*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: In the 1950s, Atlas, like most publishers, was scrambling around different genres to find the next ‘big thing’, and one such experiment was 1953’s Speed Carter, Spaceman, Flash Gordonesque space opera as Speed, accompanied by plucky sidekick Johnny and the shapely Stellar Stone, went where no man had gone before. These pulpy adventures were high on action and tinged with horror, as the publisher tried to cover all bases, but Speed Carter Spaceman, (technically, in the indicia, ‘Spaceman’: On the cover, ‘Speed Carter Spaceman and the Space Sentinels’ – no possible confusion there…) didn’t catch on with the public despite some quality work, and had only a short 6-issue run, initially illustrated by the superb Joe Maneely. All six issues of the run fresh in, admittedly mostly in very low grades, but at least that makes them affordable!
PICTURED: SPEED CARTER, SPACEMAN ALL SOLD
#1 FA £55 Pieces of tape reinforcing worn spine, chunk off bottom left cover, wear and tear, pages okay.
#2 FA £27 Wrinkled and stained by water damage.
#3 FA/GD £35 Colour touches and edge wear.
#4 GD £47 Small amounts of edge wear. Not a bad copy.
#5 FA/GD £35 Edge wear, chips out top left cover, bottom spine.
#6 PR/FA £13 Heavy colour touches, spine glued, corners off back cover.