Time to blast-off into the horror-filled void of scary outer space with an action packed creature feature from the July 1954 issue of Spaceman #6, (the actual final issue of this very short-lived Atlas series, in fact!) Bob Forgione amps up the atmospherics, and that's Joe Maneely on creepy cover duty! So prepare now for one heckuva rockin' rocket ride with Speed Carter and the Space Sentinels as they face:
“Sufferin Atoms!” “Holy Meteors,” Apparently there is air in space as our heroes bail out in parachutes and later have to deal with a broken windshield. This along with “Space Hoboes” bumming for a cigarette, Space Gangsters and as a capper Space Dinosaurs, the pulp is really thick here. Hugely enjoyable, but in only another 10 years, Star Trek and Kubrick’s 2001 would eliminate much of this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteEvery Wallywood-esque panel of this thing is great. It's exactly the kind of comics story I would have been buying these books for in the first place. I can't imagine how stoked I'd have been as a twelve-year-old reading this story. I want every twist finale to be just like this-- "then: Monster Hole! Everybody gets eaten! THE END(?)."
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed with the dark poetry of space as glimpsed through the prose here, too: The dark back alleys of space, the dark soil of space, the red-hot wounded dark flesh of space. I like to sense the fun people had making pop culture back in the day. It's here in the words and art. It seems as far from ponderous self-serious myth-making of modern genre storytelling as you can get.
Here, boys and girls (and scoob, with that reveal) is what you call "economic" story telling. They are already fighting the monster on page 1; and the craziness never stops. Even, when there's only 2 panels remaining, they spring ancient underground space dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteThe artist is really channeling EC here -- and a lot of Wood as Mr. Cavin was saying -- last page panel 5 is very much as Wood sci-fi as it gets. And it's great! There's so much good stuff here -- the slick space craft, the monster/robot(s), guns, missile, explosions, crashes.
Honestly, it's silly, it's pulpy, but it's also a fun read with some great art. I guess nobody back then could make a sci-fi mag work (EC famously paid for the sci-fi mags with profits from the horror comics.)
Looking at this with a little less modern eye, I'd say this was more Jules Verne '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' (Disney movie or no Disney movie) than it was Lovecraft's 'The Call Of Cthulhu'. Squid attack? Check. Mechanical animal? Check. Checkmate? No, but still....
ReplyDeleteAs to Wally Wood's influence, I guess that's possible, but I get more of a Bob Powell vibe from this. Perhaps it's instead a lingering influence from series originator Joe Maneely? I could see that, too.
Man, this one is worth it for the space hobos and the frankly insane last minute twist.
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