Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Unknown Element!"

Here's a never-reprinted tale...

 

...about the perils of exploring Inner (rather than Outer) Space, illustrated by a most unexpected artist!

This short story from Charlton's Space Adventures #12 (1954) was one of the last tales penciled by Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, who ended his comics career doing work for Fawcett and Charlton.

The inker was Spurs Jackson's John Belfi, but the writer is unknown.

BTW, when I said the story was "never-reprinted", I was somewhat incorrect.

(Yeah, it's hard to believe, but true!)

While the tale itself has never been re-presented in print, the splash page was modified and used as the cover for IW's Jet Power #1 (1958), which reprinted material from Magazine Enterprises' Jet and Space Ace comics!

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Monday Madness HILLBILLY COMICS "Man Who Hated the Moon!"

Here's a tale of the good ol' boys who support the disgraced, impeached President...

...from a short-lived 1950s title telling their stories!

Yep, these are the people Don da Con and other Republicans play to while decrying the "educated elites".

"Bubbleville', according to Repug Mike Huckabee, represents the big cities of New York, Washington and Hollywood where the educated (but not smart) people live.

"Bubbaville", I guess, is everywhere else in the good ol' USA.

And that's where the real people are.

The ones who are smart...without all that fancy book-learnin'. 
The ones we city-folk call "deplorables"!

Written and illustrated by the highly-underrated Art Gates, this never-reprinted piece from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #1 (1955) shows the "wisdom" the Cheeto Benito's audience are famous for!

Reading Room STRANGE TALES "Beware of Meeks Bringing Gifts!"

A couple of days ago, we brought you a never-reprinted sci-fi comics tale...

...but, while it has never been reprinted, that doesn't mean the story wasn't reused...this time with an oddly-contemporary aspect...

What?

Newspeople have a responsibility to uncover and tell the truth objectively and honestly?

Please don't tell FoxNews that...

We do know that Jack Kirby penciled this (also) never-reprinted story from Atlas' Strange Tales #86 (1961).

However, everything else is pure speculation.

It's thought Sol Brodsky inked the story (though it has aspects of Dick Ayers' style as well).

And, since it's not signed "Stan Lee" (as most confirmed Lee-scripted tales were),  the consensus is that Stan's brother Larry Lieber penned the story.

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Creatures Who Captured Earth!"

Do you know the two famous sci-fi stories' plots that were combined to create this tale?

Hint: one original involves robots/androids,, and the other is about cannibalism...

This never-reprinted story by Stan Lee/Larry Lieber and Don Heck from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) was based on two classic sci-fi tales...

"With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson, which premiered in Astounding Science Fiction...

...and was expanded into the novel The Humanoids, (and a sequel, The Humanoid Touch, over 30 years later)!

Though never done on film or tv, the story was adapted to radio on Dimension X (which you can hear HERE) and the basic plot was re-used in the classic Star Trek episode "I, Mudd".

The other plot point, involving decoding an alien text to discover a secret agenda, was probably taken from the 1950 Galaxy Magazine short story "To Serve Man" by Damon Knight.

(Note that the classic Twilight Zone episode adapting the tale wouldn't appear until three years later.)

Also note that, while the comic tale was never reprinted, it was redone only two years later by another of Atlas/Marvel's major artistic stars!

We'll have that story tomorrow...

Friday Fun SPOOF "What If...Celebrities Were the Last People on Earth?"

You know you're a baby boomer...

...if you recognize all the celebs in this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Spoof #5 (1973)!

 Snoopy from the Peanuts comic strip!

 Julia Child, one of the first TV chefs!

 ABC sports announcer (and really annoying guy who deserves his fate) Howard Cosell!

And, finally...longtime comedy icon Bob Hope, whose annual tours to entertain our troops overseas are satirized!

Written by Marv Wolfman, penciled by master (or is that "mistress") caricaturist Marie Severin, and inked by John Costanza (a damn good cartoonist who made more money as one of the speediest letterers in the business), this piece was part of Marvel's failed 1970s attempt to return to the humor color comics market!

After trying three times with Spoof, ARRRGH! (horror humor), and Crazy (reprinting material from Not Brand Ecch), Marvel decided to switch their humor efforts to a b/w book...with the resulting revival of Crazy in that format running  over a decade with 94 issues and an oversized Special!

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