Lance Pigeon covers Stalker 3

Original cover by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood; DC 1975. Lance Pigeon does not currently have a website.

Joshua Kahan covers Weird Science 4

Original cover by Wally Wood; Gladstone 1991 (cover reprinted from Weird Science-Fantasy, EC 1955). Joshua Kahan's website is here.

Girls' Love Stories #150

Girls' Love Stories #150 (On Sale: February 12, 1970) has a cover by. well, I don't know, but I know it is not by Nick Cardy as the GCD says.

This issue begins with "Confessions, Episode #4" drawn by John Rosenberger. Next is our cover-story, "Her Secret Shame" penciled by Tony Abruzzo. We end with "Wallflower" with the unusual art team of Wally Wood and Murphy Anderson. I don't know if I believe this credit, as I never heard of these two working together and Wood inked most of his own work. If anyone has this book, I would sure like to see some of these pages.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

House of Mystery #185

House of Mystery #185 (On Sale: January 8, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams. For some reason this cover just doesn't work for me. I love the foreground figures, but something about the gaping-mouthed swamp in the background just doesn't register right with me.

Irregardless of my misgiving with this issue's cover, this is a wonderful issue of House of Mystery with good stories all around and more importantly, Joe Orlando brings a legend to DC for the first time and he performs like the legend he is. But that is later on.

We begin with "Boom!" written and drawn by Jerry Grandenetti. I liked this story and the way it utilized Cain. It begins with Cain running back to the House of Mystery being chased by something in the air following him. He makes it back inside when "Boom!," whatever it is lands on the roof of the house.

Deciding to meet his fate head on, Cain runs upstairs and sees something through the open window. It ends up being a man, wearing a parachute. He is an exhibition sky diver named Tony Saunders, who can't figure out how he landed at Cain's house in Kentucky when he jumped out a plane in California. Unable to catch a ride anywhere, Saunders settles down for the night in the house as Cain's guest, when a strange car pulls up to the house and two gentlemen in top hats and suits get out and ask for Tony Saunders.

Saunders goes freely with the two men, saying he "knew you'd come for me." The next morning, listening to the news on his radio Cain hears of the the death of sky diver Tony Saunders when his chute failed to open somewhere in California. Cain rushes to his front door and sees that Tony left him a gift: his parachute.

Next is a Cain's Game Room by Sergio Aragones and a Page 13 written by Joe Orlando and drawn by Sergio Aragones.

These are followed by a short three-pager, "Voice of the Dead" drawn by Wayne Howard and reminiscent to the "true" short stories around this time that were written by Marv Wolfman. A North Carolina farmer dies in 1921 and when his will is read he leaves everything to his third son, Marshall. This leaves his widow and her other children penniless. Four years later his second son begins having a reoccurring dream where the ghost of his father tells him to look inside his old coat for a sewn-up pocket. A note of the art here is that some attribute the inking of this story to Wally Wood, though DC does not. Wayne Howard was such a Wood devotee that it would be hard to say for sure, but I would tend to agree with those who say this is Wood's inks. It really, really looks like Wally Wood.

After nights of having the same dream the son goes to his mother's house finds the coat and a note inside saying to look in the family bible. There they find a later dated will which split his estate evenly.

This is followed by another Cain's Game Room, this one written and drawn by Joe Orlando, but none of these are the reason you should own this book. No, that is the final story in the issue, "The Beautiful Beast" by Joe Gil and the legendary Al Williamson. This is the only story that Al will both pencil and ink for DC and folks, it is just out and out, drop dead gorgeous! This is Williamson in his Secret Agent Corrigan prime. This is the story of Joe Carver, escaped killer who hides out in the swamp and the inescapable justice that lurks there. But the story is superfluous, the artwork is the real story. Handsome men, a beautiful woman, hulking dinosaur-like creatures, a fetid swamp, serpents, lost cities, gnarled moss-laden trees, cavemen-like warriors, exotic birds and flying reptiles; this is a story custom-made for the talents of Al Williamson and he delivers completely.

