Monday, February 3, 2025

Monday Madness CALVIN: Marvel's FORGOTTEN Black Headliner!

The Black Panther was not the first Black Marvel character to get a cover-featured series!
He wasn't even the second!
He was the third!
First was Luke Cage, who received his own title...
...and was the star of his own Netflix series!
Note: Though the series ended, three of the stars have gone on to headline other shows...
Simone Missick (Misty Knight) on All Rise, Mike Colter (Luke Cage) on Evil and Rosario Dawson (Clare Temple/Night Nurse) on Ahsoka!
(BTW, Luke Cage is now available on Disney+!)
The second character was...
WHO???
Several months before Prince T'Challa took over a reprint book, Jungle Action, and began a memorable series that served as part of the plot of the billion-dollar blockbuster movie...
...this character took over another reprint book and began a series that nobody remembers!
But you can read every never-reprinted tale featuring Calvin and his buddies by clicking HERE!
What makes the strip even more fascinating, beyond the vaudeville-level humor, is the identity of the writer-artist behind it!
"Kevin Banks" was not a pseudonym for an already-established creative, but an editorial staffer at Marvel in the early 1970s who received his "big break" with this strip!
Trivia: Kevin was the first (and so far, onlyMarvel creator to have a head shot illustration on an on-going series!

Even ever-amazing comics researcher Nick Caputo could find little about the mysterious Mr Banks, as seen HERE.
What did Banks did after working at Marvel?
Did he work in advertising?
Become an art instructor?
Switch careers and become an accountant or fireman?
To date, we don't know!
Do YOU???

Sunday, February 2, 2025

These are the Voyages of the Steampunk Airship Enterprise...

Several Years Ago, Wednesday Worlds of Wonder presented...
...the first half of this steampunk "re-imagining" of the concepts behind Star Trek!
Here are links to those four chapters...
Starting this Wednesday and running through February, we return to this retro-kool World of Wonder to complete the saga!
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Graphic Novel re-presenting the mini-series along with additional goodies
Paid Link

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Space Force Saturdays CAPTAIN QUICK AND THE SPACE SCOUTS "Mystery of the Moon of Mars"

Here's the first of three short features...
...that appeared in the second comic series based on the Tom Corbett: Space Cadet TV show!
Though the art for this never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Tom Corbett: Space Cadet V2#1 (1955) is credited solely to Marvin Stein at the Grand Comics Database, the layout appears to be by Jack Kirby, which would make sense since the Simon & Kirby studio was packaging the book for Prize Comics.
Beyond being set in the future, there was no stated connection to Tom Corbett, though they do seem to be part of the Space Service.
This "Captain Quick" is no relation to a suave secret agent character played by Adam West in early 1960s Quick chocolate milk flavoring commercials...


...which many attribute to causing the producers of a new show to cast him as their campy caped crusader!
BTW, in a weird bit of comic numbering, this second series' #1 is Tom Corbett's first #1!
The earlier series (from Dell Comics) began with #4 since the first three issues were part of the Four Color series (#s 378, 400, and 421) which was used to test sales for a particular project or licensed property before giving it an ongoing series!

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Friday, January 31, 2025

Friday Fun YAK YAK "Drama vs Realism"

I'm struck by the disparity of info presented by con and lib media...
...so to keep my spirits up, I decided to run this never-reprinted piece showing the stark difference between how each side portrays a given situation.
I leave it to the reader to decide which (drama or reality) is which (con or lib)...
Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.
The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!
The next (and final issue) had another Drama vs Realism piece.
You'll see that next Friday!
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Thursday, January 30, 2025

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "My Secret"

You may ask "Why is a simple crime story being published in a sci-fi comic?"
The answer will surprise you...
Y'know, Donald Trump and his ilk could take a lesson from this Steve Ditko-rendered tale...illegal alien makes good and government rewards him with a free pass!
Originally-published in Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957), this oft-reprinted story's author is unknown, but suspected to be Charlton mainstay Joe Gill.
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