Beyond Mars
Encyclopedia
Beyond Mars was a science fiction
comic strip
written by Jack Williamson
and drawn by Lee Elias. The Sunday strip
ran in New York's Daily News from February 17, 1952 to May 13, 1955, initially as a full tabloid page and, near the end, as a half tab. It is set in the same universe as the Williamson novels Seetee Ship
and Seetee Shock.
The creation of Beyond Mars happened in an unusual way—because of a bad review. The New York Times
reviewed a Williamson novel, stating that his writing "ranks only slightly above that of comic strip adventures." The review was read by Daily News editor Ana Barker who immediately contacted Williamson, hired him to script a similar comic strip and teamed him with illustrator Elias.
s.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
written by Jack Williamson
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson , who wrote as Jack Williamson was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death in 1988 of Robert A...
and drawn by Lee Elias. The Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
ran in New York's Daily News from February 17, 1952 to May 13, 1955, initially as a full tabloid page and, near the end, as a half tab. It is set in the same universe as the Williamson novels Seetee Ship
Seetee Ship
Seetee Ship is the second of two science fiction novels by Jack Williamson, writing under the pseudonym Will Stewart. It is a fix-up adapting two stories previously published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine, "Minus Sign" and "Opposites—React!" .Seetee Ship was released in 1951...
and Seetee Shock.
The creation of Beyond Mars happened in an unusual way—because of a bad review. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reviewed a Williamson novel, stating that his writing "ranks only slightly above that of comic strip adventures." The review was read by Daily News editor Ana Barker who immediately contacted Williamson, hired him to script a similar comic strip and teamed him with illustrator Elias.
Characters and story
The storyline was loosely based on Seetee Ship. Headquartered on Brooklyn Rock, in the new frontier of the asteroid belt during the year 2191, freelance pilot Mike Flint steered his antimatter-powered craft across the universe by counteracting the pull of gravity on other solar systems. Although Flint held a license as a spacial engineer, he became more of an outer space policeman, often getting an assist from several alien sidekicks. Comics historian Dave Karlen reviewed:- In 1952 the New York News wanted to celebrate their success from a steady increase in newspaper circulation and decided an exclusive feature created for their publication would be just the ticket... It is said Chester Gould suggested many of the story lines and helped Williamson from time to time on a proper way to present a comic strip plot. This colorful space-opera drama with a stellar Dick TracyDick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
feel was beautifully rendered in the "Noel SicklesNoel SicklesNoel Douglas Sickles was an American commercial illustrator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip Scorchy Smith....
School" by Elias with its amazingly detailed exotic locals, amusing alien creatures, beautiful women and lots of two-fisted action. But as with many strips over time, the New York News believed their creation did not live up to its expectations and cut the size to a half-page in late 1954, which probably contributed to its untimely demise on March 13, 1955 as the creative team wrapped up some final loose ends in the last Sunday.
Reprints
In 1987, the entire strip was reprinted in two Blackthorne trade paperbacks. Blackthorne also reprinted it as series of comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s.
Sources
- Daily News Sunday comics section (1952-55)
- John Clute and Peter Nicholls, editor, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Jack Williamson entry), St. Martin's Press, 1993. ISBN 0-312-09618-6
- Jack Williamson and Lee Elias, Shel Dorf (editor), Beyond Mars (two volumes), Blackthorne, 1987. ISBN 0-932629-84-9