Sunday, March 24, 2013

Holiday Reading Room: EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Ten Little Easter Eggs"

Here's a perfect rhyme for the little ones...
...from the typewriter and brush of legendary comic creator Walt (Pogo) Kelly.
Published in Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946), this gentle little piece is a classic example of kid-friendly material rarely-seen today.
(And please, no politically-correct comments about the "Two little Easter eggs playing with a gun" rhyme.)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Holiday Reading Room: EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Buddy Bunny's Problem"

Here's a kool short story by Walt (Pogo) Kelly...
...about the Easter Bunny bringing his son into the family business!
This story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Reading Room: WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE "Time and Tide"

According to the cliche, what "waits for no man"?
The answer is in this never-reprinted tale from Key's Weird Tales of the Future #6 (1953).
The writer of this story is unknown, but the artist is Eugene E Hughes, who had a brief career in comics working exclusively for Key Publications, then disappearing from the art world (comic books/strips/commercial art) entirely!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Reading Room: SPACE SQUADRON "Blast Revere: Ground the Eagle"

Long before he was Jet Dixon's crusty Commander-in-Chief, he was hotshot pilot...
...rocketing thru the Solar System in the 1970s!
(Yes, I said 1970s!)
While the writer for this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Space Squadron #3 (1951) is unknown, the artist should be familiar to Speed Carter: SpaceMan fans...Joe Maneely, Speed's designer/co-creator and primary illustrator for the first half of his run!
Blast Revere ran in all six issues of Space Squadron. and it's one-issue "sequel", Space Worlds.
When Speed Carter: SpaceMan came along a couple of years later, series writer/co-creator Hank Chapman ignored everything done in Space Squadron, producing stories that often contradicted "future history" established in the earlier series.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Reading Room: FANTASTIC WORLDS "Invaders"

The short-lived anthology Fantastic Worlds featured Earth-based stories...
...contrasting with the other anthology from Standard Comics, Lost Worlds, which was a space-opera book.
This tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #5 (1952) was drawn by Alex Toth and Mike Peppe, though the writer is unknown.
(Page 7, Panel 6 is apparently a redraw by Carmine Infantino!)
BTW, though it's #5, this is actually the first issue of the title!
There was no #1-#4!