COSMO THE MERRY MARTIAN

My favorite comic book of all time is the Mighty Mouse Fun Club magazine which premiered in 1957 when I was eight. It was published by Pines Comics and lasted only six issues. But it inspired me to start a neighborhood Mighty Mouse Fun Club chapter. We held meetings in our garage, and I was president. Having given these comics to my nephews a long time ago, I’ve since found and purchased all six issues again, and continue to enjoy them, although we haven’t had a club meeting in fifty-four years. My favorite characters in these comics’ stories are Flebus and Clint Clobber.

My second-favorite comic book of all time was a contemporary of the Mighty Mouse Fun Club, premiering a year later, in 1958, and also lasting only six issues. This six issue business was obviously a conspiracy to irk me. Anyway, it’s Bob White’s Cosmo the Merry Martian, an Archie Series publication, and since giving my original copies away I’ve managed also to find and buy all six issues, and still love to read them.

The main character is Cosmo, the first Martian to visit Earth. His sidekick is the obnoxious Orbi. Their scientific mentor is Professor Thimk, and Cosmo’s sweetheart is Astra. Each issue ends with a to-be-continued cliffhanger, including the sixth and last issue. Not fair! I’m still waiting to see what happens when Cosmo and his interplanetary friends pay another visit to Earth!

Their first visit occurs in the first issue. Cosmo and Orbi blast off for Earth, but a meteor accident forces them to crash-land on our moon. There they meet the Moon People, all named Oog, who live underground in Moon City, marvelously displayed in a full-page illustration. The Moon People have often visited Earth, making themselves invisible with comet dust, and so take Cosmo and Orbi on a tour to our planet and to a baseball game.

In the second issue Cosmo and Orbi venture alone to the forbidden and terrifying Dark Side of the Moon, where they meet the dreaded Gillywump! Soon they make a second visit to Earth, along with the Moon People in order to help the Gillywump.

Professor Thimk, Cosmo’s sweetheart Astra, and Orbi’s dog Jojo, take off for Earth in the third issue to rescue Cosmo and Orbi. But instead of returning to Mars, all five of them, along with some Moon People and the Gillywump, travel to Venus, where they encounter Venusian giants.

The fourth issue is my favorite, in which the Venusian giants take the Martian (and Moon) crew to their queen, who turns out to be a knock-out. Although most are enraptured by her, she chooses Cosmo against his will to be her king, sending all others out, including Cosmo’s sweetheart Astra. A daring escape ensues with the Venusian giants in pursuit.

In the fifth issue the Martian and Moon crew travel to Saturn, where their spacecraft is damaged by Saturn’s rings and crash lands on the planet. There they meet the Saturnians--vegetable people--and Orbi has an Alice-in-Wonderland experience of shrinking and growing and winds up a giant on Saturn’s ring.

In the last issue, our crew returns to Mars, along with some Moon People and some Saturnians. All is well until a demented Martian, Dr. Beatnik, takes off with his army to invade Earth, and our interplanetary friends set out to stop him.

These Cosmo comics came out during the space race and well before man set foot on the Moon. It would be two years before the first man, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin of Russia, would orbit the Earth. No doubt Cosmo the Merry Martian was a great inspiration to these heroes of space exploration. And when the seventh issue finally comes out, we will learn what happens when the entire interplanetary crew visits Earth.

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The Mighty Mouse Fun Club
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