A few posts back I looked at Space Pirates in Pulp magazines. The comic books weren’t far behind. There really isn’t much difference visually between a space invader and a space pirate. One I suppose has an affiliation to some planet while the other does not. But in visual terms, what does an artist do? I laugh when I see all the nautical pirate cliches transferred to space. Parrots, eye-patches and walking the space plank. I understand why, but still…
You can really see the artwork improve from the beginning of the 1940s, when everybody was imitating Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon with some pretty dreadful work. As the decade went on the art improves quickly. You see this most strongly in Planet Comics, which I haven’t included simply because of the sheer number of space heroes. For those, go here. Later artists include some of the very best: Al Williamson, Wally Wood and the master, Frank Frazetta. (Though I have more than a little affection for Basil Wolverton and his weirdo art.)
“The Fang Men of Jupiter” (Science Comics #1, February 1940) has the aliens of Jupiter acting as the pirates. We don’t get any real idea of the shipping commerce that they prey upon. The George Tuska art on this one is so primitive and awful. But it must have been one of the first comics he ever drew. He was 22 at the time. Below is a Buck Rogers Sunday page by a man who would improve quickly and become a stylish craftsman in comics.
“Zom the Space Pirate” (Weird Comics #2, May 1940) is a pretty standard pirate plot. The pirates grab a ship, imprison the passengers. Our hero wins through daring-do.
“The Space Pirate From Venus” (Top Notch Comics #7, August 1940) was written by Harry Shorten. This time it is Quantus of Venus who is the attacker. He has cold-resistant Ionians working for him (the blue guys). Quantus clearly knows his business. He can use the scientist and will sell the women into slavery. He has no use for Streak but fails to kill him. Rescue is a foregone conclusion.
“The Golden Victims of Orro” (Exciting Comics #6, November 1940) has Ted and Jane fall for a trap where people are being turned into gold. They eventually end up on the pirate moon of Ganymede and meet the pirate king. Good old daring-do saves the day! Max Plaisted got his start drawing Science Fiction comics for the Pulps. His “Zarnak” was featured in the early issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1936. Most fans resented what they saw as a juvenile art form and it was eventually dropped.
“The Pirate City on Venus” (Target Comics #10, November 1940) was written and drawn by Basil Wolverton. Like Buck Rogers, who inspired Wolverton, Spacehawk had many adventures in space including fighting pirates. When the space police fail to bring in Jubun and his raiders, it is up to Spacehawk to face the strange creatures of the pirate city.
“Blaster Meers and the Pirates of Ceres” (Crack Comics #9, January 1941) was written and drawn by Vern Henkel. “Blaster” Meers and his gang capture a space liner. Rock Braddon of the Space Legion takes on a disguise as a steward to save the ship. He captures Blaster but has to chase him over the surface of Ceres to end him. The Space Legion sounds a lot like Jack Williamson’s The Legion of Space…
“Space Pirates” (Fantastic Comics #15, February 1941) was written by Bert Whitman. Space Smith is looking into disappearing ships when his friend, Bill Harding’s ship filled with securities headed for Mars, is attacked. Smith and his female sidekick, Diana, pursue, finding the pirates on an unknown planet. After taking out the pirates, Smith returns to Earth to face Harding’s boss, who is the secret leader of the pirates.
“Josef Drummer, Space Pirate” (Weird Comics #13, April 1941) has Major Dunton’s daughter kidnapped by Drummer’s pirates. More daring-do!
“The Planet of Peril” (Captain Midnight #58, December 1947) is unusual in that Captain Midnight started as an aviation character but moved into space as time went on. Brick Bradford, the comic strip character, would do the same. A fake robot appears and turns out to be a pirate armed with a death ray. Things like this never used to happen on Earth!
“The Adventure of the Invisible Pirates” (Manhunt #5, February, 1948) was written by Garner F. Fox. Jak Tal is taken in by the Invisible Pirates after their leader, Nev Ran, witnesses a fight between Jak and his superior. It is a gambit to gain access to the pirates organization. Not sure what the cat hats are all about! Fox wrote most the stories in Manhunt, with tales of Mounties, the F. B. I. and Undercover Girl appearing alongside space opera manhunts.
