Number 158


Tara Is A Wonder


A reader has reminded me that in Pappy's #144 I promised to show stories from Wonder Comics #16, dated February, 1948. This is the lead story, "Tara," an outer space strip in the Fiction House-Planet Comics mold. The art is attributed to Gene Fawcette.

There's an old story about writers in the pulp era of the 1930s, who with a change of setting from Tortuga to Venus, cutlasses to rayguns and pirate ships to rocket ships, could turn a standard pirate tale into science fiction. That's pretty much the case with this Tara story. You don't have to use a lot of imagination to put it back on earth sailing along the bounding main in the 18th Century, especially with the stilted dialogue. Anytime a villain spouts lines like, "Swine! Ye comb the universe and bring back none but these cabbage faces…?" or a hero shouts out, "A quick death with the taste of steel in thy throat for this sacrilege, pirate cur!" you've got something entertaining on a whole other level.

I've included the two-page text story from this issue, because even though it's Tara and her pals, the dialogue is definitely more modern.

Finally, the splash panel is a classic of the type with the huge looming villainous figure, and be sure to check out the cover of Wonder Comics #16, which can found by using the link in the first paragraph.