Space Hero Saturdays SKYROCKET STEELE "...in the Year 'X' "

Though best-known as the creator of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner....

...Bill Everett's first published strip featured this Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers clone...

...Bill Everett's first published strip featured this Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers clone...

In this premiere chapter, the series starts "mid-stream", indicating events crucial to the plot occurred before we join Skyrocket and his buddies.

The captions and dialogue balloons are heavier than normal as expositional dialogue is used to clue the readers in on the situations in the "world of the future".

You'll also note the use of upper and lower-case lettering, unique, even then.

Everett's unique inking style is already developing, though crude in comparison to his later work.

To his credit, Bill doesn't swipe layouts from Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond, Hal (Tarzan/Prince Valiant) Foster, or any of the already-established masters of the graphic storytelling form as so many of his comic book contemporaries do!

He's not afraid to try his own "camera angles" to tell the story...not always succeeding, but experimenting and learning!

Trivia: Though the character debuted in this tale which appeared in Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies #2 (1938), he was the cover feature of issue #1...

....where no sign of him can be found inside of the book!

No one knows why!
Trivia: Pop culture historian and prolific genre author Ron (Star Hawks) Goulart utilized the name (but nothing else from Everett's strip) for a hysterically-funny novel about 1940s sci-fi movie serials...

(click for bigger image)

...which, while available on Amazon (as seen below) can't be found as this 1980 first edition with a kool cover by noted artist Carl Lundgren!
Snarky Note: I bought it in 1980,when it came out!
That and Goulart's very HTF Tremendous Adventures of Bernie Wine...

...a PG-13/soft R mass-market novel about a young (and horny) comic book artist in NYC, are among my favorite Goulart books in my collection (and I have a lot of them, including ghost-written standalones and series)!

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Skyrocket Steele
by Ron Goulart

Space Hero Saturdays DAN HASTINGS "and the Demons of Mexady"

One of the earliest comic book characters "inspired" by Flash Gordon...

...also had one of the most convoluted publication histories!

For one thing, the title character didn't even appear in the first two installments in Centaur's Star Comics (#1 above and #2 below) until the very end!

Instead, this pair of two-page chapters concentrate on Mexady's Ming the Merciless-type dictator and his reluctant chief scientist!

As of Centaur's Star Comics #3, our stalwart hero, his scientist friend, Dr Carter, the scientist's son (and Dan's sidekick) Bob...

...and the scientist's hot daughter, Gloria (whom the alien dictator immediately lusts for), finally get some attention!

Within four pages, we've gone from a World War (placed on hold) to a War of the Worlds!
And that was just the beginning!

The strip was created/written/illustrated by Fred Guardineer, one of the busier creatives of the Golden Age!

Though he's best known for his numerous magician characters including DC's Zatara, and Quality's Tor the Magic Master and Merlin the Magician, Fred worked in every genre, including Western, romance, high adventure, sci-fi, and even costumed super-heroes!
After his initial serial in Centaur's Star Comics 1-9, Dan Hastings popped up in titles published by MLJ/Archie, St John, and publisher Harry Chesler's various imprints!

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room: AMAZING MYSTERY FUNNIES "2038 AD: An Excursion to Mars"

In just a few years, we'll be spending our vacations on Mars, but getting there will seem awfully familiar...

...at least they thought so in 1938, when this feature appeared in Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies V1N2!

Writer/illustrator A S Van Eerde also did covers and interiors for magazines like American Legion, as well as fine art, but his comic book work was limited to this short-lived two-page strip that ran only four installments.

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Cannibal Monster of the Pygmy Planet"

Rockets on full for ACTION in the far future...

...on the maiden voyage of a new Space Patrol ship (after we saw their previous vessel get trashed HERE)!

The story really doesn't make much sense, but, hoo-boy, is it fast-paced FUN!

The multi-talented Basil Wolverton wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this final tale of the Space Patrol from Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies #24 (1940).

There's a change in direction for our ongoing Saturday feature, and you'll have to be here next week to see where it's going!
Don't Miss It!

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Basil Wolverton in Space
Reprinting the entire Space Patrol series along with other kool tales and extras!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Balloon Men of Jupiter"

Just when you think you've seen the weirdest art Basil Wolverton could create...

...you find something even weirder!

The multi-talented Basil Wolverton wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this wild tale from Amazing Mystery Funnies #21 (1940).
I'd love to see someone animate these classics of surreal storytelling.
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Basil Wolverton in Space
Reprinting the entire Space Patrol series along with other kool tales and extras!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Gambling Den of Space"

Here's a tale featuring an evil Plutonian who runs a mobile gambling den...

...which stays in unclaimed space like today's gambling ships anchor in international waters offshore from seaports.

(BTW, Does Kodi look like a prototype for Star Trek: the Next Generation's Ferengi?)

Alien subordinate with weird ears who's smarter than the series' human hero refusing a command of his own?
Who does that remind you of?
Hint: Classic STAR TREK!!!
The multi-talented Basil Wolverton wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this tale from Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies #22 (1940).

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Basil Wolverton in Space
Reprinting the entire Space Patrol series along with other kool tales and extras!

Space Force Saturdays SPACE PATROL "Pirates of Mercury"

Now here's a series I'd love to see a live-action version of...

...using state-of-the-art CGI for the SFX and aliens!

The multi-talented Basil Wolverton wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this tale from Amazing Mystery Funnies #19 (1940).

It's one of the first of the "law enforcement in space" sci-fi sub-genre that prospered in pulp and comic sci-fi in the 1930s and 40s, and carried over to TV in the 1950s.

Note: the 1950s TV/radio series Space Patrol was not based on Wolverton's strip.

(Could you imagine them trying to do Wolverton's aliens using 1950s-level makeup techniques?)

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Basil Wolverton in Space
Reprinting the entire Space Patrol series along with other kool tales and extras!