Spaced Monkees

I made mention this past week of it being no secret that i was a fan of The Monkees. I later realized that most of my previous talk of the group had actually been elsewhere during that period when i was getting out to other blogs and forums to participate on a regular basis. (Hopefully, that will resume before too much longer.) Meanwhile, the need for more Monkees seems quite fitting while we've been rummaging through the Groovy Age. So let's spend part of this weekend indulging in a bit of Monkeemania.

A few months back, i spoke of having discovered the UK Annuals for The Monkees, and in that piece i ran this panel sequence:

That sequence is the opening of a short tale from the '68 Annual. Why don't we follow along and see what happens, eh?

Meanwhile, back in the USA, the boys were having quite different encounters with the military...

Of course, we all knew that they were launching monkees into space back then. But it wasn't the last time the boys would cavort off-world...

...but that's a different story entirely.

art by ?? from The Monkees Annual #2 (UK) and art by Jose Delbo for The Monkees #s 3 & 13(Dell) (1967,1968)

Saturday Morning Un-Confusion

Like yesterday, minimal words to present our Saturday Solutions -

brain work words better later

me hopes

Return Of The Rat!

Earlier this week, a post on Un-Comics* from The Monster Times ran the origin of the Rat. While the text promised the a follow-up tale, it never materialized within the pages of TMT. Eventually, however, Sutton & Flynn did return with the sequel in Arrgh! (as well as a full colour reprint of the original tale), as pointed out by commenter D.D.Degg (Thanks, DDD!)

A comic sequel to an un-comic. Certainly a rare occurance, but was it unique?
I wonder...

Return Of The Rat by Tom Sutton & Peter A. Flynn for Arrgh! #3, (1975)

*(Un-Comics are what we call comics that come from sources other than comic books/strips)

The Usual FF&G

With minimal introduction, it's time for

We've got a trio of quizzes related to our recent fanzine and monster offerings from the early 70s - a general comics knowledge quiz, a test of how well you know Godzilla, and an odd little dialogue quiz that i like best of all.
Let's get straight to them, shall we?

One of these days i need to put together a quiz with a bunch of my favorite lines from movies.
Meanwhile, join us tomorrow for Saturday Solutions.

Dr. Law, Fantasy Hero

Let's continue looking at some of the old fanzine comics. Today we've got 1964's Dr. Law from the 4th and final issue of Bill Dubay's short lived Fantasy Hero zine. Dubay, of course, went on to be a major presence at Warren as a writer, artist and editor on their big three titles - Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella.  Not to mention scripter of the odd little Spirit/Vampirella cross-over and game maker for Warren, too.
Back in '64 he was one of the new kids taking advantage of access to mimeographic tech to produce his own fanzine while learning the ropes and building his skills -

Here's the cover to that issue of Fantasy Hero -

A very cool feature in that issue was a visit to the DC comics offices, with creator portraits by Duby:

Extra Bonus!
Almost a decade later, after Bill turned pro and started working at Warren, he provided a couple of pages to the New York Comic Art Convention program books for 1972 and 1973 offering a little perspective on his new situation -