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[The Australian Panther]

Something like that in a toy store now, would probably be made of hard plastic, with an elaborate electric control panel, including videos of real Space photography, and cost at LEAST several hundred US or Canadian Dollars and over at least £ 100 - 150 or a lot more.  And, maybe it would have headphones and 3-d goggles, and have the capability of providing virtual experiences, including that of weightlessness, and moving in lower gravity - such as Moon or Mars levels. 

And be made in China and designed to fall apart within 6 months.

[Morgus]

Kingcat, we’d get to watch the rockets on TV up here in Ontario on the news every night, if not live on TV. Thankfully I never saw Gus Grissom’s blow up, I think I was in school. I remember being just as sad when he Russians would have disasters too. And I’m with you. A dog in space just seemed mean. ,
We lived on a farm, so dad had access to all sorts of empty cardboard boxes down at the Co-op where we bought stuff...and he’d paint them up with grey primer and put a Canadian flag on them. The one end would he cut down the sides and tapered and put a cone on top. That was our space capsule. Remember those hand held controls they used in the PLAN 9 cockpit? That’s what we had. Made sense TO US.
Hey anybody else remember the AURORA’S AMERICAN ASTRONAUT model that was always on the back of DC comics? It sold for a buck as I recall. Great picture. I wonder who drew it...

[crashryan]

Yeah, the Aurora Astronaut ad drawing was  great. The model was pretty good, too, but couldn't hold a candle to the illustration (isn't that always the case?). And it did cost one buck. One buck!!

[Quirky Quokka]

Kingcat, we’d get to watch the rockets on TV up here in Ontario on the news every night, if not live on TV. Thankfully I never saw Gus Grissom’s blow up, I think I was in school.

Morgus, there were a couple of incidents with Gus Grissom. He flew the next Mercury Mission after Shepard, and there was a problem with the hatch door when he landed in the ocean. It blew open prematurely and started to fill with water. Grissom was able to escape, but the capsule sank. The movie 'The Right Stuff' implied that he panicked and blew the hatch, but that wasn't the case. Investigations showed that there was a problem with the door.

I think you're thinking of the fire in Apollo 1. Gus, Roger Chaffee and Ed White were in the capsule on the launch pad running through a series of routine tests, when a spark lit up the oxygen in the capsule. The pad crew couldn't get the door open in time and all three died. That was in 1967. With all the dangers of space, what a tragedy to die during a test on the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Yeah, the Aurora Astronaut ad drawing was  great. The model was pretty good, too, but couldn't hold a candle to the illustration (isn't that always the case?). And it did cost one buck. One buck!!

Very cool. Much better than a Ken doll 

Cheers

QQ

[paw broon]

Race For The Moon was ok.  Not great, but ok.  The Stories were short and weak in the main.  Nor did they make much scientific sense even allowing that what we know now wasn't known in the late '50's.  But Robb is correct about the great red spot. I did like the Invaders and their ships in the "FACE" story.
As often, I like the look of the Harvey books, particularly the contents pages.
Space Adventures.  What a load of old cobblers, both stories and art.  The Crusader's Sword for instance, The ship is in an unknown galaxy, yet the crew seem to think they can pick up a signal from Uranus?
Then, those robots.  Resembling the service 'bots from Space Patrol.  And a pre Robot Fighter style panel, but poorly drawn.
The Alan Shepherd thing is poor, poor stuff.
One of the few things K1ngcat and I differ on is Charlton. Now I know I've slagged off Space Adventures, but I have a soft spot for Charlton, Off-register printing, badly trimmed pages and some really bad books. But, I love their Blue Beetle titles - not Ditko, whose version is excellent, but the corny pre Ditko version. One of my favourite comic titles is Thunderbolt.  Just love those issues, even the Boyette work.

[The Australian Panther]

If we are going to get into science, here are a few things. 

Five planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were known to the ancients. To the unaided eye, these planets appear starlike. However, the planets moved relative to the stars. For this reason they were called wandering stars. Our word "planet" comes from the Greek word planetes, meaning "wanderer."

So, Lee Marvin was right!
Saturn, Not Earth Or Jupiter, Has The Largest Storms In Our Solar System
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/08/19/saturn-not-earth-or-jupiter-had-the-largest-storm-in-the-solar-system/?sh=5c41527b41a6

Jupiter got hit by a planet with 10 times the mass of Earth
https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-hit-by-massive-planet-4-billion-years-ago-2019-8

This is a perfect example of just how unreliable some of this stuff really is - and how carefully you should read anything based on 'Science'
First the Headline says, this definitely happened.
Read further down, and you find,

An ancient collision, the researchers suggest, would explain why Jupiter's core is less dense and more diffuse than scientists expected.

