Friday, April 13, 2012

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!

Friday, April 6, 2012

SPACEBUSTERS "Victory on Valda"

Ten-Hut!
In space, no one can hear you die...
...as we see in the second (and final) issue of SpaceBusters, the action moves outside the Solar System as the war against Belzar escalates...
BTW, you'll notice that April is wearing considerably less on the cover.
Art by Murphy Anderson, who had just left the Buck Rogers newspaper strip.
Apparently, the editorial edict was to revamp the uniforms and weaponry into something even more futuristic!
Personally, I'm not crazy about the purple-red color scheme, but at least it matches the uniform on the cover...

Until next time...
Dis-missed!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

FOXHOLE "50th Man"

Ten-HUT!
From post-World War II, we return to the days of the Roman Empire...
...when bread and circuses (and gladiators) kept the population enthralled, as in this tale from FoxHole #6 (1955)!
You may note the final panel is a repeat of the figure from the page 1 splash and the caption lettering is different from the rest of the story.
While the tale, illustrated by Bill Draut, was produced before the Comics Code came into being, it was published after the Code began censoring comics.
It's rumored that the original final panel was a medium shot of Gratus/Geta with a sword thru his throat and his eyes rolled up.
But, unless the original art surfaces somewhere, we'll never know...
Until next time...
Dis-missed!
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Friday, March 23, 2012

"Prepare or Perish"

Ten-hut!
This post-World War II story detailed how we were very lucky...
...that the Axis was unable to reach our coasts in force, leaving us able to prepare in relative isolation from the fighting.
Sound words, George!
From Picture News in Color and Action #3 (1946).

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Friday, March 16, 2012

EAGLE COMICS "SharpShooters of the Clouds"

Ten-hut!
One of the more popular features in WWII comics was the "behind the scenes" story...
...detailing how the actual armed forces operated (within national security guidelines, of course)!
This particular tale appeared in Eagle Comics #1 (1945) and shows aerial combat only with Japanese aircraft, which makes sense since Germany had already surrendered at the time of publication!

Until next time...
Dis-missed!