Reading Room WEIRD MEN'S ADVENTURES "I Walked on the Moon"

In the early 1950s, EC Comics set the pace for other companies...

...as this hybrid sci-fi/horror tale from Atlas' Men's Adventures #26 (1954) clearly demonstrates!

You'll note the post's header reads Weird Men's Adventures, but I mentioned earlier the book was  just Men's Adventures.

It's not a typo.

The indicia title was Men's Adventures, and from 1-20 it featured war and high adventure tales.

But, with #21, it became a horror title and "Weird" was added in a graphic burst to the logo (but not the indicia).

Six issues later, the brief revival of the Golden Age Human Torch and Toro took over the book for two issues before it was cancelled.

Though the writer for this tale from is unknown, the artist (doing a credible Wally Wood imitation) is Gene Colan!

Trivia: When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #17 (1976), it was retitled and the splash panel was rewritten (including removing the "Weird Men's Adventure" blurb)...

Considering that, in 1976, it was over five years since the first Moon landing, I'm not certain why the editor made the change...

BTW, note the "originally-presented" caption references the wrong issue!

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Macabre Monday Madness THE SPECTRE & THE FLASH "Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Mismatched Protagonists...

...while visiting Earth-Two, The Flash is possessed by the ghost of World War I fighter pilot Luther Jarvis, who feels his comrades who survived the war allowed him to die due to their cowardice!

Using the Scarlet Speedster as a cats-paw to give him an advantage in a dogfight against one of his former comrades, the ghostly pilot doesn't realize his actions have attracted the attention of The Spectre...

To Be Concluded...Next Monday!

Writer Bob Haney never really got the hang of the whole Earth-One/Earth-Two concept.
While Luther Jarvis' plan involved trapping "The Flash"...he grabbed the wrong one!
When his henchmen captured Earth-One's Barry Allen instead of their own Flash, (Earth-Two's Jay Garrick) nobody even commented "Hey, is this the right guy?"
And in numerous other Brave & Bold tales mixing Earth-One (usually Batman) and Earth-Two characters (The Spectre, Wildcat) or characters like Plastic Man (who wasn't shown to be a resident of either Earth at that point), either the whole matter is ignored or badly-handled (as it was here)!
BTW, note the ad at the bottom of the page for Blackhawk, who was shown to be a Earth-One resident when the Justice League of America (including The Flash) appeared in his title as shown HERE!

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Wrath of the Spectre

Omnibus

(which reprints all The Spectre's Silver and Bronze Age Appearances...in color, which the black-and-white Showcase volume doesn't do!)

It is Truly HORRIFYING!!!

If You Enjoyed Our Recent Dracula Presentation, Visit...

...Where You'll find every horror-themed Dick Briefer Frankenstein story from Monster of Frankenstein #18 thru #33!

A complete re-presentation of Dick Briefer's horrifying third version of the Monster of Frankenstein! originally-presented in 2018 to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the first publication of the Mary Shelley classic!

Re-imagined to capitalize on the horror comics craze of the 1950s, the series ran from 1952 through 1954, when the comics industry was almost destroyed by Dr Fredric Wertham and the Seduction of the Innocent witch-hunt.
It's an indirect sequel to the original novel, ignoring the previous Prize Comics series (World War II menace and post-war Munsters-style comedy) that Briefer wrote and illustrated.
So as long as you're willing to accept some revisionism to the original story, it's actually a pretty damned good follow-up.
(When you think about it, what adaptation/sequel to the book, in any media, hasn't made some changes?)

Here's a preview of the covers for the series...

Click HERE to Read!

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Monster of Frankenstein

(which reprints in b/w the stories we're re-presenting in color, but has a number of kool text pieces including one by Briefer's granddaughter!)

AND

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Spooky Space Force Saturdays KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Monster-Men of Space!"

It's time for more spooky interstellar adventure with Kenton of the Star Patrol...

...as another talented artist takes the reins from Wally Wood and Joe Orlando for Kenton's final tale!

This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #6 (1952) is penned by Gardner Fox and rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who left comics for fine art (including numerous official portraits of US Presidents).

Previous Kenton artists Joe Orlando and Wally Wood did the cover for the issue...

...but, when the cover was reused for IW/Super's Eerie #1 (1958), which contained stories from Spook Comics, the art looked decidedly-different!

Was the Eerie cover the original version, which was modified to make the alien match the Kinsler-drawn aliens?
Ironically, when the Kenton story was reprinted, it had a totally-new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito featuring aliens who looked nothing like the Monster-Men...

And there's yet another twist to the tale of this tale, which we'll tell...next week, when we go from Strange Worlds and Strange Planets to Strange Galaxies!

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Strange Worlds

Volume 1
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Frightening Friday Fun CALLING ALL KIDS "Pug and Curly Find Someone to Scare"

In comics, even anthropomorphic squirrels celebrate Halloween...

...as shown in this never-reprinted feature from Parents Magazine Press' Calling All Kids #13 (1947)!

Pug and Curly were an ongoing feature in Calling All Kids, appearing in 23 of the title's 26 issues.

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Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus

#1 Scary Tales and Scarier Tentacles