D139 - Tarzan and the Missionary

Here is another classic Tarzan by John Celardo. This story had been presented by Dr. Bagwani from his collection of newspaper strips.

Here is the original link to these strips, which were shared by EMILE (Who else?)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nk5cyd

Enjoy

Number 1254: Horrors! It's Halloween!

Today is Halloween, and my one bag of jelly beans is ready to parcel out to the trick or treaters, one jelly bean at a time. I found the jelly beans in a drawer in the basement, so they are several years old. When I poured them into a bowl I noticed some of them were moldy. Nice guy that I am I picked out the worst of them. But my eyes, fried from sitting in front of a computer monitor all day, probably didn't detect them all. So, kids, c'mon over to Pappy's...and take your chances. Oh, yeah...I will put in one jelly bean per trick or treat bag. It's my way of fighting the childhood obesity epidemic. Gad — speaking of vision problems — I'm blinded by the glow from my own altruism and public spirit!

Here are two stories that are oldies, but unlike the jelly beans, not moldies. They’re original art from Vault of Horror. They show the artists, Ghastly Graham Ingels and Jack Davis, at the very top of their profession. I've complained about text-heavy comic books before, and that's true of these stories. They're very wordy. But the artwork...gasp! Choke! Good Lord!

“We Ain't Got No Body!” is from Vault of Horror #28, and “Tombs-Day” appeared in Vault of Horror #35. The scans were made by Heritage Auctions, and it was from their website that I shamelessly lifted them. I give all the credit to them for the sharp scans.

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This would be a good time to echo what my friend Chuck Wells at Comic Book Catacombs has recommended, the first issue of Craig Yoe's and Steve “Karswell” Banes' Haunted Horror. I'm doing this sight unseen, because I respect both those guys, and know first hand the quality they are known for.

Buy it!

Change... into Something Comfortable / Trick or Treat

Two hairy scary, monster mashin' Halloween party tales from two different generations of terror for you today-- our first from the December 1973 issue of Creepy #58 (story by Doug Moench and artwork by Richard Corben), followed by an encore presentation of a Golden Age pre code classic from the May 1954 issue of Weird Mysteries #10 (art by Eugene Hughes.) Happy Halloween to all our fiendish friends from THOIA!

The Aliens

This post was suggested by an emailer named Darell.

I have talked previously about the terrific Gold Key series, Magnus, Robot Fighter.  In the back of each of the Magnus comics was a four-page serial called The Aliens.  The series started with the contact with Earthmen:

After an initial mistaken impression that the aliens were firing at them, they decide to head for home.  But then they realize that they can't do that without risking that the aliens will follow and discover Earth.  The aliens grasp the problem as well:

This is the basic plot of one of the most famous science fiction stories of all time, First Contact, by Murray Leinster.  The dilemma was resolved by having the two species swap ships after wiping out all information that could identify their home planets.  However, that wouldn't make for much of a serial, so in The Aliens, the solution is:

This creates two parallel stories, with one following the captain of the Earth ship (Johnner) and his half-alien, half-human crew heading back to Earth, while the other ship returns to the alien's homeworld.

Over the next several issues, we see the aliens and the Earthmen developing a bond and trust for each other as they help the other species out of difficulties:

While this provides good characterization, it does have one drawback: there is not much conflict.  Oh, sure, there's the obligatory story where one of the Earthmen has an irrational prejudice towards the aliens, that is unsurprisingly resolved when an alien saves his life.  So it seemed to me that the serial started to bog down a bit, until they arrive back at Earth, where the aliens are surprised to discover:

The colonists from Venus had been taken over by another alien intelligence and were infiltrating the Earth.  This provides the conflict the series needed:

Note the slur.  There's something else being talked about here, under the surface.  Over the next several issues, the Earthmen and the aliens battle the Venusians and attempt to discover their plans.  The scripting and artwork on the series was done by Russ Manning, who was also doing the same chores on the Magnus feature.  Check out this gorgeous page:

Overall the series is entertaining and well worth reading.  It has been reprinted several times, most recently by Acclaim as Captain Johner and the Aliens.

Flash Gordon - S075 - The Skorpi (1959-02-08 to 1959-04-05)

Story & Art: Mac Raboy 

Original run: 1959-02-08 to 1959-04-05

Summary: Finding themselves plunging through an artificial lake on Saturn’s moon Titan (read S-074 The Ship of Gold), a horrified Flash and Dale suddenly stand face to face with the dreaded Skorpi, an all-conquering race who is preparing an Earth invasion from their hidden base.

