Comments | planettom: SPACE CONQUERORS! Every comic strip from BOYS' LIFE 1952-1972 in Google Books!

planettom

SPACE CONQUERORS! Every comic strip from BOYS' LIFE 1952-1972 in Google Books!

Sep 24, 2010 07:11

A perque of being in Boy Scouts was a subscription to BOYS' LIFE magazine. It had a lot of good articles and fiction, including a few science fiction series. One, the Time Machine stories, I'll be posting about another time. But there was also a comic strip serial called SPACE CONQUERORS! that ran from Sep 1952 to October 1972, over 20 years ( Read more... )

comics

Comments 35

glevryl September 24 2010, 15:11:30 UTC

Wow, that takes me back. I was never a Scout but my parents gave me a subscription to BL ever year from around 76-80. Interesting to see how the magazine has changed\not changed over the years.

planettom September 24 2010, 23:08:01 UTC

There was that one perpetual ad in BOYS' LIFE to send for plans that would allow you to build a hovercraft out of an old vacuum cleaner motor (this one). But the skies of my neighborhood were not filled with flying cars.

Conquering space and having adventures glevryl September 26 2010, 13:29:27 UTC

Fun stuff. I don't recall ever seeing these but probably the only chance I would have had would be leafing through magazines waiting for a checkup or something.

The 1964 antimatter storyline was pretty interesting until it mysteriously petered out.

The ads are almost as much fun to read - promises of wealth, power and success with the ladies... I guess some things never change.

Re: Conquering space and having adventures planettom September 26 2010, 13:45:19 UTC

Speaking of ads in BOYS' LIFE, they'd have these ones where you could get a mail-order live monkey. You'd also see these ads in comic books.

It seems pretty startling today, that some company would just ship a kid a live monkey in the postal mail.

But, my older brother remembers (and, at this point, I'm not sure if I remember it too, or just remember him talking about it) the point where, Lazurus in downtown Columbus, Ohio (basically that upscale department store that every city had downtown like Macy's) had a pet shop where you could get a monkey.

There's this pretty interesting article in Comic Book Resources where a guy tells what happened when he actually sent for one of those monkeys as a kid.

missing details anonymous October 2 2010, 06:56:33 UTC

I too read Space Conquerors! regularly. I can give you a couple of details ( ... )

Re: missing details planettom October 2 2010, 11:38:03 UTC

Thanks, Anonymous Stranger!

And here's that Jul 1956 issue of BOYS' LIFE that has that first installment of SPACE CONQUERORS!

As for the December 1966 issue (the one missing from the Google Books BOYS' LIFE archives), I just ordered it off eBay for $2.40 (+$3 postage).

Re: missing details planettom October 3 2010, 01:00:56 UTC

Regarding the 4th crewmember being called Red --- you're right, but he's also called Sparks.

In the July 1967 episode, he's called Sparks. "Sparks" was the traditional nickname of the wireless telegraph operator on ships back in the early 20th century, so I think we can assume he's the radio operator / communications officer.

In the July 1969 episode, he's called Red.

So, not only does he have a nickname, he's the only crewmember who has two nicknames!

planettom October 5 2010, 10:04:35 UTC

Well, first I thought SPACE CONQUERORS! started in July 1957, then someone above pointed out a July 1956 one, but now I've found it actually started almost 4 years before that - September 1952. I'm updating the original post above with the new info. I'm pretty sure this is the first one, because that September 1952 issue of BOYS' LIFE seems to be the one where they started having the color comics section (Also the first appearance of Pee Wee Harris).

beamjockey October 15 2010, 19:21:46 UTC

Here's an interesting article about Johnstone and Cushing, the comics-based advertising agency that employed Al Stenzel and supplied strips to Boys' Life.

Here's a memorial to Mr. Stenzel, in comics form.

planettom October 16 2010, 00:36:12 UTC

Thanks, great stuff!

beamjockey November 26 2010, 05:42:07 UTC

Thanks for putting the archive together. I've wanted to read the strip for a while.

According to a page at http://gotomars.free.fr/space_conquerors.html (in French, but it can be read via Google's translator) the strip was written by Al Stenzel and illustrated at different times by Stenzel, George Evans, Lou Fine and Al McWilliams.

Luke Blanchard

beamjockey November 28 2010, 04:54:48 UTC

I think you've missed a few from between the "Doctor Cosmos" and the "Skipper, Bill and Sparks/Red" series. The missing instalments (not in every issue) mostly set out facts about the solar system. One is on tektites.

Luke Blanchard

Thread 6

Brought tears to my eyes... anonymous January 3 2011, 04:22:32 UTC

I just wanted to say THANKS! for all your (and your contributors) work on this. Over the years I have often thought of the strip and was frustrated at at how much of it I missed. I went looking around about 15 years ago with no luck. And now here it is...

And now there's tons of Boy's Life being offered on eBay.

Thanks for bringing back a small part of my childhood!