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[The Australian Panther]

I had hoped for a guest reviewer again, but that didn't pan out.
So this time, Amazing Adventures #4 - A classic 1950's SF comic.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=6252&comicpage=&b=m

Enjoy, and go to it!

Cheers!
     

[SuperScrounge]

What Is The Answer? - False.  Were these actual urban legends or just made up for the comic?

Adonis 2-PX-89 - While not great it was amusing. The premise probably would have been more interesting if it'd had some more pages to build a better story on, though.

This Actually Happened! - Citation needed.  Some of those interpretations... ugh. The high degree of quality that goes into creating a one-page filler. 

Mutineers of Ganymede! - Just typed the title in before reading the story & thought that would be a good name for a sci-fi retelling of the Pirates of Penzance. "I am the very model of a modern Space Force General..."  Sadly the actual story is an okay, but mediocre SF tale. Nicely drawn though.

Written In The Rocks - Always odd to read these old stories set in the future that completely misses something that actually developed. Such as meteors striking Earth, but no early warning system picked them up beforehand. *rolls eyes*

Amazing Prophecies - Ah, the far off 21st century...  I can see reasons for most of these predictions, but the one about women getting bigger and stronger just seems weird. What was that based on? I doubt it was a prediction based on sex-change surgery.

Death's Double - The lack of explanation for Zervis's posthumous surgery was annoying.

Asteroid Treasure - Eh, seems like an uninspired rewrite of a pirate tale.

Moon Theory - This idea was believed for a while, then I remember it being scientifically poo-pooed as not believable, and now it's accepted again. *shrug*

How To Hypnotize ad - Gee, a pretty girl, alone in the apartment of a guy who knows how to hypnotize... yeah, no implication of this guy misusing his ability to hypnotize her. *ahem* 

[gregjh]

My thoughts are very similar to Superscrounge but because I only read the first two stories and features, I will expand more on those thoughts.

What Is The Answer? - Yes, false. These are either urban legends or tricks achieved by conjuring. I strongly suspect the editors/writers knew this but placed them in for entertainment value.

Adonis 2-PX-89 - Now, as I've said before, I don't pretend to have the knowledge or insights some of you guys have on comics, and I know exposition and running commentary explaining what we are looking at is a very normal thing but...man alive! Is it just me or did this story fall out of the exposition tree, smack every branch on the way down and then get rushed to exposition hospital in an exposition ambulance? The style naturally suggests a comedic story and yet somehow it felt lazy and almost pedantic in its plot.


This Actually Happened! - It may have happened but not in the way implied. Again, these can all be exaggerations, urban legends or simple trickery. I also note the use of weasel words before weasel words were a thing, such as "there are reports of...".

Mutineers of Ganymede! - This could have been a really cool idea if the series was longer - are these all one shots or a continuing series? - the idea of Earth colonists has so much potential. It seems though that a full story had to be crammed into a few short pages so once again we get a rushed tale and though not as heavy on exposition as the first story, we still need to be told what the moral of the story is, in case we couldn't work it out ourselves. Good art and colours, though.


So as you may have gathered, I wasn't keen on what I read, though there were still some good points and even if the stories didn't hit the spot, I still admire the idea of throwing out some sci-fi concepts and seeing what works and what doesn't.

[Robb_K]

I have a similar reaction to these stories to Superscrounge's, and overall, rate this as a roughly average to slightly below average early 1950s Science Fiction comic book.  The artwork was decent.  But the stories range from flawed to ridiculously poor or deficient.  This is NOT a series I'd want to explore more.

Amazing Adventures #4

What Is The Answer? - All false.  Repeating urban legends, and old made-up stories, and possibly making up a few of their own will not get me to believe such drivel.

Adonis 2-PX-89 - This was mildly amusing. It is a premise that has been used many times, and suffers from not having any clever twists added.  I, myself, wrote a story back in the 1980s, in which two inventors invented lifelike robots, and the ending, unwanted by both, was that the two robots fell in love, and ran off, together, much to the inventors chagrin.  I seem to remember that Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles touches partly on this theme. 

Like ALL the choppy, wayyyyy too short, stories crammed into most Sci-Fi/Adventure comic books that contain several, rather than two or one story, this story has a severe lack of room to develop an intricate plot with suspense build-up, character development and plot development.  The artwork was about average.

