From Flying Saucers To Outer Space

Well, i get curious. I wanted to know more about UFO & Outer Space - the title that continued numbering from what we were looking at yesterday - UFO Flying Saucers. From a quick scan through the issues i dug up, it seems to have been primarily a reprint book using the stories of the previous title. But there were a couple of new features mixed in.

One was a continuation of their speculative pieces, the ever popular What If...? tales. Best of all, this first one is drawn by Vic Torry And His Flying Saucer's own Alden McWilliams -

Unfortunately, as is too often the case, we have no clue who drew this second one, nor the writers of either strip.

Folks attempting to identify the human abductees should keep in mind that this tale is from 1979.

The other new feature was an extension of their ongoing encounter reports, but this time using stories submitted by the readers as the basis for Reader's Reports. Once again, the creators on these comics are lost to time.

You know who else sees UFOs?

Cavemen...

page art from UFO & Outer Space #s 23 & 24 (1979)

More UFO Nattering

UFOs are, by nature, odd and mysterious things that are frequently confusing to the perceptions. So i guess it's rather natural that the comics seem to follow suit.

I mentioned last time that Gold Key's book, UFO Flying Saucers, continued for another 6 issues beyond the 7 issues that i originally had on hand. And that Whitman published another 5 issues. (Note that Gold Key and Whitman are both divisions of the same company - Western Publishing) While digging through the archives last night, i found another 12 issues from Gold Key - they changed the title to UFO & Outer Space with issue #14. The series continued through #25 in 1980.
And so the stack has grown...

Meanwhile, we've got more of the speculative pieces from those first seven. Eschewing dramatic presentation structures, let's open with perhaps the most interesting speculative possiblity -

ARE THE UFOS LIVING BEINGS? (art by George Roussos)

WHO FLIES THE SAUCERS??? (art by Frank Bolle)

WHERE DO FLYING SAUCERS COME FROM? (art by Luiz Dominguez)

Of course, it's always good to have a handy identification guide for spotting UFOs...

MODERN TYPES OF UFOS AND FLYING SAUCERS (script by Leo Dorfman, art by Rocco Mastroserio)

UFO'S THE SHAPE THEY'RE IN (art by Luiz Dominguez)

As mentioned previously, much of the book was dedicated to case studies of UFO encounters. We haven't looked at any of those as yet, so let's close out this post with a story that combines those with the speculative works which we've been viewing...

DO CREATURES FROM OUTER SPACE WALK THE EARTH??? (art by Frank Bolle)

"It is possible that somewhere in the universe, someone is reading a horror story about a fellow creature who explored a distant planet and was attacked by four horrible little bipeds."

Yeah. I can see that. "Horrible little bipeds" being how human beings were known to galactic society seems believable.
(Hermit, remember?)

page art from UFO Flying Saucers #s 1, 4, 6, & 7 (1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975)

LOOK! Up In The Sky! It's... What IS That?

While prepping this weekend's presentation of Vic Torry And His Flying Saucer, some related comics were piled off to the side, as is often the case around here.

Vic came from the dawn of the modern UFO era and many more followed over the years, gaining greater cultural presence in the late '60s and through the '70s. At the height of the Groovy Age, Gold Key published UFO Flying Saucers. The title lasted for at least seven issues (based on my pile here) between 1968 and 1975.
(Nope. Deeper investigation reveals there are six more issues not in the current pile. UFO ran for 13 issues, through 1977. And another 5 issue series followed from Whitman.)

The book establishes their editorial tone on the inside of the front cover with a short essay on the subject. The basic attitude is covered in the opening three sentences:

WHAT IS A UFO?
UFO simply means Unidentified Flying Object. A UFO is a phenomenon, usually a bright light in the sky, which has been observed but cannot be explained.

A brief overview follows, with this paragraph concluding the piece:

UFOs are nothing new. Sightings were made thousands of years ago. Still they defy all efforts to discover what they really are, where they come from and whether they amount to anything more than an interesting curiosity. In short, UFOs remain one of our most intriguing and persistent mysteries.

