Monday Madness MIGHTY MARVEL COMICS STRENGTH AND FITNESS BOOK "Posture and Balance Exercises from The Silver Surfer"

 The full title is Stan Lee Presents the Mighty Marvel Comics Strength and Fitness Book...

...but that was too long for the post header!

The book is actually pretty clever and its' use of specific characters for particular easy-to-do exercises is nicely done!

Written by Ann Picardo and illustrated by Joe Giella, this never-reprinted 1976 trade paperback from Fireside/Pocket Books was part of their extensive line of Marvel titles that included the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Siver Surfer: the Ultimate Cosmic Experience graphic novel, the four-volume Origins reprints series, and assorted individual character reprints as well as How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way and oddball titles like Marvel Fun Book and Mighty Marvel SuperHeroes' Cookbook!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURE COMICS "SWORD OF THE DEAD!"

Here's a never-reprinted tale of "HIGH adventure"...

...written and illustrated by Gil Kane during the same period he was producing his landmark graphic novel BlackMark!

Simple.

Visceral.

Effective.

Now, THAT'S the way to tell a story!

This tale appeared in DC's Adventure Comics #425 (1972-73), when it was, briefly, an anthology between the departure of Supergirl into her own short-lived title and the debut of heroine Black Orchid!

BTW, BlackMark will be coming to Wednesday Worlds of Wonder this summer!

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Blackmark

by Gil Kane

One of the first true graphic novels

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

When last we left our handsome intergalactic rogue...

...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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Mystery in Space

Best of DC Science Fiction

Reading Room / Tales Twice Told WEIRD "Deadman's Ship"

For a change, this week's entry into Tales Twice Told begins with the re-done version by artist Enrique Cristobal...

...from Eerie Publications' Weird V8N4 (1974).

Though the scripter of this re-working is unknown, he/she/they are likely the story's original author, who is probably...nope, not gonna tell you now.

You'll have to come back Thursday to find out!

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The Worst of Eerie Publications

Reading Room SCREAM DOOR "Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me a..."

This tale, written and illustrated in 1970-71, embodies two problems...

...the "collector mind-set", and extrapolating future technology based on what currently-exists!

Most of this blog's readers, as well as myself, share (to an extent) Gerson's attitude about collectibles, though perhaps not a willingness to die before giving them up!

Overall, this tale, written and illustrated by Michael (The Shadow) Kaluta, holds up well in a Twilight Zone-esque fashion.
However, the idea that a derelict land-line phone would, after a couple of centuries, still be hooked up to a functioning network defies belief in 2024, since few of our still-standing public phones are still operational!
Add to that the fact nobody in the tale carries some sort of personal communication device, as was common in sci-fi/fantasy tales written since the 1930s and set in the near-future, and what was delightfully-ironic in the 1970s seems quaint and improbable from a 21st Century viewpoint!
Notes: Scream Door, the prozine this tale appeared in, consisted mostly of material meant for the legendary magazine Web of Horror.
When Web was cancelled as of #3, almost all of the already-completed stories for later issues ended up in either this one-shot or the three-issue series I'll Be Damned, by the same publisher.
"Buddy..." also appeared in Marvel's b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1 (1975).

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Wings of Twilight

Art of Michael Kaluta

What Do Trumpettes Talk About When They Wait in Line to Get Into a Rally?

Likely something like this...

...and this!

Both these two-page spreads are from Charlton's Hee Haw comics derived from the syndicated TV series.

These examples of the show's humor were written and illustrated by Frank Roberge and based on an ongoing skit featuring the entire cast (plus guest stars) in a cornfield popping up and doing jokes and one-liners!

The TV show ran a surprising twenty-six seasons from 1969 to 1995, though the comic only lasted for seven (never-reprinted) issues!

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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Mystery in Space

Best of DC Science Fiction