This Actually Happened! - If this is really true, why didn't the author provide a citation, so we can be sure it is true, and read up about the real event? The writers must have believed no one really cares about the fillers. 
So, why not rather use those few extra pages to add room to help the woefully crammed stories breathe at least a little more?  Every extra page would make these ridiculously short stories infinitely better. 

This reminds me of my main working partner having only one full magazine page (somewhat akin to a 1940s newspaper Sunday page) for his Willie Wurm monthly cartoon comic.  So, he chops it up into small panels - sometimes getting 18-20, and still crams it with as much action and dialog as possible.  He ends up packing about 3 standard comic book pages on that one busy, cluttered page. He's also a master of directing the reader to imagine in his/her minds eye, implied action that wasn't shown in the panels. The kiddies feel like they've read a complete story, rather than just a gag, after that lonely, single magazine page.  My, what he'd have given, just to have his editor have given him even one measly, additional page.

Mutineers of Ganymede! - This one was well drawn.  The morals of this story are wrong, and just not realistic, at all.  The mutineers are villains because they would leave the few truly eager colonists to die.  The young brother, who sells out his sister, the captain, and the handful of other willing colonists for some money he could earn from uranium,or, just that he is very scared, and has second thoughts(but no reason for that change in attitude is shown) is, thus, a selfish, heartless, villain.  All is forgiven with him, according to The Captain and his sister, as just being a weakness, and naivitee of youth.  It's really far from believable.  Why did he sign up for that voyage in the first place?  If my own brother would conspire with strangers to leave me for dead, I'd have a hard time forgiving him right away, (if ever).  And I'd be leery about living with him in a tiny group of colonists on an alien planet, when life or death hangs on a thin string.  And only a few people are around with whom to socialise, and just the sight of him would bring that betrayal to mind, constantly.  This should have been in a Horror comic book, rather than a Sci-Fi book.

Written In The Rocks - I think the idea of directing meteors from knocking asteroids towards the Earth, to land in a pattern that mimics the atomic structure of the proper fuel to take rocket ships into interstellar Space is a very clever and innovative plot scenario.  However, it is really difficult to believe that a few men who traveled to another planet, and are presumably alone, would have the facilities to set up a system that could propel large rocks from within Mars gravity belt, out of its pull, and direct them to specific spots on Earth.  And, if they were able to do that with the help of Martians (advanced sentient beings) with a society more advanced than Earths Humans, one would guess that those Martian Scientists already had a rocket fuel that could return Carters father to Earth to bring his own people the formula, or, at the very least, could, with the direction of Carter, could have made additional fuel for him to use to return to Earth, or could have helped him repair his spaceship, IF THAT was the problem that kept him from returning.  So, despite being based on a clever idea, the story was not laid out carefully and completely, and so is missing vital information to make it work.  Again, the two-page limit for text stories makes it tough to tell a complete story, even if it is really just a generalised scenario,  But, when you try to tell a 20-30-page text short story in two pages, and even waste several valuable lines as dialogue, you've got no chance at all to write a short story worth reading.

Amazing Prophecies - Well, we're in The 21st century now, to comment on their predictions.  Interestingly, many of their forecasts were just what science's best minds were predicting, and what I was expecting back then as well.  I can see reasons for most of these predictions, but the prediction about women getting bigger and stronger doesn't make sense.  They don't give a clue to what discovery or scientific strategy would make that possible.  I think the author just thought he or she should add something not stated by the scientists at the time, to look like independent thinking, rather than being a parrot.  That backfired miserably. What was that based on?

Death's Double - Until this story, I thought this book (and series) was based on a Science Fiction theme. Clearly, it is rather an odd mixture of Occult/Unexplained Phenomena and Science Fiction.  I agree completely, that the author's The lack of explanation for Zervis's posthumous surgery was annoying.  And it leads to a feeling of lack of legitimacy.  It takes the reader out of living in the story as it is being read.  Not only that, but it is also very difficult to believe that Dr. Zervis was the only doctor on Earth who could perform that operation and save the boy, and he would only do that to save a child, and wouldn't have attempted to save an adult in that same situation. 

