Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "Be It What It Will, I'll Go To It Laughing"

A title based on a line from Moby-Dick becomes appropriate...

...when you reach the last page of the story!

If you don't get the reference, Ray Bradbury penned the screenplay for the 1956 Moby Dick movie.
Written by David Campiti and illustrated by Tom Yeates, this never-reprinted story from Pacific Comics' Vanguard Illustrated #3 (1984) is a sincere tribute to Bradbury and other SF creators, though overwritten and a bit too "self-fanservice" for my taste.
The underappreciated Tom Yeates' superb artwork compensates for that, and makes reading it worthwhile.

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Green Shadows, White Whale

A Novel of Ray Bradbury's Adventures making Moby Dick with John Huston in Ireland

Reading Room SKYROCKET STEELE "...in the Year X !"

Though best-known as the creator of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner....

...Bill Everett's first published strip featured this Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers clone...

In this premiere chapter, the series starts "mid-stream", indicating events crucial to the plot occurred before we join Skyrocket and his buddies.

The captions and dialogue balloons are heavier than normal as expositional dialogue is used to clue the readers in on the situations in the "world of the future".

You'll also note the use of upper and lower-case lettering, unique, even then.

Everett's unique inking style is already developing, though crude in comparison to his later work.

To his credit, Bill doesn't swipe layouts from Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond, Hal (Tarzan/Prince Valiant) Foster, or any of the already-established masters of the graphic storytelling form as so many of his comic book contemporaries do!

He's not afraid to try his own "camera angles" to tell the story...not always succeeding, but experimenting and learning!

Trivia: Though the character debuted in this tale which appeared in Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies #2 (1938), he was the cover feature of issue #1...

....where no sign of him can be found on the inside of the book!

No one knows why!

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Trump Reading Room WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED "Old Pals"

As the world nervously-watches Don the Con joust with the equally-unstable Kim Jong Un...

...let's look back at the last time our country was run by an unstable Republican!

Things haven't changed all that much in 35 years, eh?

Written and illustrated by noted underground creator Peter Bagge,  this short appeared in the premiere issue of World War 3 Illustrated (1980) and has been reprinted in various anthologies since.

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World War 3 Illustrated: 1980-1988

(which reprints the story above and numerous others from the series)

Holiday Reading Room LIFE OF CHRIST: EASTER STORY "Resurrection"

Under this Scott McDaniel cover...

...is one of the most unusual tales Marvel Comics ever told!

Written by Louise Simonson, pencilled by Mary Wilshire and Colleen Doran, and inked by Bill Anderson, this 1993 one-shot, co-published by Thomas Nelson Publishers is a companion volume to The Christmas Story by the same creative team, published earlier in the year.

Easter Story tells the tale from Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to this final chapter, though we're only running the section taking place on Easter here.

If you'd like to buy a copy of the HTF comic, you can find it HERE.

Interestingly, Marvel.wika.com postulates Christmas Story and Easter Story link Jesus Christ into the Marvel Comics Universe!

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Sunday"

Our final Walt (Pogo) Kelly post for Easter...

...is a never-reprinted piece from Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949).

We hope you've enjoyed our presentation of these long-lost pieces by one of the field's masters.

Be here tomorrow for a never-reprinted tale of Easter...from Marvel Comics!