Saturday, November 13, 2010

Pass the Comics: The Lord of Jupiter, Captain Venture, and More Mysta

Captain Venture and the Land Beneath the Sea



US Space Probe pilots struggle to survive while stranded in the depths of a strange planet! Says so right on the cover. [Gold Key Comics!]

Mysta of the Moon vs the Pirates of Jupiter



This one turns particularly gruesome when the space pirates Mysta's fighting take out a space ship full of school kids to prove how serious they are. And we actually get to see the kids being sucked into space. Mysta takes it personally.

She also fights an enormous, one-eyed snake. I know. [Lady, That's My Skull]

Mysta vs. The Face



In addition to Mysta and her (newly redesigned) killer robot's fighting some Circus Animals from Space, there's some interesting world-building in this one. Part of Earth's efforts to rebuild its library of knowledge include an organization called Youth for Science and an incentive Mysta's set up called - appropriately - the Mysta Fellowship. There are a couple of ways of interpreting Mysta's motivations for this.

Sleestak from Lady, That's My Skull sees it in light of the severe, even cruel way that Mysta has treated scientists who try to rediscover knowledge she deems dangerous. Is Mysta's fellowship nothing more than a PR move to divert suspicion and keep people in line? It's an interesting question and a valid interpretation.

Personally, I'd like to believe that Mysta's truly altruistic. Yes, she deals harshly with those who purposely ignore her restrictions about forbidden areas of research. But I'm not sure that conflicts with her genuinely wanting to reward those who search for knowledge in "acceptable" fields.

Something else we learn in this story is that Earth has an important metropolitan area called Terra City. We're not told for sure, but it sounds like it could be the capitol of the entire planet.

There's more to be learned about Mysta's universe, but I'll send you to Sleestak for it. As usual, his commentary on the story is every bit as interesting as the comic itself.

Mysta VS. the Moon!



This is a sequel to the last story in which the evil Face replaces the winner of the Mysta Fellowship with his own man. And as the Face slips past Mysta's security thanks to his mole, Mysta's busy fighting flame-men, headless bats, and other indigenous moonlife. [Lady, That's My Skull]

Auro, Lord of Jupiter vs. the Life-Drinkers



Because it can't just be space pirates on our solar system's largest world. [The Comic Book Catacombs]

2 comments:

Sleestak said...

Thanks for the links!

The Lost World and Auro of Jupiter are two fine serials. The Lost World is about the remnants of humanity fighting against occupying Space Nazis who speak like Yoda.

Auro is interesting. The consciousness of a meek Earth man is transported into the brain-dead body of Auro, who was injured during an assassination attempt. The Earth man takes the place of Auro fighting the good fight, though the creative team switched up the possession aspect and tweaked it a bit over the run of the serial.

Michael May said...

You know, you're not helping my ache for a Planet Comics Archives. :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails