Saturday, September 14, 2019

The Comics Trade Paperback You Should have Bought...but Didn't!

Remember this spectacular wraparound cover?
This superb, never-reprinted Murphy Anderson illustration encapsulates what made DC's science fiction line in the 1950s and 60s so entertaining!
Adam Strange and Alanna! (DC's premiere space-going heroes!)
Winged Apes! (DC was famous for using apes almost anywhere you could think of!)
A ridiculous, physically-impossible image (giant arrow thrown by aforementioned winged [but normal-sized] ape through the Earth) that you just must know the story behind! (Though, sadly, in this case, there's no story behind this particular piece!)
Fireside's Mysteries in Space (1980), a $7.95 trade paperback reprint compiled from Strange AdventuresMystery in SpaceTales of the Unexpected, and From Beyond the Unknown came and went quickly through bookstores.
Sadly, it didn't sell well, and many copies were returned to the publisher and pulped!
It's not available in e-book form, and a different 1999 tpb, Mystery in Space, doesn't reprint any of the stories featured in this compilation!
Now, when you can find a copy, it runs from $30 to $100, depending on condition!
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Friday, September 13, 2019

Friday Fun SPACE MOUSE "Genius at Work" & "Great Hero"

Besides the four-color stories in the book, the b/w inside covers were used for one-page features...
...although this first one, with its' vaudeville-level humor could've been used for any character...and probably previously had by writer-artist Frank Carin!
The second one shows something unusual in that Space Mouse apparently runs an interplanetary gas station in his spare time!
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Both these never-reprinted one-pagers are from Avon's Space Mouse #1 (1953), which cover-features a different space beauty pageant story!
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Thursday, September 12, 2019

Reading Room LARS OF MARS "Crucial Game"

Even a Martian pretending to be a TV actor playing a Martian reveres the Great American Pastime...
...and won't allow anybody to sully or demean the sport's image...even if it means cheating to do so!
The ends justify the means even if it involves alien manipulation of peoples' minds, eh?
Great lesson for kids!
Written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, illustrated by noted DC Comics artist Murphy Anderson, this tale appeared in Ziff-Davis' Lars of Mars #11 (1951), the second (and last issue) of the series!
Considering the moral lessons the series apparently taught, perhaps it was for the best...
featuring the covers of both issues of Lars of Mars!

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

9/11 Report: the Graphic Adaptation

You'd think two of the guys who worked for decades on Casper and Richie Rich...
...couldn't produce something as...violent and visceral...as this!
Well, you'd be wrong!
Writer/editor Sid Jacobson and the late, great illustrator Ernie Colon took the 9/11 Commission's Report and made it into a must-read graphic novel!
BTW, a lot of the purple prose in the adaptation is taken verbatim from the original Report!
You can read the entire GN as an interactive presentation HERE.
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and/or
(both by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SEEKER 3000 "A New Beginning..." Part 2

...it has been 25 years since Seeker 3000 left Earth, seeking a new home for the human race!
Captain Jordan Shaw and his son Jericho, along with telepath Martika are on a reconnaissance mission when the planet begins to collapse!
Jericho manages to carry the wounded Martika to their scout ship and escape...but the Captain, apparently, didn't make it...
Which brother will be elected?
Next Wednesday
The New Captain!
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(the first appearance of the series)