But there is more to the art in this story than meets the eye. In an interview in Comic Book Artist Michael Kaluta said this:

I never even thought about being an illustrator or comic book artist. I’d just finished my second year of college...I didn’t know what I was going to do, stay in school or join the army. After the next SCARP convention, Phil Seuling contacted me and said that Al Williamson had seen stuff that I did and was interested in talking to me about maybe helping with a story. That flipped me out. At the next New York Convention I went up to Al and he gave me a script that he was having trouble getting in to. He asked me to stretch it out. “Give me plenty of boots, girls, dinosaurs and stuff” he said. I made 7 pages into 12. Al still has my fumbling pencil originals and unless he gets mad at me we won’t tell anyone. They’re really awful, awful stuff. I was so uptight about doing the job that I just rendered and detailed it to death. Later Al did a fine job with the story and let me doodle a bit on a page or two. DC Comics published it under the title The Beautiful Beast.

Regardless of the pedigree of the artwork, it is some stunning stuff and certainly makes you wish Al Williamson could have done more work for DC. Al Williamson was born in New York City but spent his childhood in Bogotá, Colombia. Upon his return to New York, he took art courses from Burne Hogarth, whom he assisted on some 'Tarzan' Sunday pages.

He made his professional debut at the age of 17 with western and adventure series like 'Buster Crabbe' for Eastern Color, 'Billy the Kid' and 'John Wayne' for Toby and 'Outlaw Kid' for Marvel. He was the youngest member of the "EC family," joining when he was only 21 years old in 1952, He was considered "the kid brother," for most of his colleagues were family men. Williamson contributed to EC's Weird Fantasy, Weird Science and Tales of Valor, often in collaboration with the so-called "Fleagle Gang": Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel and Angelo Torres. Al especially loved doing pencil work, but was "deathly afraid" of inking, so often Frazetta undertook that task for him.

Al also did comics work for ACG, Charlton, Prize and Dell. In the 1960s, he assisted John Prentice on 'Rip Kirby' and did a 'Flash Gordon' comic book, which was a natural for Al as his fluid style is highly influenced by Alex Raymond's original Flash Gordon work. For King Features Syndicate, he took over the 'Secret Agent X-9' daily, which was retitled to 'Secret Agent Corrigan' which was written by the wonderful Archie Goodwin.

In the 1980s Al drew the Marvel adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back and eventually the syndicated Star Wars newspaper strip. When this strip folded, Al went back to comic books, working for Pacific Comics in Alien Worlds and Summerset Holmes. For Marvel he did the Blade Runner and Return of the Jedi adaptations and a couple of stories for Epic Illustrated. He then transitioned to becoming a full-time inker, working first at DC on Superman and then for Marvel where he inked a ton of stuff off and on through 2003.

Al has worked for Dark Horse and has done occasional inking for DC. His last work for DC was on Green Lantern #146 in 2002.

This entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

House of Mystery #184

House of Mystery #184 (On Sale: November 6, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with "Turner's Treasure" by Jack Oleck and Alex Toth. That is followed by a Page 13 by Joe Orlando and Sergio Aragones. Next is "The Eyes of the Basilisk" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Gil Kane and Wally Wood. Lastly is a Cain's Game Room by Sergio Aragones.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superboy #161

Superboy #161 (On Sale: October 7, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

"The Strange Death of Superboy" is by the regular team of Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Meet Angel #7

Meet Angel #7 (On Sale: September 16, 1969) has a cover inked by Bob Oksner and a totally meaningless name change from The Angel and the Ape, particularly since this is the last issue of the book.

We begin with "A Busy Little Aunt" and "Suits Me Fine," both penciled by Bob Oksner. Next is "The Case of the Inside Job" drawn by Bob Oksner and Wally Wood. We end the reign of The Angel and the Ape with"The Case of the Millionaire Cat" also drawn by Bob Oksner and Wally Wood

Edited by Joe Orlando.

