Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Secret of the Saucer"

Rural reporter Paul Mann had heard many stories about locals seeing flying saucers...

...now he's encountered an alien who saved him (and the town) from a biolgical weapon stolen by a Communist spy.

Now,  Mann is taken into the flying saucer where he's about to (as we said in the 60s) "blow his mind"...

The finale of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was deliberately left open-ended.
A sequel, also using the artist "round-robin" concept, and also written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom, appeared almost a year later.
Luckily for you, it'll be on this blog Monday through Wednesday next week!
The art for this chapter was by up-and-comer Jim Aparo, who started at Charlton and went to DC when editor Dick Giordano moved there and offered him, Pat Boyette, Steve Ditko, and writers Denny O'Neil and Steve Skeates work after Charlton cancelled all their super hero and adventure/sci-fi titles in 1968!

Aparo became DC's primary Batman artist during the 70s and 80s as well as handling other series like Aquaman and Phantom Stranger.

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Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Plague"

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Rocke Mastroserio

Newspaper reporter Paul Mann researches a story about how, 100 years earlier, a flying saucer landed and aliens cured a local boy, ending a feud between two families that had gone on for generations.

With saucer sightings recently on the increase, Mann wonders if he'll encounter one...

 

But how can Mann be prepared for the senses-shattering Secret of the Saucer?

Find Out Tomorrow!

The second part of this book-length tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was illustrated by artist Pat Boyette, an artist who usually did his own penciling, inking, and lettering, giving his work an immediately-distinctive visual style.
There's a kool tribute page to Boyette HERE.

BTW, all three parts of this story (and the sequel) were written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom.

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Reading Room: SPACE ADVENTURES "U.F.O.: Healers from Nowhere"

What's more "halloweenie" than an alien invasion?

...so here's one that also involved a Hatfield & McCoy-type feud among hillbillies.

Sooner than you think, Mr Mann...like Tomorrow!

This rather low-key story from Charlton's Space Adventures #60 (1967) was the first part of a three-part book-length tale that gets wilder as it goes on.

Not that unusual for comics of the Silver Age...except for three things:

1) It was a full-length story in an anthology title.

Anthology books usually had two or more stand-alone stories.

2) The story produced a sequel, which was published a year later!

3) Most importantly, each chapter of this tale was illustrated by a different artist!

This premiere chapter was rendered by "Melonius Thonk" (a play on popular jazz musician Thelonius Monk) a pen-name used to cover an apparent artist jam since every page has different stylistic elements.

The remaining two chapters were rendered by artists who penciled and inked their own work, as you'll see tomorrow and Saturday.

BTW, the entire story from the final issue of this book's first run was written by Denny O'Neil using his "Sergius O'Shaughnessy" pseudonom.

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EC Comics: It Didn't Rot Our Brains

Now that's art!

(and it's by one of our faves, Francesco Francavilla!)

Mondo will celebrate EC Comics & Tales From The Crypt this Halloween with a gallery show that will run from October 25 through November 23...

Thirty-plus artists will honor one of the greatest horror television shows of all time and its origins in EC Comics, which produced some of the most original and striking horror artwork, inspiring a generation of artists and genre fans.

The show will feature both original works of art and blood-drenched screen prints.

The gallery opening on Friday, October 25 will be from 7:00 – 10:00pm with regular hours to follow for the show’s duration.

The Mondo Gallery is located at 4115 Guadalupe St. in Austin, TX.

I'm so pissed I'm not in Austin...

Reading Room: PHANTOM WITCH DOCTOR "Out of the Deep"

Avon's Phantom Witch Doctor (1952) was a unique one-shot...

...with a lead story featuring the title character and a trio of totally-unrelated tales backing it up.

Whether the creature is a Lovecraftian-type Elder-God, a stranded alien, or just a sentient life-force is never really explained.

Another unsolved puzzle is who the writer and artist(s) for this never-reprinted short story were.

But what's life without a few mysteries, eh?

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