Saturday, September 2, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays DRIFT MARLO: SPACE DETECTIVE "Case #1: File of the Periled Peace-Maker" Conclusion

Is an alien from space attempting to sabotage the new Anti-Missile Missile?
Detective Drift Marlo is attacked by someone...or something...near the launch pad.
Later he notices that Dr Fowler, who opposed the project had a bad leg...and the "alien" had the same limp...
This tale from Dell's Drift Marlo #1 (1962), was written by Phil Evans and illustrated by Tom Cooke, who also handled the ongoing Drift Marlo syndicated newspaper strip.
Yes, you read it right...ongoing syndicated newspaper strip.
Running for a decade from 1961 to 1971, the strip, while never a major hit, developed a dedicated audience.
The comic book, which ran only two issues, contained totally-new material, not reprints of the strips, as was so often the case with such titles including Dick TracyBrenda Starr, and Flash Gordon.
There have been no reprint compilation books of the Drift Marlo comic strip, nor was the short-lived comic book version ever reprinted.
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Friday, September 1, 2023

Friday Fun WILD "I Was an 88 Pound Weakling"

As we enter the final weekend of summer vacation...
...lets look at a parody of a classic tale of humiliation and redemption on the beach!
This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Wild #5 (1954) spoofs the plot of this ad...
...which had already become a cliche!
Penciler Al Hartley,  inker Carl Burgos, and an unknown scripter (likely the book's editor Stan Lee) knew the audience would get the joke especially since the ad ran in almost every comic of the 1950s!
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Thursday, August 31, 2023

Reading Room BARBARIAN COMICS "...friend in need..."

...in a somewhat different version.
Here's the original...
This initial version of the tale appeared in California Comics' Barbarian Comics #3 (1974).
Comparing the two, the dialogue and layout are unchanged in both versions, but the later one was re-inked and re-lettered, presumably because writer/artist Ron Harris had improved his skills in the intervening decade.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder SONIC DISRUPTORS "Are You Ready to Rock?" Conclusion

In 2030...as seen from 1987...

...the world has gone to shit!
How did it happen?
Read on...
While it won't be "next month", we will present "Republic of Rock" in the near future!

Writer Mike Baron, penciler Barry Crain, and inker John Nyberg created this series for DC in 1986, when the company was encouraging creatives to present new, creator-owned, projects either as stand-alone graphic novels or mini-series.
Though this was proposed as a 12-issue series, only seven issues were published, and contrary to rumors, there was no unpublished 8th issue!
We'll tell that tale...someday!

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Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Reading Room VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "...friend in need..."

In Space, No One Can Hear You...
...Dream (bet you thought I was going to say "Scream" didn't you?), as this story from over 30 years ago proves!
This tale from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #5(1984) had appeared a decade earlier in a somewhat different form!
You'll see that version...Thursday!
Writer-artist Ron Harris is best-known as the artist for the Dallas and Star Trek newspaper strips in the late 1970s-early 1980s.
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