FIGHTIN MARINES "Tanker's Test"

Ten-hut!

We don't usually do text stories, but this one's very special...

...read through it and see if you can figure out why it's so unique!

Well?

Go back to the top of the story.

Read the credit.

"Gene L Coon"

If you're a Classic Star Trek fan, the name is familiar as "the OTHER Gene" (after Roddenberry, of course) a producer responsible for much of the success of the first two seasons of the classic show!

His credited creations for Star Trek include a number of bulwarks of the Star Trek multiverse of series and movies including the Klingons (in "Errand of Mercy"), Khan Noonien Singh (in "Space Seed"), Zefram Cochrane (in "Metamorphosis"), and the concept of the Prime Directive.

As a producer, he also did uncredited rewrites of others' scripts.

He also mentored a young David Gerrold and helped him polish the script for the episode "The Trouble With Tribbles".

Though Coon left Star Trek during the second season, he contributed several scripts during the show's final year and later co-wrote a pilot with Roddenberry called The Questor Tapes.

Coon served in both World War II (as a Marine) and the Korean Conflict (as a Marine Reservist recalled to duty after mustering out).

Judging from the date, he wrote this story for Fightin Marines #6 (1952) while still serving his Korean tour of duty, which lasted until August, 1952.

It may well be his first published fiction and is his only credited comic book story.

As of this entry, we're removing this blog from weekly rotation.
It will still be published, but on an irregular basis, usually around military-themed holidays or events.
Plus, all the previously-published entries will remain available.
It's just that this, sadly, is the lowest-rated of the various RetroBlogs™, and we're going to try a new blog out in it's weekly slot and see how that one pulls.

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

Check out the PX..

 ...for all your uniform and equipment needs!