Remembering Artist Jack Sparling

Remembering artist Jack Sparling on his birthday (June 21, 1916-February 15, 1997) with a couple of his Strange Adventures (#185, February, 1966 and #198, March 1967), with two of the four appearances of Immortal Man, the man who wouldn't die!

Strange Adventures With Clocks

It's time for that yearly extra hour of sleep, as you should have set your clocks back, but for the residents of Earth here in Strange Adventures #71 (August, 1956, with cover by Ruben Moreira), it was "Zero Hour For Earth!".

Strange Adventures With Apes

Just monkeying around today with Strange Adventures, and a couple of tales where simians take over humans...or so it seems.

Long before there was a planet of the apes, here are these little stories....both with covers by Gil Kane!

Gorillas In Space!

With Strange Adventures #64 (January, 1956) with story by Bill Finger, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs, we find ourselves in the height of the space race, with Dr. Owens trying to complete an orbiting satellite to prepare for a space station...when he and the Professor are confronted with a space station, manned by apes!  They presented themselves as Earthmen who made the satellite and, while in space, mutated into apes thanks to the cosmic rays.  

Warned, the scientists said the would halt their work, but Dr. Owens hit on the space station and went into orbit with them.  There, he found out they were really aliens disguised as gorillas, trying to halt Earth's advancement.  Tricking one of the aliens, he took his gorilla suit, wrecked their cyclotron, and brought the space station to Earth, to be taken in by the authorities.

The Gorilla Conquest Of Earth

Now, Strange Adventures #69 (June, 1956) with story by John Broome, Gil Kane and Bernard Sachs takes a different approach with its gorillas.  Edward Smith had invented a time machine, and planned to travel back to 5,000,000 BC....but, found out he devolved as he went back in time.  Stopping instead in 1,500,000 BC, he found a society where apes ruled, and men were docile slaves.  

Finding this unbearable, he worked with the humans to lead a revolt, and used science to combat the apes advanced weapons.  He then headed back to his own time...but lost his time machine in the water, after crashlanding in the ocean.

Strange Adventures In The Snow

Still in the grip of winter, but it could be worse!  

The snowmen could be attacking!

Here's how that happened in Strange Adventures #79 (April, 1957) under a cover by Gil Kane, with story by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs.

Invaders From The Ice World!

It all started innocent enough, with kids at an Iowa farmhouse making snowmen in a field.  Then, the snowmen came to life...and disappeared!  The snowmen wandered off, with the boys' father calling the Department of Scientific Investigations, who sent scientist Darwin Jones to the scene.  

There, he found out the snowmen were inhabited by energy being from Pluto, who planned to make Earth colder by destroying crops, making Earth uninhabitable for humans.  All the warfare was unable to stop them...until Darwin Jones figures out the best way to stop the snowmen was cold....absolute zero!  This froze their bodies, making them vulnerable, so the energy beings gave up attacking Earth.

This was not the first appearance of Darwin Jones, who was an infrequent star of Strange Adventures (issues #1, #49, #58, #66, #70, #76, #77, #79, #84, #88, #93, #149 and #160, before helping Lois Lane in Daring Adventures Of Supergirl #7, aiding the scientists during Crisis On Infinite Earths, then returning in Power Of The Atom and Action Comics.

  

Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Today is International Be Kind To Lawyers Day...and you really should be.

You never know how hairy their day is...as evidenced by "The Amazing Trial Of John (Gorilla) Doe!" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. 

Strange Adventures #100 (January, 1959), under a cover by Gil Kane and Joe Giella, features a story of a gorilla who steals school books, records and radium....then shows up to turn himself in to the law, requesting a trial.  At the trial, the gorilla tells how he was taken by the gorilla like beings from Agmoran, who advanced his intelligence, and taught him to speak their language...and he also learned they planned to invade Earth in two years.  Learning how to pilot their spaceship, he came back to Earth, but needed to learn English to tell humans of the alien plot, and the radium to build a weapon to defeat them.  

