Wednesday Worlds of Wonder UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Vision of Venus"

Though not as prolific as Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E Howard...

...Otis Adelbert Kline deserves a place on any bookshelf of "scientific romances/high adventure"!

Weird Observation: Why do so many of these early writers have three names?

This never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #4 (1975) by writer/artist Tim Conrad adapts one of Kline's Venus stories.

Like ERB and others, Kline did multiple stories set on Venus, Mars, and the Moon.

(His lunar-located novel, Maza of the Moon, was adapted into the one-shot comic Rocket to the Moon, which we presented HERE!)
Sadly, none of Kline's other works have ever been presented in graphic form.
This text piece might offer a clue as to why...

Hopefully, someday, some publisher will take a shot at a new adpataion!
Next Week:
We turn to HORROR for the month of October!
Miss It at Your Own Peril!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTHMAN ON VENUS Part 4

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Inside front cover art by Wally Wood

WOW!

Don't just sit there!

Start reading!

Well, that's it for our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

BTW, both Doggo's and Yuri's "deaths" were exaggerations.
Both survived to return in the sequel novels, Radio Beasts and Radio Planet.
Only the first novel, Radio Man/Earth Man on Venus, has been adapted into comics form.
Too bad, since the later novels are even better.

Next Week

We Return to Earth for another

Wednesday World of Wonder!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Gene Fawcette

...an experiment in "teleportation by radio wave" inadvertantly sends technician Miles Cabot to the planet Venus, where he discovers humanoids (including a ravishingly-beautiful woman) known as "Cupians" and giant intelligent ants (who've enslaved the humanoids) who call themselves "Formians"!

Both species communicate only via telepathy on a frequency close to radio waves, so Cabot builds a device to comunicate with them.
He becomes friends with Formian Doggo and Cupian Princess Lilla, which leads to his involvement with Lilla's evil cousin Yuri, who betrays Cabot to the Formians with whom he's formed an alliance...

Next Wednesday:

The Fateful Finale!

Continuing our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story by Ralph Milne Farley (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 2

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Reprint cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

...an experiment in "teleportation by radio wave" inadvertently sends technician Miles Cabot to the planet Venus, where he discovers humanoids (including a ravishingly-beautiful woman) and giant intelligent ants (who've enslaved the humanoids)!

Both species communicate only via telepathy on a frequency close to radio waves, so Cabot attempts to build a device...

 Next Wednesday:

Exile and Treachery...

Continuing our presentation of Avon's Earth Man on Venus (1950) one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story by Ralph Milne Farley (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AN EARTH MAN ON VENUS Part 1

After the success of Princess of Mars and the other Barsoom tales...

..."scientific romances" became a major genre in pulp fiction, with tales of Earthmen transported to alien worlds appearing in both genre and mainstream magazines!

Next Wednesday:

the Adventure Continues...

One of the more successful "high-adventure on other worlds" series was the Radio Man saga by Ralph Milne Farley.

Set on Venus, the tales of radio expert Miles Cabot were different enough from John Carter's adventures to warrant several sequel magazine serials, all of which were compiled as stand-alone novels.

Here's a kool article about the series at ERB.com.

The first story, Radio Man, was retitled Earth Man on Venus when Avon reprinted it in the 1950s.

Art by Ray Johnson

Simultaneous with the paperback reprint was a one-shot comic adaptation illustrated by Wally Wood with Joe Orlando and Sid Check doing inking and minor redrawing.

(The adaptation's scripter is unknown.)

Ironically, the comic book version has been reprinted numerous times, and is probably far more familiar to current sci-fi fans than the original story (which is a shame, since the novel is pretty good)!

Check out our Barsoomian artifacts at the

 Collectibles Corner

Monday Mars Madness STORY OF OTHER WORLDS "Amazon of Barsoom"

Concluding our re-telling of long-unseen Barsoom (Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars) stories...

...here's the final never-reprinted Barsoom tale that ran in DC Comics' Tarzan Family in 1976!

This story from DC's Tarzan Family #60 (1975) was written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Noly Zamora.

The Heliumites in this tale are blue-skinned, not red (as in all other Barsoom stories), and these red "demon apes" who carry spears and talk have never appeared in any other Barsoom tale!

As we mentioned earlier, this story and the Secret Diaries of John Carter mini-series have never been reprinted since their publication in 1976, even in the recent Dark Horse trade paperback that presented all the other Barsoom-based stories that appeared in DC Comics!
(It's rumored that dissatisfaction with them was the reason ERB Inc pulled the license from DC!)

Next Week:

It's Christmas...on Mars!

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Art of Barsoom™

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Monday Mars Madness JOHN CARTER OF MARS "Lights of Doom"

When Last We Left the First EarthMan on Mars...

...well that pretty much covers it, so let's rejoin Carter as he faces imminent peril!

This all-new tale from DC's Tarzan Family #64 (1976) was written by Bob Kanigher, penciled by Noly Zamora and inked by Vic Catan with several panels modifed/redrawn by editor Joe Kubert.

Unfortunately, the story ends on a cliffhanger as the remaining two issues of Tarzan Family featured reprints of Carter's first DC Comics appearances from Tarzan #207-208!
DC then cancelled both of their Burroughs-related titles as ERB.Inc announced plans to publish their own line of comic books which, unfortunately didn't work out, as seen HERE.

In 1977, Marvel Comics was granted the license for ERB characters, doing both Tarzan and John Carter as stand-alone titles ignoring any storylines DC had produced (including adaptations).

When those titles were cancelled in 1979, unused artwork for both of them was adapted (ironically) into other licensed-property titles!

The unused Tarzan story became, with rescripting and additional art, a two-part BattleStar Galactica tale!

John Carter's unpiublished tale was modified into a two-part Star Wars story (#53-54) with Carter becoming Aron Peacebringer, Dejah Thoris relabeled Alisande, and Tars Tarkas losing his extra arms, becoming orange, and renamed Keral Longknife!

As we mentioned earlier, the "Secret Diaries" mini-series has never been reprinted since it's publication in 1976, even in the recent Dark Horse trade paperback that presented all the other John Carter stories that appeared in DC Comics!
There is one more never-reprinted Barsoom tale (without John Carter or any established characters) from DC which you'll see next week!

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Check out our artifacts at the

Art of Barsoom™
 Collectibles Corner