Asteroid Treasure - This story reminds me of the oft-used kid looking for his grandfather's lost gold mine out in the desert of The Western USA, or Australia, after finding a map in his parents' attic storage area, and paying an old desert rat to guide him and his wife, girlfriend, or buddy to it.  Bad men are listening to the hiring negotiations, and so, follow them, waiting to pounce on the booty, once it is found.  This story skeleton was used for loads of seafaring pirate stories, as well.  It also reminds me, a bit, of the film, Treasure of Sierra Madre .  What really bothers me about this story is that a young kid brother of the female protagonist sabotages his sister and the spaceship captain (male protagonist), just the same as in The Mutineers of Ganymede story.  And the artwork looks like the same artist, and the writer seems to be the same (probably for the entire book (with the possible exception of the fillers - which may have been cranked out mindlessly, by the editor)).  It is bad enough for a writer to submit a story with a theme so very similar to the same editor within 3 years, let alone designated for placement in the SAME BOOK!!!  I usually wait 4-5 years before submitting anything that similar.  And, again, the young brother tries to murder the captain(with whom his sister is infatuated) and his friend, just to keep more fabulous wealth that he could never spend in his lifetime, and would never notice the difference.  And both men he tried to kill, and his sister (who he betrayed) forgive him without a second thought.  I wouldn't want to keep the same relationship with even my own brother, IF he would try to kill ANYONE just to get more money, and especially, if he would try to kill the woman I loved.  I would definitely want to see that he would get medical help.  I'm not sure I'd trust him to be loose on a long rocket ship trip with only the four people concerned in the murder attempt.  I can't take stories like this seriously for real entertainment.  They are only a bit of fluff. 

After 70+ years of reading comic books, I, still, for the life of me cannot understand why publishers and editors chose to chop up 52 and 36-page books into a bunch of 5, 6, and 8-page so-called stories, which are really too short to tell much more than a scenario with highlights, when they could have used full 36-page books for one solid, or two weaker, but still passable stories, and cut 52-Page books in half, and have two viable stories.

Moon Theory - That is the theory we were taught in the 1950s.  I don't remember the main group of scientists rejecting it later, to move to a different theory.  It is plausible, and I can't think of a better explanation.  I would like to know, however, what the other theory proposed.  Maybe SuperScrounge, or someone else on this thread can explain that to me.

[Robb_K]

Moon Theory - This idea was believed for a while, then I remember it being scientifically poo-pooed as not believable, and now it's accepted again. *shrug*

Can you tell us what the interim theory was?  Somehow I missed that.  But, I graduated high school in 1963, so I wasn't in school when the second theory was accepted, and my university and early first career science was meteorology, chemistry, and engineering (water systems), so I missed it. Once I started drawing and writing comic book stories in the early 1980s, I was mainly out of the science loop, except when I'm writing Gyro Gearloose stories, but never needed to know how The Earths Moon was formed (and in the spirit of Carl Barks, I'd have gone by the 1950s theory in any case, if it affected my story  ).

[Captain Audio]

The Meteor strike theory was not far from the truth. In fact it was a collision between the somewhat smaller at the time early earth and a near Mars sized planetoid.
The impact was so great that Earth became a molten ball of magma with its original iron core melding with the core of the planetoid, the core set to spining by that collision has hardly slowed in billions of years.
The lightest of the debris ejected into space first formed a ring, then as larger chunks in orbit shepherded smaller chunks and dust the moon was formed.

Recent imaging of the earths core seems to show huge irregular protuberances, perhaps leftover from the original collision.

The result is the Earth having and unusually strong magnetic field that deflects solar wind and cosmic radiation. If the collision had never occurred  it is unlikely that any form of life could have taken root here.
The mon performs other vital functions, from protecting earth from a number of world killer comet strikes which left their marks on the moon to regulation many life cycles including reproduction. Without tides there would never have been the tide pools where ocean life adapted to and transitioned to survive on land.

Its not likely that the shape of the continents or the pacific ocean were the result of that collision since the Earth was a molten ball that didn't fully form till billions of years afterwards.