And as Robb said, in one of this first posts here, like everything in science this is theory, not proven fact.
In this case, not provable fact.
Why? because Cosmology is a ' science'[ which hasn't taken any new discoveries in physics into account since the end of the 19th century, so when-ever there is a finding which was not predicted by the current orthodoxy, the orthodoxy can not be challenged or changed so an unprovable explanation must be made to explain the anomaly. Ever notice that whenever a satellite goes out and sends back data, you hear the words, 'we didn't expect that.'? Ever wonder why?
The James Webb Telescope has shown that the universe does not conform to the 'Standard Model'. The implications of what it shows us, you will have to dig deep to find.
Classic Example.
Standard Model of Cosmology Survives a Telescope’s Surprising Finds
https://www.quantamagazine.org/standard-model-of-cosmology-survives-jwsts-surprising-finds-20230120/
'The galaxies’ apparent distances from Earth suggested that they formed much earlier in the history of the universe than anyone anticipated.' Not,'we got it wrong.'
Doubts swirled - 'we didn't want to believe what we were seeing.' 
Astronomers began asking whether the profusion of early big things defies the current understanding of the cosmos. ' We looked for excuses. Because,

“There are no big things at early times. It takes a while to get to big things,” said Mike Boylan-Kolchin, a theoretical physicist at the University of Texas, Austin. 

How come a theoretical physicist is making 'definitive' statements?

the standard model of cosmology — a well-tested set of equations called the lambda cold dark matter, or ΛCDM, model

Anything well-tested should survive the test, if it doesn't you throw it out and begin again. If there are fundamental differences between the standard model and what we can actually observe, then it doesn't survive the test.

Instead of forcing researchers to rewrite the rules of cosmology, the JWST findings have astronomers rethinking how galaxies are made, especially in the cosmic beginning.

 
HUH? We are not rewriting the rules of cosmology but we are re writing the rules of cosmology? Lets just call it 'rethinking '. 
Re bodies falling into/colliding with Jupiter
Several very large objects have been filmed colliding with Jupiter have been observed in very recent times.
Does not seem to be a rare event at all.
Amateur Astronomer Films the Moment Jupiter Is Hit by a Space Rock
https://www.newsweek.com/video-jupiter-space-rock-impact-astronomer-1630224
Personally, I think, in terms of our understanding of the universe we are in an amazing time.
Cosmology is clearly in crisis.
Google 'Cosmology in crisis' and you will get pages of articles, many of which contradict each other, which is itself evidence of Cosmology in Crisis.
If you have a serious interest in science, you need to read Thomas Kuhn, 'The structure of scientific revolutions' This is the man who introduced the word Paradigm. One of the most important books written in the last century. 
He explains why Crises in science and world view are inevitable and what the consequences are.   
https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/blog/kuhn-paradigms-and-revolutions-in-scientific-development
Try this woman's blog if you want more.

Ghada's SoapBox ~ A socio-political critic's variety show
The Electric Universe Model and the Future of Cosmology By Ghada Chehade, PhD
https://soapbox-blog.com/


I know we are just reading comics, but I'm not the one who went off on this tangent!
The whole thing excites the hell out of me!   
 
As the Firesign theater always said, 'Everything you know is wrong!'

           

       

[Morgus]

Panther, it's also like they said; "There's a seeker born every minute."
Man, I miss them...
Thanks for the tip on the book, by the way,

Q.Q.: yeah, the fire was the event I was referring to. The Russians had their three man space tragedy in 1970. Soyuz 1, I think.

Paw, you made me pull out the old Blue Beetles and compare them, which is not a bad thing to do. With just a bit of editorial savvy and loosening up their purse strings, they could have attracted a lot more artists torqued off with DC and Marvel. Frustrating.

[Quirky Quokka]

Q.Q.: yeah, the fire was the event I was referring to. The Russians had their three man space tragedy in 1970. Soyuz 1, I think.

