The Planet Series Weirdworld

I’m not sure how the K.G. Murray editors came up with this title – I’m only vaguely aware of a fantasy series of the same name by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog running in various Marvel Comics titles - but no doubt it appealed to them as asuitable banner for a variety of miscellaneous stories and genres. Consider that between this issue and the subsequent unnumbered one-off issue there are space and science fiction stories, superheroes, war stories, horror stories – even pre-code horror!

Weirdworld Planet Series 3 No. 3, $0.90 cover price, c.March 1980

Time Skipper: Time Skipper Visits the City of Brass(Space Adventures #1, July 1952)

The Dead Man's Hand(Original unidentified, 8 pages)

Geronimo's GhostJoe Gill/Don Perlin
(War #1, July 1975)

The Space Rangers: Invasion from the Moon(Space Adventures #1, July 1952)

The Boxer Rebellion(Original unidentified, Job Number D-7119, 6 pages)

The Devil Cat(Original unidentified, 7 pages)

Pillar of Stone(Strange Stories from Another World #4, 10 pages)

The ThrowbacksCharles Nicholas/Vincent Alascia
(Space Adventures #59, November 1964)

The Phantom Gloves(Worlds of Fear #8, 1953)

Michael Mauser Private Eye: The HitNicola Cuti/Joe Staton
(Vengeance Squad #2, September 1975)

Vengeance Will Be MineDick Giordano
(The Thing! #6, January 1953)

The Voyage
(Original unidentified, 1 page)

The President(Original unidentified, 1 page)

The Brave Die Young
(War #6, May 1976)

The cover is by Vicente Segrelles, a sword and sorcery specialist who may have been responsible for other similar covers published by K.G. Murray.

There are two stories reprinted in this issue originally appearing in Space Adventures #1, July 1952. The other two major features in Space Adventures #1, “Mad-Man of Mars” and “Mummers from Mercury” are reprinted in Captain Atom Planet Series 1 No. 7 and Mysterious Suspense Planet Series 2 No. 1 respectively.

“The Phantom Gloves” is a surprising inclusion. Pre-Code Fawcett horror material is certainly expected in early K.G. Murray issues of Doomsday and Haunted Tales, but not in a regular adventure/science fiction comic. Even more surprisingly it also appears in Unusual Tales Planet Series 2 No. 4, published a year or so earlier. My guess is the story was reprinted in a similarly unexpected context in some other US comic in the late 1970’s-early 1980’s and hence its K.G. Murray cameos. I believe it was also reprinted in Voodoo, a UK reprint comic from L. Miller and Co. in the 1960’s, but I haven’t tracked any subsequent reprint yet.

"Pillar of Stone" is also reprinted in Climax Adventure Comic #12, April 1973.