The following may be the interim theory
From Wikipedia

Capture
This hypothesis states that the Moon was captured by the Earth.[21] This model was popular until the 1980s, and some points in its favor are the Moon's size, orbit, and tidal locking.[21]

One problem is understanding the capture mechanism.[21] A close encounter of two planetary bodies typically results in either collision or altered trajectories. For this hypothesis to work, there might have been a large atmosphere around the primitive Earth, which would slow the movement of the Moon by aerobraking before it could escape. That hypothesis may also explain the irregular satellite orbits of Jupiter and Saturn.[22]

The Common-Donor Capture theory explains the isotope similarities between the crust of the earth and the moon. Mercury has been suggested as the donor because samples from the earth and moon fall on exactly the same fractionation line as enstatite chondrites which are thought to have originated in Mercury or in the region of Mercury. Pressure responsive silicon isotopes[23] concur with other isotopes by confirming that minerals on the surface of the moon and earth originated at great pressure, presumably from the interior of another planet. Mercury, having been denuded of much of its rock mantle, is an obvious donor candidate.[24][25] Under the scenario of the origin of the moon near the center of the solar system, Venus is a logical stepping stone on the pathway of our satellite's origin and its destiny.[26][27]

[Robb_K]

The Meteor strike theory was not far from the truth. In fact it was a collision between the somewhat smaller at the time early earth and a near Mars sized planetoid.
The impact was so great that Earth became a molten ball of magma with its original iron core melding with the core of the planetoid, the core set to spining by that collision has hardly slowed in billions of years.
The lightest of the debris ejected into space first formed a ring, then as larger chunks in orbit shepherded smaller chunks and dust the moon was formed.

Recent imaging of the earths core seems to show huge irregular protuberances, perhaps leftover from the original collision.

The result is the Earth having and unusually strong magnetic field that deflects solar wind and cosmic radiation. If the collision had never occurred  it is unlikely that any form of life could have taken root here.
The mon performs other vital functions, from protecting earth from a number of world killer comet strikes which left their marks on the moon to regulation many life cycles including reproduction. Without tides there would never have been the tide pools where ocean life adapted to and transitioned to survive on land.

Its not likely that the shape of the continents or the pacific ocean were the result of that collision since the Earth was a molten ball that didn't fully form till billions of years afterwards.

Yes!  I remember THIS theory replacing the first one (some time in the 1970s?).  But, I 'm sure this is still the current theory.  So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

[Captain Audio]

Yes!  I remember THIS theory replacing the first one (some time in the 1970s?).  But, I 'm sure this is still the current theory.  So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

I think he has conflated the Meteor impact theory with the planetoid impact theory.

I edited my post to add what I believe was the interim theory that of the Moon being from somewhere else and simply captured by Earth's gravity well.

[Robb_K]

Yes!  I remember THIS theory replacing the first one (some time in the 1970s?).  But, I 'm sure this is still the current theory.  So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

I think he has conflated the Meteor impact theory with the planetoid impact theory.

I edited my post to add what I believe was the interim theory that of the Moon being from somewhere else and simply captured by Earth's gravity well.

This seems plausible.  They certainly haven't returned to the original theory.

[Andrew999]

You might find this interesting:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-did-the-moon-form.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2lRpiediP8

[SuperScrounge]

So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

In my mind both theories boil down to "object hits Earth, forms moon", so they may not be exactly the same hypothoses/theories, but close enough.

Interestingly enough, scientists have discovered that there are "mountains" inside the Earth and some are hypothosizing that these "mountains" are leftover pieces of Theia, the hypothetical planetoid that hit the Earth and formed the moon. (I suppose someone could probably take that idea and create a sci-fi story from it. "We have to get to the mountains of Theia!")

I believe the interim theory was the moon was a captured asteroid. (Well, at least it wasn't the Doctor Who plot of the moon being an egg. *rolls eyes*)

[Robb_K]

So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

In my mind both theories boil down to "object hits Earth, forms moon", so they may not be exactly the same hypothoses/theories, but close enough.

Interestingly enough, scientists have discovered that there are "mountains" inside the Earth and some are hypothosizing that these "mountains" are leftover pieces of Theia, the hypothetical planetoid that hit the Earth and formed the moon. (I suppose someone could probably take that idea and create a sci-fi story from it. "We have to get to the mountains of Theia!")

I believe the interim theory was the moon was a captured asteroid. (Well, at least it wasn't the Doctor Who plot of the moon being an egg. *rolls eyes*)

If we were still in The 1940s, the obvious cliche story would be that that early stage of Solar System formation was when all the major gold deposits were formed, and so, the majority of the gold on Earth would be well below The Earth's crust in Them Thar "Theian Hills".  And like Arne Sarknussem's case, there would be another race to well below The Earth's surface (if not to "The Centre of The Earth")  .