Morgus, I didn't know of that tragedy with the Russians. I found an article on it:

https://www.businessinsider.com/people-who-died-in-space-astronauts-cosmonauts-2022-12

There was also another Russian cosmonaut death on a one-day Soyuz mission when the parachute failed to open and the cosmonaut died on impact.  This Wikipedia page lists other deaths related to the space program, some in space and others on the ground or in training:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_and_incidents#:~:text=%2Fcosmonaut%22).-,During%20spaceflight,the%20entire%20crew%20was%20killed.

Cheers

QQ

[K1ngcat]

One of the few things K1ngcat and I differ on is Charlton. Now I know I've slagged off Space Adventures, but I have a soft spot for Charlton, Off-register printing, badly trimmed pages and some really bad books. But, I love their Blue Beetle titles - not Ditko, whose version is excellent, but the corny pre Ditko version. One of my favourite comic titles is Thunderbolt.  Just love those issues, even the Boyette work.

Thanks for the reminder paw, I'd forgotten about the pre-Ditko Charlton Blue Beetle. Issues 18 & 19 seem to be Fox reprints, then 20 & 21 have some really rather nice art by Galindo & Osrin (whoever they are, GCD hasn't even bothered to credit them, in spite of very large signatures! )

I didn't really get on with the '64 BB, but reconnected with the character when Ditko took over in '67. Sadly it only lasted a year before Ditko shot himself in the foot with #5, dated 5th November '68 which was very heavily influenced by his new political/philosophical leanings. But nice to revisit it all, paw's memory is plainly better than mine! 

[crashryan]

I was space-crazy when I was a kid. I was inspired first by Alex Schomburg's endpaper paintings for the Winston science fiction juvenile novels, then by Across the Space Frontier and the other Von Braun-Ley-Bonestell books showing how we'd build a space station, inhabit the Moon, and visit Mars. When the real life Space Age began I dove into it. My brother and I followed all the early missions on TV, filled scrapbooks with press clippings, wrote to John Glenn, the works. It was all very exciting, despite the heartbreak of learning that real spaceships weren't going to have needle noses and fins.

Race for the Moon #2

I'd have loved this comic if I'd seen it in my youth.  There's plenty of hardware to ooh and ahh over. As an adult I still find it entertaining. Kirby & Co. seem to have wanted to avoid the pulpy, galaxy-spanning s-f in most comic books. Instead they went for a more prosaic men-doing-their-job formula. In that regard it reminds me of the Men into Space TV series, which aired the following year. Admittedly Race for the Moon had an infinitely larger special effects "budget" than Men into Space!

I don't know if Jack Kirby wrote all these stories. If not he certainly had a strong hand in them. They show his dialogue and caption style and some of the them touch on themes that Kirby returned to in his later work. They could have been great stories. As others have already pointed out, they're all but destroyed by their ridiculously short length. Whatever was the editor thinking when he decided to cram four stories and two fillers into the 22 available story pages? Only one story, "The Face on Mars," feels complete. The rest are skeletons of good ideas that cry out for development. The worst example is "Lunar Trap." The earthmen discover that there is a living being on the Moon, and what do they do? They drive the creature away. Instead of going after the critter to learn more about it, they shrug the whole thing off. Our hero is more interested in hitting on the Soviet colonel than in following up on the most important discovery in human history.

Wait a moment, I've changed my mind. "Lunar Trap" isn't the worse story in the book. The worst story is "The Golden Rocket." This has to be the first page of a longer story, repurposed for some reason as a one-page filler. I can't imagine why else they'd set up a last-panel teaser then tack "The End" on it.

Jack Kirby draws great equipment. I especially like his rocket scooters and spacesuits. Kirby's art is constrained somewhat by the short stories, but he finally gets to cut loose in "The Face on Mars." It's the book's artistic high point. I'd never have imagined that Al Williamson would ink Jack Kirby. You couldn't ask for two more dissimilar art styles. But the result is darned good, especially on this story. My only complaint is that Williamson's delicate line sometimes tends to oversimplify Kirby's faces.

Overall this book is quite appealing, yet it's also frustrating because of the short-short story format. I'm sorry the comic didn't survive beyond issue #3.

[Morgus]

Crash' my most heartbreaking quote from Arthur C Clarke was; 'If we had just skipped Viet-Nam we could be on Mars now."
Every year since the Apollo landing the voyage looks more and more amazing. The fact we did it with the tech we had then. We sat up late into to the night watching it. We'd get some sleep and then wake up and somebody would still be watching it. A wonderful, shared family memory.

