Space Hero Saturdays JIM SOLAR: SPACE SHERIFF "Defeats the Moon Missile Men" Part 1

From the 1950s comes this weirdly-formatted, never-reprinted strip...

...that was available only as a giveaway inside various products!

Be here next Saturday for the thrillling conclusion!

Created by writer Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and artist E.C. Stoner (Blue Beetle), this 7" x 3.5" comic was part of the Vital Publications line of promotional giveaways distributed by a variety of merchants inside their products' packaging.

This particular one was included in packages of Rodeo All-Meat Wieners...

Back cover

There were apparently eight other Jim Solar comics, but they're very HTF since they were "self-covered (fragile newsprint covers, like the inside pages, instead of the heavy slick magazine paper most comics use for covers) and included with food products, whose juices would damage the paper!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder CAPTAIN COMET, SPACE PILOT "vs the Vicious Space Pirates!"

A space-going hero named "Captain Comet" who saves the Earth?

Plus, he's drawn by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta?

Sign me up!

Note: he's not DC Comics' mutant mental marvel...

 ...but a character who only appeared once, in 1953, two years after DC's space hero debuted in Strange Adventures #9, and would continue as an ongoing strip through 1955 (usually getting the cover slot)!

The Captain Comet we've just shown you was more a Flash Gordon / Buck Rogers-type hero, set in the future, battling interplanetary threats with fists and ray guns.

Appearing in the first issue of Toby Press' anthology title Danger is Our Business, he obviously was meant to be an ongoing character, but there was never another appearance, except for a reprint in 1958.

Did DC issue a "cease and desist" due to trademark infringement?

We'll never know...

Reading Room SPACE ACTION "Silicon Monsters from Galaxy X"

If you're a cheesy sci-fi fan like me, you'll go for a story with a title like...

...'cause with a title like that, you're in for a fun (if not totally rational or even coherent) time!

While the writer is unknown, the art for this tale from Ace's Space Action #2 (1952) is attributed to "Jim McLaughlin", who had a short-lived comics career doing work primarily for Ace!

After Ace dropped comics in 1955 to concentrate on paperbacks, "Jim" did a couple of stories for Atlas/Marvel and a run on Dell's comic adaptation of TV's Gunsmoke!
Then "Jim McLaughlin" disappeared!
Totally.
Unlike most comic book artists who went on to do commercial art or newspaper strips, there's no trace of "Jim McLaughlin" after his brief foray into four-color publishing...and no background about his pre-comics career!
Here's another interesting point...his art style altered considerably during his career.
In this story, the inking looks a lot like the work of long-time artist Jim Mooney!
In fact, a number of panels resemble Mooney's work on the DC strip Tommy Tomorrow, which Jim Mooney was both penciling and inking during the same period as "Jim McLaughlin's" work for Ace!
In McLaughlin's later work (particularly his Gunsmoke art), while the layouts look similar, the inking style is totally-different!
Was "Jim McLaughlin" a pen-name for a penciler working with at least two (if not more) different inkers?

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Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

The BIGGEST 2024 Time-Lost Summer Blogathon Re-Presentation Concludes This Week...

..and if you missed any part of it, here's your chance to catch up by following the links!

Intro

Part 1

Part 1.5

Part 2

Part 2.33

Part 2.66

Part 3

Part 3.5

And this Week...

Be Here Wednesday for

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder

Then Friday at

Heroines

And Finally, Saturday Back Here for

Space Force /Space Heroine Saturdays

The Latest RetroBlog Time-Lost Blogathon Entry Started YESTERDAY...

...as the re-presentation of the Never-Reprinted Premiere Space-Opera Graphic Novel Began!

Don't Worry, You Can Catch Up Before the Next Chapter.

But Before You Do, It Would be Helpful if You Read This Intro First...

Historical Notes:

The Dune movie referred to was Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious and potentially-ground-breaking, but sadly-stillborn production detailed in the recent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune.
Side note: Many of the creatives gathered for this project ended up working on Ridley Scott's Alien! including HR Giger, Chris Foss, Moebius and Dan O'Bannon!
The Space Wars, which was filming at the time, was, as you might have guessed, Star Wars!
Now that you have some context for the era StarFawn was created in, go HERE to read the first part, then return to this blog on Wednesday, to read the next chapter!

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StarFawn

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Space Force Saturdays PERIMETER PATROL SERVICE "Mission to Malooka"

Meet the Perimeter Patrol Service in their never-reprinted premiere...

...from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #5 (1951)!

This story is a superb example of pulp/comic space opera of the era with all the classic elements:

Square-jawed heroes!

Rockets & ray-guns!

Literal bug-eyed monsters!

No scantly-clad women in this particular tale, but the other Perimeter Patrol Service sagas have them!

BTW, this premiere appearance is illustrated by Murphy Anderson, who had just finished his first run on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip.

He would later specialize doing sci-fi/fantasy at DC Comics, including Hawkman, Adam Strange, and Superman!

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia

While exploring an alien world, the crew of the Space Beagle encounter Coeurl, who looks like a Terrestrial panther or lion...with the addition of tentacles!

But this is not a friendly housecat!

It's a primitive, but sentient, being who can not only reason, but deceive...

Trivia: The announced adaptation of Day of the Triffids ended up as the cover-featured tale in the premiere issue of Worlds Unknown's b/w magazine successor, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction...

...under a misleading, but undeniably-kool cover by Kelly Freas!
In fact, an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's KillDozer ran in the next issue of Worlds Unknown...

Meanwhile, back with Black Destroyer...

Roy Thomas was concerned that the finale as shown in the adaptation wasn't clear enough, so he included an explanation on the letters page...

Bonus #1: You can read the complete original short story HERE.
Feel free to compare and contrast!
Bonus #2: here are the illustrations from the original pulp magazine, so you can see how closely Dan Adkins and Jim Mooney kept to the pulp magazine "feel" of the tale!

"Black Destroyer" was later incorporated with later short stories about the exploratory vessel Space Beagle into the novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which is a tribute to Charles Darwin's scientific exploratory ship, "The Beagle".

BTW, Van Vogt sued 20th Century Fox over the 1979 movie Alien, claiming that it ripped off elements of "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet", both of which were adapted into Voyage of the Space Beagle.

Fox settled out of court.

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Voyage of the Space Beagle

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