The Secret Squadron: Books

Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Tom Corbett's Wonder Book of Space (Wonder Books, NY, 1953)

Written by Marcia Martin and illustrated by Frank Vaughn, this is one of those amazing pearls that could have only been created in the early 1950's, when we hadn't yet actually gone, you know, up there.

So here's what I propose: close your eyes, breathe deep, let go of your worries. You just came from school and the cereals were waiting for you. Kellogg's of course. You wouldn't have any other, because these were the ones with Tom Corbett, your hero! You put on your Space Cadet cap, you wear your Space Cadet belt (you never take off your Tom Corbett ring, of course) and go sit on the couch to read your new book.

So relax... you're going on an adventure with Tom Corbett himself!

[Hoping I'm not infringing on someone's copyright, should there be an issue with this please send an email and the pages will be removed. I just hope not -- this is too good not to be shared... ]

"Captain Midnight's Trick and Riddle Book" (Skelly Oil, 1939)

A 1939 Skelly Oil premium for Flight Patrol members, which also re-uses an earlier promotional shot of original Captain Midnight actor Bill Bouchey with helmet and goggles. The pocket size book has 30 pages of magic tricks and 300 riddles with their answers.

"Colecção Robot" by Alan Comet

Enrique Sánchez Pascual

"The "Colección Robot", published [originally] in Madrid by Editorial Mando in fifteen issues, was written by Enrique Sánchez Pascual (1918-1996) under the pseudonym of "Alan Comet". It dates from 1955. They may be the most bizarre paperbacks in Spanish literature, which is saying quite a lot. Amongst its many wonders, there is an army of giant ants from Mars trying to invade Earth (Mars Attacks!), a race of flying beings that feed only on electricity (Invasion of the Electricity-Eaters), a fight against underground blind men who perceive the world through antennas (Revolt of the Hipogeos), a fleet of fifteen thousand men and women from Saturn, reduzed in size and piloting small robots to invade the Earth (The Micro-Robots of Saturn), invisible octopi that feed on human brains (The Sucking Cups of Dementia), etc. In the end, the sensation given by these books, through the twists and turns of the stories, is the conscience of the infinity of the cosmos and the vast strangeness that biology can offer us. An odissey of the weird, but a weirdness that is also conceivable."

-- from the "Museo Iconográfico de la Literatura Popular"

(translated from the Spanish)

These are the Portuguese editions, published as complete small-size books. I could only ever find 6 issues/books, published by Roussado Pinto's "Editorial Organizações", with no date listed. The text is... well... outlandish. For many years it has been a source of fun amongst my friends to open up one of the books and read a bit at random and it never fails to be hilarious, baffling or preposterous!

#1 "The Micro-Robots of Saturn"

#2 "The Sucking Cups of Dementia"

#3 "Revolt of the Hipogeos"

#4 "Invasion of the Electricity-Eaters"

#5 "The Flesh Disintegrators"

#6 "Dr. Freuding's Robot"

I have a duplicate of #1 for trade...

Further reading: A biography of Enrique Sánchez Pascual (in Spanish) and a full bibliography in Alt+64 (also in Spanish).

"The Original Houdini Scrapbook" (Walter B. Gibson, 1976, signed presentation copy)

"The Original Houdini Scrapbook" (Corwin Serling Publising Co., Inc, NY, 1976, first edition), by Walter B. Gibson, creator of "The Shadow" and magician extraordinaire, in a presentation copy signed by the author on his own bookplate.

The signature was intentionally blurred to avoid duplication. The original is just fine.

"Welcome Mary Mouse!" by Enid Blyton (1950)

"Mary Mouse is a fictional character "imagined" by Enid Blyton, a prolific British children's author, in the mid 20th century. Mary Mouse is a mouse exiled from her mousehole who becomes a maid at the dolls' house, employed by Sailor Doll.

The original publications were in an unusual format (15cm x 7cm softback pictorial). Due to the austerity and paper shortages of the times, during and after World War II, the first editions were cheaply made with simple colour illustration and stapled bindings overstuck with linen edging.

Loved mainly by girls, this character's memory has lived on. The original books (published by Brockhampton Book Co Ltd, Leicester, UK at a price of one shilling) are highly collectable, perhaps because few remain in reasonable condition. The books were immensely popular in Blyton's days and eventually sold in a million copies."

-- from Wikipedia

The Shadow - Books

Rather than list every book individually, as there are rather a lot I chose to list them all under the same heading. This is where all the Shadow reprints will go, plus some assorted books. For further information on the paperbacks (and everything else Shadow-related) I recommend "The Shadow - Master of Darkness" website. You can find the original pulps listed elsewhere on the Secret Squadron.

Belmont (1963-1967)

Agência Portuguesa de Revistas

Portugal, circa 1965. This reprints the Belmont #6, "Cry Shadow!"

Gosset and Dunlap (1966)

Bantam (1969-1970)

Pyramid/Jove (1974-1978)

Covers by Jim Steranko, except number 13 of the Jove edition.
I'm missing Jove's #1, #11 and #12.
(My thanks to Tony Robertson who pointed out that Jove's #3 was not by Steranko and that he repainted the cover for Jove's #13, but it was never published.
You can find all the Steranko covers here.)

The cover on the right for #4, "Hands in the Dark", was misprinted for the 2nd printing of the paperback. It was actually the cover for #6. I have two copies of the original and correct #4, one of which is signed by Steranko, so the other is available for trade.