Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Reading Room (JOURNEY INTO) UNKNOWN WORLDS "Strange Car!"

Did you know there are many 1950s Atlas/Marvel never-reprinted "lost" tales?
...here's one of them, a never-reprinted story of autos, aliens, and alternate universes!
If the police found the body of the alien, Earl would've been charged with murder as well.
Perhaps they found the body, saw it was alien in nature, and thought it was a mannikin?
This tale from Atlas' Unknown Worlds #36 (1950) has an odd artistic pedigree.
The inker has been positively-identified as Russ Heath, but the penciler and writer are both unknown.
BTW, you'll note our post's title says (Journey Into) Unknown Worlds.
The indicia says Unknown Worlds, and as of the next issue, until the end of the run, it would read Journey into Unknown Worlds.
Also, this is the first issue of the title!
The book had been Teen Comics, and before that, All-Teen Comics.
Comics publishers did this because they were notoriously cheap, and each new comic title (classified by law as a new periodical) required a new second-class mailing license for subscriptions.
So publishers tried to keep the numbering of already existing titles, modifying the name just slightly, to keep the already paid license!
But the postal authorities caught them, and Atlas had to pay for a new second-class license and restart the numbering!
So, technically, this was #1, and as of what would have been #39, the numbering restarted with #4!
As a result, the book has two different numbers 36, 37, and 38...which drives current collectors nuts!
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Monday, September 6, 2021

Monday Mars Madness Presents "The Lost Cinematic Worlds of Barsoom" (We Call it Mars)

You may remember 2012's John Carter of Mars movie...
...bud did you know about the two movie versions that went as far as having test reels produced?
Or the low-budget Z-movie (not even good enough to be a B-movie) that went direct to cable TV?

In 1931, legendary animator Bob Clampett worked with John Coleman Burroughs (Edgar Rice's son) to create the following piece...


No movie studio was interested in backing the project.
Most told Clampett that their audiences has no interest in "realistic" animation!
(The Fleischer Brothers proved them wrong with Superman several years later...)

In 2004, Kerry Conran pitched a John Carter movie done in almost total CGI...

...like the movie he just completed, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!
If Sky Captain had done better at the box office, Kerry undoubtedly would have been given the green light.
But, it didn't, and he wasn't.

There was a low-budget "updated to the present day" version, Princess of Mars, which went direct-to-video/cable/satellite TV just before the big budget flick opened!

It was so low-budget the Tharks didn't even have four arms, and were the same height as John Carter!
(Plus, Dejah Thoris was an ex-porn star!)

The mega-budget film that finally was produced after years of delays, rewrites, and changes in writers, directors, and cast, did poorly, though it was, in fact, damned good...


Because of its' poor performance at the box office, we're unlikely to see another attempt to bring Barsoom to life anytime soon...

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Sunday, September 5, 2021

Did You Join the Annual Summer RetroBlog Blogathons?

If you didn't, you missed...
...the only never-reprinted Shang-Chi comic story ever, unseen for 40 years at
A classic gothic romance/beach read at

Plus: these three too-kool for school, never-reprinted, prose super-hero tales...all unseen since the 1960s at
Hero Histories!

The rebooted Silver Age origin of He Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men!
The Shadow!

The first novel featuring the Star Spangled Avenger!
Captain America: the Great Gold Steal!

And last, but certainly not least, the premiere novel featuring the Caped Crusaders and a trio of evildoers!
Batman vs 3 Villains of Doom!
Lucky for you, it's not too late!
Sit down now and start reading!

Saturday, September 4, 2021

Space Force Saturdays INTERPLANETARY POLICE "Space Trap" Conclusion

Tanya, the Space Siren, attacks a space liner, but doesn't steal anything!
Why?
Captain Bruce Warren of the InterPlanetary Police is briefed that she's looking for a supply of Atovar, a new fuel more powerful and efficient than Uranium!
Word is leaked that the Star Queen will be transporting the fuel to Venus with the intent that Warren and his brother, Officer Terry Warren, will capture the Space Siren when she attempts to steal it!
The Siren hijacks the cargo, and returns to her secret base with the InterPlanetary Police trailing behind.
As the cops land on the planetoid, the Siren's men open the containers to discover...

When we rejoin Bruce and Terry next issue, the Mars situation is already cleared up and they're on their way back from Venus!
This never-reprinted story from Buster Brown Comic Book #29 (1952) was written by Hobart Donovan, penciled by Ray Bailey and Reed Crandall, and inked by Ray Willner.

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Friday, September 3, 2021

Friday Fun VICKI "Kiss and Tell" 2.0

Last Friday we presented the "meta" tale of a comic book character reading a comic book...

...now here's the same story, with "updated" clothing and hairstyles and a different lead character., but the same supporting cast!
When Seaboard Publishing/Atlas Comics reprinted this tale in Vicki #2 (1975), they did the usual modifications to keep the tale looking "current" that everybody else did with their older material.
I don't know if Atlas/Seaboard tried to get the rights to Tower's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, at that point only five years after their last appearance and still-fondly remembered by comics fans!
But, they ended up with Tippy Teen...who was renamed Vicki!
My personal opinion is that Seaboard's Martin Goodman discovered that Tower had abandoned the negatives/photostats at the printer (whom they didn't pay).
Like Israel Waldman who took similar abandoned material for his Super/IW Comics line, Goodman took the material (which also had never been copyrighted, so it was Public Domain as soon as it was published) and reprinted it, changing only the title to avoid a nuisance lawsuit from Tower (which was still publishing paperbacks) and claim a new copyright on the modified reprinted material.