Thursday, February 20, 2020

Baker Reading Room STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES "Inexplicable"

Can you guess which cover-featured tale from this book was pencilled by Matt Baker?
Considering Baker was one of the foremost "good girl" illustrators of the 1940s-50s, it should be obvious, even with the terrible inking by Vince Colletta!
That is one smart bear!
This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories #44 (1959), penciled by Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, was one of the last tales published before his death earlier in 1959 of a heart attack at the age of 38.
Note that Matt was so prolific that the inventory of stories he worked on though Colletta's studio for both Charlton and Atlas (later Marvel) wasn't exhausted until a year after his passing!
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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder NIOURK

Did you know the tale behind this cover...
...is about the most powerful African-American character in fiction?
True!
The novel, written by French author Stefan Wul (who also created/wrote Fantastic Planet) features...
...a Black teenager (named "Black Child" or "Dark Child" depending on the translation from the original French) wandering through the East Coast of post-apocalyptic America...
...until he reaches the ruins of New York City (the "Niourk" of the title), where he encounters both robots running the city and humans who avoided the apocalypse by traveling to Mars, whose tech evolves him into a superhuman calling himself "Alpha"!
There's a Twilight Zone-style ending that provides an ending that's both logical and emotionally-satisfying!
(Sorry, no spoilers!)
Though the prose novel has never been translated into English, there is a Dark Horse graphic novel adapted and illustrated in 2012 by noted French artist Olivier Vatine which has been Anglicized!
While the captions and dialogue, like most translations, are a tad stilted, the story is superb and the artwork is captivating!
Since it's currently in print, I'm only running excerpts.
But I recommend you pick it up, either through your local comic shop or on-line!
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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Baker Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Blotting Threat"

Here's another rarely-seen sci-fi/fantasy tale by Black artest Matt Baker...
...the never-reprinted cover story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #19 (1959), about a disillusioned commercial artist involved with...
This story, penciled by Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, was one of the last tales published before his death later in 1959 of a heart attack at the age of 38.
Note that Matt was so prolific that the inventory of stories he worked on though Colletta's studio for both Charlton and Atlas (later Marvel) wasn't exhausted until a year after his passing!
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Monday, February 17, 2020

Monday Madness TREASURE CHEST "1976: Pettigrew For President"

In 1964, Treasure Chest, an educational comic distributed only to Catholic schools...
...published a multi-part serial about how Presidential elections occurred, using the then-future Bicentennial year's elections as the example!
Their Teacher's Edition described the storyline's premise...
...while leaving out specific plot points!
The story begins innocuously-enough...
...with a candidate who sounds similar to the then-recently assassinated John F Kennedy!
He's a war hero who already held political office, and a Catholic in good standing!
"A man like that in the White House...never!"
Considering JFK had been killed less than a year before this saw print, it was pretty daring for the publishers to show something like this to schoolkids!
But this potential Prez shows that, even without the Secret Service, he's not helpless!
What did the would-be assassin mean by "your kind"?
Considering this was a Catholic-oriented periodical, and fear of a "papist" being the most powerful man in America was used against Kennedy during the election in 1960, it's not unreasonable that Pettigrew's religion might be the reason he was targeted!
Overcoming numerous obstacles, Pettigrew reaches the stage of the last debate before his party's convention, where he easily handles his opponents...


Is the "war hero" about to be exposed as a fraud...on national television?
(BTW, the reason he lost his voice was laryngitis due to a cold!)
Wow!
 "Swift boating" decades before it was tried on John Kerry!
Despite dirty tricks, slander, and assassination attempts, Pettigrew perseveres...
Written by Treasure Chest Editor Berry Reece and illustrated by legendary Marvel artist Joe Sinnott, this never-reprinted 10-issue serial (Treasure Chest V19N11 to V19N20) is considered one of the title's high points.
I've presented only excerpts here because the story runs over 50 pages spread over 10 chapters, and, since Pettigrew isn't revealed until the last page of the last chapter, I didn't believe most of the audience would hang on, even if I posted a chapter per day!
For those who do want to read the entire mini-series at one shot, just click HERE!
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Sunday, February 16, 2020