Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "versus the Space Raider!"

Our intrepid aviator-turned-astronaut faces his first interplanetary foe...

...in this never-reprinted story from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #52 (1947)!

Oh, you can bet on it, Cap!

Scripted by noted pulp and comic author Otto Binder, and illustrated by Leonard Frank, this was the first of several encounters with Jagga, who seemed able to change his skin color in each tale, likely due to colorists not being given reference of the character's previous appearances!

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Captain Midnight Archives

Volume 2

Captain Midnight Saves the World!
(Which doesn't include this story!)

Friday Fun KOOKIE! "Yea Sayers"

The title is a play on the phrase "nay sayers"...

...which denotes someone who complains, criticizes, or objects to something!

Kookie is an aspiring young actress look for her big break.

Her friend, Jose O'Hara, is an aspiring playwright looking for his big break.

In this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Kookie! #1 (1962), scripted by John Stanley and illustrated by Bill Williams, the two encourage each other's "creativity" with almost insane optimism, trying to turn each setback into an advantage!

Reading Room / Tales Twice Told WEIRD "Thing in a Box"

On Tuesday, we posted the original 1950s version of this tale, entitled "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!"!

Here's the re-titled and re-illustrated, but not re-written (except for the opening caption) 1970s version!

You'll note the rich Martian and his adopted Venusian daughter are much more "alien" here than in the 1950s art.

In addition, the ship, technology, and clothing are more in line with late-1960s/early 1970s visualizations of such things.
(No more capes and other fashion elements so prevalent in Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon!)

Sadly, artist Antonio Reynoso's storytelling style isn't quite as sharp as original artist Everett Raymond Kinstler's, with the captions covering story elements the artist doesn't quite get across in this story from Eerie Publications' Weird V6N1 (1972).
As in the case of the vast majority of Eerie Publications' comic magazines, all the stories in this issue were either direct reprints of 1950s comic stories or redrawn (and re-titled) versions of 1950s comic stories.
Remember, at that time, there was no Grand Comics Database...or even a World Wide Web the average reader could access to figure out where the stories, from defunct publishers, originally-appeared!
Nor were there even reference books (like the one conveniently-listed below) which contained such minutia for the serious aficionado of graphic arts!

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Weird Indexes of Eerie Publications

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder O.C.T. OCCULT CRIMES TASKFORCE Chapter 1 Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

NYPD officer Sophia Ortiz responds to what she believes is a simple distirbence call, and discovers...a multiple homicide!

Her call for backup results in an unfamilar plainclothes unit responding within seconds who commandeer the scene and dismiss her!

Her attempt to interact with the group results in immediate suspension from duty.

Then, within 12 hours, she's reinstated and transferred to a "special crimes taskforce", one of whose members, Detective Aaron Cain,  picks her up at her apartment the next morning to take her to her new station house
En-route, they encounter a hoodie-wearing figure who tosses a severed arm at their car!
Disregarding Cain's instructions to wait for backup, Ortiz races after the figure, trapping it in a nearby basement...

To Be Continued...

Next Wednesday

(Not "next month" as the preview art below says!)

BTW, if you haven't already done so, you might want to acquaint yourself with the introduction to the OCT Officer Training Manual, which you'll find HERE!

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O.C.T.

Occult Crimes TaskForce

Reading Room: STRANGE WORLDS "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!"

"Murder on a cruise ship" is a classic mystery story trope...

...but transposing the plot from an ocean liner to a space liner emphasized the "trapped with a killer" aspect!

This tale of murder and mayhem on the high seas in deep space appeared in Avon's Strange Worlds #8 (1952) and was rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who eventually left pulps and comics for fine art (including several official portraits of US Presidents).
Unlike most pulp/comic artists who moved into fine art, Kinstler is happy to discuss and display his early work.
You'll note a lot of swipes of Flash Gordon art by Alex Raymond.
This wasn't unusual, since Raymond (along with Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Noel Sickles) were seminal inspirations for the first generation of comic book artists.
Note, the writer of the tale is, sadly, unknown.
When the story was reprinted in the back of Skywald's The Heap #1 (1971), the Comics Code forced a couple of odd changes...

Page 3 Panel 1

Making Santley's adopted daughter his stepdaughter and eliminating the "he signed for me" quote!

Page 5 Panel 1

Adding a "Space Police" sig to the note, emphasizing the "official" aspect of the order.

Why did they do it?

I have no idea!
As a special treat, be here Thursday, when we re-present the re-illustrated version of this tale from a b/w horror magazine from 1972!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics