Remake Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Gargoyle From the 5th Galaxy!"

Is this a kool cover, or what?

But, this sandals-wearing Jack Kirby-Christopher Rule scarlet alien isn't inside the comic!

Instead, we get a more humanoid, less "traditional" gargoyle-looking green alien!

To be fair, he does breathe fire, like the guy on the cover...

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber and superbly-rendered by Don Heck, this tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) was actually a re-do of an earlier story (illustrated by Jack Kirby, no less), which we'll present Thursday!

BTW, though the story was reprinted in the 1970s, the cover has never seen the light of day since its' original publication!

Pity...

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Monday Mecha Madness SHOGUN WARRIORS "Mech-Monster" Part 1

 When Last We Saw Our Mecha...

...they had finally defeated the first creature (which became multiple creatures) the villainous Maur-Kon threw against them!

But Dr Tambura, leader of the alien Followers of the Light who recruited the three human pilots for the mecha is concerned about the fact it took three issues to achieve victory...

The following page shows how each of the Shoguns can transform into another form (as established in their respective Japanese animated series)...

Trivia: Raideen and Dangard Ace are solo pilot mecha in both American and Japanese versions, but Combatra has five pilots in Japan and only one in America!

But both Raideen and Dangard Ace have support teams/aides who assist the pilot!

None of the Japanese characters or plotlines are carried over to the American Shogun Warriors!

To Be Continued Next Monday!

Coming up with Toho-style kaiju/mecha threats to the Shogun Warriors was a trying task to writer Doug Moench and penciler Herb Trimpe!

But, they were chosen for the project due to the success of Marvel's ongoing Godzilla series...which they were responsible for!
Oddly, while the Godzilla series embraced continually-utilizing Marvel characters as guest-stars, Shogun Warriors resisted doing so until the very end of the series!

The RetroBlog Summer Blogathon Concentrates This Week on HEROINES!

What's Better Than a Heroine?

A whole TEAM of them!

We've been presenting their complete, never-reprinted, exploits from the Swinging Sixties which will, sadly, end this week with the last of their 4-page tales and the one-shot book-length story that finishes their run...but left it open-ended!
Trivia: Though the last two issues of Gold Key's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. were reprints of earlier Napoleon Solo & Illya Kuryakin stories, the Jet Dream tales were new!
You'll be seeing everything this week between RetroBlogs Heroines! and Crime & Punishment!
Meanwhile (as they say in comics) here are the previously-re-presented stories...
Heroines: "Spy in the Sky" "Spider and the Spy" "Ting-a-Ling--Enemy Agent" "Powder-Puff Derby Caper" "Splash-Down to Death" "Day of Infamy" "Captive Jet" "Call to Freedom"
Crime & Punishment: "Super-Tiger of Targan!" "Death Plunge" "Set-Up Sultan" "Farmer Brown Fiasco"
True Love Comics Tales: "Achilles Heel"

As they say in the trading card business...
Buy Them!
Trade Them
Collect Them All!

Space Force Saturdays WORLDS UNKNOWN "Black Destroyer" Part 1

 In Space, No One Can Hear You MEOW...

 ...as in this 1940s pulp story that's a clear inspiration for aspects of movie and tv science fiction ranging from Forbidden Planet and Alien to Star Trek and Space: 1999 (among many others)!

Will Coeurl deceive the crew and return with them to Earth?
Or will he simply kill the humans and commandeer the ship?
Find out...Next Saturday!
Plus: read some kool background info about the comic adaptation!

This never-reprinted tale from issue 5 (1974) of Marvel's short-lived science fiction anthology Worlds Unknown was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Dan Adkins & Jim Mooney.

The story is based on "Black Destroyer", A E Van Vogt's first published story, which appeared as the cover story (a rare honor for a writer's premiere tale) in Astounding Science Fiction (July 1939).

It was later expanded in Vogt's novel Voyage of the Space Beagle, which continued the voyages of the starship and crew!
(BTW, it would make an absolutely dynamite feature film or streaming service mini-series!)
Unlike many other sci-fi stories of the era, it has never been directly-adapted to any other medium, not even radio!
However, the similarities plot elements in the movie Alien to both "Black Destroyer" and "Discord in Scarlet" (which involved an alien who laid eggs in humans) caused Van Vogt to sue 20th Century-Fox, which settled out-of-court for $50,000, with the whole matter sealed with an NDA!

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Friday "Fun" HEE-HAW "Cornfield Chatter"

With Don da Con now Dictating Receivers of the Kennedy Center Awards...

...we are sincerely-surprised the cast of this surprisingly long-running rural "humor" anthology TV series isn't included in the first batch!

Both these two-page spreads are from Charlton's Hee Haw comics derived from the syndicated TV series.

These examples of the show's "humor" were written and illustrated by Frank Roberge and based on an ongoing skit featuring the entire cast (plus guest stars) in a cornfield popping up and doing jokes and one-liners!
The series ran a surprising twenty-six seasons from 1969 to 1995, though the comic only lasted for seven (never-reprinted) issues!

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