House of Mystery #183

House of Mystery #183 (On Sale: September 11, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with an intro page featuring Cain by Joe Orlando, which leads into "The Haunting" by Jack Oleck and Jerry Grandenetti. This is followed by an one-page Odds and Ends from Cain's Cellar a reprint by an unknown writer and artist.

Next from Cain's True Files we have "The Dead Can Kill!" by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson. That is followed by a Page 13 by Joe Orlando and Sergio Aragones and a Cain's Game Room by Sergio Aragones.

We end with "The Secret of the Whale's Vengence" by Robert Kanigher, Jerry Grandenetti and Wally Wood. The entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superboy #160

Superboy #160 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has just an astounding cover by Neal Adams. Every once in a while Neal just knocks one out of the park and this is one of those!

Superboy stars in "I Chose External Exile" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood. I find it hard to believe that these stories have never been reprinted. I remember Frank Robbins doing a good job on the scripts and hell, this is Wally Wood inks we are talking about.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Angel and the Ape #6

Angel and the Ape #6 (On Sale: July 15, 1969) has a cover by Bob Oksner on this their final issue, though there will be one more comic in this series, simply entitled Meet Angel.

We have three short Angel and the Ape stories this issue. We start with "The Robbing Robot" by John Albano, Bob Oksner and Wally Wood. Next is "The Liberator" also drawn by Bob Oksner and Wally Wood. We end with "The Ape of 1,000 Disguises" by John Albano, Bob Oksner and Wally Wood.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superboy #159

Superboy #159 (On Sale: July 3, 1969) has another interesting cover by Neal Adams.

"The Day It Rained Superboys" is by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Superboy #158

Superboy #158 (On Sale: May 20, 1969) has a great dramatic cover by Neal Adams.

"Superboy's Darkest Secret" is by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood. With these great Neal Adams' covers, the interesting Frank Robbins' scripts and Wally Wood's inks, Superboy was one of the more interesting, yet unsung titles DC was producing at the time.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Anthro #6

Anthro #6 (On Sale: May 20, 1969) has a cover reported to be by the signed Howie Post, but only a crazy person would deny the Wally Wood inks on the Nima and Embra figures. This is the final issue of Anthro.

(The Marriage of Anthro) is written and penciled by Howie Post and inked by Wally Wood. Anthro leaves the tribe of his uncle to search for Embra. After an encounter with a white lion and a giant, Anthro finds Embra and her father Tugg. The trio return to Do-Ahn's village where a marriage is arranged for Tugg's eldest daughter Ita.

Anthro then proceeds to marry Embra. Before the ceremony is complete, the ritual is challenged by Nima, a woman of the bear tribe. As a result of her challenge Nima and Embra fight for the right to marry Anthro. The girls knock each other out which results in the match ending as a draw. As a result the law requires that Anthro marry both women.

Howie Post's Anthro was a one-of-a-kind character and didn't fit real well in the DC universe. Beginning life in Showcase #74 it would be nine years later before Anthro appeared again and again it would be in the pages of Showcase, this time issue #100 with a small cameo. He would appear only three more times in Crisis on Infinite Earths #2, #5 and #10.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Angel and the Ape #5

Angel and the Ape #5 (On Sale: May 13, 1969) has a cover by Bob Oksner. It looks like the staff of Benedict Arnold High School (a school populated by Universal Horror-style monsters) from the now canceled Adventures of Bob Hope comic are now a part of Angel and the Ape.

Once again we know very little about this issue. It begins with "Pigeon Mob" drawn by Bob Oksner and finishes with "The Case of Hippie, Hippie, Hooray" drawn by Artie Saaf and Wally Wood.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Falling In Love #108

Falling In Love #108 (On Sale: May 6, 1969) has an ugly cover by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta. I blame Colletta.

We lost Ric Estrada on May 1 to cancer. Ric drew his first story for DC, a war story for Our Army At War in 1955 and his second story, a romance tale for Girls' Romance in 1967. He started his long run beginning in 1968 and would end his association with DC in 1986. He would draw 289 stories in all for DC.

