Cover Preview: WARLORD OF MARS: Fall of Barsoom #3

One of my favorite cover AND interior artists is Francesco Francavilla, who works in a style conveying both current and classic (Pulp/Golden Age) influences with work that consistently makes me go WOW!
The above cover, one of the alternate covers for the new Dynamite Comics mini-series "Fall of Barsoom" #3, beautifully-evokes the "scientific romance" feel of the early pulps.

Here's #2...

...and #1!

and here's one he did just for the heck of it...

Gene Colan's KEN BRADY: ROCKET PILOT in "Boy Who Wasn't There"

Gene Colan 

(September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)

In tribute to the passing of a comics legend, we're going to run both appearances of the first ongoing character Gene Colan co-created (with Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel)

The second, and last, Ken Brady: Rocket Pilot tale from Lars of Mars #11 (1951), the second, and last, issue of the title.

While the series isn't anything particularly innovative, it's a classic example of 1950s-style sci-fi.
And Gene, who was doing a little of everything from horror to romance to Westerns, showed his versatility with this too-brief run.

Check out

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Gene Colan's KEN BRADY: ROCKET PILOT in "Pirates of the Airways!"

Gene Colan 

(September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)

In tribute to the passing of a comics legend, we're going to run both appearances of the first ongoing character Gene Colan co-created (with Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel)
From Lars of Mars #10* (1951).

We'll be running the other Ken Brady: Rocket Pilot tale tomorrow.

*Though it's #10, this was actually the first issue of Lars of Mars.

We're not sure which other Ziff-Davis title's numbering this run continues from.

Check out

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Reading Room: "Invasion"--the Original, SCARIER Story!

Yesterday. we presented this tale...

Edited version

...and then we discovered it had been radically-altered from it's first appearance, and that the original version had never been reprinted!
We will now correct that mistake and present pages unseen in over fifty years!
(You can click on any of the pages to enlarge them.)
We'll present the toned-down version first, then the original, scarier version...

Original version

 Note in the original version, both the wife and singer on tv show a lot more cleavage!

Edited version

Original version

Again, more cleavage in the original version...

Edited version

Original version

Oddly enough, the wife's cleavage is unchanged, but the look of terror in the last panel is toned down!

Edited version

Original version

Panel four in the original version is much more gruesome than the edited version.  Note the dialogue balloon is unchanged, even though there's no actual weapons fire in the edited version!

Edited version

 This last page is radically-different! Prepare yourself!

Original version

Wow!

The edited pages were from Race for the Moon #1 (1958)

The original story was from Witches' Tales #21 (1953)

As you can see, the Comics Code Authority insisted on some major redos, including most of the last page!

Whenever possible, we'll present examples of similar "reworking" of stories pre and post-Comics Code!

Check out

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Reading Room: RACE FOR THE MOON "Invasion"

Some people called early television "just radio with pictures"...

Click on the art to enlarge

...a premise taken to an obvious extreme in this tale...

Unfortunately, the technological level of tv fx in 1958, when this story was published in Race for the Moon #1, make the events of the story highly unlikely.
The primary reason the inspiration for this story, the 1938 War of the Worlds radio hoax by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre of the Air, worked was because peoples' imaginations ran wild, fueled by sound effects and well-written dialogue!
The "visuals" were in their heads!
Nonetheless, the unknown writer and artist Bob Powell did their best in only five pages.
And, the comic's intended audience, kids aged 9-15, could accept the premise, especially if they had no knowledge of the Welles radio show, which wasn't often rebroadcast until old radio show reruns made a comeback in the mid-1960s on college radio stations and lp albums.

NOTE: We've just discovered that this story is a radically toned-down version of a tale that appeared a decade earlier!
Tomorrow we'll show you how it ORIGINALLY looked...pre-Comics Code, which has NEVER been reprinted!

Check out

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!