Number 528


Mars God of War


From Planet Comics #69, Winter 1952-53, a reprint of Mars God of War from Planet Comics #20, 1942.

Dick Warren flies to planetoid Zog, where he meets some tribesmen led by Wad (!), who hold a captive "white girl," Ada. Wad has his body inhabited by Mars, God of War, becomes hostile, and goes after Dick. Dick and Ada embark on an adventure where they encounter a queen and some "queer little men."

The artwork is by Joe Doolin. I wish it had been printed better. Doolin packed every panel. He was a terrific illustrator, and he could not have been paid enough for the work he lavished on this 10-page story.

Number 527


Mail Rider to the Stars!


I get a kick out of this short story from Mystery in Space #42, Feb.-Mar. 1958. It fits my observation that most science fiction I grew up with was an extrapolation on what was then current. If we got daily mail delivery to our homes, then by golly in the far future they'd have mailmen who'd go to other planets. Maybe they couldn't get interplanetary Internet.

I also love the hallucinations in this story. Giant gorillas with antennas coming in the window of the craft, yow. If I saw that I'd wonder if I got slipped some bad acid.

According to the GCD, which in turn depended on MIS editor Julius Schwartz' editorial records, the story was written by John Broome, the artwork by Sid Greene and John Giunta.

Number 526


More Al Wiseman


When I first showed a Dennis the Menace story by writer Fred Toole and Hank Ketcham assistant, Al Wiseman, I got several e-mails from grateful fans. There are a lot of fans and professional cartoonists who share the opinion that Wiseman was a great artist.

Here are two more Dennis the Menace stories by the team of Toole and Wiseman. They are scanned from The Best of Dennis the Menace #1, 1959.

The thing these stories have in common with our Dennis story in Pappy's #497 is that they come from Dennis' imagination, a kid's version of what he hears. In one case it's a dream about cowboys, in the other flying saucers. They're told from his point of view, which gives Toole and Wiseman room to have fun with the material.

Number 525


The Doomed G.I. Shmoe Patrol


In the intro to "G.I. Shmoe" in Mad #10, Harvey Kurtzman wrote, "The truce has been signed in Korea! For some time, we have been itching to sink our teeth into one type of literature born of the war!...We think the time has come! Any similarity between this story and real war is totally accidental!...It is with the sincerest respect that we dedicate this lampoon to you real soldiers who have had to put up with the glamorized war comics like...G. I. SHMOE!"


"G.I. Shmoe" is the classic 1954 Kurtzman/Wood story of two soldiers fighting over women and mowing down hordes of Chinese with fists and rifle butts. The Bob Powell story, "The Doomed Patrol," from American Air Forces #7, published by M.E. Comics in 1952, its panels of guys fighting over women and mowing down Chinese, may be the story that Kurtzman saw that led to "G.I. Shmoe". Can I prove it? Naw, but it's an interesting comparison. Inspiration comes from many and varied places. If you've got a copy of Mad #10, or one of the many Mad reprints check out the story after reading "The Doomed Patrol."

I scanned "The Doomed Patrol" from its appearance in the Super Comics reprint, Battle Stories #15, published in 1964.

Number 524


Plastic Man in the death trap!


Plastic Man goes up against the cystic acne-faced Dr. Scroob, and Woozy faces his expanding waistline. From Plastic Man #43, with credit for the artwork going to Al Luster.