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Post by electricmastro on Dec 16, 2019 23:08:09 GMT -5
Felt compelled to make a thread about early sci-fi comic books, particularly consistently visually appealing ones from the 1930s and 1940s, a time when comic writers had no frame of reference in regards to what humans being in space was like. A prime example would definitely have to be Planet Comics, published by Fiction House from 1940-1953. Their first issue alone shows how much the sci-fi genre could lend itself towards one's imagination and artistic expression.  |
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Post by berkley on Dec 16, 2019 23:33:16 GMT -5
I've only seen online cover images like the above, from this era of comics: many of those look fantastic, but I always suspect that the interior artwork might not be quite as impressive.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2019 0:31:42 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2019 0:39:51 GMT -5
A great resource on sci-fi comics is Mike Benton's Illustrated History of Science Fiction Comics...  our local library has a copy of this (it's part of a larger history of comics series, but this is the only volume of it I have seen). It's fairly comprehensive, lavishly illustrated, and has a pretty decent checklist of stuff in the genre. It was published in the early 90s, so obviously doesn;t havemore recent stuff, but for early sci-fi comics, it's a gold mine of info. -M |
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Post by electricmastro on Dec 17, 2019 1:47:02 GMT -5
I've only seen online cover images like the above, from this era of comics: many of those look fantastic, but I always suspect that the interior artwork might not be quite as impressive. I wouldn't say they're the same, but Planet Comics #1 still quite impressed me.   |
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Post by berkley on Dec 17, 2019 3:11:23 GMT -5
yeah, I like the look of that. I should have said "fear" rather than "suspect", because I don't have much knowledge or experience of reading these comics to judge by.
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Post by profh0011 on Dec 17, 2019 7:20:16 GMT -5
That WEIRD SCIENCE cover where the army guy disavows flying saucers as "poppycock" looks like it inspired the scene in Angus McKie's "So Beautiful And So Dangerous" in HEAVY METAL decades later.
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 17, 2019 8:03:19 GMT -5
I've only seen online cover images like the above, from this era of comics: many of those look fantastic, but I always suspect that the interior artwork might not be quite as impressive. It isn't. The first few years of Planet is utter crap, artwise (storywise, too, unless you're a huge fan of dumbed down old school space opera). The quality of the illustration goes up beginning in '43, but so far (I've only gotten through the 1945 issues) nothing comes anywhere near Alex Raymond or Al Williamson.
Cei-U! I summon the somewhat jaded assessment!
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Post by electricmastro on Dec 17, 2019 13:06:03 GMT -5
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Post by junkmonkey on Dec 17, 2019 17:59:59 GMT -5
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Post by electricmastro on Dec 17, 2019 18:17:59 GMT -5
I wasn't sure where to post this but I just found a 8 page strip in an old (1953) Charlton SF comic, Space Adventures #7 that knocked my socks off: Also worth mentioning is that Charlton had Space Western:  |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Dec 18, 2019 13:54:53 GMT -5
I'm often surprised to find curious antecedents of much more popular versions of stories in 1950s sci-fi comics. Everyone remembers the classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man," based on the 1950 short story by Damon Knight, but it looks like Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein of EC Comics were the first to adapt the tale for Jan./Feb 1951's Weird Fantasy #7, in a story titled "Come into My Parlor," with art by Jack Kamen. An exhausted entomologist, working late on a manuscript, is visited by a woman from the future who implores him to return with her. As she explains:   Of course, it turns out she means this literally.  Here's another. We all know that Adrian Veidt's plan to save the world in Watchmen was "inspired" by an episode of another classic sci-fi series, The Outer Limits. The episode was "The Architects of Fear" from September of 1963. I think Alan Moore was even compelled to credit the episode's writers officially, but I may be mistaken. The point is moot anyway, as Harvey Kurtzman had already had the idea back in 1951 in Weird Science #5's "The Last War on Earth." See for yourself.   It's of course possible that Kurtzman "borrowed" the idea from an earlier source, but until that is proven, perhaps he should be credited for "The Architects of Fear."  |
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Post by profh0011 on Dec 18, 2019 15:06:11 GMT -5
I know at least 3 of THE OUTER LIMITS episodes were adaptations of earlier stories.
"I, ROBOT" was adapted from Earl & Otto Binder's "Adam Link" stories in AMAZING STORIES magazine (1939-42).
"FUN AND GAMES" was apparently inspired by Frederick Brown's "ARENA" (1944), which was also adapted as a 1st-season "STAR TREK" story (hilariously enough, the one in which the crew is forced to WATCH the battle and the alien in charge is played by Vic Perrin, who was "The Control Voice" on OL).
"THE BELLERO SHIELD" is apparently an adaptation of Shakespeare's "MACBETH". Finding that one out really flipped me out.
I've probably missed some. Anybody?
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Post by electricmastro on Dec 19, 2019 1:59:08 GMT -5
Basil Wolverton's Space Patrol from Amazing Mystery Funnies #24 (September 1940, Centaur Comics).  |
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Post by profh0011 on Dec 19, 2019 15:52:22 GMT -5
"Basil Wolverton"This guy's NUTS! 
...kinda reminds me a bit of "YELLOW SUBMARINE".
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