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Sunday, September 26, 2010

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



Thursday, September 16, 2010

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.

Friday, September 10, 2010

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!


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Marvel's First Mutant (Nov. 1959)


Pencils: Jack Kirby; Inks: George Klein
Behind this typical-for-era Jack Kirby monster cover hides a story that introduces the concept of mutants with special powers that must remain hidden from a suspicious humanity - 3 years before Lee & Kirby debuted the same concept in X-Men #1 in Sept. 1963!

The Atomic Surgeons aren't up of the X-Men universe, but surely some scribe has retroed this story into continuity?


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Tales of Suspense #6 (Nov. 1959) © Marvel Comics.
Art by Joe Sinnott; unknown scripter.