Random Reads

Today's Saturday?

When did that happen? (Obviously, right after Friday, but...) I thought it was maybe Thursday when i noticed the day, and now i'm feeling all off-kilter.

While i'm sorting the confusion, let's just go random. We've got three stories this morning with only one major connecting thread - they're all from personal favorite artists whose work i enjoy and admire, listed in lazy alphabetic order: Gene Colan, Dick Briefer, and Jack Kirby.
(How is that Alphabetic order? It's Lazy Alphabetic order - they're listed in the order of the titles in which they appeared so that i don't have to rename or re-order the images. Lazy.)

There is one other connection - they're generally a bit different from what you might typically expect to see from the artists.

Okay - i'm off. (as we know)
I'm giving up on knowing when i am and heading off into Alyce's glass wonderland for another painting. Don't need to know time there.

page art by Dick Briefer, Gene Colan, and Jack Kirby from Amazing Detective Cases #9, Crime Does Not Pay #37, and Foxhole #3 (1945, 1951, 1955)

The Six Three Rocketeers

Three Rocketeers - Count 'Em!

1...2...3...

...4...5...6!

Hmm...

This trio got there first, back in 1952 -

But that was all there was.

A half dozen years later, a new Trio claimed the title with a tolerably awesome support trio - Jack Kirby and Al Williamson, with Joe Simon running Mission Control -

Unfortunately, they debuted in the final issue of Race For The Moon. It would be another 7 years before their adventures continued in Blast-Off -

(By the way - you can also find a couple tales from Larry Ivie in Blast-Off #1, illustrated by Al Williamson and Reed Crandall.)

However, Blast-Off lasted only a single issue, so it was another year before we saw them again in Unearthly Spectaculars as Otto Binder tells us how they got together, with Mike Sekowsky on pencils -

Amazingly, at this point, that was not Unearthly Spectacular's final issue. 

They lasted one more...

And so, apparently they parked the ship in the garage and never went speeding again.

page art by Vic for Atom Age Combat #3 and Jack Kirby, Al Williamson, Mike Sekowsky, and Bill Draut for Race For The Moon #3, Blast-Off #1, and Unearthly Spectaculars #s 2 & 3 (1952, 1958, 1965, 1966, 1967)

Mystery Artist Revealed

Well, i left it up an extra day since traffic was so slow - only a couple hundred people passed on by. 

But...  nobody? It was his birthday for an extra hint!

Here's a couple of them with the signatures restored...

Apparently, you don't know Jack.

art by Jack Kirby Uncanny Stories #1 and National Detective Stories #2 (1941)