Reading Room: WEIRD MYSTERIES "Planet Eaters"

Perhaps those who don't believe in saving the ecosphere read this story as kids...

...or maybe they're just idiots!

Either way, it's a kool story!

While the writer for this never-reprinted tale from Key's Weird Mysteries #1 (1952) is unknown, the artist has been identified as Frank Frollo.

This story, like numerous others from smaller comics publishers, was redrawn in an Eerie Publications b/w title, using the same script with a couple of minor revisions and retitled "Green Horror".

I don't have scans of that particular story at this point.

But, we'll show you an example of a similar reworking...tomorrow!

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Reading Room: SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Space Sentinel's Sacrifice"

It is said that every Space Sentinel is ready to die in defense of Earth...

...a belief put to the test in this tense tale from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #5 (1954)!

While it's a good attempt at a poignant tale about how a veteran, even crippled, could contribute to the defense effort, it's hampered by the fact that the story revolves around a character we've never seen before, and thus have no empathy for him.

And, we have to ask, where is the BeastMen's unnamed planet, since the now-diverted meteor crashes into it only a few minutes after being diverted by the impact of Major Ramm's ship!

This story was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman!

Illustrator George Tuska later became the final artist on the original Buck Rogers comic strip (1959-67) and then assumed the art duties for almost a decade on Marvel's Invincible Iron Man!

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Reading Room: CAPTAIN AERO "Moon That was Motionless"

What do you do with a wartime aviator character after the war?

 In the case of fighting aviator Captain Aero, you make him into a shirtless extraterrestrial fighter!

Art by Rudy Palais, writer unknown.

Captain Aero was one of numerous costumed aviators who fought the Axis in comic books during World War II.

His distinctive traits included a mustache that came and went depending on the artist and an aircraft that could use its' propeller like a buzz-saw.

In his early days he was assisted by the Sky Scouts, a gang of kids who wanted to be aviators, and who were popular enough to have their own backup strip.

By the time of this never-reprinted story's publication in Captain Aero Comics #26 in 1946, WW II was over, and sales on military-themed comics were dropping.

A number of them, like Blackhawk, shifted to battling criminals and/or Communist spies.

But not Captain Aero!
He was destined for bigger things...like battling Nazis on the Moon, a concept which survives to this day in the recently-released movie Iron Sky!

BTW, this was Captain Aero's final issue, and his last appearance in comics.

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featuring the cover art from this issue of Captain Aero Comics by LB Cole!

Reading Room: SUPERSNIPE & ULYSSES Q WACKY "Jap Trap"

SuperSnipe may have headlined his own title...

...but the supporting cast also merited their own ongoing strips, which guest-starred Koppy McFad both in and out of costume!

(BTW, despite the story title, there's no NSFW racist depictions in this tale, just racist attitudes!)

Koppy and his supporting characters tended to crossover a lot in these tales, giving the stories a nice "unified universe" feel unique in the Golden Age.
Story and art for this tale from SuperSnipe Comics V1N6 (1942) by George Marcoux, who did all the "SuperSnipe Universe" strips including this one, Gramp, and, of course, SuperSnipe himself!

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Problems with Blogger and Picasa

Due to Google forcing us to use a new, and extremely-buggy version of the Blogger interface and new problems with Google's usually-reliable Picasa photo-editing software, we're unable to post our scheduled story today.
Sorry.