Space...Hero?...Saturdays ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "About Space" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our...Heroes?...
(Don't worry, you didn't miss a post!
Part 1 appeared yesterday as part of our ongoing Friday Fun feature!)

The unemployed Abbott and Costello are hired by a mad scientist to crew his experimental rocket aimed at Mars...which is currently at war with Jupiter!
Astra, beautiful ruler of Mars, mistakes them for Jovians and shoots them down.
Crash-landing on Mars in the "Swamp of Death", our dim-witted duo encounter and make friends with a fire-breathing dinosaur/dragon.
Good thing, since the Jovians have landed (without crashing) in the swamp and are about to launch a sneak attack on Astra's palace!
When the Jovians shoot at the duo and their dinosaur/dragon, the trio head for the nearest city!
Within, Astra prepares a special formula that enhances one's courage.
But, unknown to her, aide Taro is a traitor working for the Jovians, and he switches her formula for plain water...which she drinks, believing it to be the courage-enhancer!
A&C arrive, the city's robot guards scare the dinosaur/dragon off and the pitiful pair are captured!

Then the poop hits the propeller...

(Hey, it's a PG-13 blog!)

Written by John Graham and illustrated by Lily "Lilly" Renee and Eric Peters, this tale from St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #3 (1949) shows what a decent special effects budget could've done for decent (but not great) A&C flicks like Universal's Abbott and Costello Go to Mars!

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Abbott &Costello

Complete Universal Pictures Collection

(including Abbott & Costello Go to Mars, which doesn't have a solo DVD/BluRay!)

Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "About Space" Part 1

Bud Abbott (the skinny straight man) and Lou Costello (the plump comedian)...

...were one of the most popular comedy teams in movies, radio, and TV for decades!

Yes, it's a cliffhanger!

And, no, you won't have to wait a week to see the conclusion!

Be here tomorrow, as we present the fantastic finale in our ongoing weekend feature,...

Space Hero/Space Heroine Saturdays!

Though some of their movies are (rightly) considered classics, it was always due to the duo, who were never given a decent-sized budget!

Even my all-time favorite, Universal's Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, had only a b-movie budget and a lot of recycled sets, props, and costumes!
This original (not adapted from radio or movies) story from St. John's Abbott and Costello Comics #3 (1948), written by John Graham and illustrated by Lily "Lilly" Renee and Eric Peters, shows how comics creators visualized spectacular tales unrestrained by financial limitations!

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Lily Renee, Escape Artist

by

Trina Robbins

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Man-Eating Lizards!"

It's fun to see early work by a talent who would become one of the all-time greats...

...like this rarely-seen work by a then-teenaged Joe Kubert!

Note: may be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

Oddly, the Pacific Islanders are colored green in this tale from Avon's Out of This World (1950) one-shot.

But when this story appeared several years earlier in Avon's Eerie Comics #1 (1947), they were various shades of brown and tan...

There's no explanation for the change to the coloring, especially since all the other color elements remained the same in both versions!

While artist Joe Kubert went on to become one of the icons of graphic storytelling, writer Edward Bellin disappeared from comics after scripting just this and one other story...which also appeared in that issue of Eerie Comics.

But that's not the end of the story!

Bellin (actually "Edward J Bellin") was an early pen-name for a writer already well-established in science-fiction/fantasy...Cyril M. Kornbluth...who was looking to expand beyond the prose market into other media, including comics, radio, and television.

Kornbluth had used the name on one of his earliest short stories, "No Place to Go", and decided to reuse it years later for his comics work.

Who sez comics ain't educational?

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Tribute to Joe Kubert

Creator & Mentor

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SPACE MAN "Out Into Space" Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

Hey, we're in the middle of a war here!

Check out Part 1 and Part 2, when you have a chance.

In the meantime, dive in...

Think this is the end of the story?

Heck, it's not even the end of the issue!

Be here next Wednesday...

...when our heroes face the world, and lie through their teeth to almost everyone!

Illustrated by Jack Sparling, and probably written by Joe Gill, this story from Dell's Four Color #1253 (1962) was the kickoff to a series that would continue for seven more issues in the early 1960s, then disappear from view...until now!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room ALIEN ENCOUNTERS "Invasion!"

Hostile, technologically-advanced aliens are coming our way!

Can we defeat them in only two pages?

The "menacing aliens are no threat because they're too small" trope is an old one, going back to golden-age comics.

My personal favorite, because of its' simple, effective storytelling by one of my all-time favorites, can be found HERE!

This never-reprinted Tim Truman written/illustrated "sci-fi Western" tale is from Eclipse's Alien Encounters #4 (1986).

There's a wealth of material from 1980s anthologies that has not seen the light of day since publication, and we will dip into this treasure trove of material as we find/acquire them!

BTW, "Fer SRB" on page 1 refers to fellow writer/artist Stephen R Bissette, presumably because the aliens resemble his creature designs.

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Scout

Volume 1

by Timothy Truman