Rex Dexter And The LONG Road To Mars

My mind is finally starting to surface from the work on T3C for a bit of fresh air. As i herd it back towards The Voice Of ODD!, some of those bits we wandered off from seem to be calling for a return. Today, let's (hopefully) begin another visit with Dick Briefer, starting with a return to the adventures of Rex Dexter of Mars, Interplanetary Adventurer from Mystery Men Comics.

After his first adventure, Rex started heading back home to Mars to show off his new Earth Babe...

Five issues later, still enroute to Mars...
 

...soon after, it was becoming apparent even to Rex that this trip was taking a bit too long...
 

...but, finally, they were on "the last lap" of their journey...
 

SU-U-URE!
They'll have you two back on Earth in no time - right after a quick stop on Mars.

While they're travelling, we'll come back to some of Briefer's other works including, of course, more Frankenstein - after we visit with Biff Bannon. Maybe they'll make it back to Mars by the time we finish looking at the others...

page art by Dick Briefer from Mystery Men Comics #s 4, 9, 11, & 12 (1939, 1940)

Lando Might Be Cool, But Landor Was A Jerk

Well, once again my peripatetic mind has gone wandering off track on me. But not too far. This time.

I was headed back to early days of Speed Comics to check in on more of Mars Mason or follow up on Pat Parker, the War Nurse, or maybe peek in at that early Dick Briefer strip. Instead, the brain dove towards the Odd. Go figure.

Premiering in Speed Comics #1 was a decidedly off-the-wall concept. Forget the heroes, let's focus on the villain. Yes, it's been done more than once, but this was 1939 - a bit radical for the time, no? But, not unique. So what to do to make the villain more interesting...?

This was the decade that brought us Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Boris Karloff's Frankenstein - great and lasting cinema bad guys. And, more germane to this post - Colin Clive's Dr. Frankenstein. And somebody hooked onto that. Who? We don't know. But we do know that Bob Powell provided the artwork for Landor, Maker Of Monsters!...

No, Brad, don't lie to Janet - it ain't over.
We've only just begun...
 

So wrong.
Landor would be back to bother them again another half dozen times.

And so will we.

page art by Bob Powell from Speed Comics #s 1-5 (1939, 1940)