Saturday, March 20, 2021

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Mosquito Men and the Multiple Menace"

When you're summoned to a "secret experimental laboratory"...
...you just know there's gonna be trouble.
But in this case, it'll be triple trouble!
If you have an army of Speed Carters, and they're all captains, then who's in command?
This tale of mosquito men and mathematics from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #4 (1954) was written (as are all Speed Carter stories) by Hank Chapman and illustrated by Mike Sekowsky and Jack Abel.
BTW, though we didn't mention it in the previous Sekowsky-illustrated story, Mike apparently redesigned everything including uniforms, weapons, and equipment.
You'll see this continue in all the remaining issues as each succeeding artist does their own rendition of the universe of 2075 instead of following the previous artist's designs.
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(under the pen-name "Paul French")
Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!
David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn

Friday, March 19, 2021

Friday Fun/Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Little Bunny"

Walt (Pogo) Kelly went into full-on "cute" mode with his holiday stories...

...including this never-reprinted one from Dell's Four Color Comics (Easter with Mother Goose) #185 (1948)!
Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Surrender Earth!"

Now this is the way to tell a high-adventure space opera story...
...quick synopsis, then jump into the action!
A rather nasty variation of the "rabbits in Australia" story that classic Star Trek treated humorously in "The Trouble with Tribbles"!
Sadly, this Joe Gill-written, Pat Boyette-illustrated tale from Charlton's Space Adventures V2N4 (1968) has never been reprinted, but I think it's make a helluva episode of a sci-fi anthology TV series or portmanteau movie, keeping the retro-50s/60s look but using current makeup and sfx technology!
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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Holiday Reading Room ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN "Why the Leprechauns Left Ireland!"

 At last, the long-repressed (and never-reprinted) story can be told...

...on, appropriately enough, St Patrick's Day!
So, they left Earth...not just Ireland!
Whatta story!
Leprechauns!
Nikita Khrushchev, Communists and possible Atomic War!
Cape Canaveral (before it was renamed Cape Kennedy, after Irish-American Prez John F Kennedy)!
Plus:  Giants from the center of the Earth!
Does it get any better than this?
I don't think so.
Writer/editor Richard Hughes (under the appropriate pen-name Shane O'Shea) and illustrator Odgen Whitney probably thought the same when they created this whimsical tale for ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #132 (1962).
59 years later, it's my pleasure to present it for your St Patricks Day entertainment.
Now, if you'll excuse me, there's several pints of Guinness Extra Stout in my fridge, waiting to meet me...
Oh, almost forgot...Wednesday Worlds of Wonder will return next week!

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE

Here's a short story featuring a plethora of fairy tale characters...
...as presented by a (then) future superstar of the comic strip or, (if you want to be pretentious) graphic novel form!
The title story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.
Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!