The Illustrated History Of Science Fiction Comics Number 3 by Mike Benton (book review).
I came across ‘The Illustrated History Of Science Fiction Comics Number 3’ by Mike Benton purely by chance and at a low price. Collectively, the series is called ‘The Taylor History of Comics’. As it was printed in 1992, it stops around that time.
It focuses on the history of American comic books, providing a history of how they left the pulps and radio into comics with a character called Anthony ‘Buck’ Rogers, created by Philip Nowlan, who then also appeared in newspaper strips and film series. Hardly surprising there were many characters created similarly in his wake, cashing in on his fame.
There are ten chapters of various lengths, and you get a history across the years. There are some odd puzzles. Take the history of EC Comics; there is no explanation as to why the sales of ‘Weird Science’ dropped even prior to the Wertham trial. One possible reason could be the ‘Judgement Day’ story, in which a human resolves a prejudice problem between different coloured robots and is ultimately revealed to be Black. Even so, could a single panel be considered so controversial that it is not included here?
The common cast of a hero with a girlfriend and a scientist appears to be common across many titles. The magazine covers are large, and there are plenty of them. 200 are noted on the back cover.
It’s rather fascinating how SF comic books took off in 1947 with the UFO craze of the time, but not too surprising considering comic book companies latched on to anything that would sell and were fortunate enough to have artists who enjoyed doing it. The same is true for SF TV series, which often went hand in hand with adaptations, making it hardly surprising that ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ were so easily embraced.
There’s also an explanation for EC Comics’ ‘Weird Science’ numbering that I was puzzling over in the Dark Horse reprints numbering, and it looks like they got it right despite having some issue numbers duplicated.
The guide and checklist are mostly comprehensive and useful but exclusively American, including some reprints. It also gave me the opportunity to reflect on what they might have overlooked. Although ‘Fireball X-L5’ is included, the UK’s ‘Space Patrol’, renamed ‘Planet Patrol’ stateside because of a 1950s TV live-action show, did have an American comic book series, well, two issues, ignored but should have been included. If that’s the only blemish, then it makes for a useful quick reference book even now. It’s important to remember that the past remains unchanged.
GF Willmetts
May 2025
(pub: Taylor Publishing Company, 1992. 150 page illustrated indexed large hardback. Price: varies. ISBN0-87833-789-X).
