Reading Room: KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Monster-Men of Space"

It's time for interstellar adventure with Kenton of the Star Patrol...

...as another talented artist takes the reins for his final tale!

This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #6 (1952) as penned by Gardner Fox and rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who left comics for fine art (including numerous official portraits of US Presidents).
Previous Kenton artists Joe Orlando and Wally Wood did the cover for the issue...

...but, when the cover was reused for IW/Super's Eerie #1 (1958), which contained stories from Spook Comics, the art looked decidedly-different!

Was the Eerie cover the original version, which was modified to make the alien match the Kinsler-drawn aliens?
Ironically, when the Kenton story was reprinted, it had a totally-new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito featuring aliens who looked nothing like the Monster-Men...

And there's yet another twist to the tale of this tale, which we will tell...tomorrow, when we go from Strange Worlds and Strange Planets to Strange Galaxies!

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Cover Preview: SHERLOCK HOLMES "Liverpool Demon"

Our good friend Francesco Francavilla is doing covers for one a new mini-series...

Issue #1

...featuring one of our favorite characters!

Here's the synopsis...

The year is 1888: the Great Detective and the ever dependable Dr. Watson find themselves in the bleak northern port city of Liverpool from whose still bustling docklands grim slave vessels once sailed.

Violent gangs roam the streets and the city’s struggling police force are fighting a war against an all pervading criminal underworld.

A strange creature is sighted high among the rooftops and soon dead bodies bearing strange wounds begin to mysteriously appear.

Only Sherlock Holmes can cut to the heart of the mystery and expose the truth behind the spectre of The Liverpool Demon.

Here's the covers for the other three issues in the series...

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

It looks like a helluva lot of fun, and, of course, the Greatest Sleuth of All will find a (ahem) logical explanation for all the satanic goings-on!

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My Uncle is The Lone Ranger and My Son is The Green Hornet!

Status quo-changing events are not a new phenomenon in fiction.
Even in the Golden Age of Comics, series and characters received revamps (or even total reboots) if sales weren't meeting expectations.
Sometimes, the revamp extended through a character's other media incarnations as well!
And, at least once, through two different characters' incarnations with a crossover character...Dan Reid!
Much has been written about the radio show episodes that tied The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger together, using Dan Reid, who was both Britt (Green Hornet) Reid's father, and John (Lone Ranger) Reid's nephew!
Though Dan was the same character in both shows, different actors played him on the two series, because Dan was a 'tween/teen on the 1880s-set Lone Ranger, and a middle-aged/elderly man on the contemporary (1940s) Green Hornet!

The 1940s Harvey Green Hornet comic book series had been loosely-adapting the radio show's scripts into comic stories, but when this storyline (spread over four episodes) ran on the radio show, the comics' creatives had to do some serious juggling to fit two hours of dramatic radio into two eight-page chapters in a single issue!

(And, yes, a subtle Lone Ranger reference is in the comic story, too!)

It's so historically-important that we couldn't confine this tale to a single blog!

You can see the results at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™, with the conclusion at Hero Histories™.
In both entries, we're providing not only the comics tales, but the radio show episodes as well, so you can compare them!

Plus, we're presenting the introduction of Dan Reid (as a kid) into the Lone Ranger series, which added another ongoing character with whom the Masked Rider of the Prairie could interact (especially when the actor playing Tonto went on vacation or was out sick) in both comics and mp3 formats!
You'll find Part One HERE at Western Comics Adventures™ and Part Two HERE, back at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™.
Enjoy!

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Reading Room: FANTASTIC WORLDS "Cosmic Terror"

Some say space opera is just a Western with ray guns instead of six-shooters...

...but this never-reprinted tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #6 (1952) is a Cold War tale with aliens instead of Communists!

Though the scripter is unknown, the artwork is by Art Saaf, who had a long career in comics from the mid-1940s to the mid 1970s, doing everything from romance to horror to sci-fi to superheroes!

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Reading Room: CAPTAIN SCIENCE "Metal Monsters"

Captain Science has faced aliens (twice) and an undead Adolf Hitler.

So what's next?

Giant robots, of course!

To be specific, giant robots sent by the aliens he's beaten twice!

The art on this never-reprinted story from Youthful's Captain Science #3 (1951)  is by Gustav Schrotter.

The writer is unknown.

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