Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Vampires of the Void"

Strap on your blasters and activate your ato-jets, kids...

...as we join our space-faring hero against gorgeous aliens who suck the life from humans!

Now that's a sci-fi horror tale...and illustrated by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando!

Gardner Fox scripted the story published in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and actually makes sense, given the scientific knowledge of the era.

But using the "Kenton betrays the Star Patrol" ruse twice in only four issues makes you wonder just how dumb evildoers of the future are.

Add an incredible cover (also by Orlando and Wood)...

Art by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood

...and you've got a cult classic!

Hard to believe it's only been reprinted twice!

The same premise was utilized (even more graphically) almost 35 years later in the 1985 film LifeForce, based on the 1976 novel Space Vampires by Colin Wilson.

Want to bet Wilson read "Vampires of the Void" as a kid?

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Reading Room TIME TRAVELERS "Amazons of Venus"

"We must beat the Communists to Venus..."

"...in order to prevent the atomic war predicted by Nostradamus!"

The first Time Travelers tale was a fairly-straightforward 1950s sci-fi story.
But this one goes wayyyy out there with numerous cliches of the era including...

Cavemen and dinosaurs co-existing in prehistoric times!

Venus as a vegetation-covered world ruled by beautiful, half-clad women who keep their males subservient!

Commie spies in business suits...even when they're on another world!

Travel between planets taking about the same amount of time as the average morning commute!

Written by Richard Hughes and illustrated by Ken Bald, this story from Operation: Peril #2 (1950) expands the strip's concept to include space and time travel by integrating the time technology into a spacecraft provided by the US government.

As a result, the emphasis will switch from Communist threats to alien attacks.

Despite this, the series' title will remain "Time Travelers" for the entire run.

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Reading Room: SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Thing in Outer Space"

It's October, and we're doing Halloween-themed posts on all our blogs...

...but, every day is Halloween in outer space!

Oh, Speed, you're such a kidder!

This story from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1954) was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bob Forgione.
You'll note that Forgione uses original artist Joe Maneely's designs for the Speed Carter universe, which previous artists Mike Sekowsky (issue #4) and George Tuska (issue #5) ignored in their issues.
In fact, Forgione tries to match Maneely's rendering style...and does a fair job of it.
It's a shame this was Speed's final issue.

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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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