Reading Room "The World You WILL Live In" Part 1

In 1950, what amazing advances did we think the 21st Century would bring?

As shown in this uncredited (and never-reprinted) feature from Harvey's Flash Gordon #1 (1950), four of the five predictions have come to pass, albeit in modified form.
This was one of three different new one-page features that appeared in all four issues of the series which reprinted the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip by Alex Raymond, reformatted for the comic book page, and new covers (not by Alex Raymond).
The others were "Stories Behind the Stars" (about the myths behind constellation names) and "know Your Planets" (about the other worlds in the solar system).

Reading Room JET POWERS "Fleets of Fear"

When Last We Left Jet Powers (again)...

...oh, heck, I'll let writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell explain what happened in the previous story...

He stops alien invasions and solves matters of the heart!
Jet Powers is truly a Renaissance Man!
Sadly, this was his final appearance in sci-fi...but not in comics.
When next he appeared, several months later, it was as "Army Air Ace" Jet Powers in the revival of Magazine Enterprises' title American Air Forces!
Though he looked and sounded like the space-adventure hero, there was no reference to his being a scientist, nor any use of sci-fi elements in the new Korean War-set stories!
This particular tale from Magazine Enterprises' Jet Powers #4 (1951) was one of two sequels to seperate cliffhangers featuring the hero in the previous issue.
It's unusual that a series would have two, unrelated, cliffhangers for one character in the same issue, but that's what writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell did!

Considering the previous issues had inter-related stories in the same book, I wonder if this was a case of the first parts of a pair of two-part stories being completed, but the second parts weren't ready when the deadline crept up on them.

(In those days, comics had to come out on schedule since they were dependent on their status as periodicals to qualify for lower postage/shipping rates.)

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Reading Room JET POWERS "Rain of Terror"

When Last We Left Our Hero, Armageddon had Just Occured...

(No, True Believers, you didn't miss a post!

The previous part of the tale appeared in April.

Click HERE to read it.)

See, real Amerians can solve even the End of the World in only 8 pages!
This tale from Magazine Enterprises' Jet Powers #4 (1951) was one of two sequels to seperate cliffhangers featuring the hero in the previous issue.
It's unusual that a series would have two, unrelated, cliffhangers for one character in the same issue, but that's what writer Gardner Fox and artist Bob Powell did!

Considering the previous issues had inter-related stories in the same book, I wonder if this was a case of the first parts of a pair of two-part stories being completed, but the second parts weren't ready when the deadline crept up on them.

(In those days, comics had to come out on schedule since they were dependent on their status as periodicals to qualify for lower postage/shipping rates.)
Be here tomorrow when we present the other cliffhanger resolution!

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Best of Reading Room SPACEHAWK "Martian Election Mayhem"

If you think elections on Earth are hotly-contested...

...wait'll you see how things are handled on the red planet, Mars (which is now, strangely, colored green!)

This action-packed tale of electoral mayhem from Novelty's Target Comics #9 (1940) was written, illustrated, and lettered by the one-and-only Basil Wolverton.
The sheer unfettered imagination of the man was astounding, creating vistas and aliens far beyond anything the technology of moviemaking at the time (except for animation) could match.
With the current fascination for high adventure and fantasy, SpaceHawk would be an ideal project for either theatrical or direct-to-home video, and I'm surprised no one is doing it!

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It's Almost Thanksgiving! Bring on the Turkeys!

This November, some of the RetroBlogs are presenting what could charitably be called...turkeys.

(Actually, this story may well qualify for one of the entries, but right now it's a kool graphic...)

We're talking the worst of the worst.

Stories and/or art that are so awful, so inane, they're not even shown on the 'Net, just talked-about in whispers!

In fact they're so bad they've never been reprinted, and probably never will be!

Confirmed so far are...

 The comic adaptation of the awful movie Conan the Destroyer in Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

(We were gonna run the comic book adaptation of Howard the Duck, but even we have our limits!)

In Hero Histories you'll see the three-part tale that introduced the Blackhawks as super-heroes working for a spy organization!

BTW, they're from the same era as the Dracula and Frankenstein superhero incarnations we just ran!

And, Marvel's disco-themed follow-up to the success of Dazzler written by Stan (the Man) Lee himself...Night Cat, in Heroines!

Bring the sweet potatoes and biscuits 'cause, beginning this week, we have the turkeys!