Hey, Kingcat; as a nurse, one of my clients would get more and more agitated and then finally one day blurt out' "Kids these days, they got no respect, their music's noise, and they dress like retards!!"
Then he'd go back to muttering away until the volcano blew again.
Ditko's BLUE BEETLE no. 5 reminded me of that. I read all five in a row, and you could see things building up to that boiling-over point again.
I really wonder what would have happened if he had been allowed to carry on. Would he have gone back to just muttering in the background again, or just keep going off into the tangent?
I hope he found peace eventually.

[K1ngcat]

Hey, Kingcat; as a nurse, one of my clients would get more and more agitated and then finally one day blurt out' "Kids these days, they got no respect, their music's noise, and they dress like retards!!"

Lovely quote, Morgus.  I reckon that would hold true for just about any generation you care to name! 

[The Australian Panther]

Race for the Moon #2 - 1958
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=16921

I more often than not come away from a Reading Group discussion being better informed than I was previously.
This has been one of those times. The subject choice and this book in particular has taught me something about Kirby that hadn't occurred to me.
At the same time Jack was doing that, He was beginning work on his Newspaper Strip 'Sky Masters' with Wally Wood as inker.
Some of the work Jack did in the 50's was among his best work and Sky Masters was unquestionably the best of the best.
Sky Masters of the Space Force: the Complete Dailies 1958-1961 Paperback – December 8, 2020
https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Masters-Space-Force-1958-1961/dp/161345211X

Ed Catto: Sky Masters, Part 1and 2
https://www.comicmix.com/?s=Ed+Catto%3A+Sky+Masters%2C+Part+1
[Scroll down for part 1]

In 1958, inspired by Sputnik and the emerging US and Russian space programs, Harry Elmlark of the George Matthew Adams Service newspaper syndicate asked National/DC Comics writer-editor Jack Schiff to help him put together a team for a space program-related strip. Schiff was too committed at National/DC to take on writing a daily strip and reached out to Dave Wood about writing. Dave Wood and acclaimed 1940s Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby had been working under Schiff as editor on the Kirby-created DC-published comic book, Challengers of the Unknown.   

Sky Masters is the greatest teaming of America’s two most iconic mid-century comic book creators, Jack Kirby and Wally Wood. What makes it better, more important, than their other works (even Challengers) is that particularly on Sky, they worked as equals. It is not Wood inking Kirby, it is a different animal. Something new, something more unique than their other works… not Kirby, not Wood, but the totally unique hybrid that can only be called, Kirby-Wood! Jack once said, in Wally, on Sky Masters, “I was [only] looking for an inker but got a [true] collaborator.

It also occurred to me, that having put so much effort into a newspaper strip about Space Exploration and researched so much real data on the subject, that it never left him.
So, when, a few years after, he created the Fantastic Four and kick-started the Silver Age, what was the origin story?
Taking the first space ship into Space! And he would have been aware of Radiation in Space from his previous research.   
So, lets look at this book.
The Thing on Sputnik 4
This is not the standard monsters in Space comic story.
You can see Kirby thinking.
On page #3 he has drawn a very sophisticated space suit complete with jet pack, helmet and aerials for communication and the spaceman is clearly on the moon or somewhere with reduced Gravity.
How accurate the satellite is I can't say, but I have rarely seen one drawn with such detail.
The theme of the story is 'Just how different and also how alike would extra-terrestrials be?'   
Turmoil in the heavens.
I have already commented on this. It is evident tho, that the writer was doing research.
The Golden Rocket.
The difference between the detail and care of Kirby's work and that of Paul Reinman is obvious.
Seriously doubt the writer was Kirby either.
Lunar Trap.
Set in space, but the theme of this one is the Cold War. 
Kirby and Williamson are an interesting combination.
Island in the Sky
Let's forget the fact that a coffin falling into Jupiter would be crushed before it got very far through the atmosphere.
Here we have an origin. Exposure to the unknown gives a man near immorality and superpowers.
I believe [I'm not going into detail here] That Jack Kirby was thinking about Superheroes and how to come up with believable [feasible?] origins for them for quite some time.
The Face on Mars (5 pages)
Love the art - as always - and the 3 panels of page 2 of the story are classic Kirby imaginary civilization images.
Re the Asteroid Belt and 'The Face on Mars' the already existing comments with the book by myself and Positronic say all that needs to be said, so I won't add to them.
cheers!   
       

   

[crashryan]

Space Adventures #43

There are times, my children, when the only word that perfectly describes a work of art is...ECHH!

