Number 2042: Frankenstein Friday returns for one day: Tom Sutton goes Psycho

In the early days of this blog, I showed a Frankenstein story by Dick Briefer every Friday until I exhausted my personal collection. Oddly, I did not think to include the few stories I had from the Skywald publications of the early '70s. So here, 10 years later, I am showing the first of a short-lived series. Tom Sutton, using the name Sean Todd, was the primary artist, and did the writing for the four episodes he drew in issues #3-#6.

From Psycho #3 (1971). Inking by Dan Adkins. The cover is by Boris Vallejo.

Number 1608: Herman goes to the birds; Wood’s Munsters story

 A tip of the Pap-cap to Ken Landgraf, who supplied the raw scans for this 1965 story from Gold Key’s The Munsters #8. Wallace Wood and his assistants did the artwork. According to an e-mail from Landgraf:

I spoke to [Dan] Adkins before he died...He and [Richard] Bassford penciled the job. Most likely they used faces from other Munster comics... Wood inked all the main figures, the assistants mostly filled in black areas and worked on inking the backgrounds ... KEN

Thanks, Ken. That provides an interesting insight into the Wallace Wood studio of the era. “Strictly For the Birds” isn’t a great story, and just pops up in the midst of a series mostly written, penciled and inked by artist Fred Fredericks. But anything done by Wood has its place on any Golden Age fan’s comic radar.

Number 1188: Celebrating the 8th of July!

This is the Pappy's fourth annual* July 8 celebration of flying saucers. Sixty-five years ago today the Roswell (New Mexico) Daily Record published its historic headline:

To commemorate the date I have a couple of flying saucer/UFO stories.

I was inspired to get out my copy of Dynamo #1 (1966) and scan the lead story by Dan Adkins and Wallace Wood based on this wonderful splash panel from Heritage Auctions. I lifted the scan from their website.

My favorite panel is Dynamo saying, "I bet I'm the first guy in history to knock down a space ship with a rock!" The story is full of action and the art is great.

The story, "Landing of the Flying Saucers!" is another zany story from Wonder Woman. Although the whole thing is wild—aliens shaped like skinny Michelin men with lollipop heads and antennae who use expressions like "Heee! Hooo!"—I give writer/editor Robert Kanigher and artist Harry G. Peter credit for originality. I even like the flying saucer, which, unlike most depictions of UFOs in those days doesn't look like it's made of sheet metal, and in fact doesn't look like anything mechanical.

It's an oddball story, something we've come to expect from this title. From Wonder Woman #68 (1954):

*Previous postings are from Pappy's #554, Pappy's #768, and Pappy's #978.