But........actually, if mega mother loads of gold mountain-building related veins are discovered and dug out, there would be such a glut of gold dumped on the market, its value and selling price would drop to almost nothing.  So, THAT gives any such idea for a story a bad start.  Not to mention that it's a story that's as old as history, and so is very boring to someone who's been around for awhile, and reading a lot of stories and seeing a lot of films, and reading a lot about history.

What else related to that early stage in planet-forming could make greedy or desperate people go mad with desire to reach those long lost buried hills???  Could it be that the protagonist environmentalists, who want to save The Earth and its people and animals and plantlife are desperate to get their hands on what they think will be a perfectly clean power source, and do it before they can be stopped?  And The evil villains who want to keep polluting The Earth so they can sell their expensive pharmaceuticals at ransom prices, or energy companies who want to continue to sell their fuels that come from "dirty" sources, will do everything they can to stop them?

[Captain Audio]

So, I don't understand what SuperScrounge meant by the scientists moving back to the first theory.

In my mind both theories boil down to "object hits Earth, forms moon", so they may not be exactly the same hypothoses/theories, but close enough.

Interestingly enough, scientists have discovered that there are "mountains" inside the Earth and some are hypothosizing that these "mountains" are leftover pieces of Theia, the hypothetical planetoid that hit the Earth and formed the moon. (I suppose someone could probably take that idea and create a sci-fi story from it. "We have to get to the mountains of Theia!")

I believe the interim theory was the moon was a captured asteroid. (Well, at least it wasn't the Doctor Who plot of the moon being an egg. *rolls eyes*)

If we were still in The 1940s, the obvious clich? story would be that that early stage of Solar System formation was when all the major gold deposits were formed, and so, the majority of the gold on Earth would be well below The Earth's crust in Them Thar "Theian Hills".  And like Arne Sarknussem's case, there would be another race to well below The Earth's surface (if not to "The Centre of The Earth")  .

But........actually, if mega mother loads of gold mountain-building related veins are discovered and dug out, there would be such a glut of gold dumped on the market, its value and selling price would drop to almost nothing.  So, THAT gives any such idea for a story a bad start.  Not to mention that it's a story that's as old as history, and so is very boring to someone who's been around for awhile, and reading a lot of stories and seeing a lot of films, and reading a lot about history.

What else related to that early stage in planet-forming could make greedy or desperate people go mad with desire to reach those long lost buried hills???  Could it be that the protagonist environmentalists, who want to save The Earth and its people and animals and plantlife are desperate to get their hands on what they think will be a perfectly clean power source, and do it before they can be stopped?  And The evil villains who want to keep polluting The Earth so they can sell their expensive pharmaceuticals at ransom prices, or energy companies who want to continue to sell their fuels that come from "dirty" sources, will do everything they can to stop them?

At present the major sources of gold are miles below the surface, requiring extensive cooling of the mine shafts to allow miners to even survive much less work.
In previous centuries gold had little practical applications, valuable mainly for its beauty and rarity. In more recent times its conductivity, invulnerability to almost all forms of corrosion and ability to shield against solar  radiation even when applied to space suit helmet visors in super attenuated layers you can actually see through make gold one of the necessary elements for space travel and many other high tech applications.

While discovery of huge deposits of gold would greatly lower its price per ounce the availability in quantity would create new opportunities to use this metal in mass quantities . Demand would skyrocket, making it highly profitable to pursue its acquisition in greater and greater quantities.

Discovery of massive gold deposits many miles deeper than present gold mines would require extraction  technology we simply don't have. Until that technology is created the price of gold will continue to rise.

As a watch collector in a small way I've run across many horror stories of rare vintage watches worth tens of thousands of dollars being melted down for their gold content. I have a 1960's Paul Peugeot watch with stainless steel case. I learned that long ago all Paul Peugeot watches were made with solid gold cases, none of those early watches survive.
19th century pocket watches are disappearing at an alarming rate as precious metal buyers melt them down for the silver cases.

[The Australian Panther]

I don't pretend to be an expert on Gold, so bear with me.
Australia, like California and Alaska had major gold rushes in the 19th century. Our first major population influx.
The connection between Gold and migration and economic history is eye-opening.
I live in what was the first major Gold-producing area in Australia. So I can tell you there is still Gold on the surface. But.Around WW1, worldwide it became too difficult to easily find gold on the surface so it wasn't economic to continue to do so, so Goldmining died out except in places like West Irian and New Guinea where there are still huge Gold Mines. But, from the 80's on, New technology and larger scale mining made it economic again to mine on the surface and so miners went back to older areas and created huge open cut mines.