The lead story is exactly the sort of thing that gave Charlton its reputation for hacked-out junk. The story makes no sense and the artist is so disinterested in his job that when the crew calls their ship "Old Seventeen" he draws a ship with a big "SP4" on it side. I'm not sure why this and the Alan Shepard story are signed by Vince Alascia alone. This one was without question pencilled by Bill Molno. I'm pretty sure the other one was, too, except for the fact that the jet on our page 21 looks like a real aircraft (F-104). Bill Molno was legendary for never bothering with reference. Maybe this panel was an unfortunate accident. The totally bogus Mercury launch vehicle is more Bill's style. I could rant on but what's the point? As a space-happy kid this comic would have appalled me.

Conquerors of Space!

Now this is more like it. Typically high production values from Johnstone and Cushing. A couple of the faces look like Lou Fine was involved. I assume they didn't name any of the astronauts because the first Mercury flight hadn't taken place yet. It's a clever ploy to enlist the kid in convincing Dad to buy a package of flash bulbs. Would I have loved one of those PowerMite II space capsules! Even considering the thing was made out of cardboard, five bucks sounds like a pretty good deal (plus the cost of the flashbulbs, of course!)

...And since I couldn't just let that lie, I searched some newspapers and learned that in 1964 a dozen GE flashbulbs cost from 87c to $1.46 depending on size. It's safe to guess the prices weren't all that different in '61.

Thanks, QQ, for this entertaining spaceflight into the past.

[Quirky Quokka]

It also occurred to me, that having put so much effort into a newspaper strip about Space Exploration and researched so much real data on the subject, that it never left him.
So, when, a few years after, he created the Fantastic Four and kick-started the Silver Age, what was the origin story?
Taking the first space ship into Space! And he would have been aware of Radiation in Space from his previous research.   
   

Thanks for connecting the dots, Panther. I don't know as much about these artists, so it's good to think how these past experiences helped the Silver Age to take off.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Hi everyone

Hope you don't mind me putting up my reviews a little early. I've got a busy weekend. Here's the first:

RACE FOR THE MOON #2

The Thing on Sputnik 4

Some interesting art in this one. I love the rocket cycle. Probably a complete aerodynamic impossibility, but who cares. I’d love to ride that thing. The story had a nice little twist at the end, though it was wrapped up a bit too quickly. I felt the story was just getting going. As others have said, the limited space given to the stories didn’t allow much time for development.

Turmoil in the Heavens

I assume the dinosaurs were meant tongue-in-cheek, but I didn’t know if Polis was real. My quick search only unearthed Polis Massa from Star Wars, though some of the other posts shed a bit more light on it.

The Golden Rocket

A bit of a tease, but not very compelling. Impossible to do it justice in just one page. I suppose it’s just raising the possibility of life on other planets.

Lunar Trap

What a stroke of luck that the Russians speak perfect English and seem to have a wide knowledge of American colloquialisms. And that ending? If only peace among nations was that easy. I was thinking that they were a bit ahead of their time by having a woman as the Russian commander, but it appears the real reason for having her there was so that she could presumably start dating the American minerologist. Aww!!!

Ad on p. 20 advertising three comics – Apparently men and boys are the only ones who will be interested in ‘Adventures in Space’. By 1959 (the year after this comic came out), women were already being tested in a privately-funded program with the hope of going into space. So, I’d say girls would be interested. Here’s some info about the Mercury 13 women - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13

Island in the Sky

If they were inside the X12 rocket, how did Bill get killed by a meteor? Did I miss something? How do they know the thing that’s been implanted in Bill’s brain won’t go feral at some stage? Odd little story.

Four on Planet X

This was a poorly-written story with no pay-off at the end. Definitely hampered by length. I wondered why they would even bother inserting this. Unless it was meant to be part of a serial, but then there’s nothing to indicate that either.

Why Mars?

Adequate non-fiction piece, but as it ends by speculating on whether there’s life on Mars, I wonder if it was meant to be a lead-in to the next story?

The Face on Mars

I’m not sure what I think of this one. Is it meant to have an anti-war message?

Overall

While the main stories are hampered by length, as a number of you have said, I thought it was an interesting comic overall. It would have been very topical at the time and would have spurred the imagination about what the real space program would entail. Kirby’s art lifts it, especially re all the spacecraft and gizmos. The fillers were pretty ordinary and gave the impression they’d been worked up quickly, but I enjoyed it overall.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

And here are my other two reviews:

AMERICA'S ASTRONAUTS ... CONQUERORS OF SPACE (Product Info) 1961

This advertising booklet is a little gem. Published in the same year that humans first travelled into space, it gives details of what the first suborbital flight by Alan B. Shepard would have been like (without mentioning him or the Mercury project). Science geeks probably would have been fascinated with this info at the time. I would have been more interested in playing in that capsule. Can I still buy it???

