The two stories today come from Avon’s Strange Worlds #7 (1952). Gene Fawcette signed “The Space Gods of Planetoid 50”, but the artist(s) of “Sabotage on Space Station 1” gets a “?” from the GCD.
This ends our week of skiffy stories.
Number 1591: Earth people good, space people bad
Người đăng: vanmai yeu em on Thứ Sáu, 13 tháng 6, 2014
The two stories today come from Avon’s Strange Worlds #7 (1952). Gene Fawcette signed “The Space Gods of Planetoid 50”, but the artist(s) of “Sabotage on Space Station 1” gets a “?” from the GCD.
This ends our week of skiffy stories.
HAUNTED HORROR #11 / Day of Panic
Người đăng: vanmai yeu em on Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 6, 2014
PANIC!!! Yes, we were just as caught off guard this week by the release of Haunted Horror #11 (in stores now and not the last week of June as we were originally led to believe!) --so get yourself a FREE preview over at CBR by clicking HERE, and of course we've got one for ya here at THOIA as well... it's an encore presentation of a Howard Nostrand story from the December 1953 issue of Witches Tales #22, a tale we first posted here waaaay back in 2008! And how does the rest of the issue stack up, you ponder? Heads! Hands! Zombies! Demons! You know Haunted Horror delivers!
GET YOUR COPY NOW!!
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GET YOUR COPY NOW!!
Escape... To What?
Người đăng: vanmai yeu em on Thứ Tư, 11 tháng 6, 2014
Here's a hot little horror tale that originally appeared in the October 1952 issue of Uncanny Tales #3 --click the link to read about Ger's thoughts on the art. My scans are actually from the reprinted version found in the February 1975 issue of Uncanny Tales from the Grave #8 (note how the cover blurb changed from an "Escape to What??", into an "Escape into Hell!") I'll have another story from this issue in our next post too.
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The Secret Origin of Pete Ross
Người đăng: vanmai yeu em
I've been working my way through the mid-1950s issues of Superboy, looking for more stories that were later swiped by Weisinger, and the first one I found is rather significant.
Did you know that Pete Ross' original name was Billy Todd? He popped up in Superboy #47 (March 1956). When we meet him, Billy is helping Clark deal with some bullying:
Just as Pete did in Superboy #86 (January 1961):
He offers to be Clark's pal, but the Boy of Steel is too worried about protecting his secret identity. Fortunately, Ma and Pa Kent intervene, inviting the new chum to dinner. After the meal, Clark shows off his hobby:
As he would later to Pete.
Billy later shows off his own hobby, which is creating miniature replicas of famous structures, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Pete has different pastimes: acting and detective work.
Now that they are friends, Clark finds himself (as Superboy) often saving Billy from perilous situations:
As he also did with Pete:
Which leads inevitably to some awkward moments:
Clark is disturbed to learn that his new pal is checking Superboy's measurements:
Which leads him inevitably to the conclusion that his supposed buddy is plotting to betray him. But fortunately there is an innocent explanation:
Pete Ross went on to become a recurring character in the DC Silver Age, albeit a minor one. As I have discussed earlier, he became the only person other than Ma and Pa Kent to know Superboy's secret identity. Billy Todd? As best as I can tell, this was his only appearance.
Update: Kirk House pointed out in the comments that in Action #457, Pete Ross's son apparently lost his will to live. Only one thing could save him; if Superman divulged his secret identity to the young lad. The story is pretty good; ironically the many times that people have suspected Clark Kent as Supes works against the disclosure, as Jon Ross cites those incidents for his skepticism. Fortunately he has figured out another way to prove it that Clark had not protected himself against:
There are a couple of interesting ironies about this story. First, Pete could have told his son that Clark was Superman, or at least confirmed it, except that Supes himself was unaware that his boyhood chum knew the truth. Second is that the many times Clark had been suspected of being the Man of Steel and managed to deceive people into reconsidering actually worked against him. This echoes a Golden Age Batman story where Bruce Wayne lost his position as the guardian of Dick Grayson, in large part because he had convinced the public that he was a dissolute playboy.
The concept of someone making a deathbed request to learn a superhero's secret ID had been used several times already, including at least two Batman tales and one in Jimmy Olsen:
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Did you know that Pete Ross' original name was Billy Todd? He popped up in Superboy #47 (March 1956). When we meet him, Billy is helping Clark deal with some bullying:
He offers to be Clark's pal, but the Boy of Steel is too worried about protecting his secret identity. Fortunately, Ma and Pa Kent intervene, inviting the new chum to dinner. After the meal, Clark shows off his hobby:
Billy later shows off his own hobby, which is creating miniature replicas of famous structures, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Pete has different pastimes: acting and detective work.
Now that they are friends, Clark finds himself (as Superboy) often saving Billy from perilous situations:
Which leads inevitably to some awkward moments:
Clark is disturbed to learn that his new pal is checking Superboy's measurements:
Which leads him inevitably to the conclusion that his supposed buddy is plotting to betray him. But fortunately there is an innocent explanation:
Update: Kirk House pointed out in the comments that in Action #457, Pete Ross's son apparently lost his will to live. Only one thing could save him; if Superman divulged his secret identity to the young lad. The story is pretty good; ironically the many times that people have suspected Clark Kent as Supes works against the disclosure, as Jon Ross cites those incidents for his skepticism. Fortunately he has figured out another way to prove it that Clark had not protected himself against:
The concept of someone making a deathbed request to learn a superhero's secret ID had been used several times already, including at least two Batman tales and one in Jimmy Olsen:
Number 1590: The planet that admired Earth
Người đăng: vanmai yeu em
Despite the genial goofiness of most of the story there is that nasty behavior on the part of the Earth crew. But while the commander is a badass, at least one of his crew has a conscience. He pipes up with, “. . .But can’t we humans rise above greed and blood-baths? Can’t I put a little pity into you, in God’s name?” The psychopathic captain responds: “I've taken all I can from you — you muddled liberal! You’ve dared to criticise me, cast doubt on my plans — and that’s mutiny!” he says as he ss-putts! his outspoken crewman with a ray gun blast. Early in the story he had ejected two crew members into space for fighting. This captain brooks no nonsense. Any infraction is a capital offense.
I wasn’t expecting that dark story thread to weave through what is otherwise a silly plot from a silly ACG comic book. It’s drawn by Pete Costanza and written by editor Richard E. Hughes under his pen-name of Shane O’Shea. It’s the second posting from our theme week of Skiffy Stories (see Monday’s post for an explanation), and it originally appeared in Unknown Worlds #28 (1963).
