Best of Reading Room GULLIVAR JONES "Web of Hate"

We're still in the mood for High Adventure...

..so, we're re-presenting, from the b/w magazine Monsters Unleashed #4 (1974), the first all-new, never-reprinted, Gullivar Jones sequel strip, produced by two then-newcomers to Marvel...

Dave Cockrum had been doing some inking over various pencilers including Rich Buckler, Don Heck, and George Tuska on The Avengers, but this was his first full art (Pencils and inks) assignment at Marvel.

Tony Isabella had co-plotted/scripted a number of other stories including the last Doc Savage two-parter with Gardner Fox, but this appears to be his first solo effort as a writer.

It's a fine job by both of them.

There's one more Gullivar Jones tale to be told.
And, like this one, it featured the Marvel debut of another soon-to-be superstar!
Who?
You're going to have to come back next Saturday to find out!

Reading Room CLIFF HANGER "Chapter One: Jungle Peril"

It's the weekend, so, since comic book heroes will dominate the cinemas for most of the summer...

...let's revive the tradition of movie serials, but in comic book form!

Be Here Next Friday!

Written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Al Williamson, this backup strip from Pacific Comics' Somerset Holmes #1 (1983) perfectly conveys the fun and excitement of 1930s-40s movie serials!
Note: this chapter was reprinted (in b/w) in Insight Studios' Al Williamson Adventures (2003), but it's not listed on GCD, nor can I find a copy to check if the remainder of the series was reprinted in that volume.
Bonus: a photo feature about the creatives working on both the lead Somerset Holmes tale and Cliff Hanger!

As we said, be here next Friday...

Reading Room BUZZY BEAN AND HIS FLYING SAUCER "Space Pirates of Callisto"

When Last We Left Our 'Tween Astronauts...

...but the aliens are about to discover humans are not easy prey!

This never-reprinted third tale in the all-too-brief series appeared in Good Comics' Johnny Law, Sky Marshal #3 (1955).

Written by publisher Edmond Good and illustrated by Robert Martinott, it ends on a cliff-hanger that may (or may not) be resolved when we present the next chapter...

Reading Room: SPACE CLUSTERS Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Protagonists...

Pursuing criminal Ethan Dayak, Lieutenant Kara Basuto of the Terran Interplanetary Corps follows him from star system to star system, always one step behind him.
Due to the huge distances, both of them go into suspended animation during the trips between planetfalls.
But the more time they spend in hibernation, the more their minds and bodies begin to alter, until they are no longer human...but beings of pure energy...

Never reprinted, this 1986 graphic novel by sci-fi novelist Arthur Byron Cover and award-winning artist Alex Nino is one of many "lost" works from the 1960s onward that we take great pleasure presenting to you.
Watch for the next one, soon!

Reading Room: CAPTAIN FLIGHT "Story Behind the Cover"

In the "old days", comics often had amazing covers like this...

...that had nothing to do with any of the comics tales inside!

So they wrote a text story around it!

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.