Discovery of massive gold deposits many miles deeper than present gold mines would require extraction  technology we simply don't have. Until that technology is created the price of gold will continue to rise. 

In times of economic uncertainty Gold always rises and it is doing so now.

The price of gold is moved by a combination of supply, demand, and investor behavior. That seems simple enough, yet the way those factors work together is sometimes counterintuitive. For instance, many investors think of gold as an inflation hedge. That has some common-sense plausibility, as paper money loses value as more is printed, while the supply of gold is relatively constant. As it happens, gold mining doesn't add much to supply from year to year. 

 
The same for all precious metals and gems.
I once went to Lightning Ridge - where they mine Opal. I was told that buyers of Opal include people like Michael Jackson and Madonna, putting money where they can save it in a bank vault and watch its value go up.
If huge quantities of Gold were suddenly made available, there would probably be some kind of economic crash as national and private stocks of Gold would suddenly plummet in value.     

[SuperScrounge]

What else related to that early stage in planet-forming could make greedy or desperate people go mad with desire to reach those long lost buried hills???

Rare earth minerals? Computer technology uses a number of elements that are not common, so if something like that was discovered on the chunks of Theia and somebody had a way to get down there that was cheaper and easier than finding and flying to asteroids with those elements...

[SuperScrounge]

The same for all precious metals and gems.

Aluminum was once so rare that sapphires & rubies (aluminum oxides) were destroyed to recover the aluminum.

Amethyst was once a precious gemstone, then big mines were discovered in South America, so now it's relatively common.

[crashryan]

These Ziff-Davis science-fantasy comics seem almost like dress rehearsals for Julie Schwartz' Silver Age DC SF books. Many of the same artists, many similar stories. Artistically the Ziff output was generally of a high standard. The stories were usually the same old same-old.

Very nice Allen Anderson cover. Ziff comics boasted some of the best covers of the era, thanks to their staff of talented pulp artists. The cover woman's robotic portion starts a wee bit lower on her body than in the story, but I'm sure that was just an oversight, har de har.

What is the Answer? wastes some nice Leonard Starr artwork on six questionable legends. Did the writer crib these from some book or just make them up? A couple of them should have left enough of a footprint to show up on the Web. The 1922 crawling coal and the portrait-bearing hail circa 1936 might have made the papers. Some night when I have nothing useful to do I think I'll look them up. For some reason the line "Look, more flames! Even from the piano!" struck me as funny.

The GCDB says Jerry Siegel wrote Adonis 2 PX-89. It's amusing, thanks in large part to Henry Sharp's drawings. However the captions and dialogue strain too hard to be funny. It's okay, though. I betcha Julie Schwartz would not have let the lovestruck robots toss the would-be conquerors to their deaths! Henry Sharp was a superb draughtsman who did almost all his work for Ziff publications. His s-f pulp illustrations are especially nice, drawn in ink and shaded with litho crayon on coquille board. Sharp's comic book work, even on straight dramatic stories, was always a bit more cartoony than his pulp art. His leading men looked like lovable lugs. For some reason he frequently drew his space heroes wearing hot pants. It was hard to take a story seriously when the space patrolmen looked like they'd forgotten their trousers.

Sharp had a long and interesting career. At the time pulp magazines were winding down, his brother established himself as a television writer. Henry moved into TV, first as a storyboard artist then as half of a writing team with his brother. Eventually Henry went solo. He wrote for a number of big 1960s-1970s TV series, both dramas and comedies. Among them were The Andy Griffith Show, The Wild Wild West, Mission Impossible, and The Addams Family. I urge you to read his complete biography at the invaluable PulpArtists.com website.

This Actually Happened! See above, only the art's not as good.

Mutineers of Ganymede! Beautiful art by the Barry Brothers, complemented by a good coloring job and Ben Oda's characteristic lettering. Or is that one of his kids? Judging from his costume, Maddock the mutineer once worked as a Powerman of Mongo. As others have pointed out, the mutineers had already "made criminals of" themselves by the time Captain Strong captured them. Leaving Ganymede without the ship to power the hydroponic farm was tantamount to murder. The mutineers might decide to settle down after their dreams of wealth went bust, but I doubt the other colonists would trust them.

