''Planet Comics'' was a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

title published by

Fiction House Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"Field Guide to Wild American P ...

from January 1940 to Winter 1953. It was the first comic book dedicated wholly to science fiction.Benton, Mike. ''Science Fiction Comics: The Illustrated History'' (Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1992), p.33 Like most of Fiction House's early comics titles, ''Planet Comics'' was a spinoff of a

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

, in this case ''

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readership. ...

.'' Like the magazine before it, ''Planet Comics'' features space operatic tales of muscular, heroic space adventurers who are quick with their "ray pistols" and always running into gorgeous women who need rescuing from bug-eyed space aliens or fiendish interstellar bad guys. Planet Comics 54783

Publication history

''Planet Comics'' #1 was released with a cover-date of January 1940, and ran for 73 issues until Winter 1953. Initially produced on a monthly schedule, issue #8 (September 1940) saw it slip to a bimonthly title, which it held until the end of 1949. From issue #26 (September 1943), "Planet Comics was cut to 60 pages," resulting in the merging of two strips: Flint Baker and Reef Ryan. Issue #63 (Winter 1949) began a quarterly release schedule, but #64, #65, and #66 were ultimately released annually, dated Spring 1950, 1951, and 1952, respectively. Issue #67 (Summer 1952) got the comic back on its quarterly release schedule, but the title only lasted a further seven issues, with its last (#73) again delayed for over a year, following issue #72 (Fall 1953).

Style and Themes

''Planet Comics'' was the foremost purveyor of

good girl art Good Girl Art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

in comic books of the period, and is considered highly collectible by modern fans of comics'

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

. It specialized in colorful and lurid stories of interstellar action, ingenuous and attractive heroes and heroines, breezy dialogue, and the “barest smattering of sense and substance” (Benton 1992, p. 27). Its covers usually featured a beautiful, scantily-attired spacewoman with long bare legs being menaced by a frightful alien monster, while a sleek, heroic spaceman comes to her rescue. Sometimes, though, ''Planet Comics'' reversed this formula: both covers and stories occasionally provided heroines who handily defeated the space aliens and interplanetary villains with little or no assistance from males (the comic was also seen as a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

title). Cynics might have noted that this sex-equality strategy in effect simply multiplied the number of lovely girls shown per panel, and insured that each and every panel featured at least one smashing spacegirl.

Writers

The Flint Baker/Space Ranger stories, according to Raymond Miller, "featured such writers as Al Schmidt and Huxley Haldane."

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

and Hames Ware's ''Who's Who of American Comic Books'' mentions Herman Bolstein and

Dick Briefer Richard Briefer (January 9, 1915 – December 1980)Richard Briefer
(

Bails and Ware also list writers including

Walter B. Gibson Walter Brown Gibson (September 12, 1897 – December 6, 1985) was an Americans, American writer and professional magic (illusion), magician, best known for his work on the pulp magazine, pulp fiction character ''The Shadow''. Gibson, under the ...

(''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

'') and

Frank Belknap Long Frank Belknap Long (April 27, 1901 – January 3, 1994) was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known ...

, as working on "various features" for ''Planet Comics'' throughout the 1940s.

Artists

The strong female heroines of ''Planet Comics'' were complemented by Fiction House's employing several female artists to work on such tales, particularly

Lily Renée Lily Renée Phillips ('' née'' Willheim; May 12, 1921 – August 24, 2022), often credited as L. Renée, Lily Renée, or Reney, was an Austrian-born American artist best known as one of the earliest women in the comic-book industry, beginning i ...

Marcia Snyder Marcia Louise Snyder (sometimes spelled "Snider") was a comic book artist and newspaper cartoonist who worked for the Binder Studio, Timely Comics, Fawcett Comics, and Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Biography Snyder was bo ...

Ruth Atkinson Ruth Atkinson Ford, née Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson (June 2, 1918 – June 1, 1997), Includes obituary for Ruth Atkinson Ford, giving date of death date as June 1, 1997.Date of death given as May 31, 1997 at that the Lambiek Comiclop ...