I wondered why each page had a fact about flashbulbs, but then saw that it was produced by the Photo Lamp Department of the General Electric Company.

I imagine these little booklets would have been given out free with GEC products. An advertising brochure I would have definitely kept.


SPACE ADVENTURES #43

Okay, who picked this ridiculous comic? Oh wait. It was me! Though I still liked the Alan Shepard story.

Cover art – The cover is really flat and lack-lustre. I thought the expressionless astronaut was floating in space, but then when I got to the A-Okay story, I realised it was almost the same pic of Alan Shepard turned on its side.

The Crusader’s Sword

Not much of a story. The idea of a 10th century Crusader in space reminds me of some of those early Star Trek episodes when they’re in a far-off galaxy and run into people dressed in Roman togas. It always made me think that the wardrobe mistress must have been away that day and they had to make do with whatever costumes they had lying around. But then Stargate-SG1 later used the idea that earthlings had previously been carted off into space, so maybe this is no stranger than Goa’uld ships that looked like pyramids. Though Stargate had much better scripts.

And the biggest question of all? Why are the robots wearing toilet plungers on their heads?

As others have said, the art is pretty flat. I repent in dust and ashes for making you endure this story – LOL

First in Flight - Short Story

An interesting premise in that Martians are wondering if there is life on Urth and are planning a program of flights that will get them there, much like our quest to get to the moon. However, it’s written in a very boring way with no real attempt at world building. It seems the Martians are almost exactly like us, with writing pads and handkerchiefs to boot. Also, the narrator went to pains to explain that they would wear their spacesuits in case they had to exit the ship in the event of a disaster. But what happens to them once they’re outside the ship? If only they had hired Ray Bradbury to write the story.

A-Okay

I mainly picked this comic book for this story of Alan Shepard’s flight, so for that reason I still found it interesting. I see from a note at the end that they used a book as a reference source, which is fine, but the adapted script isn’t very well written. They make a fascinating story sound almost boring.

I felt sorry for the other four Mercury astronauts in ‘the second team’ who weren’t named. For the record, they were Deke Slayton, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper. Given the repetition in some of the script, there would have been plenty of room to include their names.

I thought it was funny that they specifically mentioned that the taxpayer footed the bill. Were they trying to let the public know that the money was well-spent, or were there already rumblings about the cost of the space program?

I also wondered why President Kennedy was shown in silhouette when the others were in colour. This was before the assassination, so couldn’t have been out of respect. Maybe the artist just wasn’t very good at drawing Kennedy.

All in all, not the most riveting in terms of writing and art, but a good tribute to the space program and Shepard’s historic flight. Probably would have been a collector’s item for space buffs, though it’s a shame the overall comic was ruined by the ridiculous first story.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

Space Adventures #43 – 1961
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=66611

Crash said,

Space Adventures #43

There are times, my children, when the only word that perfectly describes a work of art is...ECHH!

I can't argue with that!
Nobody has left a rating, which speaks for itself. I don't and won't leave a very low rating for anything, so no rating from me either!
Juxtaposing the books on this post, it struck me that while the 50's - post 'Seduction of the Innocents', was a time of decline in US comics and particularly for Charlton, it was some kind of high point for Harvey!
Go figure!
It seems to me that working for Charlton at that time was probably like working for Fox had been.
You did it because it was work, but weren't paid well or treated with respect so the work suffered from lack of care.And you knew your work would end up in print with the lowest production standards possible.   
Ditko was one of the few exceptions, and unfortunately there is no Ditko in this book. Enough!

America’s Astronauts … Conquerors of Space (Product Info) 1961
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72635
Probably just a co-incidence, but does that capsule on the cover look like a light-bulb?!
The art for the capsule story is very good and detailed.
Re the 'Flash Facts' While this title makes sense for a 'photo lamp department.', I can't help wondering if the writer wasn't Gardner Fox who was also a Science Fiction writer and a 'Flash' writer.
Re the Cardboard capsule, I think a young boy would stay inside for a maximum of about 5 minutes before boredom [and claustrophobia ?] set in, and interest in it, given the energy level of pre-teen boys or girls, wouldn't last more than 24 hours. But it would look good on the floor of your bedroom.

