Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "By the Dark of the Moon"

This cover-featured tale has a gothic horror feel...

...but, in fact, it's science fiction!

Was this story's ending rewritten to conform to the Comics Code?

Scripted by Carl Wessler and ilustrated by John Giunta, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) features a last panel with a rather convoluted explanation that seems, as the saying goes "out of left field".
That's the danger of trying to cram a lot of story into only four pages.

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "While Simon Slept"

Over the next few days, we're going to run a complete issue of never-reprinted tales...

...which, if you go by the Carl Burgos-illustrated cover, are horror stories.
But, you'd be wrong.

Let's open with a story shown on the cover as a small vignette, but still given the first spot in the book!

Why would anyone be carrying around both theirs and their brother's birth certificates?

Illustrated by Bill Everett, this tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) has some serious plot holes.

But, hey, what can you expect in only four pages?
BTW, the scripter is unknown, but could've been Everett himself.

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 8 - Race with Death"

When Last We Left Our Stranded Heroes...

...to be blunt, they were about to die, either covered in lava, or hurled into the void when the alien world they're on is hit by a wandering planet!

This never-reprinted tale by writer Frances Crandall and artist Fran Matera from Treasure Chest V14N18 (1959) winds up the the serialized storyline.

Though these characters never reappeared, Treasure Chest continued to do sci-fi/fantasy serials until the book was cancelled in 1972...after publishing over 500 issues!

Man from U.N.C.L.E. From 1965 to 2015!

The new Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie opens this Friday...

...and our "brother" RetroBlog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, will be doing a feature on the previous U.N.C.L.E. films.

But before that, we invite you to have a look at the premiere issue of the 1960s comic based on the TV series!

"Why?", you may ask?

Two reasons.

1) It's the closest the comic came to doing an epic tale that would've made a helluva big budget movie.

2) Oddly, enough, the renderings of Solo and Kuryakin look a lot like Henry Cavil and Armie Hammer!

Judge for yourself!

Reading Room BLACK TERROR COMICS "Space Speedsters"

Combine When Worlds Collide, Damon Runyon's Broadway tales, Flash Gordon, and Front Page...

...and you get this really weird one-shot tale!

So, we got...Armageddon, gangsters, intrepid spacemen (and women) and spaceships, newspaper reporters, and some comedy relief.

Did I miss anything?

This never-reprinted tale from Nedor/Standard's Black Terror #23 (1948) seems like part of an ongoing series, but I can't find any other stories featuring the lead characters!

Illustrator (and possible writer) Stan Asch was one of the steadily-working artists who were the backbone of the comics industry in the Golden Age.

With over 300 stories and covers to his credit, he co-created Johnny Thunder and Dr Mid-Nite for DC Comics, and assisted both Milton Caniff (on Terry and the Pirates) and Al Capp (on Lil' Abner) during his long career.

Was this a try-out for an onoging series that didn't sell?

We'll never know...