Showing posts with label space opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space opera. Show all posts

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays STAR HUNTERS "Part 1: The Farrell Alternative" Conclusion

...swashbucking Donovan Flint, after single-handedly rescuing a vital Earth-bound shipment of fresh food from space pirates, is invited to a meeting with Director Farrell of The Corporation.
But when he arrives, the smiling rogue discovers getting out will be much harder than getting in...
We want to apologize for this post being a week late.
This was supposed to appear last week, and Jumpin' Jupiter was supposed to appear this week.
But the birth of my first grand-niece took priority and my assistant couldn't follow my terrible handwriting on a post-it about which post went when and things went "futzy"!
Note about this story...though this never-reprinted tale appeared in the double-sized DC Super-Stars V2 #18 (1977), it's actually the first of two regular-sized issues of the proposed series which were cobbled together.
You'll see the other one in the near-future...and this time on the correct order!
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Saturday, April 13, 2024

Space Hero Saturdays STAR HUNTERS Intro and "Part 1: The Farrell Alternative"

In the mid-1970s, tv/movie sci-fi experienced a revival...
...and comics, as they had done since the late 1940s, jumped on the pop culture bandwagon!
But, instead of doing adaptations of popular shows like Space: 1999 (Charlton), or movies like Star Wars (Marvel), DC decided to do a couple of original series using talented, young, up-and-coming creatives.
One of them was The Survivors...I mean The Outcasts...er, make that Donovan Flint: StarHunter...or finally, The Star Hunters!
Here's the explanation of how the project came about, from DC Super-Stars V2N18 (1977)...
And now, from that never-reprinted issue...
To Be Continued...
NEXT SATURDAY!
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Saturday, October 28, 2023

Spooky Space Force Saturdays STRANGE GALAXY "Space Monsters"

Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
...except, it both was and wasn't the final tale!
The script was used, almost verbatim (but with a renamed lead character), for a new story in the first issue of the short-lived 1970s b/w magazine Strange Galaxies!
All the other names, including the female lead, Maeve, and various locations, remained the same...
In fact, all the stories in Eerie Publications' Strange Galaxy V1N8 (which was the first issue), were re-dos of earlier stories from various defunct comic companies!
I guess they figured that no one would remember the original 1950s tales in 1971...
The rewriter/adaptor is unknown, but could be editor Carl Burgos, who created, among others, the Golden Age Human Torch and the first Silver Age Captain Marvel (the android who said "Split"!).
The stories don't have individual art credits, but according to the Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett, the illustrator is one of the artists who were regular contiburors to the Eerie Publications line, Oscar Fraga.
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Saturday, October 21, 2023

Spooky Space Force Saturdays KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Monster-Men of Space!"

It's time for more spooky interstellar adventure with Kenton of the Star Patrol...
...as another talented artist takes the reins from Wally Wood and Joe Orlando for Kenton's final tale!
This Kenton story from Avon's Strange Worlds #6 (1952) is penned by Gardner Fox and rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who left comics for fine art (including numerous official portraits of US Presidents).
Previous Kenton artists Joe Orlando and Wally Wood did the cover for the issue...
...but, when the cover was reused for IW/Super's Eerie #1 (1958), which contained stories from Spook Comics, the art looked decidedly-different!
Was the Eerie cover the original version, which was modified to make the alien match the Kinsler-drawn aliens?
Ironically, when the Kenton story was reprinted, it had a totally-new cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito featuring aliens who looked nothing like the Monster-Men...

And there's yet another twist to the tale of this tale, which we'll tell...next week, when we go from Strange Worlds and Strange Planets to Strange Galaxies!
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Saturday, October 7, 2023

Spooky Space Force Saturdays KENTON OF THE STAR PATROL "Vampires of the Void"

Strap on your blasters and activate your ato-jets, kids...
Art by Joe Orlando and Wally Wood
...as we join our space-faring hero against gorgeous aliens who suck the life from humans!
Now that's a sci-fi horror tale...and illustrated by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando!
Gardner Fox scripted the story published in Avon's Strange Worlds #4 (1951) and it actually makes sense, given the scientific knowledge of the era.
Add a kool (if slightly misleading) cover by Wood and Orlando...and you've got a cult classic!
Hard to believe it's only been reprinted twice!
But...it has been re-told twice more!
What do we mean by that?
Be Back Next Week to Find Out!
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