I think it is possible that “Captain Comet, Space Pilot” may have been intended for another publication. Eastern Color, also known as Famous Funnies, published 12 issues of
Buster Crabbe comics between 1951-1953. In reviewing the issues I see that Al Williamson did a couple of stories for them. Today’s posting could have been originally intended for
Buster Crabbe, but was not published. It appeared in
Danger Is Our Business #1 (1952) instead, with the Buster Crabbe name changed. Not only that, “Captain Comet” was a character being published by DC Comics in
Strange Adventures, appearing from 1951 to 1954. If I had been a comic book publisher in those days I would have worried about running afoul of DC’s lawyers, in light of the ongoing Superman/Captain Marvel lawsuit which dragged on for years, finally settled in 1953.
The “Space Pilot” story itself is drawn by Williamson and Frank Frazetta, and for fun it features space pirates. The pirate captain is a descendant of Captain Kidd, so he wears a skull-and-crossbones on his chest. I like the artwork, but am indifferent to the story...except for the pirate chief.
Toby Press published
Danger Is Our Business, and the first issue was reprinted in 1958 by I.W. reprint comics, from which my scans are taken.
So here's a problem when your two main characters are both "Captain" Something: page 5 (next to last), panel 5, the caption reads "Captain Comet, however, is not ready to admit defeat..." but the artwork shows Captain Kidd (and in the context of the story, this is correct).
ReplyDeleteThis was reprinted in the Art of Al Williamson in black and white, too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that next-to-last panel certainly resembles Crabbe. What great art regardless!
ReplyDeleteWhiplash, good catch! I missed it, so thanks for pointing it out.
ReplyDeleteNeil, I have that book, which I have not looked at in a long time, since I obviously forgot this story was included.
ReplyDeleteWilliam, Al W. depended a lot on his pals who pitched in on his art jobs. Nothing wrong with that, especially when he had pals like Frazetta and Roy Krenkel, among others. So I enjoy some of his art more than others, especially when artists of that caliber helped him.
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