Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Reading Room STAR*REACH "Why Viking Lander / Mars"

A very kool, never-reprinted adaptation of a Ray Bradbury poem...
...first performed by the legendary author at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con the week after the Viking probe landed on Mars!
AFAIK, the poem's never been reprinted in any of the Bradbury anthologies, or anywhere else, for that matter!
It's only appearance was in Star*Reach #6 (1976), illustrated by absolutely beautiful art by Alex Nino!
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Star*Reach
Greatest Hits

Monday, July 2, 2018

Monday Madness FANTASTIC COMICS "Space Smith vs the Interplanetary Gold Pirates"

The artist round-robin continues as the Space Smith strip seeks a distinctive identity...
...and a bit of continuity consistency!
But this never-reprinted tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #12 (1940) can't even keep the spelling of Space's girlfriend/aide Diana consistent, making her "Dianna"!
It's not a bad tale.
It just doesn't offer anything to separate Space from the numerous other space adventurers!
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Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Trump Reading Room SNAFU "Understanding the Atom: Diagram of an Atom Bomb"

Since Don the Con doesn't really understand what he's negotiating with Kim Jong Un about...
..we thought we'd offer this never-reprinted, easy-to-understand diagram from #2 (1956) of Atlas/Marvel's short-lived 1950s MAD magazine clone, SNAFU, written by Stan Lee and rendered by Joe Maneely.
Most of you are aware Marvel had a fairly-successful MAD clone in the 1970s-80s called CRAZY, but they also gave it a try back in the 1950s, with a three issue run!
#1
#2
#3
As you can see from the contents page of #2... 
...the incredibly-versatile John Severin and Joe Maneely handled literally all the artwork for the series.
Also, Irving Forbush was their Alfred E Neuman / Sylvester P Smythe-type mascot, whose face was shown constantly.
Later versions of Irv in Not Brand Echh, What Th--?, and other comics didn't show his face, and his "costume" as Forbush-Man included an all-concealing cooking pot with holes in it as a mask!
To date, none of the material from these very hard-to-find issues of Snafu has ever been reprinted, which is a pity, because it's pretty damn good!
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Saturday, June 30, 2018

Ellison Reading Room CHAMBER OF CHILLS "Delusion for a Dragon Slayer"

...and we'll be re-presenting several never-reprinted comics adaptations and original comics tales over the next couple of weeks, starting with the 46-year-old story under this slightly-misleading (though really kool) Gil Kane/Tom Palmer cover...
This cover-featured adaptation of Harlan Ellison's novella "Delusions for a Dragon Slayer" by writer Gerry Conway and artist Syd Shores in Marvel's Chamber of Chills #1 (1972) was part of editor Roy Thomas' attempt to do new comic adaptations of prose tales by big-name sci-fi/fantasy authors in a group of anthology titles.
Sadly, none of the books survived past the first year without going totally-reprint, or switching over to featuring new horror characters like The Living Mummy
This particular tale shows the weaknesses of the project all too well, with the art failing to really separate Warren Glazer Griffin's fantasy world from the real one, thereby weakening the whole point of the narrative!
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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
by Harlan Ellison
(which contains the short story this comic tale is adapted from!)

Friday, June 29, 2018

Friday Fun REX DEXTER OF MARS "vs the Flame-Men of Emalf"

...and his knack for being at the right place at the right time is unmatched!
"I'll be seeing you next issue to take you to Mars---"
Didn't he say that last issue?
Will Rex ever return to Mars?
Or will he become a Flying Dutchman of space?
Judging from this never-reprinted tale from Fox's Mystery Men Comics #10 (1940), it sure seems that way!
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