, and Fran(ces) Hopper (née Dietrick), whose art for "Mysta of the Moon" was often stunning. In addition, many artists who would become well-known names worked on ''Planet Comics'' stories over its 13-year history. These included the likes of

Murphy Anderson Murphy C. Anderson Jr. (July 9, 1926 – October 22, 2015) was an American comics artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the Golden Age of Comic Books in ...

Matt Baker Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show ''Blue Peter'' from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's ''Countryfile'' since 2009 and ''The One Show'' from 2011 to 2020, wit ...

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was induct ...

, Joe Doolin,

Graham Ingels Graham J. Ingels (; June 7, 1915April 4, 1991) was a comic book and magazine illustrator best known for his work in EC Comics during the 1950s, notably on ''The Haunt of Fear'' and ''Tales from the Crypt'', horror titles written and edited by Al ...

, George Evans,

Ruben Moreira Ruben Moreira (July 27, 1922 – May 21, 1984) was a Puerto Rican comic book artist and writer best known for his work on ''Tarzan'' and as a DC Comics artist. Biography Ruben Moreira moved with his mother to New York City when he was fou ...

John Cullen Murphy John Cullen Murphy (May 3, 1919 – July 2, 2004) was an American illustrator best known for his three decades of work on the ''Prince Valiant'' comic strip. Early life and education Born in New York City, Murphy spent his childhood in Chicago a ...

George Tuska George Tuska (; April 26, 1916 – October 16, 2009),George Tuska
at the Social Security Death Index via Fami ...

, and Maurice Whitman. The early covers were drawn by industry legend

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

. Later covers were predominantly the work of two men — Dan Zolnerowich (later Dan Zolne) and Joe Doolin. Zolne is believed to have produced covers for issues #10-25 (January 1941 – July 1943), and Doolin is thought to have illustrated all-bar-three of #26-65 (September 1943 – Spring 1951).

Reception and influence

While young male readers were no doubt attracted to the pin-up quality of ''Planet Comicss artwork, letters from readers printed in the comic demonstrate that its readership also included girls, who were perhaps drawn to the array of competent and capable space heroines (Benton 1991, p. 31). ''Planet Comics'' was considered by noted fan Raymond Miller to be "perhaps the best of the

group," as well as "most collected and most valued." In Miller's opinion, it "wasn't really featuring good art or stories... in the first dozen or so issues," not gaining most of "its better known characters" until "about the 10th issue." "Only 3 of tslong running strips started with the first issue... Flint Baker, Auro - Lord of Jupiter, and the Red Comet." The comics historian John Benton offers this summary: “Planet Comics was the epitome of breezy, sexy, mindless, action-filled science fiction. In many respects

t was T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

a throwback to the earlier science fiction magazines and simpler times.”.

Characters and Features

*Flint Baker – One of the longest-running strips, Flint Baker was another athletic space hero, who became part of the Space Rangers. Baker's debut story, "The One-Eyed Monster Men From Mars", was also the first story in ''Planet Comics'' #1, illustrated by

Dick Briefer Richard Briefer (January 9, 1915 – December 1980)Richard Briefer
(

dup with Reef Ryan to form the Space Rangers" when ''Planet Comics'' dropped its page count. Appearances between issues #2 and #60 (initially as "Flint Baker," later as "Space Rangers") were illustrated by a full range of artists, including Nick Viscardi, Joe Doolin and Artie Saff, Arthur Peddy,

Lee Elias Lee Elias (May 21, 1920 – April 8, 1998) was a British-American comics artist. He was best known for his work on the ''Black Cat'' comic book published by Harvey Comics in the 1940s. Biography Emigrating to the United States from Manchester ...

, Frank Doyle, and Joe Cavallo. The Space Rangers "were drawn by Lee Elias, Bob Lubbers," and others. *Auro, Lord of Jupiter – Two different characters of this name appeared in ''Planet Comics''. The first incarnation was the son of Professor Hardwich, and appeared in most issues between #1-29. He was essentially an outer space version of

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

, where Auro was "befriended by a

saber tooth tiger ''Smilodon'' is a genus of the extinct machairodont subfamily of the felids. It is one of the most famous prehistoric mammals and the best known saber-toothed cat. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely rela ...

