Number 1373: Mysterious Island

Mysterious Island, which is Dell Four Color #1213 (1961), is an adaptation of the movie from producer Charles H. Schneer and stop-motion animation wizard Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen died recently at age 92. The comic book doesn’t give any credit to Harryhausen or SuperDynaMation, the trade name for his process, except in a tiny slug on the cover. I suppose somebody reckoned there’s no need for stop-motion animation in a comic book.

Credits for the artwork from the Grand Comics Database are given to Tom Gill, pencils, and Herb Trimpe, inks. You remember Tom Gill was the longtime artist on the Lone Ranger, and Herb Trimpe went on to Marvel Comics.

Mysterious Island, the movie, was not a big commercial success on its theatrical release in '61. I saw it in a theater with some friends. We hooted, hollered, threw popcorn and made obnoxious nuisances of ourselves. It took until VCRs were invented before I saw it again. After you read the comic book, I have a YouTube video with an interview of Harryhausen talking about Mysterious Island. I’ve always admired Harryhausen for his ability to combine such a technical and time-consuming process with fantasy.

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Harryhausen on Mysterious Island