Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Raydeen!" Part 1

We're Going Mecha at Monday Madness...

...as we feature robots big and small, some sentient, some controled by humans and/or aliens!

You'll have to wait until next Monday to learn the backstory created by writer Doug Moench, penciler Herb Trimpe and inker Dan Green in this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's Shogun Warriors #1 (1979)!
(They ignored all the backstory and plotlines used in the Japanese animated series and packaging info for the toys.)

But we're not totally-heartless!

Here's a kool video about how the Shogun Warriors were assembled by Mattel out of three totally-unrelated robots, all with their own animated series from different Japanese TV studios, but all the toys were from the same Japanese toy company, Popy!

You'll note the TV commercials have the robots interacting with Godzilla, also from Mattel, but the characters never met up in the comics, although both the Godzilla and Shogun Warriors series were drawn by Herb Trimpe!
In fact, Mattel utilized Herb's artwork in some of their advertising!

Errol Flynn's Captain Blood...by the creator of Flash Gordon!

How many of you have seen this classic movie poster...

...and knew it was the work of Alex Raymond, of Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, and Secret Agent X-9 fame?

Yep!

Since Captain Blood and Arabella Bishop do not look like Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, it's a reasonable bet that this was done as an advance promo piece before casting, but it was so good, the studio still used it as their half-sheet poster for both the initial release and re-releases!

If you look at the original Flash Gordon strip, you'll see Raymond incorporated a lot of pirate/swashbuckler costume, weapon, and design motifs into Flash's adventures on other worlds!

Space Hero Saturdays ROCKETMAN "Venus Afire" / SPURT HAMMOND "Fiery World"

Apparently, People Being Unwilling to Take in Refugees is Not a New Problem!

In fact, it dates back to the 1950s, when this tale was published...or an unspecified future, where this story is set!

This tale from Ajax/Farrell's Rocketman #1 (1952) ignores some basic science, like the fact that the homeless Venusians would have to pass Earth's orbit to get to Mars!

Perhaps that's because this story originally-appeared a dozen years earlier, when science in comic books was at a somewhat more primitive state!

And, please, no jokes about the lead character's name...

When this tale, part of an ongoing Spurt Hammond series (which ran in Planet Comics from #1 to #12), appeared in Fiction House's Planet Comics #8 (1940), the artist was identified through Fiction House records as Henry Kiefer.

But as for who modified the art at the Iger Studios for re-use in Rocketman, we have no idea!
In addition, the other three Rocketman stories were modified and re-used from earlier Iger Studio-provided art for other features...and other publishers!

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Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "Hail, Hail, the Gangplank's Here"

You Want Fun?
Let the Cry Ring Forth..."Heyyyyy, Abotttttt!"

...as we proudly re-present a fun frolic unseen by readers since its' only reprinting in 1955 (70 years, readers!)

This tale, illustrated by Lily Renee & Eric Peters, was cover-featured in it's premiere appearance in St. John's Abbott and Costello Comics #8 (1949)

It's final appearance was in St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #28 (1955)

So, either way, unless you paid a hefty sum for either issue, this is the first time you're seeing it!

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Reading Room MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN COMICS "Small Fry!"

You can't tell me this isn't a "lost" Kirby Klassic from the 1950s...

...with the only question being "who was the penciler and/or inker over Jack Kirby's layouts?"

When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".

Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.

This never-reprinted story from Prize's Monster of Frankenstein #33 (1954) is a prime example.
Some of the "camera angles" are easily-recognizable from later Ant-Man stories by Jack Kirby.

The Grand Comics Database lists the story's creators as "unknown", but considering the volume of work Simon & Kirby did for Prize before leaving to form their own company, Mainline, it's not unlikely this was an "inventory" story meant for insertion wherever editorial material page count came up short.

Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases of tale from the 1940s-60s, unknown...

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