SPACE BUSTERS "Remember Makano"

Ten-HUT!
It's the final battle in the series that may have inspired Don the Con's fantasy about a "Space Force"...

...appropriately enough, a tale that places emotion over logic!

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) is the final story in the short-lived series.

Oddly, none of the sci-fi books about specific characters (this one and Lars of Mars, Crusader from Mars, and Space Patrol) lasted more than two issues!

But the anthologies lasted longer...Amazing Adventures ran six issues and Weird Thrillers ran five!

It must be admitted that Murphy Anderson's revamp gave the book a solid "shot in the arm" artistically, so why it was cancelled so abruptly remains a mystery!

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Victory on Valda"

Ten-Hut!
Editor Jerry Siegel wanted Space Busters to look more like...

... the recently-revamped and revitalized Buck Rogers strip!

But artist Marvin Stein ended up using the original Buck strip as reference in his tryout, and lost the gig!

With a looming deadline, Siegel contacted the Buck Rogers strip's artist, Murphy Anderson (who had recently left the series) to provide redesigns...

...as well as the cover-featured story!

(Note: the cover is by Allen Anderson...no relation to Murphy!)

Personally, I'm not crazy about the purple-red color scheme, but at least it matches the uniform on the cover.
And, I think this is more the "look" Don (the John) Trump wants for his "Space Force" than the utilitarian garb of the first issue!

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Mission to Baldor!"

Ten-Hut!
We're on to Space Busters #2, and the first of the "redesigned" stories...

...as artist Marvin Stein takes a crack at making the "Marines in space" series look more like Buck Rogers!

This never-reprinted story appeared in the back of Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 (1952) because editor/writer Jerry Siegel had nothing else to fill the empty pages!
Unfortunately, Stein had gone "old school" Buck Rogers, when Siegel had wanted "modern" Buck Rogers.
So Siegel got the guy who had been illustrating the modern Buck...Murphy Anderson!

You'll see his work starting next week!

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Battle for Alana"

Ten-Hut!

No, recruit, your eyes do not deceive you...

...This Space Busters #1.5 tale is in 3-D!

Put your 3-D glasses on (blue lens on right eye!) and enjoy!

One of the changes made for the second issue of Space Busters was to expand the war against Belzar as the aliens lost their hold on Mars and "Earthian" forces pushed outward!

Human traitor Senstral commands these attempts to "hold the line", after having failed to do so on Mars!

When Ziff-Davis dropped their comics line (except for G.I. Joe), several publishers bought up both the unpublished material, with St John picking up the bulk of it!

This never-published Space Busters story by Bernie Krigstein was converted to 3-D to fill out the St John one-shot Daring Adventures 3-D (1953)!

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Frog Men Against Belzar"

Ten-Hut!

After the stories for Ziff-Davis' Space Busters #2 were written and drawn...

...most of them were shelved, as a new artist, Murphy Anderson, was brought on board to revamp the series' look!

However, the Bernie Krigstein and Martin Stein-illustrated stories that didn't make it into Space Busters #2 did find new homes!

This particular tale is the most-reprinted Space Busters story of all, appearing in St John's Daring Adventures #6 (1954), Decker's Great Exploits #1 (1958) and IW's Strange Planets #18 (1964)..under a new Ross Andru/Mike Esposito cover as shown above!

Oddly enough, though the aliens invading Mars remained "Belzarians" and the Terrans were referred to as "Earthians", the individual heroes went through a name-change.

Blond/blue-eyed Captain Brett Crockett received a new name, becoming "Captain Andall", while his balding and mustached sergeant, Bolo, became "Sgt Bala".
And the nickname "SpaceBusters", used incessantly in the two issues of the series, is nowhere in sight...

We proudly present the lead story of Space Busters #1.5, which is also the final story of the Mars Campaign...

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Death Rite of the Dwarfs"

Ten-Hut!

In space no one can hear you die...

...as we present the third chapter of the Mars Campaign from Ziff-Davis SpaceBusters #1 (1952)

This Bernie Krigstein-rendered story concludes the Space Busters tales from issue #1!

But we're not proceeding to #2 next week!

There was a major artistic shift between issues, resulting in much of the already-completed work for #2 by Krigstein being "written-off" and later published by other companies who acquired the comic division's assets after Ziff-Davis dropped the line (except for G.I. Joe) in 1953!

The second issue contains a artistically-rebooted series with a new "look" created by illustrator, Murphy Anderson, fresh off a run on the Buck Rogers newspaper strip!

You'll see that version next month!

Beginning next week, we'll be presenting those tales in the correct order (Space Busters #1.5, as it were!)

Until next time...

Dis-missed!

SPACE BUSTERS "Charge of the Battle Women"

Ten-Hut!

Space is the place for battle...

It's a fascinating look at male-female relationships as shown in comic books of the 1950s, proving those Lois Lane comics and their attitudes towards women weren't an aberration.

BTW, you'll notice the Amazons on the comic's cover (shown above) are wearing considerably less...armor! ;-)

Until next time...

Dis-missed!