Showing posts with label tales of suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tales of suspense. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Reading Room / Tales Thrice Told TALES OF SUSPENSE "Last Rocket!"

Marvel's Tales of Suspense #39 (1963) is famous for it's cover story...
...but that oft-retold tale is not what we're looking at today!
Instead, we're presenting one of the backup stories...the third and final version of the "Adam & Eve on past/future Earth" trope plotted and/or scripted by Stan Lee.
You can read the previous two tales HERE and HERE.
Ok, I'm willing to believe that, with 1960s-level technology, all of Mankind could pull off a When Worlds Collide-style evacuation of the planet...though how they'd survive to reach another solar system several light-years distant is questionable.
I'm even willing to accept a couple of ecology-oriented sorts being stubborn (and let's face it, suicidal) enough to remain on their home world to the bitter end.
But an "exploding star" close enough to warm and light the planet, yet totally-unknown to anyone before that?
C'mon!
And one more thing...couldn't the space fleet just turn around and return when they noticed the "exploding star" behind them?
In this "Adam and Eve" retelling, it's believed that Lee plotted the story and his brother, Larry Lieber, scripted it.
But it's a fact that the legendary Gene Colan penciled and inked the absolutely beautiful art!
It makes the rather silly story bearable.
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Monday, January 16, 2023

Monday Madness FLYING SAUCERS x FOUR #3 "I Know the Secret of the Flying Saucer!"

Last Monday, Jack Kirby demonstrated why he was THE KING...
...now Spider-Man co-creator "Sturdy" Steve Ditko shows us his unique approach to the same plot!
Presented in the back of Atlas' (later Marvel'sTales of Suspense #11 (1960), this Stan Lee/Steve Ditko collaboration takes the twice-told tale (as we showed you HERE and HERE) and adds Ditko's more personal/less cosmic storytelling approach, playing up emotions of wonder and fear, taking the story closer to its' horror comic origins...but without the devouring of humans.
It's not better or worse, just different.
Next Monday, the final version of the tale...
...from
another
Silver Age stalwart!
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Thursday, December 29, 2022

Robot Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "Robot Hater!"

The third variation on the "robot saves human despite mistrust" theme...
...as shown HERE and HERE, shares both plotter and artist in common with one of the other tales!
Technically, the pilot is an android, not a robot.
Illustrator Paul Reinman, also rendered the Xmas-themed "It Walks Like a Man!" which was plotted, like this story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #3 (1959), by Stan Lee!
There are several more Atlas/Marvel stories with this same concept.
Would you like to see them?
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Thursday, October 27, 2022

Haunted House Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "I Speak of the Haunted House!"

This haunted house tale features two Silver Age greats...
...taking a twice-told tale, and proving "third time's the charm!"
Since it was backing up an Invincible Iron Man story in Atlas/Marvel's Tales of Suspense #42 (1963), this tale remained unseen for almost 50 years (unless you had this issue) until finally reprinted in the book available below!
You'll note the comic book fanboys of the previous two versions (HERE and HERE) are replaced with adults, one of whom looks amazingly-like a middle-aged Peter Parker!
Not suprising, since writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko co-created Peter and his costumed alter-ego, The Amazing Spider-Man!
Note: When I first ran this post years ago, reader Rowdie Richie pointed out "...it was reprinted around 1970 in a British UK Annual hardcover.
I am really hoping to find it also in a cheap early 70s reprint comic, since Marvel was heavy into horror at the time."

Sadly, it didn't appear in any of the 1970s Marvel horror reprints, and the UK reprint in IPC's Fantastic! #5 (1967) was cut to 3 1/2 pages (eliminating the kool splash page) and ran in black and white!

The hardcover UK annual he mentions, IPC's Fantastic! Annual (1970)...
...shows this edited version...but in black and white with red tones added, not full color!
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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4

Friday, March 24, 2017

Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "Creature from the Black Bog!"

Is this guy a "Kirby Kreature"?
Art by Francesco Francavilla
Read the story and judge for yourself!
While it's clear that Steve Ditko penciled and inked this Stan Lee-scripted tale from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #23 (1961), did he design the Creature?
It's unknown if the moody cover by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko predates the interior art.
But considering the differences in facial detail, I'd say it was done first, which would make this monster a Kirby Kreature!
The George Roussos version from Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #19 (1972) follows the Ditko design pretty closely, but shows the elderly couple as teenagers/young adults!
Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!
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Monsters Unleashed: Prelude
(which, sadly, doesn't include the Creature from the Bog's premiere appearance!)

Friday, February 3, 2017

Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "It Crawls by Night!"

The new issue of Monsters Unleashed is out...
...cover-featuring another retro-kool Kirby Kreature from the Atlas Comics days!
Written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, the cover-featured story from Atlas' Tales of Suspense #26 (1962) has one of "the silliest premises done well" I've ever seen!
Think of Little Shop of Horrors without the comedic aspects.
It's certainly helped by a kool Kirby/George Klein cover that doesn't betray the creature's humble veggie origins, making him look more like Groot than a rutabaga...
When it was reprinted in Marvel's Fear #8 (1972), a new cover by John Severin downplayed the "conquer the Earth" thrills for a more Gothic/Lovecraftian image...
Monsters Unleashed looks like a lot of fun, so get it at your local comic shop...NOW!
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