Today we'll take the WABAC machine to 1952 and go rocketing with Space Ace Jet Black and his pal Jak Tal the Jack of Stars, where we'll meet some really strange characters and a few sexy space-women as well as the mysterious Harpist of Death himself.
All from the one and only issue of Space Ace magazine, which is full of very odd stories and art, as produced by an unknown writer plus famous (and prolific) Golden Age artist Fred Guardineer and edited by the wonderfully-named Raymond C. Krank.
Let's join our heroes in their dangerous adventure with a musical theme right after the jump!
All from the glorious single issue of this fine magazine. Images courtesy of the wonderful Digital Comics Museum. As I said, no credits for this one as far as the scribe, but this strange book was produced by: 'Magazine Enterprises' at 11 Park Place, New York 7, New York, published by Vincent Sullivan, and copyrighted by 'Sussex Publishing Company, Inc.'.
(PS: I could swear that the design of the space monster shown on the cover and featured in one of the stories in the book is ripped-off from a Basil Wolverton story, which I can't lay my hands on at the moment. It seems awfully familiar, though...) Before we leave you - here's a bonus panel enlargement.
ARTIST INDENTIFIED: FRED GUARDINEER. As was ably pointed out by reader T. B. Bishop, and when I looked at the comic again I found that Guardineer had signed the first panel in the book - which I should have noticed! I thought that the style was awfully familiar. Well, now, there's an artist with a long pedigree and a ton of comic book pages to his credit, spanning several decades. I would guess at this point that the book was most likely written by its editor: Raymond C. Krank, and drawn by Fred Guardineer, which is more than the Grand Comics Database has available for credits. Mystery solved! (signed panel from page one of the book below)
Any connection to Space Ace the video game?
Posted by: anon | April 14, 2013 at 03:42 PM
I think the artist is Fred Guardineer.
Posted by: t.b bishop | April 20, 2013 at 03:08 PM
You are right, T. B. Bishop - good eye! This entry is updated accordingly. Watch for your no-prize coming soon in the mail!
Posted by: Mindwrecker | April 22, 2013 at 11:07 AM