Friday Fun SPACE MOUSE "Reservation to the Moon!"

Sometimes the heroic Space Mouse ventured into outer space to fight menaces...

...sometimes the menaces commuted to Earth!

And, sometimes, very rarely, there is no menace...just misunderstood alien visitors!

Writer/artist Frank Carin told this never-reprinted tale of misinterpreted Moon-people motives in Avon's Peter Rabbit #31 (1956)!

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Golden Treasury of
Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics

Reading Room LARS OF MARS "Secret Origin"

What if 1950s sci-fi shows like Captain Video or Space Patrol were real?

 Or if the aliens shown on the screen were real aliens?
And what if the alien was the Space Hero???

As you've just read, that was the premise of the short-lived (two issues) Ziff-Davis series Lars of Mars!

Created by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and Murphy (Buck Rogers) Anderson, this premiere story from the first issue of his own title (which, oddly enough,  was #10!) established the somewhat-silly premise.

During his run, Lars battled Commies, crooks, and other interplanetary aliens while protecting his "secret identity" from his nosy producer (who bore a disturbing resemblance to Lois Lane).

You'll be seeing all of Lars' stories here (including his final tale from the 1980s (in 3-D, no less) in the future.

Watch for them!

Trivia:

The cover paintings for both issues of Lars of Mars were painted by Allen Anderson...who was not related to interior artist Murphy Anderson!

Here's a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"-style factoid (done in only four degrees)...

• 1) Ziff-Davis also published a short-lived adaptation of an actual 1950s sci-fi tv series, Space Patrol, illustrated by Bernie Krigstein.
• 2) Krigstein illustrated the first issue of another Ziff-Davis sci-fi series: Space Busters!
• 3) Bernie was replaced on interior art for the second (and final) issue of Space Busters by...Murphy Anderson!
• 4) Allen Anderson did the painted cover for the Space Busters issue (#2) illustrated by Murphy! (Norm Saunders had painted #1's cover!)
  
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder STORY OF OTHER WORLDS "Amazon of Barsoom"

Concluding our re-telling of long-unseen Barsoom (Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars) stories...

...here's the final never-reprinted Barsoom tale that ran in DC Comics' Tarzan Family in 1976!

This story from Tarzan Family #60 (1975) was written by Robert Kaniger and illustrated by Noly Zamora.

The Heliumites in this tale are blue-skinned, not red (as in all other Barsoom stories), and these red "demon apes" who carry spears and talk have never appeared in any other Barsoom tale!

As we mentioned earlier, this story and the "Secret Diaries of John Carter" mini-series have never been reprinted since their publication in 1976, even in the recent Dark Horse trade paperback that presented all the other Barsoom-based stories that appeared in DC Comics!
(It's rumored that dissatisfaction with them was the reason ERB Inc pulled the license from DC!)

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Art of Barsoom™
 Collectibles Corner

D-Day in the Comics...Plus Other Goodies!

The final part of our Summer Mini-Blogathon is underway...

as we present the D-Day exploits of the legendary Quality/DC Blackhawks!

Already up are...

Marvel's Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos hitting the beach on D-Day!

(Yes, it was reprinted in a Marvel Masterworks a decade ago, but those are extremely-expensive and didn't sell very well, so most of you have never seen this tale from 53 years ago!)

We gave equal time to Fury's DC counterpart, Sgt. Rock, presenting his never-reprinted D-Day adventure!
But that's not all, True Believer!

In addition, True Love Comics Tales returned to weekly posting, beginning with our usual Summertime "beach read" Blogathon entry, a book-length Gothic novel!

Enjoy!

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Essential Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and others

And

Showcase Presents Sgt Rock

by Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert and others

Monday Madness FAIRY TALES "David and the Dragon"

An updated version of Lewis Carroll's Alice wasn't Dave Berg's only foray into fantasy...

...there was also the cover feature for the first issue of Alice's Ziff-Davis Comics stable-mate, Fairy Tales!

(Yes, I know it says "#10", but it's the first issue!)

The "look" of this strip is totally-different from the other Ziff-Davis material by Berg we've presented.

But, keep in mind that Dave got his start working for the Eisner-Iger Studio in 1940.

One of the attributes they looked for in their artists was the ability to mimic other illustrators' styles...including Eisner's own!

It's possible he was instructed by editor Jerry Siegel to go for a "look" similar to Walt Kelly's on his successful and popular Dell Comics Fairy Tale Parade and Mother Goose stories!

But when he started work on Alice, Siegel let him go back to his "normal" look!

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Dave Berg

Five Decades of the Lighter Side