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Wednesday, August 17, 2011


Number 1001
The Time Travelers and the flying saucers!


Flying saucers really captured the public imagination in the late '40s-early '50s. I've featured a few comic book stories about UFOs in the last month or so. I collect books, magazines and comic books with flying saucers on the covers. I love the imagery and fun stories, coupling them with the pleasures of such goofy comics as the Time Travelers.

The Grand Comics Database guesses at who drew the story, using their question mark technique: Ken Bald?

From Operation: Peril #4, 1951:













This UFO story, drawn by Bob Jenney and written by editor Richard E. Hughes under one of his pen-names, Bob Standish, is from Adventures Into the Unknown #174, the final story from the last issue of that title. I love the title of this story, "U.F.O.'s....Bunk Or the Real Thing?" "Bunk" is a word my grandmother used decades ago.

The cover is by Kurt Schaffenberger, who used his sometime pseudonym, Lou Wahl, for what reason I'm not sure. His work is unmistakable, no matter what name he put on it.







5 comments:

citizenkanne said...

Congratulations on 1001. You post some amazing material. It's interesting that the 13 page "Operation: Peril" story probably has more words in it than any 10 current comics. And this was the early '50s when comics were supposedly just for kids. Maybe Schaffenberger used a pseudonym because he was working for DC at the time and they didn't like their artists drawing for another company. Speaking of other artists working under other names, do I detect Reed Crandall in the faces and poses of the second story? Anyway, "Aarrgghh. Ray. Paralyzed."!! A comic book classic!!

David Martingale said...

That Operation Peril cover is SHARP!

Mr. Cavin said...

Looks like the page titled thirty (which is the third page of the sequence) is missing from your second story up there, Pappy (the Bunk story). Otherwise, I'm really enjoying it!

Pappy said...

Mr. Cavin, page 30 is an ad page; the story is 6 pages and they're all there. It probably looks like something's missing because of the abrupt transition from page 2 to page 3.

Thanks to you folks for your comments. These are just a couple of fun stories I liked that I threw in. It's nice to know somebody noticed them.

Mr. Cavin said...

Oh, I'm sorry. Man, that really is a pretty awkward transition, then. It certainly seems like something's missing. Didn't mean to lay the blame at your feet when it seems to belong at the feet of the original, though!