Reading Room: CROM THE BARBARIAN "Spider God of Akka"

...between the years when the ocean drank Atlantis and the Rise of the Sons of Aryas...

Oops! Wrong barbarian!

This is the second tale of the swordslinger who appeared before Conan in the comics!

Impressive!
He starts out totally-lost, with no food or water, and by the end of the story, he's become the ruler a city!
Man, he works fast!

This tale by writer Gardner Fox and artist John Giunta appeared twice within two months, first in Strange Worlds #1, then, along with all the other stories from that issue, in a color insert in the pulp Out of This World Adventures #2!

There's one more tale of Crom to be told before he disappears again into the mists of ancient history.
Watch for it!

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Reading Room: JET DREAM "Super-Tiger of Targan"

It's Labor Day, but there's no rest for our favorite femme fatale...

..as she goes on the hunt in this short story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #9 (1966)!

Ah, the Swinging Sixties, when a story like this actually seemed plausible...
Though the story by Dick Wood is silly, it's made quite palatable by the Mike Sekowsky/Mike Peppe artwork.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Fat Connoisseur"

It's Phantom Lady versus Fat Man...

...in a pop art tale about fine art and aficionados from Phantom Lady #18!

Doesn't it figure that it takes an artist to see the obvious; that Sandra Knight is Phantom Lady?
The usual team of writer Ruth Roche (probably) and artist Matt Baker (definitively) provide the titillating tale!

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featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.

Reading Room: SCARLET PHANTOM "Curse of Gold"

Here's the never-reprinted origin of a hero you've never heard of...

...in a story with a title that has no relation to the actual plot!

And that's it!

The Scarlet Phantom never appeared after this tale in All-New Short Story Comics #2 in 1943!

Heck, he never even got a logo!

I guess, having avenged his father's death, Jack Winstead went back to full-time reporting.

The art, BTW, is one of the first examples of work by a very young Joe Kubert, apparently channeling Lou Fine.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Ghosts, Galleons and Gold"

Long before the Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into cinemas...

 ...the busty bombshell known as Phantom Lady faced specters on ships for treasure!

I really was waiting for someone to say "I'd have gotten away with it if not for that meddling Phantom Lady!"
A little of everything in this tale from Phantom Lady #18, including some serious "headlights" on pages 4-5, courtesy of legendary illustrator Matt Baker with a wacky script probably by Ruth Roche.

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featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.