EXPLORE YOUR INNER SPACE WITH GOLD KEY ADAPTATION OF FANTASTIC VOYAGE !!!

Gold Key Comics did a lot of adaptations of television series and movies. One of my favorites was Fantastic Voyage.

Fantastic Voyage back cover pin-up!

Fantastic Voyage was a great movie not only adapted by Gold Key, but by Issac Asimov, for the Bantam Books novelization. It's the story of an attempt to remove the brain clot of an important scientist, by miniaturizing a crew and have them operate, from inside his body! 

The Gold Key Comics' adaptation of Fantastic Voyage generally followed the plot of the movie, but many scenes were depicted differently and/or out-rightly dropped, and the ending was given an epilogue similar as that seen in some of the early draft scripts of the film.

 

 
Gold Key Comics' Fantastic Voyage was written by the great Paul S. Newman with artwork by Dan Adkins and Wally Wood! Yes, Wally Wood pops up again with yet another publisher.

Dark Horse Archives Total War #1-#3!

Wood also created Gold Key's Total War (M.A.R.S. Patrol) series, of which the first three issues have been reprinted by Dark Horse Comics. 

It was great for Wally Wood to bring Fantastic Voyage into the comics. Chances are you’ve passed right by it at a comic convention and questioned picking it up. Too bad, because this is an excellent adaptation of the sci-fi ‘inner space’ classic film. 

 

If you’ve seen the movie, you know that it’s a really fun premise, a tip of the cap to Jules Verne and a perfect fit for Wally Wood (and his assistant Dan Adkins.) While perhaps not be the best example of Wally’s art, it’s an awesome book, and a very affordable Silver Age treat.

 

 

It sported photos from the movie, on the outside and inside covers. You could count on photos from the TV or movie, on Gold Key comics. I loved it as much as their fantastic, painted covers. 

In a couple of years, Gold Key Comics would carry on Fantastic Voyage, with a two issue comic book run based on the Saturday morning cartoon series.  

Fantastic Voyage #1  "The Seed of Power & The Rombar Ruby"
Miniturized, the C.M.D.F. Team Solves the Giant-Sized Mystery of the Rombar Ruby!
False TV transmissions are panicking the country. The C.M.D.F (Jonathan Kidd, Erica Lane & Dr. Guru) must go inside a TV broadcast transmitter to find the source of the interference. They find a strange electronic being who is distorting the signals for his amusement.

In other story in the first issue, Tallerin, a embittered former C.M.D.F. member, breaks in and uses the miniaturizer to reduce three men and a plane to one-inch size in order to steal a priceless ruby.

Fantastic Voyage #2  "The Black Fire"

The last issue. 
Entering a world below, via the roots of a strange plant, the miniaturized Voyager encounters The Black Fire! 
Instead of the line drawn cover of the first issue, this comic had a great painted cover.

 

Issac Asimov did eventually come out with Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain, his own attempt to develop and present his own story, apart from the 1966 screenplay. This novel is not a sequel to the original, but instead, is a separate story taking place in the Soviet Union with an entirely different set of characters. 

Scale model of Proteus, from the movie!

Scale model of Voyager, from the cartoon!

Love those old View-Master slides!

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

Monday comes my two part feature on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.!