Arlene Martel (Sax) 1936-2014

It took an article in the NY Times for me to learn Arlene Martel had passed away.

She wasn't a household name, like Robin Williams or Lauren Bacall, but to several generations of sci-fi fans she was...

...the smiling woman who ominously-intoned "Room for one more, honey." in the nightmares of a hysterical woman in the classic Twilight Zone ep "Twenty-Two".

...an innocent woman caught in a battle inside a deserted building between a time-traveler from the future and aliens determined to kill him and destroy the secret that would save humanity in the equally-classic Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand"...

...and, most memorably, T'Pring, the Bride of Spock in the (I hate to use the word, but it does apply) classic Star Trek ep "Amok Time"!

Besides appearances on other genre shows like Man from U.N.C.L.E., Wild Wild West, and Battlestar Galactica, she also appeared in comedies, Westerns, and crime shows, and was still working on-and-off in movies and tv until her passing.

Reading Room SPACE MAN "Out Into Space" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Space Heroes...

Returing to Earth after successfully breaching the Anti-Force that kept humans from leaving Earth orbit, Ian and Johnny must keep the secret from the public that they are now part of a secret interplanetary defense force operated by a (dare I say) federation of planets to protect the galaxy.

The series would run another seven issues that got even weirder and wilder than this premiere from Dell's Four Color #1253.

We'll be presenting those tales in the future.

Reading Room SPACE MAN "Out Into Space" Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

Hey, we're in the middle of a war here!

Check out Part 1 and Part 2, when you have a chance.

In the meantime, dive in...

Think this is the end of the story?

Heck, it's not even the end of the issue!

Be here tomorrow, when our heroes face the world...and lie through their teeth to almost everyone!

Illustrated by Jack Sparling, and probably written by Joe Gill, this story from Dell's Four Color #1253 (1962) was the kickoff to a series that would continue for seven more issues in the early 1960s, then disappear from view...until now!

Reading Room SPACE MAN "Out Into Space" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Space Heroes...

In the near-future (as seen from 1962), the experimental X-1825 attempts to break through the "Anti-Force" surrounding Earth that keeps spacecraft from going any further into outer space than orbiting our world.

Veteran spaceman Ian Stannard and rookie Johnny Mack manage to steer the ship through the barrier and land on the Moon's surface where they are surrounded by silent humanoids in spacesuits who bring them to an underground city...

Battle is joined, and the mayhem continues...tomorrow!

This book-length tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #1253 (1962) was illustrated by Jack Sparling and probably scripted by Joe Gill.

Reading Room SPACE MAN "Out Into Space" Part 1

Beginning: a long-lost space epic of a federation of alien worlds, cyborgs, a secret Earth defense force, and flying saucers...

...years before Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, or UFO were broadcast over the airwaves!

What...or who...is at the end of the corridor?

Find out...tomorrow!

With a real-life space program well under way, this book-length tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #1253 (1962) was an attempt to "update" the sort of space opera popular with comic and pulp fans of the 1940s-50s like Speed Carter: SpaceMan and Space Squadron by setting it in the near-future instead of 50 or more years later.

Illustrated by Jack Sparling, who used the then-current Mercury astronauts' spacesuit designs, but Chesley Bonestell's already-outdated spacecraft concepts (probably because the finned ships looked cooler than the actual Atlas and Redstone rockets NASA used) as reference.

While the writer/series creator is unknown, he's believed to be Joe Gill who is credited for the later entries in what would turn out to be an eight-issue run.