," stranded on Jupiter with "muscles... as strong as steel" thanks to the higher gravitational pull of the planet. The best artwork on the first series of Auro stories was, wrote Miller, "by Raphael Astarita," whose name Jerry Bails and Hames Ware spell "Rafael". Auro's second incarnation started 11 issues after his first ended, in issue #41, when a young scientist named Chester Edson "crashes on Jupiter," and his "spirit is transferred into the body of

he original He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

Auro," who is thus resurrected as a

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

-esque hero. Miller names Dick Charles as the main writer of both series; Bails and Ware list only Richard Case and Herman Bolstein. Auro was illustrated by a number of different artists, among them Doolin,

, and Astarita. Miller suggests that August Froelich drew the appearance in issue #41, and says that Ingels "was the last artist." *The Red Comet – A "costumed

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

who fought crime all over the universe," the Comet sometimes "grew to giant-size, like the

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

." The feature was written (according to Miller) by Cy Thatcher and appeared in issues #1, #3-20, and #37. Accompanied by a "girl, Dolores, and a boy, Rusty," his adventures were illustrated for odd adventures by Rudy Palais and a host of artists, with only Alex Blum (#6-10) and Saul Rosen (#17-19) thought to have drawn more than two episodes. *The Lost World - The Red Comet was replaced by "The Lost World," which appeared in issues #21-69, as the lead feature (becoming one of the longest-running strips) featuring Hunt Bowman. The first episode was drawn by Palais, with Viscardi taking over for issue #22. Set in the 33rd century, Bowman was a guerrilla-fighter (alongside Lyssa, Queen of the Lost World) against the reptilian Voltamen, conquerors of Earth. (Miller notes that " #24 Hunt and Lyssa returned to Earth... ndnever returned to the Lost World.") In issue #36, the duo were joined by "3 more Earth people," named Bruce, Robin, and Bonnie. Later episodes were drawn by Ingels (c. #24-31), Lily Renée (#32-49), and George Evans (#50-64). *Reef Ryan – A heroic space captain, " otmuch different from... Flint Baker," Ryan also became part of the Space Rangers, after appearing solo in issues #13-25. Miller names the writer of Reef Ryan (and then Space Rangers) as "Hugh Fitzhugh". Ryan was soon dropped from the newly named strip, however, in favor of a boy named Hero (issue #42). Initially drawn by Al Gabriele, later issues featured inks by

George Tuska George Tuska (; April 26, 1916 – October 16, 2009),George Tuska
at the Social Security Death Index via Fami ...

. *The Space Rangers – From issue #26, with ''Planet Comics''' page count dropped, "instead of dropping any characters, the Ryan and Baker strips were combined to form the Space Rangers." The Space Rangers' uniforms were echoed by those seen on TV's

Rocky Jones Space Ranger ''Rocky Jones, Space Ranger'' is an American science fiction television serial originally broadcast in syndication from February to November 1954. The show lasted for only two seasons and, though syndicated sporadically, dropped into obscurity. ...

(1954). *Gale Allen – A voluptuous female space adventurer in the far-off year of 1990, who led an all-female Woman's Space Battalion to fight menaces like the Mad Master of Venus, and her arch-enemy Prince Blaga Daru. Gale appeared in almost every issue between #4 and #42. Written by Douglas McKee, Gale's tales were illustrated by

Bob Powell Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916

in issues #4-10 and Fran Deitrick/Hopper in #28-40. In or around issue #34, the squadron were dropped. *Futura – Gale's replacement feature was, according to Miller, "a good series with fine art," a smashingly lovely crusader for interplanetary justice, and she appeared in issues #43-64. The first six issues were drawn by Astarita in the style of

Mac Raboy Emmanuel "Mac" Raboy (April 9, 1914 – December 12, 1967) was an American comics artist best known for his comic-book work on Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel Jr.Brent Frankenhoff & Maggie Thompson ''The Greatest Comic Book Covers Of All Time''. I ...

, while Joseph Cavallo is thought to have inked/drawn many of the later issues. Futura began "with a scantily-clad girl... abducted by her invisible pursuer" and taken to "the city of Cymradia in space." The strip was drawn in a manner similar to ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'', with "no

word balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

s in the panels." *Star Pirate – The "

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

of the space lanes" looked very much like the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

hero

Starman ''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy. Background ''StarMan'' was first published ...

