After the stories for Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 were written and drawn...
...most of them were shelved, as a new artist, Murphy Anderson, was brought on board to revamp the series' look!
However, the Bernie Krigstein and Martin Stein-illustrated stories that didn't make it into Space Busters #2 did find new homes!
This particular tale is the most-reprinted Space Busters story of all, appearing in St John's Daring Adventures #6 (1954), Decker's Great Exploits #1 (1958) and IW's Strange Planets #18 (1964)..under a new Ross Andru/Mike Esposito cover as shown above!
Oddly enough, though the aliens invading Mars remained "Belzarians" and the Terrans were referred to as "Earthians", the individual heroes went through a name-change.
Blond/blue-eyed Captain Brett Crockett received a new name, becoming "Captain Andall", while his balding and mustached sergeant, Bolo, became "Sgt Bala".
And the nickname "SpaceBusters", used incessantly in the two issues of the series, is nowhere in sight...
We proudly present the lead story of Space Busters #1.5, which is also the final story of the Mars Campaign...
There's another SpaceBusters tale that didn't appear in SpaceBusters Comics...and you'll see it in a couple of weeks!
Warning: Bring your red/blue 3-D glasses!
