Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Space Trap" Part 1

Tanya, the Space Siren has another cunning plan...

...and only Bruce Warren (and his little brother Terry) can stop her nefarious scheme in this tale from Buster Brown Comic Book #29 (1952)!

 What do they find?

(We know, but we ain't talking!)

You'll have to be back next Saturday to discover the startling secret!

The eagle-eyed among you will notice a redesign of the police uniforms and spacecraft from the previous story.

Reed Crandall, who finished the pencils over Ray Bailey's layouts, revamped them in a jauntier, more "Flash Gordon" style rather than the utilitarian "Space Cadet" look they initially had.

Crandall took over full penciling as of the next issue.

Written by Hobart Donovan.

Penciled by Ray Bailey and Reed Crandall

Inked by Ray Willner.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Meteor Menace" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

SHE BLEW UP YANKEE STADIUM!!!

(Of course, it's actually Yankee Stadium II, but readers in 1952 didn't know that!)

The Space Siren, after destroying several Earth landmarks with meteors, demands Earth's surrender lest she rain fiery death upon the planet!

While the peacekeeping organization is called the "Interplanetary Police" in the first three tales, it becomes the "Interstellar Police" for the last two!
Writer Hobart Donovan was the writer for the Buster Brown radio show this comic was spun-off from.
He wrote all the stories in the comic book, from sci-fi to western to funny animal!
Donovan was married to actress June Foray, best known as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel!
Artist Ray Bailey began as an assistant to Milton Caniff on Terry and the Pirates and Male Call.
When Canniff left Terry and began Steve Canyon, Bailey went with him.
Finally going independent, Bailey launched several comic strips including the short-lived Vesta West, and Bruce Gentry, an aviation strip with sci-fi elements which was popular enough to have a 1940s movie serial based on it which features the first appearance of a flying saucer in the movies!
In the early 1950s, he was the artist on the Tom Corbett: Space Cadet newspaper strip at the same time he did the first two tales of this series!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Meteor Menace" Part 1

Who would've thought that this never-reprinted, lost comic series classic appeared in...

...of all things, Buster Brown Comic Books?

THEY BLEW UP YANKEE STADIUM!!!

Of course, it's actually Yankee Stadium II, but readers in 1952 didn't know that...

Be here next

Saturday

for the planet-shattering (literally) conclusion!

(One spoiler...the Space Siren doesn't destroy any more historic stadiums!

Relieved?)

This short-lived series (only five stories) ran in Buster Brown Comic Book, a free giveaway anthology comic published quarterly from 1945 to 1956 to promote Buster Brown Shoe Stores.
Strips ran anywhere from three to twenty-four issues.
Since there were no letters pages, there's no way to tell how the popularity of the series was judged.

This tale in BBCB #28 (1952), written by Hobart Donovan and drawn by Ray Bailey, is the premiere, setting up the premise quickly and efficiently, adapting elements from various other space opera series including Buck Rogers and Space Patrol, and getting to the action post-haste.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Reading Room FANTASTIC WORLDS "Triumph Over Terror"

What if a science fiction writer was the hero of a sci-fi tale?

And, what if the scribe was, initially, just as ignorant of the situation as any other protagonist in such a tale?

This tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #5 (1952) was drawn by Alex Toth and John Celardo, though, ironically, the writer is unknown.

BTW, though it's #5, this is actually the first issue of the title!

There was no #1-#4, which was a pretty standard practice for the publisher during the late 1940s-early '50s!!
The publisher felt the audience would be more accepting of a book they believed was established and already had four issues out.
After all, they had no way of finding the "previous" issues!
Newsstands and drugstores just shipped back the previous month's comics (and other magazines) to the distributor!
No comic shops stocking back issues!

No internet they could search!

Trivia: the cover of the comic the kid is holding on page 1...

...is a variation of the cover (rendered by the story's inker, John Celardo) of the actual issue this story appears in!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Pre-Code Classics

Fantastic Worlds/Lost Worlds

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Man Who Didn't Know Venus"

Nedor/Better/Standard Comics produced several sci-fi anthologies...

...none of which lasted more than three issues.

But it certainly wasn't due to lack of quality.

With a contributor list that included Alex Toth, Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky, Nick Cardy, and Jack Katz, you're talking some of the great and soon-to-be-great storytellers of comics history!

But, there was one other sci-fi creator who did a story for Lost Worlds, one of only four tales he did for comic books.

Jerome Bixby, novelist and short-story writer, as well as screenwriter whose credits include...

IT! the Terror from Beyond Space!

Fantastic Voyage

Star Trek "Mirror, Mirror"* and "Day of the Dove"

and the short story "It's a Good Life" which was adapted on both the original Twilight Zone tv series (by Rod Serling) and the 1983 feature film (by Richard Matheson).

BTW, around the time he wrote this, Bixby had just left his position as editor of the Planet Stories pulp magazine at Fiction House, where he also contributed a couple of text pieces to Planet Comics and Indians (his only non-genre text story)!

BTW, let me know if the type at this size is readable or not.
*The Mirror Universe created by Bixby in "Mirror, Mirror" has proven to be so popular that the plot has reappeared in over half of the spin-off series spanning almost all of Federation and StarFleet history!
And let's not get into the numerous (and sometimes contradictory) novels and comics about the concept...

Reading Room FANTASTIC WORLDS "Boy Who Saved the World!

The short-lived anthology Fantastic Worlds featured Earth-based stories...

...contrasting with the other anthology from Standard Comics, Lost Worlds, which was a space-opera book.

This kid-friendly tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #6 (1952) was drawn by Alex Toth and Mike Peppe, though the writer is unknown.

Visit

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Reading Room FLYING SAUCERS "Final Objective"

When Last We Left Ross Lanning...

Art by Wally Wood

...he was rescued by the aliens from foreign spies who wanted the secret of alien technology!

Inspired by the flying saucer craze of the late 1940s-early 1950s, this 1950 Wally Wood-illustrated book was one of many one-shot titles from Avon Comics during their short, but prolific existence.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Life and Legend of Wallace Wood

Volume One

and

Life and Legend of Wallace Wood

Volume Two