The humans were successful, yet the gorilla paid the price, shortening his own life to do the exposure to radium, just wanting to go back to Africa and live life in peace.

This story was reprinted in Strange Adventures #239 (November-December, 1972), this time, with a cover by Nick Cardy showing how great the American legal system is, where everyone accused is allowed a lawyer, and a swift and speedy resolution to their legal woes.

Strange Adventures With Frogs

Think Ray Milland and Sam Elliott had it bad?  Well, at least he didn't have to face off against GIANT frogs!

Here's the story of that little strange adventure from Strange Adventures #130 (July, 1961) by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene, all under a ribbiting cover by Sid Greene!

War With The Giant Frogs!

The story starts off with scientists Jim and Rhoda Trent, who are doing a little underwater exploring with their new experimental scuba gear in the Pacific Ocean, where they find the remains of an ancient advanced civilization, destroyed by atomic war.  Oh...and a giant frog, who follows them to the surface!  They return to tell their fellow scientists (while, Thaxt, the giant frog, tells his people of his discovery of the humans to the forces of the city of Sthill).  Both the Trents and Thaxt return to the spot of the original encounter, where Thaxt takes the duo to his city.  In Sthill, the leader explains how his race destroyed their society with a nuclear war, with this batch of frogs surviving in their now domed city.  

With the discovery of humans, the frogs plan to return to the surface and conquer the humans with their advanced weaponry.  The frogs attack humanity from their mobile city, causing much destruction, until the Trents figure out their weapons are powered by titanium, and, using some experimental science, demonstrate to the frogs that they can explosively destroy their power source, which convinces the frogs to go back to the depths of the sea (with the Trents knowing they couldn't release the full power of their weapon against the frogs, for fear of destroying the Earth, making this the second time the Trents saved Earth, with the first being in an earlier strange adventure against dinosaurs, but that will be covered later!).

 

The Man Who Lived Forever

What would you do if time no longer mattered?  

That's what Evans Talbot had to find out after he made himself immortal in Strange Adventures #145 (October, 1962), all under this cover by Murphy Anderson.

 

The Man Who Lived Forever

In a story by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, scientist Evans Talbot had to figure out what to do with all his time, after making a serum to give himself immortality.

After drinking this serum, he had to hibernate for a thousand years....during which humans found aliens named the Kaasin, and were conquered by them.  

Evans went about and freed them (after he awoke).

But, then Talbot found out the secret of his own immortality...that he had devolved humanity as well.

So, with literally nothing but time, Evans set about to invent time travel to stop himself....and, though becoming a master of time, he was still too late.

Still, he drew the immortality out of his younger self, and with that double immortality, devolved the Kaasin in his own time (giving up his immortality as well, but devoting himself to help the future of humanity!).

Earth's Frozen Heat Wave With Murphy Anderson

True, likely you don't need any reminder of the heat wave as it sweeps across the country, but, you might need a reminder that today is the birthday of artist, Murphy Anderson (July 9, 1926 - October 22, 2015).

Murphy Anderson drew many a strange adventure, including Strange Adventures #161 (February, 1964, with story by Ed Herron), where Earth faced the problem of all its water freezing during a heat wave!

If interested, here's a little more of Murphy Anderson's history, including Captain Comet, Kanjar Ro, special pin-ups of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the JSA and more!

 

Look Out For Scarecrows

As fall slowly settles in, hay fields grow, apple orchards fill.....and scarecrows get set up.


But, are they moving?


Yes, the scarecrows are really subterranean invaders, coming for you in "The Living Scarecrows" from Strange Adventures #192 (September, 1966) with cover and art by Bernard Baily.

Strange Adventures On The Beach

Just sitting down on the beach as summer approaches, and as you enjoy your favorite issue of Strange Adventures, the creature from the comic attacks!

Odd, you say?  That's what happened to Eric Craig in "The Creature From Strange Adventures" from Strange Adventures #170 (November, 1964) by Dave Wood and Mort Meskin (under a cover by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff).