Sure he was the guy they went to for romance and war stories, but Ric drew lots of other things. He had a story in every issue of Hot Wheels except the first one. He drew the first seven issues of Amethyst. He did comedy in Plop and Welcome Back Kotter He didn't like drawing super-heroes, but he did a dozen Wonder Woman stories and numerous issues of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter, Super Friends, Blackhawk and the Karate Kid. He did the Legion of Super-Heroes, Wonder Girl, The Creeper, Beowulf, Isis, The Justice Society of America, and the Freedom Fighters. Ric could do it all.

I'm just going to lift liberally here from Mark Evanier's post the morning Ric died.

Ric was born February 26, 1928 in Havana, Cuba and began selling his work at age 13 to a popular Cuban magazine called Bohemia. He attended University of Havana where, he always claimed, another student was Fidel Castro.

Via a relative, he developed a friendship with Ernest Hemingway, who took an interest in the young artist's work and encouraged him to relocate to New York. Ric moved there at age 20 but never stayed in one place for very long, traveling the world and living briefly in dozens of other cities. Whenever he was back in Manhattan, he managed to work in comic books, including two of his proudest jobs...stories for the EC war comics edited and written by Harvey Kurtzman. Other companies that were glad to have his art included Hillman, Western Publishing, St. John and Ziff-Davis.

Ric occasionally dabbled in newspaper strips, including assisting on Flash Gordon and drawing some of the Flash Gordon comic books. Most of his comic book work was done in the sixties and seventies for DC, primarily on romance and war comics. But there was a period where (against his preference, he said), he was assigned to super-hero titles, primarily as a "rough penciller." Ric didn't like super-heroes and didn't feel he had the flair for them, and he also didn't like producing anything less than finished artwork. Still, that was where he was told his services were needed so he penciled comics like All-Star Comics, Freedom Fighters and Karate Kid.

Despite the grief it caused him and his own dissatisfaction with the work, it was often quite wonderful...though not as grand as when Ric was allowed to be Ric. Besides, Ric was never satisfied with his own work. In the seventies, he did several war stories for DC's combat titles that garnered great praise, particularly from his fellow artists. It was hard to tell Ric how good you thought they were without him blushing red and giving you an honest, humble argument.

In the 80's Ric moved to Los Angeles and worked for the Hanna-Barbera studio as a designer and layout artist. He was much-loved about the building...and repeatedly flattered as younger artists sought him out to praise his comic work.

Ric was married three times and had eight children. One son, Seth, is currently producing a documentary on his father. You can find out more about it at the Ric Estrada website and view some of the raw footage on this page.

I always liked Ric's work. My wife and I shared an elevator with Ric at the San Diego Comic-Con a few years ago. He walked in and I said "Hi, great to see you." Ric sees that his name tag is backwards and says, "You don't even know who I am." I said, "Ric, you are one of those guys who looks like you were drawn by you. Of course I know who you are." I think he was kind of shocked than anyone recognized him. He was a very self-effacing guy and you couldn't help liking him. I always liked his artwork.

We begin with "Does He Still Love Her?" drawn by John Rosenberger and later reprinted in Young Romance #197. That is followed by our cover story, "Don't Pity Me -- Love Me" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta. Next is "The Write Time to Love" drawn by Wally Wood and Vinny Colletta. Lastly we have "Heart of a Lifetime" drawn by Arthur Peddy and Bernard Sachs.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff

Captain Action #5

Captain Action #5 (On Sale: April 29, 1969) has another wonderful Gil Kane cover.

The full-length Captain Action story "A Mind Divided" is written and drawn by Gil Kane and inked by Wally Wood. This tale of charismatic leaders and rebellion in the streets was the swan song for Captain Action and Action Boy. I don't know if the issue was sales or the end of the toy line or what, but I enjoyed every issue of this book and was saddened to see it go. Of course I owned the toys so this book was just made for me.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #69

Green Lantern #69 (On Sale: April 8, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane.