Thanks QQ!
Something 'completely different' on Monday!       

   

[crashryan]

I also wondered why President Kennedy was shown in silhouette when the others were in colour.

This was a funny thing about American comics. When I started reading comics in the 50s editors seemed to agree that you don't draw the President. He'd be in shadow or viewed from behind. Or else they'd just draw some guy who didn't look like the current President and call him "Mr President," leaving the kids to wonder why he didn't resemble Ike.

I never saw anyone say so directly, but there seemed to be a belief  that drawing the President in a comic book would somehow be disrespectful. Considering the sort of abuse Presidents have taken from the press and the public during the last couple of decades, it's funny to imagine publishers thinking they'd diss the President by drawing his face.

The attitude gradually changed in the early 1960s. I think John F Kennedy was the big motivator. He was our first rockstar President. The media loved him and Jackie. I remember that in some DC Superman stories JFK didn't just sit in a chair and talk, he played a prominent role. JFK also appeared in DC public service ads. Over at Marvel they also started to put in references to real events. As I recall Jackie Kennedy did a cameo in a Fantastic Four courtesy of that other Jack, Mr Kirby. Marvel didn't give JFK a starring role though. I always imagined that DC had worked out a special deal with the White House. Probably some comics historian somewhere has written about this.

Looking back I wonder if the resistance to depicting the President was really just part of a larger desire to keep comic stories completely in a fantasy universe, thus avoiding having to explain why things weren't like the real world. Metropolis resembled New York but writers and artists didn't have to worry about getting the city's geography right or explaining to readers why comic book cops' uniforms don't look like the real ones.

They had a point. When the companies reprinted these early stories they had to redraw the President and change historical references that younger readers wouldn't understand. I'm thinking particularly about Kirby drawing Soviet PM Nikita Khrushchev at the UN pounding on a table with his shoe. The incident was a big deal at the time but forgotten by the time Marvel reprinted the tale some years later. The kids must have wondered what the heck that was all about.

[K1ngcat]

They had a point. When the companies reprinted these early stories they had to redraw the President and change historical references that younger readers wouldn't understand. I'm thinking particularly about Kirby drawing Soviet PM Nikita Khrushchev at the UN pounding on a table with his shoe. The incident was a big deal at the time but forgotten by the time Marvel reprinted the tale some years later. The kids must have wondered what the heck that was all about.

You meañ we've all forgotten about Kruschev and the shoe-banging? I still remember it clear as day. Though I'm not sure what I had for breakfast!

John F and Jackie are very beautifully rendered in full detail by Ogden Whitney in a Herbie story,  but I'll leave you to find it yourself if you're interested!

All the best
K1ngcat

[The Australian Panther]

The incident was a big deal at the time but forgotten by the time Marvel reprinted the tale some years later. The kids must have wondered what the heck that was all about.

Perspective helps.
Most of us here - who post regularly anyway- are 60 plus and we remember these things, they were part of our experiences.
Now think back to 60 years before we were teenagers  - that would be the turn of the century or maybe the 1910's. Did many of us have any memories of Presidents or Prime Ministers of that time?
We don't realize also the implications of how long-lived many of us in the West are in this epoch.
For the first time we have many living people who have living memories of 60, 70,  80 and 90 years of history.
Since Kennedy, or in Australia, the Death of our Prime Minister Harold Holt and the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government, or even Vietnam, there have been several generations born - people who are now parents and even grandparents. All those events [still vivid in our imaginations] pre-dated them and have the status of myth.   
On Presidents,
Marvel in particular used to occasionally have the Avengers, Nick Fury or Reed Richards meet with the president in a crisis, but often you only saw the President from the back only , identified just by hair style and colour.               

[Quirky Quokka]

I also wondered why President Kennedy was shown in silhouette when the others were in colour.

This was a funny thing about American comics. When I started reading comics in the 50s editors seemed to agree that you don't draw the President. He'd be in shadow or viewed from behind. Or else they'd just draw some guy who didn't look like the current President and call him "Mr President," leaving the kids to wonder why he didn't resemble Ike.

I never saw anyone say so directly, but there seemed to be a belief  that drawing the President in a comic book would somehow be disrespectful. Considering the sort of abuse Presidents have taken from the press and the public during the last couple of decades, it's funny to imagine publishers thinking they'd diss the President by drawing his face.