Strange Adventures Of The Astro Heads

Ever had a day where you have a headache that makes your head feel larger than the moon?


Well, there were a few men in the pages of Strange Adventures who had even worse days than that!

The Man With The Head Of Saturn

Bill Smathers was the man having a strange day in Strange Adventures #156 (September, 1963) under a cover by Murphy Anderson, with a story by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene.


A globe appeared on the head of a scientist, Professtor Bill Smithers, and then teleported him and some of his Korean War Veteran friends to Saturn, so that they could fight in an interplanetary war at the behest of Kandare Ohl, who came up with the device that brought them to the ringed planet.


Better still, the back up story in this issue was a tale of the Atomic Knights!

The Man With The Comet Head

Alton Wright was the star of the cover story of Strange Adventures #200 (May, 1967), with that cover provided by Carmine Infantino and George Roussos, and story by Otto Binder and Jack Sparling.


This time it was an astronomer, Alton Wright, who was bombarded by strange rays from a comet from outer space that turned his head into a comet.


This issue also contained the third of three stories which featured the Enchantress (before she joined the Suicide Squad)!

Kanjar Ro JLA And Adam Strange Foe

Kanjar Ro was an interstellar threat, not only to the Earth and the Justice League of America, but to the planet Rann, its inhabitants and their adopted hero, Adam Strange as well.

His beginnings seem simple enough, but Kanjar Ro quickly evolved into a much bigger threat over time.

Let's go back to the beginning, and follow this criminal through his career....

Slave Ship Of Space

Kanjar Ro paralyzed everyone on the planet Earth with his Gamma Metal Gong, to introduce himself to the JLA in Justice League Of America #3 (February-March, 1961) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs.

Kanjar Ro, the dictator of Dhar, wanted to recruit the JLA to fight for him against three rival rulers: Queen Hyathis of Alstair, King Kromm of Mosteel and Emporer Sayyar of Llarr; when the JLA captures these reprehensible rulers, Kanjar Ro would free the citizens of Earth after taking them around on his slave ship he controlled with his Energi-rod.  The Martian Manhunter makes Kromm his prisoner, Wonder Woman and Aquaman capture Hyathis and Flash and Green Lantern defeat Sayyar....and thankfully, the JLA members recorded the voices of each of them, as them all saying Kanjar's name was what was needed to free the citizens of Earth, which Ro tried not to do.  After Superman, Batman and the rest of Earth was freed, the four rulers were imprisoned on a plant created by Superman and shielded by Green Lantern to keep the rest of the universe safe, all in the last mission of the charter members of the JLA in their own title.

The Planet That Came To A Standstill

As Green Arrow joined the JLA, Flash had proposed Adam Strange for membership in the team, requiring the story of Mystery In Space #75 (May, 1962) by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson to come into existence, as the team had yet to meet Adam Strange.

This tale has Kanjar Ro escaping the planet Superman created with his Energi-rod of Dhorite, and heading to Rann to power up to face the JLA. 

While there, he captures Adam Strange and Alanna, but Adam escapes, and uses Kanjar's slave ship to go to Earth, catching a Zeta Beam on Earth to go back to Rann. 

The JLA find the slave ship on Earth, and half of them (Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Batman) go to Rann to fight Kanjar Ro. 

Adam uses the Gamma Gong to paralyze everyone (including half the JLA with Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Snapper, Alanna and Kanjar Ro) on Rann, then the Zeta Beam wears off sending him to Earth, where he gets the rest of the JLA to capture the now more than 3 times powerful than Superman Kanjar Ro. 

Strange defeats Ro using his Energi-rod, made of the material of Ro's home planet, which Adam deduces would be a harmful to Kanjar Ro as Kryptonite is to Superman, but pays a price, being hit with part of a beam from the rod, resulting in his being unable to stay permanently of Rann, thus going back to traveling there temporarily by Zeta Beam.

