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Under the main
title of "Fantástico", the Mexican publishing house "Editora Sol"
used to accomodate comic stuff from diverse American companies, never stating
the names, but using instead the non-compromising phrase of "Editora Sol,
S.A. y compañías cedentes" ("Editora Sol, Inc. and granting
companies"), when securing the copyrights. Of course we young fans couldn't
care less about the informality, since we had first-class (or nearly) stuff
served in those comic books, as a rule. The page I'm presenting now is
a good example of that rare level of quality. Probably the version in Spanish
language from a Fiction House SF comic book, the magazine from which I
scanned it is marked Nº9 of the series, and dated 12 May 1955 (on
the very verge of that darn Code of infamous memory!...). The particular
style of the illustrations makes one think they may have been originally
aimed at the 3D form, which had had its ephimeral boom a couple of years
before (see an example of this elsewhere in this site); but the decision
of a straight 4-color printing seems to have prevailed.
While all the stories
are excellent, I chosed the second one, "Los Monstruos de Marte" ("The
Monsters from Mars"), for it was the one which left the most intense sensation
in my mind. It's signed "Maurice Whitman", and it has a special charm,
with reminiscences of "Buck Rogers". The looks of the spaceship crewmen
deeply impressed me, to the point I dressed in that fashion one of my own
characters -the villanous "Kreegar Gore"- in a SF comic I published 25
years later. Other strong points of the comic book in question: a magnificent
cover (which, most regretfully, I was unable to scan for this gallery,
since it's bound in a thick volume and not in a very good shape), and three
other remarkable stories, one of them drawn by one of the DC artists (I'm
not sure of it, but maybe Mike Sekowsky), which seems much more bold here,
free from the house restrictions stated by the DC directives. As for the
scripts, they are also stronger than those of DC's SF comics; they have
a great resemblance to the old pulps of the '30s. As a special bonus: a
black-and-white adventure of the curvaceous "Mysta from the Moon", a classic
"Planet Comics" pin-up. (That impressed me TOO!) All in all, one of my
most priced pieces. It's more than possible that I may bring another of
its page in a near future. |
