Number 2384: The Face on Mars

Race For the Moon, a scant three issues from Harvey Comics, is something beloved by me as relics of my pre-teen years. Especially issues numbers 2 and 3, illustrated, and presumably written, by Jack Kirby,  perhaps with his partner, Joe Simon. The stories showed how Kirby, later famous for his epics stretching over many issues of comic books, could also craft a story of a few pages. “The Face on Mars” by Kirby is what I immediately thought of when I saw the NASA photo of a face on Mars. (Note: I am a skeptic by nature, and I also know about pattern recognition. Random objects can contain faces, but by coincidence.  It’s the way our brains are wired.) 

But, I am here to talk about Kirby’s big Martian face. A Mars explorer goes in through an eyehole and is given a lifelike vision of the former occupants of Mars. It is drawn using the Kirby dynamics (action, and science fiction devices that he did so well) and inked by Al Williamson. Their drawing styles may have been different, but in this way they complemented each other.   

Face front, true Martian face believers and even non-believers! From Race For the Moon #2 (1958).

Number 230


Asylum


From Race For The Moon #1 comes a tale of what happens when a society, unlike ours, can't deal with violent people. They ship 'em off somewhere where they don't have to look at 'em. Oh wait…that is like our society. Oh well. This is one of those science fiction parables that telegraphs the "surprise" ending by page two. Still, it's drawn by Bob Powell, and it's from a comic that's a sentimental favorite of mine.

Harvey Comics' Race For The Moon lasted three issues in 1958. Its title was an attempt to cash in on the Soviet Sputnik satellite launching in 1957, and the stories in the news about space flight and an eventual trip to the moon. I had a lot of interest in the subject in 1958. I was a regular space cadet. Beyond its title, Race For The Moon #1 doesn't have to do with racing to the moon. It's a science fiction anthology, mixing in a couple of reprints with new stories. According to information from the Grand Comics Database, "Asylum" is one of the new stories.