Tuesday, April 29, 2008



Number 300


Calling all Video Rangers!


To celebrate Pappy's #300 I'm bringing you two stories drawn by George Evans from Captain Video #1, a Fawcett comic from 1951. Evans went on to comic book glory with his stint at EC Comics. Fawcett stopped publishing comics in 1953. Captain Video lasted six issues as a comic book, and vanished from the airwaves as the network carrying his adventures went out of business in 1955.

To read some background on the TV program and the DuMont Network where it appeared, read this article. The show had its fans in the larger Eastern U.S. markets where it was carried. In the American hinterlands where I was raised, we had no idea it existed except for the Fawcett comic book and the great parody by Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis in Mad #15.



The Secret of Sun City
















The Creatures of Doom!
















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8 comments:

  1. Chuck Wells6:31 AM

    Two Captain Video's for the price of one. Terrific!

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  2. Anonymous10:42 AM

    I've enjoyed your site. I'll be visiting again.

    Thanks,

    Eric

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pappy3:29 AM

    Thanks for looking, guys. If I didn't love doing this I wouldn't do it.

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  4. The Vicar of VHS8:53 AM

    Wow, exciting stuff here, Pappy! I love the idea that Captain Video has legions of helpers across the globe, so he's not a superhero, just a charismatic leader. Though the way he pooh-poohs the possible advances of solar power at the end seems a bit short sighted. "Don't worry, we'll make it all in our own time..." Ah, to live in a time when science was not considered a destructive force...

    And congrats on #300!

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  5. Mr. Karswell9:01 AM

    Both stories contain equally great cinematic moments, and read like storyboards for some long lost SF serial epic. Great stuff.

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  6. The Vicar of VHS9:04 AM

    Just finished the second story--that Dr. Pauli's a Commie! A commie with giant insects! The worst kind!

    I meant to mention the cool diagram/schematics of Video's underground lair and Whirlojet launcher in the first story. Cool stuff, and just the kind of thing to inflame the imagination of young boys. I remember scouring the blueprints of the Fantastic Four building and the Avengers Mansion in those pull-out extras they used to put in the comics, just to see what cool stuff they had on the lower levels.

    It was sad, really.

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  7. Daniel [oeconomist.com]8:24 PM

    Geez! Captain Video helps along a process that gets Professor Bradley killed, and destroys an invaluable collection of ancient artefacts, and then pontificates that it's for the best.

    He ought to go into politics.

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  8. Daniel [oeconomist.com]8:34 PM

    And Captain Video is one of those fellows who cannot resist a useless preface before conveying the essential information. Urgh!

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