From Beyond the Unknown #3

From Beyond the Unknown #3 (On Sale: December 23, 1969) has a great cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with our cover-story, "When Earth Turned into a Comet" reprinted from Strange Adventures #150 and created by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. An astronaut on the Moon uses illusion and bluff to save the Earth from invaders.

Next is "Prisoner of the Electronic Eye" from Mystery In Space #53 and the work of John Broome, Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. A man must figure out how to escape from an inescapable room so he can stop Earth and Saturn from going to war.

The next story is "The Space Hermit" from Strange Adventures #34 and the product of Sid Gerson and Henry Sharp. When an alien sealed in an indestructible bubble crashes into a ballpark a scientist works to free him. The question is should he? Between 1953 and 1955 Henry Enoch Sharp drew 15 science-fiction stories fro DC Comics appearing in Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures; this is the only one of those stories where Sharp provided both pencils and inks. During his tenure at DC Sharp also worked for St. John Publishing.

Henry Enoch Sharp started off in the early 1950s working for the pulps, drawing for Fantastic Adventures and Other Worlds along with doing some advertising work. As the pulps began to die, Sharp switched over to comics, spending four years at Ziff-Davis where he worked on a number of books including G.I. Joe (see his cover painting for G.I. Joe #10, which is actually issue #1) and Sky Pilot. Then in a change of careers, Sharp began to work in television as a writer where he had a successful run through the mid-1970s.

Henry Sharp wrote for such diverse shows as The Real McCoys, Bachelor Father, The Donna Read Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Andy Griffith Show, McHales's Navy, Bewitched, Here Comes the Brides, Mission: Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Target, MacKenzie's Raiders and The Addams Family. Moreover, Sharp was the Story Consultant and one of the writers for The Wild Wild West for four years. In the 1970s he wrote for Valley of the Dinosaurs, Super Friends and The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan.

Our last story is "Escape from Earth" reprinted from Mystery In Space #61 and created by John Broome and Murphy Anderson. In the 30th century the Council of Eternity decrees that all the people of Earth must enter the Chamber of Immortality so they will live forever. Four people decide that the new immortals no longer seem fully human and contrive to escape from Earth and find a new planet to live on as mortals, even though this means if caught immortality will be forced on them and they will be given a jail sentence of 100,000 years!

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Strange Adventures #220

Strange Adventures #220 (On Sale: July 17, 1969) has an Adam Strange cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Adam Strange in "The Beast from the Runaway World" reprinted from Mystery In Space #55 and created by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs. Adam Strange waits for the Zeta Beam to strike Earth and return him to Rann, but the Beam never comes. Puzzled by its failure to appear, Adam calculates when the next beam is scheduled to strike and takes it to Rann.

When he arrives, he meets Alanna, who explains that the first beam was intercepted by a planet with an erratic orbit. A creature from that planet was brought to Rann, Zaradak. Zaradak, a giant dinosaur-like beast, has been causing damage on Rann ever since.

Adam attempts to stop the creature with his ray-gun, but the creature absorbs and reflects the blast. Adam has food brought to the beast, which settles its rampage. It was only hungry.

When an alien attack force arrives, Adam plans to use the creature to deflect their bombs, but the Zeta energy in the creature returns it to its native world. Adam flies into space to intercept the bomb, destroying with his ray-gun just prior to his own return ride to Earth on the Zeta Beam.

Next is "The Star Oscar" reprinted from Strange Adventures #34 and the work of Sid Gerson and Frank Giacoia.

We end with the Atomic Knights in "The Lost City of Los Angeles" reprinted from Strange Adventures #126 and produced by John Broome and Murphy Anderson. After a hurricane devastates Durvale, Gardner Grayle proposes to discover what remains of the country. He instructs the Hobard brothers to build gliders with which they can fly across country. Bryndon joins Gardner and the Hobards on the trip west. The plains of the midwest are black and lifeless and the Rocky Mountains have become volcanic.

The Knights finally reach Los Angeles, where they locate a small band of living humans. The Knights help them retrieve a supply of food from a canyon protected by electrical beings which are merely illusionary. After getting the food, Bryndon sets up a radio allowing the Knights to communicate with Durvale.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Strange Adventures #218

Strange Adventures #218 (On Sale: March 18, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams

We begin with Adam Strange in "The Planet and the Pendulum," reprinted from Showcase #17 and created by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Joe Giella. Adam Strange is again transported to Rann by stepping into the path of the Zeta-Beam. This time he arrives in the ruined city of Yardana, where he is captured by the barbaric Zoora tribe. Believing Adam to be a sorcerer, the tribe take Adam to the Tower of Rainbow Doom. Surrounded by a rainbow of lights, Adam is teleported to Anthorann a nearby planet.

Adam discovers the wreckage of a spacecraft on the surface whose passengers include Sardath and Alanna. Alanna explains that the scientists from Samakand gave their technology to the people of Ranagar. This enabled Sardath to construct a spacecraft to travel to a lost colony on Anthorann. Their ship was attacked by a vessel from Morleen and forced down.

Adam, Alanna, and Sardath are met by a man from New Ranagar and taken inside the protective dome of the city. The aliens return using a giant pendulum to slice open the dome. Using a rocket pack and ray-gun found in the spaceship, Adam destroys the pendulum while dodging enemy fire. With the weapon destroyed, the aliens leave, and Adam once again returns to Earth when the Zeta radiation dissipates.

Next is "Interplanetary Insurance, Inc." from Mystery in Space #16 by Sid Gerson, Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry.

Lastly we have the Atomic Knights in "The Rise of the Atomic Knights" from Strange Adventures #117 by John Broome and Murphy Anderson. Gardner Grayle, a man who is statistically the average soldier, has survived World War III, which lasted only 20 days. In the post-holocaust world, all plant and animal life has been destroyed. The only remaining food supplies are being hoarded by a tyrant called the Black Baron.

Grayle is attacked by looters trying to rob him. He escapes, then helps another man, Douglas Herald, fend off the attackers. Grayle and Herald discover a set of six medieval suits of armor that have become resistant to radiation. The two men decide to use the suits to attack the Baron's stronghold. They recruit three other men to join the fight, leaving the last suit of armor behind because it is too small.

The five men assault the Baron's stronghold wearing the armor which resists the tyrant's rayguns. The Baron nearly kills Grayle, but he is rescued by an unknown person wearing the sixth suit of armor. After the Baron is defeated, the sixth knight is revealed to be Marene, Herald's sister. The six knights agree to stay together to fight for justice in the post-apocalyptic world.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.