Thursday, June 18, 2015

Reading Room STUART TAYLOR IN WEIRD STORIES OF THE SUPERNATURAL "Waterloo"

We presented another tale of time traveler Stuart Taylor a couple of years ago...
...today, on the 200th Anniversary of Waterloo, we see how Stuart and his mentor, Dr Hayward, changed the course of history!
Bet you didn't know time-travelers with ray guns helped defeat Napoleon!
That's just one of the time-lost secrets found in this Sy Reit-illustrated tale from Fiction House's Jumbo Comics #25 (1941), published almost a year before we entered an already-ongoing World War II!
At that time, almost everyone felt we'd be entering the war sooner or later.
The only questions were "when?" and "why?", which were answered on December 7th, 1941, when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor.
The rest, as we say, is history...

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, EVERYWHERE!

Jurassic World ain't the only movie to feature dinosaurs, y'know...
...there was One Million Years, B.C., as we showed HERE!
The dinosaur is behind Raquel Welch (like you're complaining???), and he was animated by no less a genius than sfx legend Ray Harryhausen!
For those who wanted cowboys with their dinosaur, there was Valley of Gwangi (as seen HERE), also featuring the animation work of Ray Harryhausen!
(Before CGI, Ray was the go-to guy for this sort of thing.)
And, if you like your dinosaur to be something totally-new (like the Indominus Rex in Jurassic World), there's Gorgo (as shown HERE)!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Best of Reading Room: WEIRD THRILLERS "Cycle of Time"

With the revived popularity of dinosaurs due to the new movie Jurassic World...
...we're re-presenting one of our favorite stories; a sci-fi triple-treat: time travel, aliens, and dinosaurs!
Illustrated by Murphy Anderson, who was doing quite a bit of work for ZD including the second issue of Space Busters and both issues of Lars of Mars as well as various one-shots like this one from the HTF Ziff-Davis' anthology Weird Thrillers #2 (1951)!.
We don't know who wrote this tale, but it might be series editor Jerry (Superman) Siegel.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Reading Room KIDNAPPED BY A SPACE SHIP "Part 2 - Red Menace!"

Despite the miscolored hair and clothing, this is Jean Martin and Tom Pratt on the cover.
...in the far-flung future of 1970 (Well, it was "far-flung" when this story was published in 1959!)
Tween-ager Jean Martin and her friend, Tom Pratt, are given a tour of experimental spaceship "Starlight II" by Jean's father, Colonel Martin, the ship's pilot.
The doors suddenly snap shut and the shop lifts off!
(Note: this is one time the kids didn't accidentally hit a switch or button, as usually happens in these stories!)
So why is this chapter called "Red Menace"?
Since there aren't any Communists in this tale from Treasure Chest V14N12 (1959), I'm presuming that one of the two celestial bodies they're approaching is red!
We'll see which one they land on when the story continues next Monday!
Writer Frances Crandall followed the accepted concepts of space travel postulated by scientist Wener Von Braun and, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell in various books and magazines like Conquest of Space, and popularized in numerous 1950s movies like Destination Moon and Angry Red Planet!
Artist Fran Matera was also the art director/art editor for Treasure Chest, but is best known for his long run on the Steve Roper and Mike Nomad newspaper strip.