Wednesday Worlds of Wonder STAR RAIDERS "Beginning...the Saga of the Star Raiders!" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

...we encounter Captain Jed Poole, his "friend and companion as well as navigator/gunner/bodyguard Tomorrow Hardtack, who meet immortal librarian/know-it-all Ezikial Vicker, who has knowledge of the Zylons!

Vicker also has a unique fighter craft called the Star Raider, which had been uncovered and used by the Atari Force against the Zylons, who had been mind-controlled by the Dark Destroyer, as shown HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!
When they believed they had destroyed the Zylons, the Atari Force left the fighter behind, and now the Zylons want it...

 As you can see things are about to get really bad!
To Be Continued...Next Wednesday!

Written by Eliiot S! Maggin and beautifully-painted by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, this never-reprinted 1983 graphic novel was apparently-meant as the original follow-up to the previous Atari Force mini-comics which were included with video game cartridges!
None of these characters ever reappeared in the later Atari Force series, though more of the cute aliens created for the Atari Force mini-series, the Hukkas, appear here.

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Modern Masters Volume Five

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Paid Link

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder STAR RAIDERS "Beginning...the Saga of the Star Raiders!" Part 1

This Month...a never-reprinted Interstellar Adventure...

...that was meant to be a series, but, sadly, didn't work out that way!

To Be Continued...Next Wednesday!

 These opening pages introduce the protagonists, the state of the universe they're in, and the current situation.

Written by Eliiot S! Maggin and beautifully-painted by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, this never-reprinted 1983 graphic novel was apparently-meant as the original follow-up to the previous Atari Force mini-comics which were included with video game cartridges!
None of these characters ever reappeared in the later Atari Force series, though more of the cute aliens created for the Atari Force mini-series, the Hukkas, appear here.
When the Atari Force was revived as an ongoing regular-format comic series with a different storyline more related to the mini-series, Garcia Lopez was brought in as penciler with Ricardo Villigran as story page-inker, though Jose penciled and inked covers for the first three issues.
After that, Garcia Lopez's heavy workload on licensing and other projects kept him from doing more than occasional inking of others' pencils or pencils & inks on a cover!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Modern Masters Volume Five

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Paid Link

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?

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

Science Fiction Comics
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!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy

Fiction Illustrated #2

StarFawn

Paid Link