Amazing Prophecies brings up the eternal dream of flying cars. Nightmare, rather. As the captions says, flying cars would "solve many of today's road problems, and create new ones." Just imagine every highway jackass you've encountered having three dimensions to move in rather than two. Then imagine their car falling on you. No, thanks.

The story in Death's Double has been told a million times. No surprises beyond the guilty couple's decision to run down to the burning wreck so they could blow up. Paul Parker's art is good but more subdued than usual, and for once he didn't letter it himself. Again I noticed that the coloring was better than usual. Though it doesn't always show in the scan, the printing on Ziff books was a cut above the typical 1950s product. Maybe they used their pulp magazine printer rather than the usual comic book printers.

Robb is right that Asteroid Treasure is too similar to "Mutineers of Ganymede." We even have Captain Strong and Captain Bright for heroes. But "Treasure" tops "Ganymede" on the Space-o-Matic "Whaaaat??" meter. Brother Stan attempts to murder the bright Captain and Gabby Hayes--that is, Gaffy. The only thing that saves them is heroic repair work by the Captain. But at the end of the story Bright goes out of his way to save the punk and then forgives Stan because he saved Bright's life! Where did Stan save Bright's life? On page 32 panel 2 it looks like June is doing the saving. Wait a moment. The figure is flat-chested. Maybe that's supposed to be Stan after all. I found the cut from panel 1 to panel 2 confusing because our heroes start outside the dome but somehow get inside the dome with guns drawn before the idiot pirate fires at them. Does it bother anyone else that we never get a clear shot of Stan until the story is nearly over? When he's introduced on the second story page his face is drawn in deep shadow as if he was going to be a mystery villain. If I were June I'd seriously consider chucking the guy out of the air lock.

The art is very good and quite DC like. I'd swear Murphy Anderson pencilled most of the first three pages. The rest of the story, with its slender figures and Kirbyesque bad guys, looks very much like Frank Giacoia pencils. Sy Barry may have inked some of it, but I can't always recognize his inks.

Moon Theory: This is bosh. We all know the moon is made of green cheese. Alex Jones said so.

[Robb_K]

These Ziff-Davis science-fantasy comics seem almost like dress rehearsals for Julie Schwartz' Silver Age DC SF books. Many of the same artists, many similar stories.

The art is very good and quite DC like. I'd swear Murphy Anderson pencilled most of the first three pages. The rest of the story, with its slender figures and Kirbyesque bad guys, looks very much like Frank Giacoia pencils. Sy Barry may have inked some of it, but I can't always recognize his inks.

Moon Theory: This is bosh. We all know the moon is made of green cheese. Alex Jones said so.

I dont!  I saw Wallace and Grommit get there, and the Moon cheese was yellow!   

[Andrew999]

Spare a thought for the Congo.

A country of 92 million, it should be the richest country in the world as it is the main source of minerals such as gallium, tantalum and tungsten (also gold), all of which can be found in every electronic chip on every device on the planet (just think about that for a moment).

Instead the median average Congolese survives on one pound sterling a day, the reason being that at least seven different armies and mercenary groups are fighting for control of the minerals. These are mostly funded by - ahem - outside agencies. Any profits go to the mercenaries, their overlords or invested back into weapons to continue an endless war that has raged for the last thirteen years.

[Captain Audio]

Spare a thought for the Congo.

A country of 92 million, it should be the richest country in the world as it is the main source of minerals such as gallium, tantalum and tungsten (also gold), all of which can be found in every electronic chip on every device on the planet (just think about that for a moment).

Instead the median average Congolese survives on one pound sterling a day, the reason being that at least seven different armies and mercenary groups are fighting for control of the minerals. These are mostly funded by - ahem - outside agencies. Any profits go to the mercenaries, their overlords or invested back into weapons to continue an endless war that has raged for the last thirteen years.

Genocidal black on black racism plays a major role in all the Congo's problems going back to the Rwandan invasion of the early 90's.

[FraBig]

The cover of this issue is very iconic, I've seen it many times before, and it's truly a nice piece of art.

I've read the first story (which is probably the one the cover is referring to, with some variations) and it was very nice and quite funny. I liked the fact that the aliens exploited humans' greatest weakness: emotions!

I must say I'm not a big reader of sci-fi comics, I'm more into superheroes, but I liked this story a lot.

I wonder which issue will be chosen in the next Reading Group!

[The Australian Panther]

FraBig,

Glad you enjoyed it!

I wonder which issue will be chosen in the next Reading Group!