Decoy Missions Of The Justice League

With Justice League Of America #24 (December, 1963) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs (under a cover by Murphy Anderson), Kanjar Ro escapes his Dhorite prison on Rann, and causes trouble on Earth for the JLA.

Ro escaped by creating an aural duplicate of himself thanks to some newly gained mental abilities, then menaces the Earth with imperfect doubles of JLAers Aquaman, Atom, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash, stealing the entire Earth (and replacing it with its aural duplicate).  Adam Strange discovers Kanjar Ro's escape, and returns to Earth as his Zeta Beam wears off (with his aura drawn to aural Earth, and his body on regular Earth, he's able to find the JLA, find Earth and reunited everyone with their duplicate, defeating Kanjar Ro, as the brain stimulating radiation he had absorbed to allow him to do this wore off).

The Parallel Perils Of Adam Strange

It took until Justice League Of America #120 (July, 1975) by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin (under a cover by Ernie Chan and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez) to return, but this was a doozy!

A contingent of JLA members (Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary and Elongated Man) are in the South Pacific and find themselves accidentally transported to Rann by a Zeta Plus Beam, where they end up being the planet's champion for a bit, as Adam is depressed after having lost his fiancee, Alanna, to one such menace (the same enlarged magnifying glass that melted them all!).  Problem is, the same menace that took her life...and convinces her father, Sardath, to use the beam to send him and the League members empty uniforms back to Earth (as Kanjar Ro, who reconstituted these menaces, such as the robot Borg, giant bird Kallula and two giant items, continues his plans against the people of Rann, free of interference).

The story concluded in "The Hero Who Jinxed The Justice League" in Justice League Of America #121 (August, 1975) by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin (under an Ernie Chan cover).

Adam, a master of tact, appears in the JLA Satellite, to tell the JLA members Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Atom and Hawkman of the fate of their fellow heroes, but that does not go well.  Still, menaces wait for no man, and trouble comes in as a cloud creature forms on Earth attacking a city, prompting the JLA to go into action, leaving the dejected Adam Strange behind.

Good thing he did stay behind, as Kanjar Ro shows up to gloat, giving away parts of his plan of using past menaces of Rann...and, Adam is able to get his Energi-rod, just as his Zeta Plus Beam wears off, returning him to Rann.  On Rann, Adam figures out where Ro's hidden headquarters is, finds spheres which are really the remains of the JLA, and uses the Energi-rod to restore them, so they can go back to Earth to help the rest of the JLA....and Adam finds something else in the cave, one more sphere, which is...Alanna!  After the heroes defeat Kanjar Ro and the Cloud Creature on Earth, the whole JLA gathers to go to Rann....for Adam's wedding.

Adam Strange -- Puppet Of Time

Next up, an appearance of Adam Strange under a Neal Adams cover for Justice League Of America #138 (January, 1977) by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.

Alanna comes to inform the JLA that Adam Strange has been bouncing around in time thanks to being overcharged with Zeta Beam radiation, and is a menace to the 73rd Century.  Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Flash go to investigate, where they meet the Green Lantern of the 73rd Century to stop Adam and drain him of his access energy...

...but things get bad as the JLA members return home.

But wait, where's Kanjar Ro?

Kanjar Ro next appears in "The Cosmic Conspiracy Against Adam Strange" in Justice League Of America #139 (February, 1977) by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin, wherein (yet again) Adam reports to the remaining JLA of their missing teammates, but this time, he seems to be talking to them?  (The team is there, just turned into phantoms only Adam can see and hear), which the League doesn't believe, until an overcharged panel on the Satellite explodes, nearly killing Black Canary, but the Flash materializes to save her.   The JLA, including its invisible members and Adam, go back to the 73rd Century to face their problems, figuring the other members will be restored as adrenaline kicks in...but that doesn't seem to work as well, and it takes Adam Strange to figure out how to save the day, that it was the energy which made Flash solid, not the emotional rush.

All well and good, but where was Kanjar Ro?

