Thursday, June 24, 2021

Reading Room FANTASTIC WORLDS "Ace of Space"

Not to be confused with Space Ace (who went through several different incarnations)...
...this guy is a Cold War fighter pilot-type transposed to a Star Wars setting!

Darn those aliens!
Sending robot "drones" to do their fighting instead of going man-against-lizard as God intended!
Though the scripter for this tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #7 (1952) is unknown, the artwork is by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, with a couple of panels redrawn by Mike Sekowsky!

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Of Vultures and VoltaMen!"

...and it appears secrets from the distant past are about to be revealed!
Thanks to this tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #56 (1948), we now know the Martians tried to warn us in August, 1968 that the VoltaMen were en-route to attack and conquer Earth, with the invasion actually occurring shortly after that!
We don't know exactly how long after then that the "present-day" adventures of Hunt Bowman and Lyssa take place, but it's likely less than a century...perhaps even around 2020!
Will Eon the Martian return...and bring his fellow aliens with him?
Note that artist George Evans is improving by leaps and bounds since his debut only a few months ago in #50 as shown HERE!
He's experimenting with perspective and "camera angles", showing much more drama and in the individual panels.
While not quite where he'll be when he works on EC Comics' sci-fi, horror, and war books several years down the line, it's exciting to see his evolution as an illustrator!

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Planet Comics
Volume 12
(contains issues 54 to 59)

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Xom! The Menace from Outer Space!"

Behind this kool, never-reprinted Jack Kirby/Christopher Rule cover...
...lurks an equally-cool (but visually-different) never-reprinted tale!
Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, and penciled/inked by Joe Sinnott, this cover-featured tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #18 (1959) was a combination of the "giant monster with weird name" and Twilight Zone "switch ending" tropes Lee was so fond of.
You'll note the "monster" is rendered pretty much the same on both the cover and insides, while the Earthmen and aliens are vastly-different!
I'm not certain which was done first, but the difference between the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers-style renderings by Sinnott and the...well...Kirbyesque versions on the cover are striking!
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Monday, June 21, 2021

Monday Mars Madness MAN FROM S.R.A.M. "vs the Devil Man from S.U.N.E.V.!"

A couple of weeks ago we presented the Man from S.R.A.M. in his only published adventure!
...but there's one more tale to be told...that wasn't told!
Written by Otto Binder (with re-write by Editor Joe Simon?) and illustrated by George Tuska, this story produced for Harvey's never-published Jigsaw #3 features a different Martian form for the protaganist, as well as a different vehicle from the previous chapter!
At the same time, Tuska also drew all three issues of Harvey's SpyMan, another cross-genre (super hero/spy/sci-fi) series just before moving on to a long run as Marvel's primary Silver Age Iron Man artist after Gene Colan!
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Sunday, June 20, 2021

MORE Blogathon MADNESS!

You know about the comic-based novels we're presenting in our Summer Blogathon, but what about actual comics?
Don't worry.
We have that covered...starting with a never-reprinted, over 40-year old extra-long adventure of Marvel's Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu in...where else...
during the last week of July!
Then, get comfy with the latest in our annual gothic-themed Beach Reads in...
...during the first week of August!
Note: this 50-year old tale was reprinted a decade ago...but in black and white!
This is it's first appearance in full color since 1971!
Finally, to wind up the Blogathon in the last week of August, we present...
...the never-reprinted, serialized, Origin of The Shadow from the never-reprinted 1960s Radio/Archie comics in
Hero Histories
And here's the kicker...they're text features...from the comics!
Yep, we start the Blogathon with...

...this novel beginning (appropriately enough)  on July 4th, and running a chapter a day at...
Hero Histories
...then continuing with the earlier-mentioned kung-fu and romance entries at
Pop Art Martial Arts
and
True Love Comics Tales
The Caped Crusader appears the second week of August, also running a chapter a day at
Hero Histories!
And winding it all up will be the (text) Radio Comics adventures of He Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men, also at
Hero Histories
...where you'll find several of his 1960s comic adventures already there and ready to read!