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Fox Function Syndicate writer Victor Fox had excessive hopes for Dick Briefer‘s Rex Dexter of Mars from early on. A number of months after his debut in Thriller Males Comics #1, Rex was a part of Fox’s push through the Mitchell J. Hamilburg Company to get Fox properties into movie, radio, merchandise, and syndicated newspaper strips. Whereas most of that did not occur for Rex or a lot of the remainder of the Fox Function line for that matter, he did briefly get a newspaper day by day and Sunday by Briefer as properly. Briefer’s strategy to this photo voltaic system-spanning saga may be in comparison with his extra well-known Frankenstein comedian guide work: usually sudden, sometimes superb, and all the time very bizarre. An usually ignored Fox comedian guide, there is a Rex Dexter of Mars #1 (Fox Options Syndicate, 1940) Situation: GD+ up for public sale within the 2022 June 19-20 Sunday & Monday Comedian Books Choose Public sale #122225 at Heritage Auctions.
Whereas it is usually mentioned that Rex Dexter attracts its inspiration from Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, there’s most likely some extra particular inspirations that may be pointed to right here. Given how carefully Victor Fox was watching DC Comics titles like Motion Comics and Detective Comics for inspiration, it is not unlikely inspiration was taken from All-American Comedians for this one. That title was working each Extremely-Man and Journey within the Unknown within the early going. Extremely-Man was itself impressed by Buck Rogers with the addition of a multi-generational household facet and connections to the U.S. president and authorities that are additionally current in Rex Dexter of Mars. Journey within the Unknown is a proto-Challengers of the Unknown saga which was tailored for comics by its creator Carl H. Claudy from tales initially showing within the journal The American Boy 1931-1939 (elements of which have been extra famously collected into the Journey within the Unknown guide collection). The primary story arc of Journey within the Unknown starting in All-American Comics #1, entails touring to Mars and returning with bizarre expertise, which additionally appears to tell Rex. The identify of that first arc in All-American Comics, Thriller Males of Mars, additionally appears on-point for uplifting a Mars-themed character that debuted in Thriller Males Comics.
Regardless of the inspiration, Briefer took it in some wild instructions of his personal, as he did with Frankenstein. Whereas this concern was a part of the 1940 Fox wave of breaking out his anthology characters into their very own titles, this one did not final previous one concern — and curiously, obtained a lot much less inside home advert advertising assist than the others. It has been a curious and underappreciated a part of Fox historical past ever since, there is a Rex Dexter of Mars #1 (Fox Options Syndicate, 1940) Situation: GD+ up for public sale within the 2022 June 19-20 Sunday & Monday Comedian Books Choose Public sale #122225 at Heritage Auctions.
Rex Dexter of Mars #1 (Fox Options Syndicate, 1940) Situation: GD+. Gerber’s Picture-Journal Information to Comedian Books charges this concern a “7”, or “scarce”. Rex Dexter, Patty O’Day, and Zanzibar appearances. This was the one concern of the title. Dick Briefer cowl Briefer and George Tuska artwork. Tape on exterior and inside cowl. Overstreet 2021 GD 2.0 worth = $271.