The next choice will be made by Robb. We alternate it.
However, if you would like to make a suggestion,
Post it in the top thread here.

https://comicbookplus.com/forum/?board=26.0

Cheers!   

[The Australian Panther]

Well, this was satisfying. Plenty of comments.
Cover:- Even tho this is a comic, the cover makes it look like a pulp Science Fiction anthology. Which I imagine was the intention. It certainly grabs your attention.
What is the answer?
Even into the 60's these one page fillers were common. I wonder were they done as a job lot?
We know that the two page text fillers were worth doing as far as payment went, perhaps these were equally lucrative.
I also wonder how many of these are accurate and how many just made up. 
I would think the fire one is probably true also the story about the coal - because one can imagine scientific explanations for both. Nice work by Leonard Starr.
Adonis 2 PX-89.
1951, but this story could have been published in 2000AD comic at any time in the late 20th century. Could be an Alan Moore short.
'Personal Magnetism Fluid' If that stuff does what it says on the tin, I want me some!
They could have marketed it, ended up owning the planet and saved themselves the trouble of an invasion.
I love the left-hand bottom panel on CB+ page 5. The two birds just crowns it.
Well done, Siegel and Sharp!
This actually happened.
Well, I can believe all of these actually happened, but can be explained.
Anybody who spends time at sea or around the ocean, has no difficulty in believing that the ocean itself - which is not flat, but has peaks and troughs depending on currents and weather patterns- can pick up a large ship and instantly drop it 40 feet, but not up in the air first. 
The apparent sight of armies marching in the air is a phenomenon that has been reported many times and in many places.
Mutineers of Ganymede!
This kind of story is more Science Fantasy than Science Fiction. The costumes and space ships are straight out of Flash Gordon.
Dan and Sy Barry, Murphy Anderson and others went on to do this type of SF visualization for DC in their 1%0's titles.
What stands out for me, is that clearly, in 1950, the writers did not clearly understand that Radioactivity was dangerous and repeated exposure can kill you. On  the first page Maddock is clearly depicted holding uranium in his hands, And a Ship full of it, doesn't bear thinking about.   
Amazing Prophecies
What did they get right about the 21st century?
1/ Yes, we can keep the whole world under observation, but not from Space Stations, although Satellites are used to monitor weather and  take film and still pictures.     
Heating from magma through pipes to the surface has been tried but not proved commercially viable yet.
Women 6 feet tall - some of them. Wear size 11 shoes?  Generally not. Do most of the work men do now?
Not going to respond to that, on the grounds it might incriminate me.
Military airplanes at 25,000 MPH and contact with other planets.
Well we can send robot technology [satelites and remote control Rovers on the ground, but it's not much easier getting human beings off the planet.
Television with true 3D? can be done but not commercially viable yet.
Autoplanes? Nope. But there are those working on them.
Lightweight and artificial building materials? Yes.
Death's Double
Paul Parker - signed.
This story feels like it doesn't really belong here, but was created or reprinted for another book.
Asteroid Treasure.
Murphy Anderson; Sy Barry; | Inks: Frank Giacoia | Letters: Gaspar Saladino. How can you go wrong?
The story tho, is basically a bog standard western plot, just reset in space.
Moon Theory!
Well, we now know that the Earth's surface is a series of tectonic plates and that volcanic activity occurs around the edges of the plates. And there are high points in the middle of the pacific ocean, so that theory needs work.
Australia today, sits right in the centre of a plate, so is geologically stable although we are still subject to the occasional earthquake. However Eastern Australia shows considerable evidence of prehistoric volcanic activity.

Anyway, glad most of you enjoyed that.
Thank you Alexander Tuesday, where ever you are.   
We will have to see what comes up next week.

Cheers!               

   
     
   

         
     

[lyons]

An entertaining read.  Thanks Panther.

[paw broon]

Some of this comic was lovely to look at. I particularly enjoyed the art by Dan and Sy Barry, and as a Murphy Anderson fan, relished his work on Asteroid Treasure.  Tom Strong?  Well, well.
Death's Double could have been in an ACG title
The stories though, weren't very good and I don't have much else to say about them. It's a really good looking comicbook.  Not having had access to many pre-1959 American comics, I became familiar with these kind of stories in the DC titles that started to appear here in 1959.  At that time I enjoyed them but nowadays I find them a bit ho-hum, but I like the art on a lot of them.