"If Earth Fails the Test -- It Means War" is by John Broome, Gil Kane and Wally Wood. Green Lantern returns from a space mission to find that the police in Evergreen City have invented three new devices to fight crime: a city-wide burglar alarms system, a radar-television to remotely view the crime scenes and a device that remotely traps criminals at the scene. While viewing the new system GL gets to see it in action when an alarm is tripped at the Central Jewelery Exchange. Blue bars are used to trap the criminals inside the vault, but utilizing a strange hand-held device they are able to bend the bars out of the way and escape.

Green Lantern heads out to round up the gang, which is led by the beautiful Kyra, who uses another device to deflect Lantern's energy beams. As he attempts to capture them, most of the gang, including Kyra, disappear, fading away before GL's eyes.

After taking the three captured members of the gang to police headquarters, Lantern receives a phone call from Carol Ferris, who tells him that she is getting married tomorrow and wants to know if there is anything he would like to say to her. Realizing that Carol is in love with Green Lantern but not Hal Jordan, he wishes her the best. He also realizes that he is both repulsed and attracted to Kyra and can't figure out why.

We back-track a week to see Kyra in her real, fairly hideous, alien form on her home-world of Hegor, where she is the leader of a student movement to "uproot the ancient ways of doing thing-- and breathe fresh life into our tradition-encrusted civilization." They have implanted the ideas for three new devices in the minds of certain officials on Earth, devices much like those used by the authorities on Hegor. They plan to go to Earth and commit thefts where they can train against the devices which will be used on their world against them during their revolution, without the knowledge of Hegoran authorities. Earth will become the testing ground for their revolution.

Back to real time and Kyra speaks to Hal through his ring, telling him she is in trouble, but when he follows the energy impulse back to Kyra it is a trap and Green lantern is stunned and captured. With the Lantern neutralized, Kyra and the gang continue with their training. GL is held in place by an alien machine which he attempts to destroy with an energy beam, but the more he uses his ring the more paralyzing radiation bombards his body and he is wracked by intense pain. Figuring he can withstand the pain for a short burst he wills his ring to make a concentrated pain-killer, which he swallows and then waits to take effect.

With the pain-killer in his system, Green Lantern is able to smash the alien device holding him captive and after a quick stop by police headquarters to find the location of the group's current cir me, GL tracks them down and battles them into submission. Once he has them captured Kyra explains their mission, which has been successful and tells him that their time on Earth is over. GL is unable to stop the entire gang from teleporting back to Hegor.

But Hal can't get Kyra out of his mind and realizes that he may be in love with her so he flies to Hegor and locates Kyra, seeing her as she really looks for the first time. Kyra tells him that thanks to the training they did on Earth the revolution was successful and that a coup was possible without a devastating war. Kyra also introduces Hal to Tarkro, the man she is to marry tomorrow. Hal returns to earth, spurned by Kyra, spurned by Carol, he cannot face his job as an insurance salesman and decides a change of careers is in order.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superboy #157

Superboy #157 (On Sale: April 3, 1969) has acover by Neal Adams.

"Get Lost, Superboy -- Who Needs You?" is by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood. "

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Girls' Love Stories #143

Girls' Love Stories #143 (On Sale: March 25, 1969) has a nice cover by Nick Cardy, but it seems like it was meant for a different book. the cover blurb is normally the name of a story, usually the last story in the romance book, but there is no story entitled "Love From a Stranger" in this issue.

We begin with "Love Today -- Cry Tomorrow" drawn by Wally Wood, which is followed by "Only Love Can Create" and an untitled Cindy the Salesgirl story both by persons unknown. Finally we have "End of a Dream" from Girls' Love Stories #40 and inked by Bernard Sachs.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Angel and the Ape #4

Angel and the Ape #4 (On Sale: March 13, 1969) has a cover by Bob Oksner and a new craptastic logo.

Inside we have "Remember the Chow Mein," "The Case of Trouble on the Talk Show" and "Cheapskater's Waltz" all penciled by Bob Oksner and inked by Wally Wood.

Edited by Joe Orlando.