Reading Room: STRANGE WORLDS "Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet"

Sometimes the cover of a comic doesn't match the contents...

...until you look closer!

While there is no comic tale called "Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet" in Strange Worlds #2 (1951), there is a text story...

Written by "W Malcolm White", a name that only appears in three text stories in Avon Comics, so its safe to state that it's a pen-name.

The illustrators for the cover and interior spot illustrations are unknown.

Regrettably, the files and records of Avon Comics are long gone, so we'll probably never know.

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STRANGE WORLDS Inside Cover Gallery

Avon Comics often put their "contents page" on the inside front cover...

Issue #3 art by Wally Wood

...with an all-new illustration by the best artist available, instead of clip-art from the stories, as this gallery of the ifcs of the Strange Planets anthology comic shows!

Issue #4 art by Wally Wood

Issue #5 art by Wally Wood

Issue #6 art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

#7 art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

#8 art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

#9 art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

Marvel, and several other publishers, now use the inside front cover to do a contents or synopsis page, but they usually use existing art from previous stories or from the current issue.

FYI, when stories from Avon Comics were reprinted by IW/Super Comics in the late 1950s-early '60s, the reprints usually left out the ifcs, since the film negatives and photostats for covers weren't stored with "repro" (as it's called by printers) for the interior pages.

You'll be seeing Kenton of the Star Patrol and some of the other stories here.

The rest will appear on our "brother" blog, Seduction of the Innocent™ over the next few months.

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The Time for Horror Comics Dark Hoodies is Halloween!

You'll need something to keep from freezing your trick-or-treating butt off this Halloween.
Luckily, Atomic Kommie Comics™ has your best interests (and health) at heart, and we have exactly what you need...Horror Comics of the 1950s™ Black Hoodies!
An assortment of classic retro horror comic book covers adorns these kool pop comics collectibles featuring...
Ghouls!
Zombies!
Demons!
Skeletons!
Ghosts!
Even Aliens!
What more do you want?
Stay warm on the inside while looking oh-so-ghoulishly-cool on the outside!
Don a super-comfortable 10 oz. fleece blend (90% cotton/10% polyester) black sweatshirt with a fleece-lined hood, roomy front pouch pocket, and heavy-weight 1x1 cuff and waistband ribbing before heading out into the night to do...well, whatever it is you're doing on All Hallow's Eve!
(Don't worry, we won't tell!)

Happy 50th, 007!

To celebrate, here's a kool documentary from 1966...

...when BondMania was at its' height and the only 007 was Sean Connery (the first, and still the best, movie Bond)!

Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Corsairs of the Coalsack"

Space Squadron, Space Patrol, Star Rangers, Space Sentinels...

...with all those law-enforcement organizations prowling the spaceways of 1950s sci-fi, it's surprising there were any villains who dared commit crimes in the Milky Way!

This premiere appearance (but second printing) of Kenton of the Star Patrol is from Avon's Strange Worlds #1 (1950) is written by Gardner Fox, and illustrated by Joe Kubert.
It first appeared in Avon Publishing's Out of This World Adventures #2 (1950), a weird half-comic/half pulp magazine experiment that lasted only two issues.
Kenton was one of only two ongoing strips in Strange Worlds, an anthology for both sci-fi/fantasy and the occasional horror tale.
(The other one was Crom the Barbarian.)
You'll be seeing Kenton's entire short-lived series here over the next few weeks.

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