Reading Room: STRANGE GALAXY "The Unknown"

What if everything you knew about outer space was wrong?

Perhaps this never-reprinted tale from Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy #V1N8 (1971) has the answer!

Cue Twilight Zone theme music...

Judging from the script and art (including some of the obviously-altered word balloons) this was a 1950s story reprinted with a different title and minor rewriting.

Unfortunately, there are no credits for the story in Strange Galaxy, and even the definitive reference work about Eerie Publications, Weird World of Eerie Publications, has no listing for it!

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Reading Room: LAND OF THE FHRE aka SAVAGE WORLD 2.0

If you enjoyed the short story "Savage World" yesterday...

...you'll find this version, using the same art, but a different script, a fascinating read!

Noted Bronze Age writer/artist Bruce Jones was heavily-influenced by the Fleagle Gang and the EC Comics line in general.

Since the previously-published version of this tale in Witzend #1 (1966) was a rewrite of an unknown writer's script by Wally Wood, Bruce was given the opportunity to do a similar re-write, also without altering the art, for this publication in Pacific Comics' Alien Worlds #4 (1983).

Jones' version places the tale further into the future and makes the second half a dream sequence

The story also appeared in color for the first time, using the blueline/greyline method of hand-colored artwork with a black-line overlay, trying to simulate the traditional flat-color separations.

That's why the black linework isn't as crisp and sharp as in the b/w version.

The coloring was done by fantasy painter Joe Chiodo, another illustrator inspired by the work of 1950s comic artists.

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Reading Room: SAVAGE WORLD

Not every story written in the Golden Age was published in the Golden Age...

...like this story, meant for the 1950s title Buster Crabbe Comics!

"Larry Gordon" is a tribute to Larry "Buster" Crabbe who played Flash Gordon in the three movie serials from Universal Pictures.

The story itself, though signed by Al Williamson, is a jam-session featuring work from a number of now-legendary artists who called themselves "The Fleagle Gang".

The explanation for the story can be found here...

Our tale is from its' fourth appearance, in Death Rattle #10 (1987), where it was reprinted, unaltered from its' first publication in Witzend #1 (1966).

The second publication was in the first issue (1975) of Marvel's short-lived b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, where the only modification was reversing all the captions to black with white type...

The third printing was another story entirely...and I mean that literally.

You'll find out about it...tomorrow!

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Copyright Enforcement Bots Seek And Destroy Hugo Awards

That is what happened to the Hugo Awards when it tried to live stream the awards ceremonies on Ustream. After airing footage of Neil Gaiman's award winning episode of Doctor Who, the show was flagged for infringement and pulled from the live stream -- right before Gaiman got to speak.
More details HERE!

Happy Labor Day

I'm off to a barbecue... ;-)