The True Story of Frankenstein! - Batman (1948)

Welcome to Halloween Week here in the Atomic Surgery! To kick things off we present this reworking of the Frankenstein story starring Batman & Robin:

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Detective Comics #135, May, 1948; DC Comics
Story: Edmond Hamilton; Art: Bob Kane/Charles Harris

Hey DC Animation! We've got your next Batman movie right here!

Life on Other Worlds: Neptune by Murphy Anderson (1948)

Planet Comics #56, Sept., 1948; Fiction House
Art by Murphy Anderson

Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a distant planet with a warm spot in the wrong place.

The gas-giant planet, named upsilon Andromedae b, orbits tightly around its star, with one face perpetually boiling under the star's heat. It belongs to a class of planets termed hot Jupiters, so called for their scorching temperatures and large, gaseous constitutions.

One might think the hottest part of these planets would be directly under the sun-facing side, but previous observations have shown that their hot spots may be shifted slightly away from this point. Astronomers thought that fierce winds might be pushing hot, gaseous material around.

But the new finding may throw this theory into question. Using Spitzer, an infrared observatory, astronomers found that upsilon Andromedae b's hot spot is offset by a whopping 80 degrees. Basically, the hot spot is over to the side of the planet instead of directly under the glare of the sun.

They've guessed at some possibilities, including supersonic winds triggering shock waves that heat material up, and star-planet magnetic interactions. But these are just speculation. As more hot Jupiters are examined, astronomers will test new theories.

"We really didn't expect to find a hot spot with such a large offset," said Ian Crossfield. "It's clear that we understand even less about the atmospheric energetics of hot Jupiters than we thought we did."

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology

This animation illustrates an unexpected warm spot on the surface of a gaseous exoplanet. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered that the hottest part of the planet, shown here as bright, orange patches on the surface, is not directly under the glare of its star but over to the side. link

Ref: A NEW 24 μm PHASE CURVE FOR υ ANDROMEDAE b. 2010. I.J.M. Crossfield, et al. Astrophyscial Journal 723: 1436.

“I Was A Big-Game Hunter On Neptune!”



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The Boy Who Saved The World by Alex Toth (1952)

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Fantastic Worlds #6 , November, 1952, Literary Enterprises, Inc.
Art by Alex Toth


... Toth couldn't help but design cool characters...!

... plus,
fun sun science facts from the same issue:

Al Williamson Art Show & Tribute: Scranton, PA, Oct. 8-11, 2010

Al Williamson Postcard Sample 1 of 5. Available For Free at the Exhibit. © 2010 Al Williamson Estate. They will be given away free to all those who attend.

Celebrate the art and career of Al Williamson at a special exhibit at Marywood University’s Mahady Gallery in Scranton, Pennsylvania from October 8-11, 2010. “Al Williamson: A Tribute” will showcase over 60 original works spanning five decades. More than ten pieces will represent each decade from 1950 to 2000.

The event also doubles as a memorial service of sorts. Al would not have liked a day of maudlin sentiment, but would have approved of his friends getting together to look at great art, although I'm sure he'd have rather that folks were looking at a wall of Krenkel's or Foster's!

Featured will be original art done for comics, posters, trading cards, preliminary sketches, family birthday and Christmas cards, as well as drawings he did for his own pleasure. Comic pieces include finished pages for Flash Gordon, Star Wars pages and covers, Secret Agent Corrigan strips, and comic pages for Eerie magazine (“The Jungle”). Examples of Al’s pages from Weird Science (“Captivity”), Classics Illustrated (The World Around Us: Prehistoric Animals), Blade Runner, Dark Horse Presents (“One Last Job”), his Sub-Mariner story, as well as inked pages completed for Marvel Comics, and more, will be on display.

The exhibit reception will be held on Friday, October 8 from 6-9 PM. The Mahady Gallery is located on the Marywood Universtiy campus in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Gallery hours and directions. More details are available here.

Flesk Publications has donated copies of Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic and Al Williamson Archives, Vol. 1 for the reception. All proceeds from the sales of these titles will go towards the Al Williamson Scholarship Fund at the The Joe Kubert School. Those unable to make the show and would like to make a donation can send a check to:

The Joe Kubert School
37 Myrtle Avenue
Dover, NJ 07801
Attn: Al Williamson Scholarship Fund

Link from Flesk Publications

The Dinosaur in Times Square (1961) By Mort Meskin

Cover pencils: Dick Dillin; inks: Sheldon Moldoff


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House of Secrets #41 (Feb. 1961) © DC Comics
Pencils by Mort Meskin; inks by George Roussos

The Moon Monster by Bernard Baily (1960)

A nice story by Bernard Baily, co-creator and long time artist on The Spectre & Hourman.

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House of Mystery #97, April 1960 © DC Comics
Art by Bernard Baily

Abstract: By using high-resolution altimetric measurements of the Moon, we produced a catalog of all impact craters 20 kilometers in diameter on the lunar surface and analyzed their distribution and population characteristics. The most-densely cratered portion of the highlands reached a state of saturation equilibrium.

Large impact events, such as Orientale Basin, locally modified the prebasin crater population to ~2 basin radii from the basin center. Basins such as Imbrium, Orientale, and Nectaris, which are important stratigraphic markers in lunar history, are temporally distinguishable on the basis of crater statistics.

The characteristics of pre- and postmare crater populations support the hypothesis that there were two populations of impactors in early solar system history and that the transition occurred near the time of the Orientale Basin event.

Ref.: Global Distribution of Large Lunar Craters: Implications for Resurfacing and Impactor Populations. 2010. James W. Head, III, et al. Science 329: 1504-1507.

The Lost Kingdom of Athala by Wally Wood (1951)

From 1951, The Atomic Surgeons have polished up this great Wally Wood tale for your edification. Say, as a minor, did Tommy sign a waiver form for this trip? No? Why, what could possibly go wrong?

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Strange Worlds #4 (Sept., 1951) © Avon
Art by Wally Wood

Too bad about Tommy, but the Time Machine would have been a bit crowded on the way back!