“The Great Space Mirror” (Action Comics #151, December 1950) was written by Edmond Hamilton. Space Ace goes undercover to stop a gang of pirates from escaping from the prison planet. Written by one of the men who invented Space Opera, Edmond Hamilton!
“Bandits of the Starways” (Space Detective #1, July 1951) was written by Walter Gibson. The Avenger and his female sidekick, Teena, investigate space liners to Venus getting hit by pirates. The leader is Maag who has his eyes on The Star Queen next. For the complete run, go here.
“The Pirate Planeteer” (Action Comics #161, October 1950) was written by Edmond Hamilton. This one is mostly about a comet (Edmond Hamilton classic!) but Brent Wood also finds out his pa used to be a space pirate.
“Space Pirates” (Buck Rogers Sundays, May 11-September 28, 1952) was written and drawn by Rick Yager. Buck Rogers had been appearing in the newspapers since 1929. By 1952, Buck is facing off against “Spoiler” and his gang on his own. Where’s Twiki when you need him?
“Space Pirates” (Space Patrol #1, Summer 1952) has Buzz Corry and his men taking on space pirates, not once but three times. Bernie Krigstein’s art is oddly compressed but the action doesn’t lag.
“Space Pirates on Xarpit” (Amazing Adventures #6, Fall 1952)
“Slave King of Pluto” (Space Patrol #2, October-November 1952)
“Convoy to Mars” (Space Adventures #3, November 1952) has space pirates though the strip is mostly ships fighting in space. The artist, Dick Giordano, works hard to make the scenes exciting and not too murky.
“Outlaws of Space” (Lost Worlds #6, December 1952) has our heroes intercepting space bandits after the space mail. They end up without a ship and likely to die but the tables turn!
“The Slavers of Space” (March of Comics #102, 1953) has Tom Corbett and his crew find a derelict in space. Inside the ship they discover a race of miniature enslaved humans.
“Jim Solar and the Pirates of Planet X” (Jim Solar, Space Sheriff”, 1953) was written by Walter B. Gibson. A mini-comic by the author of The Shadow.
“The Vicious Space Pirates!” (Danger Is Our Business #1, July 1953) has Captain Comet face off with a space pirate who knows his genre with eye patch and skull and crossbones on his chest. The combination of Williamson and Frazetta is stunning and really reminds me of what Mike Kaluta would do in the decades to come.
“The Thought Pirate” (Mystery in Space #17, December 1953-January 1954) was written by Sid Gerson. This one is a little different with an agent of an insurance company, Bert Brandon, as the hero. Not a slam-bang punch’em kind of guy, he saves his company from ruin and wins the day. He also has a parrot that reads minds….
“Pirates of Space!” (Brick Bradford Adventures #5, October 1955) was written by William Ritt. Brick Bradford is that other action guy who slowly over time became something of a Buck Rogers clone. He started out in the comic strips but ended up in the comics as well.
“Vacuum!” (Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #1, August 1956) was written by Joe Gill. Another one that is mostly ships dueling in space. And it’s drawn by the same guy: Dick Giordano. I think the earlier one was more visually interesting. It’s not easy to draw ships surrounded by so much dark space.
Conclusion
These are not all the space pirates, not by a long shot off the port bow. I did want to finish by mentioning how all these elements of Golden Age comics ended up in the television show, Doctor Who. A mostly lost episode called The Space Pirates from March 8-April 12, 1969 starred Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. He, and his companions, Jamie and Zoe, land on a space beacon station just before it is attacked by space pirates, led by Caven. The pirates are engaged by the Space Corps, lead by General Hermack. The pirates want to strip the station of argonite, a precious metal. What makes this routine scenario (how many times have we seen it here alone?) of pirates versus space cops interesting is the introduction of the time-space travelers. The story was written up as a novelization by the intrepid Terence Dicks in 1990.
My point in mentioning this obscure episode is that we often think of Space Opera tropes like space pirates being a thing of the 1930s with Black Barney in Buck Rogers, or in the case of comics, the 1950s. But the idea lingers on in television and eventually movies with Star Wars in 1977. Star Trek had its share but I chose the Doctor Who episode because it is even more obvious. The tropes really don’t change much over time. Borrowing from nautical adventure fiction, the spirit of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883) haunts of all these tales. Brave heroes will always triumph over evil pirates, no matter where that treasure is buried, on an island or in outer space.
Next time…Silver Age Space Pirates!