The attitude gradually changed in the early 1960s. I think John F Kennedy was the big motivator. He was our first rockstar President. The media loved him and Jackie. I remember that in some DC Superman stories JFK didn't just sit in a chair and talk, he played a prominent role. JFK also appeared in DC public service ads. Over at Marvel they also started to put in references to real events. As I recall Jackie Kennedy did a cameo in a Fantastic Four courtesy of that other Jack, Mr Kirby. Marvel didn't give JFK a starring role though. I always imagined that DC had worked out a special deal with the White House. Probably some comics historian somewhere has written about this.

Looking back I wonder if the resistance to depicting the President was really just part of a larger desire to keep comic stories completely in a fantasy universe, thus avoiding having to explain why things weren't like the real world. Metropolis resembled New York but writers and artists didn't have to worry about getting the city's geography right or explaining to readers why comic book cops' uniforms don't look like the real ones.

They had a point. When the companies reprinted these early stories they had to redraw the President and change historical references that younger readers wouldn't understand. I'm thinking particularly about Kirby drawing Soviet PM Nikita Khrushchev at the UN pounding on a table with his shoe. The incident was a big deal at the time but forgotten by the time Marvel reprinted the tale some years later. The kids must have wondered what the heck that was all about.

Thanks for that explanation, Crash. I don't remember the Khrushchev shoe incident, but I do have a compilation volume of the first Ironman comics, and there are some fairly realistic pics of Khrushchev in those (though they draw him as a bit of a nutter). I also recently read a volume of Wonder Woman and  Justice League from the 1990s (which was horrible), and I'm pretty sure Bill Clinton was drawn in there (from memory). Also DC put out a book last year called 'Superman: Space Age' (2 of 3 parts released so far), and Kennedy is drawn realistically in that. Indeed, I think I've mentioned before that Lois Lane is the reporter on the spot when Kennedy is assassinated, so there are also pics of Jackie and Johnson. Interesting to see how those views have changed over time. Seems like in the old days there were no qualms about showing the leaders of America's enemies (like Hitler and Tojo), in very unflattering ways, but not the American presidents.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

The incident was a big deal at the time but forgotten by the time Marvel reprinted the tale some years later. The kids must have wondered what the heck that was all about.

Perspective helps.
Most of us here - who post regularly anyway- are 60 plus and we remember these things, they were part of our experiences.
Now think back to 60 years before we were teenagers  - that would be the turn of the century or maybe the 1910's. Did many of us have any memories of Presidents or Prime Ministers of that time?
We don't realize also the implications of how long-lived many of us in the West are in this epoch.
For the first time we have many living people who have living memories of 60, 70,  80 and 90 years of history.
Since Kennedy, or in Australia, the Death of our Prime Minister Harold Holt and the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government, or even Vietnam, there have been several generations born - people who are now parents and even grandparents. All those events [still vivid in our imaginations] pre-dated them and have the status of myth.   
On Presidents,
Marvel in particular used to occasionally have the Avengers, Nick Fury or Reed Richards meet with the president in a crisis, but often you only saw the President from the back only , identified just by hair style and colour.             

I'm thinking back 71 years to 1952, when we watched Queen Elizabeth's Coronation on TV.  (And I'd bet that a few others of you did, as well, as I know it was shown in The UK, and Australia, as well as in Canada).  And my step-Grandfather, remarked that he had watched, in person, the street parade when Queen Victoria paraded through the streets of London, on the occasion of her celebrating her Golden Jubilee in 1897.

[The Australian Panther]

Robb said

I'm thinking back 71 years to 1952, when we watched Queen Elizabeth's Coronation on TV.  (And I'd bet that a few others of you did, as well, as I know it was shown in The UK, and Australia, as well as in Canada). 

Well, I was only 4 years old then and in my state we didn't yet have TV. My parents undoubtedly listened to it on Radio.
However,  There was a Dr Who [David Tennant] serial where they were in England for the coronation and watched it on TV with a lot of ordinary Londoners. I felt that was accurately portrayed. 
Re Queen Victoria and 1889, Jack London went incognito to London for that and wrote, 'The Children of the Abyss' about the experience and what happened behind the scenes. Kind of like the Beijing Olympics.
I was in London in 1977 for the Silver Jubillee. Gives you a different perspective altogether when you are there.
Robb, watching the coronation on TV was obviously an unforgettable experience for you and understandably so.
Cheers!