26 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in science fiction
Marvel’s adaptation of Thongor in Creatures on the Loose starts off strong, then limps along. A new artist near the end of the series makes it fun again but… Well, we just like to fast-forward right to the cool part where we get some Dragon King action! Bring on the babes in bikinis and the hideously mutated reptile gods, already!
Bonus: the Watcher Marvel Value Stamp!
Collector’s Guide:
– From Creatures on the Loose #29 ; Marvel, 1974.
24 Monday Dec 2012
Tags
Blood of Satanus, dinosaur, Judge Dredd, Lizard Men, Pat Mills, Ron Smith, Satanus, tyrannosaurus
Sometimes it’s hard to tell a good idea from a bad idea. Let’s say you had a totally evil tyrannosaurus that died in the Cretaceous but was brought back to life through cloning. And then, after being set loose by atomic weapons, he proceeded to kill and maim his way through the future before vanishing into the wild. As a scientist, at what point do you think it would be a good idea to drink that tyrannosaur’s blood?
Collector’s Guide:
– From Judge Dredd #17; Eagle, 1985.
If you like Satanus, check out our gallery of Flesh from 2000 AD, featuring the mother of Satanus, Old One Eye.
Satanus first appeared in the Judge Dredd storyline The Cursed Earth. You can find that in the Cursed Earth TPB. But, be warned that due to being sued by fast food fast chains from America, the publishers of 2000 AD did not include four chapters of the 25-episode story (episodes 11-12 and 17-18.) So, go pawn some family heirlooms, and you can pick up the original Cursed Earth stories in 2000 AD, #61-85.
Satanus also appeared in a story gorgeously illustrated by Colin Macneil called Satanus Unchained in 2000 AD #1241-1246. Satanus fans will also enjoy Judge Dredd #7, which reprints the Satanus chapters of Cursed Earth with a cool Brian Bolland cover.
26 Thursday Jul 2012
Posted in first issue, golden age, occult, science fiction
Tags
first issue, golden age, Lizard Men, man-eating lizards, Out of This World, Out of This World Adventures
As Bert and Mikey stand bound before the totally bitchin’ temple of the Lizard Men, they speak of the things that truly matter to men.
Bert: “A Giant Lizard! What is this obsession with lizards? I can’t understand it –”
Mikey: “Lizards? Who cares about lizards? Get a load of them babes!”
Collector’s Guide:
– From Out of This World Adventures #1. 1950, Avon Publications.
Out of This World Adventures ran only 2 issues in 1950.
17 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in jungle, science fiction
Tags
An Eye for an Eye, Angelo Torres, EC Comics, EC Comics reprints, Gemstone, Incredible Science Fiction, Lizard Men
Here it is, Martians – the complete EC Comics story “An Eye for an Eye” by Angelo Torres.
You can skip the exposition and go straight for the story below, but we would like a chance to set the record straight. Why? Because we noticed that one of the top 10 searches leading people to Mars in 2011 was “EC Comics Eye for an Eye.” So, enjoying a research challenge, we set out to find it for you.
And no wonder you Martians are having a hard time finding it! Comics Alliance mistakenly identified it as the “story about a black astronaut.” Wrong! That story is “Judgment Day.” Our friends at Wikipedia currently say the story was first rejected, but don’t give you any clue where it was actually printed. They mysteriously say “1971” – but in what book? Next up, The Horrors of it All has a cool story from 1952 by the same name – but it’s not this one! PencilInk earns big props for identifying the actual publication – but even they got it wrong until a savvy commenter spoke up!
So here’s the real deal: “An Eye for an Eye” was rejected for publication in Incredible Science Fiction #33 in 1956. Instead, that magazine contained “Judgment Day.” When Gemstone reprinted the issue in 1995 as Incredible Science Fiction #11, they restored “An Eye for an Eye” to the magazine.
Got all that? Is your brain reeling? Great. Now dig in to the story you’ve been searching for: “An Eye for an Eye” by Angelo Torres! It’s truly awesome!
– From Incredible Science Fiction #11; Gemstone, 1995 (EC Comics reprint).
Where can you find EC Comics these days?
Right here at Mars Will Send No More! We’ve got original EC Comics for the independently wealthy and some really solid EC Comics reprints by Russ Cochran/Gemstone for the rest of us working stiffs! Enjoy!
16 Sunday Jan 2011
Posted in dinosaur, science fiction, superhero
Tags
Few things bring us as much joy as scientists mutating into reptiles and taking over the planet. Didn’t you ever just want The Lizard to win for once? Well, this is your lucky day. Let’s rock a scene from Exiles that re-imagines The Lizard’s origin – only without Spider-man to stop his evil plans!
We once thought Todd McFarlane had the last word on drawing The Lizard. But, Jim Calafiore knocks it out of the park on this one. Come to think of it, the versions by Clayton Crain and Chris Bachalo also rule!
Collector’s Guide:
– From Exiles #17; Marvel, 2002.
– Reprinted in Exiles TPB Marvel Ultimate Collection #1; 2009.
– Reprinted in Exiles TPB #3.
07 Friday Jan 2011
Tags
dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Doug Moench, jungle, Ka-zar, Lizard Men, Marvel Comics, Russ Heath, Savage Land, Triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex, Wizard of Forgotten Flesh
Doug Moench penned Wizard of Forgotten Flesh for the Ka-zar in 1974. Doug Moench did a huge amount of writing for Marvel in the 1970s: teaming up with Bill Sienkewicz for the best Moon Knight stories ever, Gil Kane & George Perez on the Inhumans, Paul Gulacy on Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu, and – our personal favorites – the two Six From Sirius limited series.
That being said, Russ Heath‘s dinosaur artwork in Wizard of Forgotten Flesh speaks for itself. Dig his splash panel for page one:
Here is a the 5-page sequence where Ka-zar and his buddies harness a Triceratops. They ride it into a river where they wage battle against the evil cult of serpent people.
Gotta admit – we love Zabu, the sabre tooth tiger. One of our favorite scenes in any superhero book is Zabu and Wolverine having a conversation in animal language. That was Uncanny X-Men #116, when Chris Claremont and John Byrne took the X-men to Ka-zar’s home, the Savage Land.
Anyway. These serpent cultists are up to no good, using some ancient skull to give them power to enslave the tattooed guy’s people. The good guys free the prisoners, but the serpent priestess invokes skull power. With that power, she raises the dead to life to be her unholy soldiers.
This is a fun issue. It transplants some of the best 1970s Conan and Kull cliches and male-bonding adventures into a world of dinosaurs, and the artwork makes the script come to life. Unfortunately, it was only a fill-in from Russ Heath, and he would not again grace the pages of this series.
If you liked that, dig the rest of our Gallery of Dinosaur Comics both old and new, or our guide to Steve Bissette’s Complete History of Dinosaur Comics.
