Reading Room MONKEY PLANET "Part 1"

There have been numerous comic adaptations of the Planet of the Apes movies...

...and even the short-lived tv series, as we've shown HERE, but there had never been a graphic novel version of the original novel, which is quite different from any of the live or animated adventures in English!

To be continued tomorrow...

Written and illustrated by Ernő Zórád, this 1981 Hungarian one-shot adaptation of the original French novel by Pierre Boule has never been officially-published in English.

But, thanks to the fine work of Kyriee (Scans), Swatura Od (translation) and Avoros (scripting), we're finally able to understand this tale in English.

Thanks, guys.

BTW, both the 1970s animated series and the 2001 remake took more elements from the book than the 1960s-70s films or the recent reboot movie series.

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "I Couldn't Stop the Runaway Comet!"

With most of America in a deep freeze, let's see if we can warm you up...

...with this scientifically-inaccurate, never-reprinted tale about death by extreme heat from Atlas' Strange Worlds #5 (1959)!

There's also a really kool Easter Egg within the story!

See if you can find it!

No, we're not going to explore whether God exists or not.

Though popularized as fireballs in bad science fiction, the fact that comets were really composed primarily of rock and ice which vaporized as they approached the Sun, creating the "tail", was known as far back as Issac Newton's time.

So the whole idea of the comet generating heat like a star was ludicrous...even in the 1950s!

Though the writer is unknown, the artist was Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko.

That fact is important for understanding the Easter Egg...

The name "Victor Sage", used here for the extremely-fallible protagonist, later became "Vic Sage",  the secret identity of one of Ditko's more durable creations...Charlton's The Question!

Besides becoming a DC mainstay with his own title and spotlighted appearances in the Justice League animated series, the character was the basis for Rorschach in Alan Moore's "reimagining" of classic comic character archtypes in Watchmen!

Reading Room CRUSADER FROM MARS "Beachhead on Saturn's Ring"

Ziff-Davis had two short-lived titles about visitors from the Red Planet...

...Lars of Mars (which we covered HERE) and this one, about a pair of Martian criminals sent to dispense justice throughout the Solar System.

Yeah, you read that right...

You thought maybe they were a husband-and-wife alien police officer team like Katar and Shayera Hol, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl?

Nope!

Tarka murdered his rival for the love of a woman and committed the first felony on Mars in 50 years. The Martian government branded his arm and sentenced him to exile.

Together with his fellow criminal Zira, they were sent to Earth to rid it of crime.

If they failed, then they would be destroyed--and so would Earth.

Using their advanced technology, they battled evil both on Earth, and occasionally in outer space, as seen here.

The writer for this tale from Crusader from Mars #2 (1952) is unknown, but probably is the book's editor, Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

The penciler appears to be Marvin Stein, but the inker is unknown.

Reading Room CAPTAIN FLIGHT "Story Behind the Cover"

Just as fellow World War II aviator Captain Aero became a space hero...

...Captain Flight followed suit in the final issue of his book.

However, his trip into space was not in comic form, but as a text story!

And it's one helluva sendoff...

Does the rest of Mankind settle on Eden?

Do the Edenites/Atlantians return to Earth?

What happens next?

We'll never know, since this story in Four Star's Captain Flight Comics #11 (1947) is Flight's final apperance!

Both cover and story illustrations are by L B Cole. but the writer is, regrettably, unkown.

Reading Room WEIRD THRILLERS "Princess of the Sea"

Though the cover may not look like it, this is a love story...

Art by Allen Anderson

...so it's a perfect post for Valentine's Day, 2014!

Well, it sure ain't Little Mermaid, or even Splash!

Penciled by Dan Barry and inked by John Giunta, the writer of this tale of love beneath the waves from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #3 (1952) is, sadly, unknown.

Note: when the story was reprinted in the anthology Weird Romance, it was again given the cover...

...also by an artist named "Anderson", but in this case it was Brent (no relation to Allen) Anderson!