Now, don't fret. I didn't just blithely skip the middle. Much of what it had to say was more interestingly presented in some greater detail throughout the book in comic format. Let's go to the introduction, written by Leo Dorfman, along with everything else in the issue, and illustrated by Jet Dream's Joe Certa -

After that rather abrupt stop, the book shifts to short accounts of more modern encounters. Mixed in with those were various speculative pieces, usually 2-pagers like these:

LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS (art by Luiz Dominguez)

WHO FLIES THE SAUCERS? (art by Rocco Mastroserio)

EARTH'S OWN FLYING SAUCERS (art by Luiz Dominguez(?))

Oddly enough, this all links back to my favorite caveman comic...

page art from UFO Flying Saucers #1 (1968)

Covering The Sewer (No - Not Manhole Covers)

The previous post of Un-Comics came from Robin Bougie's very odd mag - Cinema Sewer.

In our adult content back room we've got a monster's dozen* covers from the magazine to wrap up today's Blue Monday Catch-up.  Step on back to the full mirror of this post on The Other Voice Of ODD! to view the cover gallery.


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*(Bakers don't use that dozen any more - time to hand it off to someone else)

Blue Monday Bonus - Un-Comics From The Sewer

Say you're a fan of 'trashy' movies. You love discovering what weird creations have sprung from the minds of those artists who dwell off on the sidestreets, far from the main Boulevard of Dreams.
Where do you go to find them?

Okay. You go to the internet these days - though it can be a daunting expedition that may leave one suffering from things that can never be unseen. It's often safer to find a trusty guide. For the past 20+ years, one man has put his sanity on the line for us, bringing back his (and his team's) reports from the Cinema Sewer - a guide named Robin Bougie. We'll be talking more about the magazine, but today's focus is on their frequent use of Un-Comics for both stories and reviews.


That's the focus of the latest post in our adult content 'back room'. To view the accompanying artwork, visit the full post on The Other Voice Of ODD!
The rest of the text is presented here for context (and search engines, since they can't get past doorman)


Given the focus of the magazine, it should come as no surprise that the creators seem completely unfettered, in the finest underground comix tradition. They are designed to express personal voices - quite bluntly and proudly. (In the dark corners of my mind, the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is fought between Robin Bougie and Chris Gore, both summoning their troops from the best/worst of cinema)

So, here's a sampling of Cinema Sewer Un-Comics, ranging from film reviews to slice-of-life experiences to a History Of Bukkake and celebrity features and condemnations...



They even did a profile on The Fake Detective, Ed Lake -



Ed's done some great work over the years. I encountered him back in the late '90s while crafting some fakes (all clearly labelled, per his suggestion). The few months i spent playing with those taught me more about Photoshop than a decade of professional work using the tool. (In case you were wondering why.)

Sorry - couldn't find any on the active systems. I'd have to go digging in the archives to find examples.


page art by Robin Bougie, Kim Dietch, D.J. Bryant, David Paleo, Phil Barrett, Josh Simmons, Priscilla Equis, Joseph Bergin III, and Hugo for  Cinema Sewer #s 16, 18, 19, 20 & 22 (2005-2009)

Blue Monday - Dirty Shorts

I've been neglecting Blue Monday lately - a rather natural side effect of having no clue what day it is. Alas.
Today in our adult content back room we'll try to make up for it a little bit, starting with a selection of shorts. These have been piling up in my work bin from a wide variety of sources. Some, like the first and last offerings today, were not published in English, but the minimal dialogue needs no translation. Artists include Luis Royo and Lee Burks.

To take a look, please visit the complete mirror of this post on The Other Voice Of ODD!

Later today - we descend into the Sewer...

Blue Monday Calendar 2018 Week 23

I've Been Spotted is this week's Gil Elvgren painting from 1943 -

painting by Gil Elvgren (1943)