|
"El Despertar del Mundo"
Nº 13, "La Prensa", México, June 30, 1956. After issue Nº4,
Editora de Periódicos "La Prensa" continued with its title "El Despertar
del Mundo" ("The World Awakes"), but the material came no longer from the
Joe Kubert mags of "1.000.000 Years Ago". Instead, the Mexican publisher
decided (of all things!) to start with SF stories in Nº 5, perhaps
giving another sense to the "awake", meaning the beginning of a Brave New
World, full of technology and strange E.T. encounters... I couldn't find
the American magazine which was used as a source of material, but I guess
it must have been one from "American Comics Group", since it carried covers
by Ogden Whitney, a talented artist of the firm. An interesting fact is
that one of the frequent collaborators in the art department was Kenneth
Landau, who later went to work as an actor of TV series and movies, most
remembered as Martin Landau, of "Mission Impossible" fame, and, more recently,
incarnating Bela Lugosi in the "Ed Wood" picture. The funniest thing of
it all is that yours truly read his signature as "Kenneth Landall" (his
final "u" resembled a double "l"), and persisted in the mistake for over
40 years...
I chose Nº13 as
a sample (although it doesn't sport Mr. Landau's art), because it made
a strong impression in my mind for its cover story (Ogden Whitney drew
both cover and inner art), the romantic and somewhat "movielike" nature
of which made it stand apart from the usual "fantasy comic" stuff which
was a rule... "Soñaré Contigo" ("I'll dream with you") tells
the story of two lovers separated by the French-Prussian war of 1870, who
met in dreams, regardless of distance and prison bars...
Quite well written by
an anonymous author. Two other fine stories (these ones more on the regular
line of SF stuff) completed an excellent magazine. |
