Expert: Chris Brown - 7/30/2010

Question
QUESTION: I would like to locate a comic book story from (I think) the late 1960s. To the best of my memory the story was titled "The Prison Planet." The main character committed a crime in a perfect society on a distant planet, and was sentenced to several months on a prison planet, where disease, war, and crime were all too common. In the last panel, we learn that this "nightmare planet" is Earth.

I would very much like to find out which comic it appeared in--the title, issue number, and date. Although I owned the comic book it has been long enough that I remember little about it except this story, which I've never forgotten.

Thanks for your help!

Steve

ANSWER: Hi Steve

There is a story in an old comic that is called "The Prison Planet" but it does not really match your description.  So I'm not sure if you don't remember it well, if you have the title wrong, or if there is another comic story out there with the same title.

Anyway, the story I am referring to appeared in Journey into Mystery 51 in March, 1959.  Marvel, the publisher of this comic, reprinted many of the stories from their 50s comics in the late 60s and early 70s, so it is possible that you could have read this story in a comic in that time period as well.  Unfortunately, I don't have any info on any later comic books this same story might have appeared in.

This story does not focus on one character.  It tells of prisoners being left on a planet to fend for themselves.  Then the story tells of the mother planet becoming lazy and defenseless, until an alien species comes on spaceships and wipes them out.  We switch back to the prison planet, which has forgotten over time that they had been a planet of prisoners.  They have continued to grow in knowledge and technology.  In the last panel, we learn that the mother planet was Mars and the prison planet is Earth.

So this may or may not be the story you are thinking of.  The twist ending that an unnamed planet turns out to be Earth is pretty common in comic stories of this period.  Often there is a juxtaposition between two planets, and the reader is misdirected to believe one planet to be Earth before the big "revelation" in the last panel.

If the story I've described doesn't seem to be the one, I can try to help you narrow down your search if you answer some more questions.  Just send me a follow-up question.

Chris

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Chris,

Thanks for your response.

The story as I remember it did focus on one character. The last part of the story took place on a train, where the main character overhears other passengers talking about crime, wars, disease, etc. All of these had not existed on his home planet for some time until he committed the crime (theft?) for which he was sent to the prison planet. I remember the last frame as a close-up of the main character's face. It is the very beginning of his sentence, he realizes its full horror, and vows never again to do anything that would land him back on this "nightmare planet" (the only quote from the story I can remember).

The comic book in which this story appeared would have dated to about 1965 to 1967, I think.

Hope this helps, and thanks again for your help!

Steve

ANSWER: Hi Steve

Do you have a good memory of what comics you were reading at that time?  Marvel, DC and ACG were all printing fantasy comics, although to me this really sounds like a Marvel story.  If you were mainly or only buying one company's comics, that would narrow things down a lot.

There were also some black-and-white magazine-sized comics in this period.  Was the story in a traditional color comic or could it have been in a black-and-white magazine?

I'm guessing you don't have any ideas as to the artist who drew the story.  That would be a major clue.

Was the comic bought new in 1965 to 1967 or is that when you think you read it?  In other words, could this have been an older comic that someone gave you or was it actually bought during those years?

Chris

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Chris,

I read DC and Marvel comics mostly, and though I don't recognize the name ACG, I'm sure I read those too at the time if they were available.

It was definitely in traditional comic color. I'm sorry but I do not remember the artist.

I know that I had a copy of the comic book during my ninth grade year, which was the 1966-1967 school year. I probably acquired it sometime before that, which is why I estimated 1965-1967.

Thanks again!

Steve

Answer
Hi Steve

There really weren't that many comics of the fantasy variety published between 1965-67.  I say that partly because there were a lot more just a few years later.  You basically have the following:

DC

1. House of Mystery (through 1965--had a superhero "J'onn Jonzz" lead story and fantasy backup stories.  After 1965 it was all superhero until 1968.)
2. Mystery in Space (also with a superhero lead story but some issues had fantasy backups)
3. Strange Adventures (all fantasy stories in most issues in this time period)

Marvel

1. Fantasy Masterpieces (reprints from older Marvel comics.  Even some issues with superheroes on the cover have fantasy reprints inside.)

ACG

1. Adventures into the Unknown
2. Forbidden Worlds
3. Unknown Worlds

Charlton
(many of these Charlton titles just slightly overlap with the 1965-67 time period.  That is, only a few issues were published during those years.)

1. Ghostly Tales
2. The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves
3. Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds
4. Space Adventures
5. Strange Suspense Stories
6. Unusual Tales

There may have been a few scattered fantasy stories in other places, but I would say that 98% of what was published in that time period appeared in the above titles.  If you are willing to spend a couple hours, you can look at the covers of these comics online.  Go to

www.comics.org

Click on the Gallery option and you can see multiple covers at once for any given title.  Maybe seeing a cover will spark a memory for you.  Also, for many of the issues, there is a plot synopsis for each story.

Anyway, I think that's the most guidance I can offer at this point, but feel free to follow up if you have more questions.

Chris