Managing to evade his captors, a desperate Flash tries to contact the authorities on Earth, but first he needs to locate and save Dale, a task made much more complicated by the fact that the Skorpi are master duplicators...

(Source of summary: www.ipcomics.net) 

Download 

All credits go to "spax". 

Flash Gordon - S074 - The Ship of Gold (1958-12-21 to 1959-02-01)

Story & Art: Mac Raboy 

Original run: 1958-12-21 to 1959-02-01

Summary: Preparing a shipment of mining equipment and a large money consignment at an Earth rocket port, Flash and Dale are suddenly overcome by two robbers in an unusual attack.

Watching helplessly as the cargo rocket takes off with Dale as a hostage, Flash scrambles together a rescue ship and follows the culprits to one of Saturn’s moons and a meeting with an unscrupulous character from his past...

(Source of summary: www.ipcomics.net) 

Download

All credits go to "spax". 

Flash Gordon - S073 - Moon Wreck (1958-10-19 to 1958-12-14)

Story & Art: Mac Raboy
Original run: 1958-10-19 to 1958-12-14
Summary: As the world is buzzing with the news of a pompous playboy and his movie star partner crashing their space ship on the Moon, plans are set in motion for the delicate rescue mission.
Agreeing to pilot the rescue ship, Flash has his work cut out for him as he must reproduce the crash in minute detail to be able to reach the isolated space travellers – with unforeseen trouble ahead...
(Source of summary: www.ipcomics.net)

Download

All credits go to "spax".

Flash Gordon - S072 - Rocket Derby (1958-08-24 to 1958-10-12)

Story & Art: Mac Raboy 

Original run: 1958-08-24 to 1958-10-12

Summary: Agreeing to fly the powerful “Bumblebee” rocket in the upcoming Solar Derby space race, Flash soon learns that his decision incites acute jealousy in another prospective pilot, who swears to get even in another ship she will pilot in the race.

With a jealous Dale turning up as a surprise participant in the race, Flash has his hands full to avoid trouble from the opposite sex, but must also keep an eye out for real saboteurs aiming to doctor the race for their own purposes...

(Source of summary: www.ipcomics.net) 

Download 

All credits go to "spax".

Flash Gordon - S071 - Stratosphere Beast (1958-06-22 to 1958-08-17)

Story & Art: Mac Raboy 

Original run: 1958-06-22 to 1958-08-17

Summary: Taking a prolonged holiday away from all things space to come to terms with the outcome of his latest mission (see S-070 The Z Bomb Cloud), Flash is contacted by his old big-game hunter friend Brian Farr, who has an interesting new theory to offer.

Being a firm believer in the existence of living ‘flying saucers’ in Earth’s upper stratosphere, Farr persuades a sceptic Flash to pilot a reconnaissance ship to the right altitude to observe, and catch, one of the fascinating creatures...

(Source of summary: www.ipcomics.net) 

Download

All credits go to "spax". 

Number 1253: Journey into Halloween fear!

As I mentioned yesterday, Wednesday is Halloween, and despite being the Ebeneezer Scrooge of Halloween, I feel obligated to show some Halloween stories. But obligated is the wrong word. I love horror stories, I'm just not thrilled about Halloween. It's the kids you know...the kids who come to the door and yell “Trick or Treat!” and make Ebeneezer Pappy get off the comfy couch, from which I’ll be watching some old horror movie on TV, no doubt.

I also told you yesterday I found a long-forgotten bag of jelly beans in a drawer. I will give them out to the kids. I opened the bag and poured them into a bowl to keep by the front door. I sampled one of the j.b.'s and it was a bit hard. I nearly broke a tooth. I'll have to issue a disclaimer when I put them in the kids' trick or treat bags. “Make sure you suck on these jelly beans for a half hour or so before biting into them, kiddies! Heh-heh. And don't send me a dentist's bill!”

So what have we for our fear-fare today? We have two stories I've showed before, way back when in the early days of this blog. They're both from the Canadian publisher, Superior Comics, which got their pre-packaged material from the Jerry Iger Studios. Iger had some demented people writing and drawing terror tales in those days. 

Hey, you know what's funny? Halloween candy may rot your teeth, but horror stories like these will definitely rot your brain!

From  Journey Into Fear #19 (1954):