, and appeared between issues #12 and #64. Among several artists, George Appel produced a dozen early issues, while the bulk of issues #33-51 were drawn by

, whose additions transformed the Pirate into "an almost completely new strip." Three late issues (#59-61) are credited to

newspaper comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

artist

Leonard Starr Leonard Starr (October 28, 1925 – June 30, 2015) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist, and advertising artist, best known for creating the newspaper comic strip '' On Stage'' and reviving ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Born Octob ...

. *Mars, God of War – Named by Miller as "one of the most famous" strips, the adventures of the ancient Roman God causing violent mischief on other planets appeared between issues #15 and #35. They were credited to writer Ross Gallen, and all drawn by Doolin. The embodiment of evil, the spirit of Mars would "single out a man or woman who had evil in them," possess them, and run rampant until "the end of each story

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

good always triumphed." *Mysta of the Moon – In the "Mars" feature in ''Planet Comics'' #35, the god discovers "a young boy and girl" taken to the moon by one Dr. Kort, who has "placed all the culture and knowledge known to man into their brains." In the events that follow, Mars possesses the boy's robot, and is ultimately defeated by the girl, although the boy and his robot are killed. The girl was Mysta, a gorgeous female version of

Captain Future Captain Future is a pulp science fiction hero — a space-traveling scientist and adventurer —originally published in his namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character was created by editors Mort Weisinger and Leo Margulies. The maj ...

with a robot sidekick, and she took over from "Mars" in title as well as spirit in issue #36. Appearing in issues #36-52 and #55-62, after Doolin, the strip was most notably illustrated by Fran Hopper (#37-42, #48-49). *Norge Benson - Between issues #12-32, comedy relief was provided by Norge Benson, written by "Olaf Bjorn," whom Miller identifies as Kip Beales. Benson was accompanied by a girl (Jolie), a white bear (Frosting), and a

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

(Hatrack). Al Walker drew issues #12-22, with Renée,

Jim Mooney James Noel Mooney (August 13, 1919 – March 30, 2008) was an American comics artist best known for his long tenure at DC Comics and as the signature artist of Supergirl, as well as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, both during wh ...

, and Fran Hopper drawing later episodes. Other extra features included "Spurt Hammond", human defender of the

Planet Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

, who appeared c. issues #1-12 (or #8-13), created and drawn by

Henry C. Kiefer Henry C. Kiefer (April 15, 1890 – May 10, 1957) was an American artist from the Golden Age of Comic Books. Best remembered for his contributions to the long-running comic book series ''Classics Illustrated'',William B. Jones Jr., ''Classics Illu ...

. "Captain Nelson Cole", later an officer in the Space Patrol, appeared in solo adventures c. issues #1-14 (or #8-14) and was originated by

Alex Blum Alexander Anthony Blum (February 7, 1889 – September 1969) was a Hungarian-American comic book artist best remembered for his contributions in the 1940s and 1950s to the long-running comic book series ''Classics Illustrated''. Biography Born ...

. "Crash Barker" (also "P"arker) was one of several space heroes, drawn — and possibly written — by Charles Quinlan for issue #6 (or #8), running until #16 by other artists. Another space hero, "Buzz Crandall", also had adventures around this time, drawn by artists including Gene Fawcette. "Cosmo Corrigan" and "Don Granval" also appeared in three to four issues around #8/9-11. Other less notable short-lived strips included "Quorak, Super Pirate", "Amazona the Mighty Woman", "Tiger Hart" (whose one adventure was drawn by

Fletcher Hanks Fletcher Hanks, Sr. (December 1, 1889 – January 22, 1976) was an American cartoonist from the Golden Age of Comic Books, who wrote and drew stories detailing the adventures of all-powerful, supernatural heroes and their elaborate punishments of ...

using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Carlson Merrick"), "Space Admiral Curry", and "Planet Payson".

References

External links

*{{comicbookdb, type=title, id=9074, title=Planet Comics
Index of ''Planet Comics'' issuesFemale artists of Fiction HouseDownload issues of ''Planet Comics''
Science fiction comics Comics anthologies Public domain comics Space opera comics Golden Age comics titles