Monday Holiday Madness PRESIDENTS' DAY...the Holiday that Combines TWO Presidents' Birthdays!

Before they combined Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into a "floating" holiday...

...Washington's Birthday was always celebrated each year on Feb 22nd...

...and Lincoln's Birthday was always on February 12th!

Why the change?

USA Today has an explanation HERE!

Since this is a comics blog, let's get back on-topic!

These two features appeared in a 1956 comic called "Every Day's a Holly Day"

(No, it's not a typo...as you can see!)

Why was it called that instead of "Every Day's a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!

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Cartoon History of the United States

Black Angel vs the KKK!

Can this African-American/Native-American Aviatrix Take On the Klan?

You Bet Your A$$ She CAN!

Check her out on Monday, at

HEROINES!

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Black Angel #1 Night Hawk

Kindle English-Language Edition

There's no English-Language hardcover/trade paperback edition...as of now!

and/or, you can buy...

Black Squaw #1 Night Hawk

HardCover Graphic Novel

(in French)

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Space...Hero?...Saturdays STRANGE JOURNEY "Captain Kiddeo Space Bum"

Is it humor?

Is it serious?

I can't decide...

...read the tale and judge for yourself!

The title is a variation of "Captain Video", a tv show which had been cancelled three years earlier when this never-reprinted tale appeared in Ajax-Farrell's Strange Journey #3 (1958).

Yet the story itself has nothing to do with Captain Video, not even as a spoof of it, like MAD's superb Captain Tvideo which you can read HERE!

The attempts at humor and wit are lacking in both, and the illustrations have none of the wonderful background detail (Called "chicken fat" by artist Will Elder) MAD's artists were famous for!

Plus, the art is so jammed-up, I have the impression the original (perhaps unpublished) story was longer, and re-edited to fit into the 5 page slot in an otherwise average sci-fi anthology.

We do know it's a product of the S M Iger Studio which packaged Ajax-Farrell's books, but not who the particular creatives were...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

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Friday Fun THE VIDEO VERSIONS OF "ARENA"

"Arena" by Fredric Brown (See HERE and HERE) was adapted (sort of) twice for TV...

...first, in 1964, on The Outer Limits as "Fun and Games", starring Nick Adams.

There are a number of differences between the story and the episode, including a pair of new characters, a woman with a hidden past who works with the hero and a mate for the alien...whom the alien himself kills!
(Talk about "battle of the sexes)!

A year later the story was reused, on Classic Star Trek as "Arena"...

...except it wasn't...exactly.

Gene Roddenberry's right hand man, producer Gene Coon, had submitted a story about Capt. Kirk fighting an alien starship's commander in hand-to-claw combat to see whose ship would survive.

When the story was fact-checked, it was discovered that Coon had inadvertently-used numerous elements from Brown's story, which Gene had probably read years earlier!
Since the episode was already in the production cycle, "Arena" author Fredric Brown was contacted, and he agreed to allow "Arena" to be adapted again...not knowing the episode was already written.
Since the OL and ST episodes are sufficiently-different (and titled differently), many in the 1960s never realized...or noticed...the "Based on a story by Fredric Brown" credit!

Friday Fun Extra: Kirk (William Shatner) and the Gorn (not the stuntman from the 1960s!) meet again in hand-to-claw combat...

...to promote a video game based on the reboot Kelvin Universe Star Trek!

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Outer Limits

Complete Original Series DVDs

and/or

Star Trek

Complete Original Series BluRays

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Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Carson, a space fighter pilot on station at the edge of the solar system intercepts an alien ship, but before he or the intruder can fire, they are both teleported from their ships to a planetoid, where unarmed, they face each other.
A voice explains to the two combatants that they must fight to the death to decide the conflict, thus avoiding the mass destruction to both sides that a full-scale war would cause.
A force field separates the combatants, but they are told they can utilize the materials at hand to create weapons.
The opponents discover they can't pentrate the force field, but inanimate objects can!
They throw rocks at each other, but rocks alone won't provide a victory for either side...or will they?

This extremely-faithful adaptation of Fredric Brown's short story was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.
Be here tomorrow when we take a look at some less-accurate, but far more famous adaptations!

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From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

(Including "Arena")

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