" (1950s) tech than ray-guns and photon drives.

Why does this tale fit into the concept of Monday Madness?
Because, now that we're actually in the era shown in these tales, we haven't done anything close to what they show...

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Monday Madness LIANA

Here's a tale of future love published exactly 50 years ago...

...Nestled none too securely in the grim world of the future, Liana longs for the miracle that will end the pain of her lonely existence!
But, miracles can have dangerous side-effects, as Liana will soon find out!

This tale originally appeared in The Monster Times #14 (July 31, 1972), written and illustrated by Bruce Jones, who went on to write and illustrate (but rarely both at the same time) for DC and Marvel.
BTW, if you wonder why the caption in the first panel is so hard to read, it's because this was published as two pages in a tabloid 11 1/2"x 16 1/2" format (like 1970s Marvel and DC "Treasury" editions), so I repeated the text below the first page!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE BUSTERS "Frog Men Against Belzar"

After the stories for Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 were written and drawn...

...most of them were shelved, as a new artist, Murphy Anderson, was brought on board to revamp the series' look!

However, the Bernie Krigstein and Martin Stein-illustrated stories that didn't make it into Space Busters #2 did find new homes!

This particular tale is the most-reprinted Space Busters story of all, appearing in St John's Daring Adventures #6 (1954), Decker's Great Exploits #1 (1958) and IW's Strange Planets #18 (1964)..under a new Ross Andru/Mike Esposito cover as shown above!

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

Blond/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...

We proudly present the lead story of Space Busters #1.5, which is also the final story of the Mars Campaign...

There's another SpaceBusters tale that didn't appear in SpaceBusters Comics...and you'll see it in a couple of weeks!
Warning: Bring your red/blue 3-D glasses!

Visit the

 SpaceBusters

Supply Depot!