Hint, hidden in plain sight (as that Green Lantern of 73rd Century was a little too helpful...including using his Power Ring against yellow items....but, that wouldn't be a problem for a disguised Energi-rod, would it?). 

Mystery In Space

Time for a Joe Kubert cover, that of Showcase #101 (June, 1978),  by Jack C. Harris, Al Milgrom and Murphy Anderson, in a story featuring Hawkman and Hawkgirl, guest starring Adam Strange, Alanna and Sardath.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl were on their spaceship trying to contact their homeworld of Thanagar, when Adam Strange invaded their ship, asking them to go into hyperspace to get away.  The couple does, after escaping Adam's alien foes, then, he explains the situation.  Rann had been invaded by an army of past invaders allied together, including the Vantors, the Kirri, the Arverse and the Dust Devils.  Something had allied these forces and Adam was headed to Earth to get the help of the JLA.  Problem is, the Thanagarian ship was headed to Rann, with Hawkman thinking Adam had sabotaged it, until realizing they had been boarded by an old foe of his, the Shadow-Thief, which they quickly defeat, but still have to make an emergency landing on Rann...where they discover the main invaders are...Thanagarians!

Things get odder with "Strange Adventures" in Showcase #102 (July, 1978), with another Kubert cover, and interiors by Harris, Milgrom and Anderson.

The heroes are found by Sardath, who Zeta Beams them to safety, and he explains the person who has taken over Rann has captured Alanna in Ranagar.  Adam goes to free her, as Alanna meets her captor, Kanjar Ro, who had allied the alien races to take control of Rann.  Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Adam work with the resistance to free Alanna, but realize Kanjar Ro is already gone...to invade Thanagar!

"Adventures On Other Worlds" is the last of these trio of tales from Showcase #103 (August, 1978), covered by Joe Kubert, and interiors by Jack C. Harris, Al Milgrom and Murphy Anderson.

Here, the reason Kanjar Ro is attacking Thanagar is revealed, as it is Hyathis who now rules Thanagar, as she had freed them from their Equilizing Plague after escaping the planet Superman made, and the Thanagarians made her their leader.  Kanjar Ro attempts an assassination on Hyathis, as Hawkman fights former foes Shadow-Thief, shape-changer Byth and the Manhawks, eventually arriving with Hawkgirl and Adam Strange to stop Kanjar Ro.  In gratitude of the current end to the Rann-Thanagarian War, Hyathis does not kill the trio, but does banish Hawkman and Hawkgirl from Thanagar, while Adam Strange returns home to free the Rannians from the invading aliens still there.

Death At The Dawn Of Time

With the "War Zone" in Crisis On Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985), and making the cover of Crisis On Infinite Earths #10 (January, 1986) by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Kanjar Ro made the last of his pre-Crisis appearances with his classic look...

....this as the united villains of the remaining Earths first faced the rest of the heroes, then had to work with them to prevent the Anti-Monitor from destroying the Multiverse!



Still, that classic Kanjar Ro look would return as well, appearing in flashback tales like the Silver Age, DC Retroactive: JLA and DCU: Legacies.

Beyond

When Kanjar Ro returned in the first regular issue of Hawkworld, he was as changed as Hawkman and Hawkwoman were (now being more insectlike, as well as a minor thrall in Thanagarian government).  Still, Kanjar Ro persevered, returning to face Superman in Action Comics, menacing the JLA, even impersonating Despero to battle the heroes in Trinity, being recruited to the Sinestro Corps in the Green Lantern Corps, and being recruited by Vril Dox along with Despero, Captain Comet and Adam Strange to join the L.E.G.I.O.N. to fight Starro in R.E.B.E.L.S.

If there is menace in the galaxy, likely Kanjar Ro will be around, plotting away...

Thank A Mail Carrier Day 2018

Today we thank our letter carriers for their service, but none more so than Calvin Jackson, "Earth Hero Number One" (as of Strange Adventures #148 of January, 1963 by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson, with a cover by Murphy Anderson), as future students of the school named after him  look back to the day he saved the Earth from alien invaders!

