Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Inter-Galactica" Part 1

We Have Already Seen...

...fanboy/nerd Harvey Norton, influenced by the Monolith, joins the space program and ends up on a research flight to Neptune, where he and his crewmates find an alien space capsule with a passenger inside.
Then a group of unfriendly aliens show up to claim it and the passenger...

Have they run out of space and time?
Tune in tomorrow to find out!

This never-reprinted tale from #6 of Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel series took some strange turns I'm sure Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke never envisioned.

But ya gotta admit writer/penciler Jack Kirby and inker Mike Royer made it interesting...

Happy Easter

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BTW, this was our #1 selling-design!
Cute, ain't it? ;-)

Reading Room: SPACEHAWK "Moon Justice"

Basil Wolverton really enjoyed doing SpaceHawk...

...and even took a crack at writing a short text story starring the character, as seen in this tale from Target Comics #15 (1941)

The same issue this prose piece appeared, the SpaceHawk strip's format was changed in a direction Wolverton was not happy about; moving the hero from outer space to Earth to use his advanced technology to battle threats from thinly-disguised surrogates of the Axis powers.

(This was pre-Pearl Harbor, and we weren't at war at the time, so the stories were still set in the future!)

Once America entered the war, SpaceHawk was actually transported thru time to the "present day" (1942) to fight the real Hitler, Hirohito, Mussolini, and their minions.

So you might consider this text story to be Wolverton's last try to convince the editor to keep the strip in deep space.

It didn't work.

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Holiday Reading Room: TICK-TOCK TALES "Koko & Kola Meet the Red Easter Bunny"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly didn't have a monopoly on Easter-themed stories...

...in fact, Magazine Entertainment's Tick Tock Tales #4 (1946) presented both a cover and several stories (including this one) featuring it's ongoing characters teamed-up with the Easter Bunny!

The artwork is by Leon Jason Comic Art Studios who supplied funny-animal art to numerous publishers including Magazine Entertainment, Spotlight Publishing, Novelty Press and EC Comics (before they did horror) during the 1940s and '50s.

Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Norton of New York 2040 A.D." Conclusion

When Last We Left Comics Fanboy Norton in the New York City of 2040...

After a disappointing interactive experience at the Comicsville amusement facility, Norton heads home...

Can a comics fanboy save the Earth?

Be here Next Week to find out!

At the time (1975), writer/penciler Jack Kirby was heavily-criticized for much of his output after returing to Marvel.

The audience wanted more Marvel continuity-oriented material, considering his Captain America and Black Panther series to be too drastic a change in their creative direction and new projects like Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, and 2001 (which didn't tie-in to the Marvel Universe) to be eccentric failures.

Kirby ended up integrating some series into the MU, introducing S.H.I.E.L.D. into The Eternals and creating X-51 (originally called "Mister Machine", but altered to "Machine Man" when Ideal Toys claimed trademark infrigement.) in the final three issues of 2001.

Marvel brought Devil Dinosaur into conflict with Godzilla, then made him a member of Fallen Angels.

Ironically, Kirby's work from this period is now lauded as exciting, innovative, and even astoundingly-creative and is almost all back in print (except for 2001, due to licensing problems!)