Race Wilkins (Part 2) - Meteor Comics, 1945

Art by August Froehlich. Rural Home, November 1945

Part 2 of what appears to be the final episode of Race Wilkins' adventures at the bottom of the ocean was published in the only issue of Meteor Comics (#1). We present here the atomically enhanced story from a slightly better scan than was available for part 1.

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Race Wilkins in "Ride That Nightmare" (August Froehlich, 1945)

Red Band Comics #3 (Rural Home, 1945)
Art by August Froehlich

Froehlich moved from illustrating film posters and magazines to comic books in the 1940's. A polished artist out of the Alex Raymond school he is best noted for drawing The Ghost in Thrilling Comics, Firehair in Rangers Comics, Auro, Lord of Jupiter in Planet Comics, and Simba in Jungle Comics. More info on him at Lambiek.net

Race Wilkins only made two appearances that I'm aware of in what was set up to be an on-going epic adventure. These stories could easily be the plot for the next Brandon Frasier movie.

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Part 2 will be posted very soon.

Black Venus by Harvey Kurtzman (1945)

Contact Comics #6 (May, 1945), Aviation Press
Art by Harvey Kurtzman

A salute to all the Veterans and others touched by war on this Remembrance Day (Canada)/Veterans Day (US) with a Black Venus story from a 20-year old Harvey Kurtzman freelancing way back in 1945. Atomically enhanced for your reading pleasure!

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Read another Kurtzman story HERE

Read another Black Venus story HERE

The Lady In Black! by Nick Cardy (1958)

Art by Jack Kirby

Anyone who picked up the recently released Jack Kirby Omnibus Vol. 1 would have seen the above cover by Kirby reproduced inside, and as an inset on the cover. The story features wonderful art by the great Nick Cardy, but, unfortunately, the resolution is pretty pedestrian. With a strong design (presumably) by Kirby, DC let a character with the potential of The Phantom Stranger slip away into footnote history.

House of Mystery #78, DC Comics (Sept. 1958)
Art by Nick Cardy


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The Lady in Black bears a striking resemblance to Natasha Romanoff, The Black Widow, who first appeared in Tales of Suspense # 52 (1964) as a Soviet villain for Iron Man. Kirby delineated her all of her initial cover appearances, although Don Heck drew her first appearance (above).

Man-Ape! by Don Heck (1954)

Weird Terror #10 (1954); Art by Don Heck

A Halloween Treat from the Atomic Surgeons who've been too busy wrestling with the Iron Curtain of Time in the deep past to post much recently.

The under-appreciated (often maligned) Don Heck was one of the masters of horror back in the 50's, producing some of the most over the top covers of the day reigned in only by his superb sense of design and ink work. Despite Stan Lee's insistence on having him draw some of the top Silver Age Marvel books (The Avengers, X-Men), Heck was always a better fit for stories set in the real world, ala Milton Caniff who was a big influence on his drawing style. With his flair for drawing great looking woman (he defined Iron Man's Pepper Potts) and a noir-like sensibility to his art, Heck would probably have flourished on a comic strip like Secret Agent Corrigan

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My new all-time favourite panel! Great colours!

Life On Other Worlds: Mars (Planet Comics #64, 1950)

Planet Comics #64, 1950

By analyzing carbonate minerals in a four-billion-year-old meteorite that originated near the surface of Mars, the scientists determined that the minerals formed at about 18°C.

Because Mars now has an average temperature of -63°C, the existence of liquid water in the past means that the climate was much warmer then.

The researchers analyzed one of the oldest known rocks in the world: ALH84001, a Martian meteorite discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills of Antarctica. The meteorite likely started out tens of meters below the Martian surface and was blown off when another meteorite struck the area, blasting the piece of Mars toward Earth. The rock made headlines in 1996 when scientists discovered tiny globules in it that looked like fossilized bacteria. But the claim that it was extraterrestrial life didn't hold up.

The mild temperature means that the carbonate must have formed in liquid water. Could this wet and warm environment have been a habitat for life? Most likely not, the researchers say. These conditions wouldn't have existed long enough for life to grow or evolve—it would have taken only hours to days for the water to dry up.

Ref. Carbonates in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 formed at 18 ± 4 °C in a near-surface aqueous environment. 2011. I. Halevy, et al. PNAS 108: 16895-16899.

Life On Other Worlds: Venus (Planet Comics #51, 1947)

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From Planet Comics #51, Nov. 1947.