Better still, this story has been reprinted twice, once in Super DC Giant #27 of the Summer of 1976 (with a cover by Ernie Chan), and once in the U.F.O Invaders Digest (DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #14 of October, 1981, with a cover by Joe Kubert), giving even more people a chance to review the historical record....

Strange Adventures In The Cold

As it gets colder, it is hard to image it getting worse, but it could.

In Strange Adventures #149 (February, 1963), scientist Bill Travis had to fend off an invasion from another dimension that was going to extinguish our sun in the story of "Raid Of The Rogue Star" by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene, under a Murphy Anderson cover. 

This tale was so warm, DC reprinted it in From Beyond The Unknown #21 (February-March, 1973), this time with Nick Cardy providing the cover of Earth's chilly doom.

Doesn't that make you feel warmer?

The Heat Is On For Earth

You think it is hot now?


What if you had another planet hurtling through space towards Earth, like they did in Strange Adventures #2 (October-November, 1950) in "The Doom From Planet X" by Gardner Fox, Jim Mooney and Sy Barry (Mooney and Barry also proving the fiery cover!).


How will Earth survive?

DC Heroes War Against The Giants

It's a giant issue, but not an DC Giant.


It's just an overstuffed (though normal sized) issue of DC Special (#19 of December-January, 1975/1976), with a cover by Ernie Chan....


...and featuring battles of Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman fighting some giant menaces!

Action Comics #343

Superman faces "Eterno The Immortal" in Action Comics #343 (November, 1966) in a story by writer Jim Shooter and artist Wayne Boring (under a cover by Curt Swan and George Klein).


The Superman Revenge Squad releases the giant android, Eterno, from his underground prison of the element, absorbium (created by an alien race, the Xan), to bedevil Superman in the city of Metropolis, bringing doomsday to where Superman lives.  The two powerhouses battle, until Eterno finds out he was manipulated by the Superman Revenge Squad, then he attacks them.  Trying to stop him, the Squad makes more absorbium, stopping Eterno (as Eterno stopped them!).

Green Lantern #53

Green Lantern Hal Jordan becomes a "Captive Of The Evil Eye" in Green Lantern #53 (June, 1967), in an issue by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane (with Flash artists, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson providing the cover for this issue!).  


Hal Jordan found himself a new job (after having given up his time as a test pilot), becoming an insurance adjuster, heading up to the site of a crashing meteor.  When Hal arrives there, he finds the giant alien, Thotan, who was inhaling Earth's oxygen (with the plans to take the air back to his homeworld).  Green Lantern battles the alien, even getting sucked up inside of him, until Hal comes up with the idea of facing his foe on his own terms, using his Power Ring to grow to giant size to face the alien.

Strange Adventures #28

Earth faces "The Indestructible Giant" in Strange Adventures #28 (January, 1953), in a story by writer Jack Miller, penciller Gil Kane and inker Sy Barry, under a Ruben Moreira cover.




For a time, Earth had few super heroes protecting it, and faced strange, alien menaces, and relied on us tricky humans to protect it from threats from beyond! 



There was a little surprise awaiting the people that defeated this monster after all his confused destruction....

Wonder Woman #106

Wonder Woman was just like any other girl, and liked a charm bracelet, until she and Steve Trevor ended up as part of "The Human Charm Bracelet" in Wonder Woman #106 (May, 1959) by writer Robert Kanigher, penciller Ross Andru and inker Mike Esposito (with Andru and Esposito providing the cover to the original issue).


The alien giant Tooroo wanted to impress his girlfriend, the giant Rikkaa, so he got her a charm bracelet...but, it happened to include Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman's lasso, tiara and invisible plane!  To get free, Wonder Woman challenges the giant to three contests, and, by winning them, is able to get herself, Steve and her belongings returned to Earth (and a pledge that these aliens would leave Earth alone....).