Reading Room BLAZE BARTON "and the World of the Future"

You think global warming is bad now, wait until 50,020 AD...

...when only Blaze Barton and his scientist friend Prof Solis stand between mankind and total annihilation!

Though the Core-Men remained an ongoing threat, the strip quickly changed emphasis to outer space as Blaze and associates began traveling to other worlds.

You'll see his entire 13-story run on this blog over the next few months.

While the writer of this premiere tale from Quality's Hit Comics #1 (1940) is unknown, the artist was Henry Kiefer, a craftsman with over 400 comics stories and covers from 1935 to 1954 including numerous Classics Illustrated adaptations.

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics

Monday Mars Madness AMAZING ADVENTURES OF BUSTER CRABBE "I Cover Mars"

He was Flash Gordon!

He was Buck Rogers!

He was Thun'da!

He was Tarzan!

And, he was the star of his own comic book series...twice!

From the 1940s to the 60s, numerous celebrities had their own comic books which took the approach that anything they did on movie/tv/radio, they could do in "real life"!

While comics based on Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, et al, just did Western tales, the four-color stories of performers like John Wayne and Buster Crabbe covered as many genres as the actors themselves!

In fact, the issue this short appeared in (Lev Gleason's Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe #1 from 1953) had three tales, this space opera, a jungle adventure, and a Western!
Interestingly, in all of the stories, no matter the locale or time period, Buster is himself, not one of the characters he played!

This was Buster's second series.

(You can read another tale from this run HERE)

The first, from Eastern Color, ran a dozen issues over two years and featured art by, among others, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, George Evans, Bob Powell, and Roy Krenkel, among others.

(You can see several of those tales HERE)

This tale was illustrated by Ed Martinott, who worked exclusively for Lev Gleason and Good Comics in the early 1950s before switching to advertising.

Pretty good work, including accurate likenesses of Crabbe in most panels.

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Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars

The Complete 15-Chapter Serial Remastered from the Original Camera Negatives!

Reading Room BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky"

Is there anything Will Eisner hadn't done during his long career?

He took chances experimenting with genres like this baseball-themed 1949 comic book...

...which predated a rush of sports-themed comics from various publishers the next year.

Unfortunately, the big problem with being first is that, often, the world isn't quite ready for you, and Baseball Comics lasted only one issue.

But it certainly wasn't for lack of quality, as this Eisner-written and penciled tale, inked by Tex Blaisdell, proves.

There's more to Rube Rooky's one shot at stardom, and we'll be running it on Sundays over the summer, so don't miss it!

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Baseball Comics #2
(A follow-up published decades later)

Space Force Saturdays SPACE SQUADRON & SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Famous Explorers of Space" Part 6

Both Atlas' Space Squadron and Speed Carter: SpaceMan had "future history" features...

...set in the "past", like this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Space Worlds #6 (1953), illustrated by Christopher Rule, which took place in an unnamed period after the 1960s!

In the alternate future world of Speed Carter, we discover women (even female astronauts) are not always treated as equals...

...but, when push comes to shove, they're as brave and as any men when facing the dangers of deep space exploration!

This story of a future fighting feminist from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1953) is written (like all the Speed Carter-related tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bill Benulis, an artist who entered the comics field in 1949 and stayed only four years in the business.

He became a postman when the comics industry almost collapsed due to the "Seduction of the Innocent" witchhunt (that claimed comics caused juvenile delinquency) swept the country.

But, because he was so prolific, unpublished material by him kept appearing in comics until 1957!

Besides "Famous Explorers", Space Squadron/Space Worlds also presented "future history tales" about the guy who was young hotshot Jet Dixon's crusty Commander-in-Chief when he was a young hotshot pilot...

Young Blast Revere's final adventure (also from Atlas' Space Worlds #6) was illustrated by George Klein.

Both Klein and Christopher Rule were primarily inkers, because, while they were competent pencilers, they could ink faster than they could pencil.

So, in a business where the per-page rate was low, specializing in inking paid better!
BTW, this is the final "Famous Explorers" entry, since both Speed Carter and Space Squadron/Space Worlds were cancelled with #6!
But, there are still several more tales from both titles to tell....

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Friday Food Fun "Man's Guide to Outdoor Cooking" Part 1 "Greet the Grill"

Since it's BBQ season...

...for the next few weeks, we're going to offer you some grilling tips that are as relevant now as they were when the comic was published back in the 1950s!

Next Friday

(Just in time for the 4th of July)

Meats

Beef, Pork,
Hamburgers, Hot Dogs!

Don't Miss It!

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Chop Sizzle Wow

50 Step-by-Step Kitchen Adventures

(Told in Manga Format)