Friday Fun RIOT "Mother Goosepimple's Nursery Rhymes" Parts 1 & 2

Atlas Comics' numerous 1950s MAD comic clones...

...gave the company's creatives a chance to flex their artistic muscles in ways rarely-seen by their readers!

This never-reprinted short from Atlas RIOT #5 (1956) gave amazingly-versatile artist Joe Maneely a chance to show his rarely-seen humorous side.

The second, final, also never-reprinted installment in this series features an artist who already had a rep doing humor, John Severin, best known for his serious Western and War comics work at Harvey and EC!

He was also brother of EC Comics colorist Marie Severin, who later became Marvel's resident caricaturist (among her many other talents)!
I suspect this was going to be an ongoing series featuring rotating illustrators, but since Riot was cancelled as of this issue (6) in 1956, we'll never know!
BTW, if the writing style for both stories feels "familiar", that's because it was by snarky Stan (the Man) Lee!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES "Ghost Story"

Here's a never-reprinted 1950s tale...

... that's both about law enforcement and justice from beyond the grave!

You may note the Joe Maneely-illustrated cover doesn't really match the Bill Everett-rendered tale from Atlas' Amazing Detective Cases #13 (1952)

There are several possible reasons for that.

1) the cover and interior art were done at two different points in time, sometimes months apart!

2) The cover artist didn't have copies of the interior pages as visual reference, only plot descriptions from the editor!
3) the cover was done before the interior art as a "springboard" and the actual writer/artist(s) made changes when they were creating the story!
All three of these reasons could (and did) apply to Atlas Comics' books if the story's artist didn't do the cover...as was the case most of the time!

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Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped
A Crime Does Not Pay Primer

Reading Room VENUS COMICS "Thru the Lens"

Now this is how you tell a story in four pages...

...as demonstrated by artist Joe Maneely, a talent who died long before his time, and an unknown writer.

Who knew the world could end so...simply?

BTW, did you note the alien astronomer got it wrong?

Our planet blew up, not our sun!

If I was his boss, I'd fire him!

Originally-published in Atlas' Venus Comics #16 (1951), the tale was reprinted in the back of Marvel's X-Men #88 (1974), while the book was a reprint title, about a year before its' resurrection as the All-New X-Men!

So, the odds are that you, dear reader, have never seen it before!

And that, is what this blog is all about, showing you "lost" treasures!

Friday Fun DIPPY DUCK "Dangerous Dave"

We've showed you a couple of tales from a one-shot funny animal comic by Stan Lee and Bill Everett...

...now here's a short from another such one-shot by Stan and artist Joe Maneely!

Much like Everett did with Marvin Mouse, who looked more like a rat than a mouse, Joe Maneely tried to do a totally "non-Donald" duck!

Sadly, the end result didn't look much like a duck!

The versatile Maneely could do humor, as shown HERE, but this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Dippy Duck #1 (1957) shows even he had his off-days!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Haunted House Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "I was Locked in a...Haunted House!"

Here's a tale that was so kool...

...Stan Lee and the artists at Atlas/Marvel told it three times...with variations, of course!

Written by Stan Lee, illustrated by Joe Maneely, this story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #7 (1953) featured comic book fanboys as the protaganists.

(Note they only read Atlas titles like Mystic, Marvel Tales, and Uncanny Tales!

None of that EC crud for these guys!)

Be here Tuesday when Stan Lee and another Silver Age great re-tell this tale!

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MasterWorks: Atlas-Era

Menace

Monday Madness JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "Devil's Day Off!"

Here's a never-reprinted tale that's really a product of its' time...

...the 1950s, when paranoia and fear ruled the USA!

You know you're evil when Satan admires to your skills at torture!

Written by Stan Lee and beautifully-illustrated by Joe Maneely, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #22 (1953) is good clean fun for the entire family, not gory, like so much of the material at the time!

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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

Volume 1

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Inside the Tunnel"

Ever wonder where writers come up with their ideas?

Art by Joe Maneely

...well, here's a never-reprinted story from Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956) that offers a clue!

Of course, if it was an original manuscript/draft by Verne (which I think was the writer's intent), it would be in French...

The writer is unknown, but could be Stan Lee or Larry Lieber.

The art is by Al Williamson who did quite a bit of work in the fantasy and Western genres during the late 1950s for Atlas before it became Marvel.

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Completely Restored and Annotated Edition

(A new translation in contemporary English, heavily-illustrated, and with lots of info about the era when the book was written to put the tale in context!)

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Sting of the Scorpion, Cunning of the Centaur"

What's cooler than dealing with an alien menace in deep space?

Why, dealing with two alien menaces (who are also fighting each other) in deep space, of course!

The names of the constellations "Scorpio" and "Sagittarius" are Earth culture-based and their shapes as scorpions and centaurs can only be discerned from Earth.

So, why did evolution produce species that resemble Earth-based creatures in those distant star-systems?

And, why do centaurs have wings?

Probably tight deadlines, because it's an inherently-silly premise.

(And I won't even go into why Johnny says they're crashing into a star, when it's obviously a planet...)
This concludes our re-presentation of the never-reprinted Speed Carter: SpaceMan series.
Though next week is the final Space Squadron tale, that's not the end of those series here!

In two weeks, we'll present a gallery of the complete covers from both series along with a couple of interesting foreign variants!
After that...we're still considering if we should go with more military/police space opera (we have several kool series available) or just return Saturday posts to being whatever strikes our fancy!
Your opinion would be appreciated...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Space Force Saturdays SPEED CARTER "Thing in Outer Space"

Here's a tale that, back in the 1950s, could only have been shown in comics...

...because even the era's state-of-the-art SFX technology was far too primitive to do it effectively!

Oh, Speed, you're such a kidder!

This story from Atlas' Speed Carter: SpaceMan #6 (1954) was scripted (as were all Speed Carter tales) by Hank Chapman, and illustrated by Bob Forgione.
You'll note that Forgione uses original artist Joe Maneely's designs for the Speed Carter universe, which previous artists Mike Sekowsky (issue #4) and George Tuska (issue #5) ignored in their issues.
In fact, Forgione tries to match Maneely's rendering style...and does a damned good job at it.
It's a shame this was Speed's final issue.

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Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr

by Isaac Asimov

(under the pen-name "Paul French")

Omnibus of ALL Six Space-Opera Sagas!

David Starr: Space Ranger, Pirates of the Asteroids, Oceans of Venus, Big Sun of Mercury, Moons of Jupiter, Rings of Saturn