UPDATED! Countdown to Halloween 2010! Science Fiction Theater: A Twilight Zone Double Feature by Walt Simonson

Welcome to my nightmare, Groove-ophiles! It's time for another Science Fiction Theater, this time we're focusing on some early (I'm talkin' eeeaaaaaarrrrrrrlllllllyyyy) Walt Simonson from, of all places, Gold Key's Twilight Zone series. I'm pretty sure these twin tales (along with ish 55's "Musk's Daughter", which I've already posted here) are all of the stories Wondrous Walt did for Twilight Zone (if I'm wrong, I'm sure somebody'll come to Ol' Groove's rescue), so I figured we'd put 'em all in one place for posterity. They're short, sweet, and spooky, and they're here for you! From TZ #50 (April 1973) here's "Nature's Way"!


And finally, it's "The Prisoner" from TZ #54 (October 1973)!


AWESOME UPDATE! The astounding Mr. Simonson has linked to and been discussing today's post on his official Facebook page and has kindly shared more information about his three (I was right!) Twilight Zone stories for Gold Key. Ready? Let's go!

The TZ trilogy was, indeed, some of his earliest work, done over a span of 8 or 9 months--the first 8 or 9 months of Simonson's career. Walter feels his work wasn't exactly what Gold Key was into at the time, and says his good fortune to be published in TZ is due to efforts of young GK editor Frank Tedeschi (sp?). "Nature's Way" was Walter's second published work and was probably written by Gerry Boudreau.

"The Prisoner" and "Musk's Daughter" were most likely written by John (Bloodstone) Warner.

Since "Nature's Way" and "The Prisoner" were so short, Walter wasn't allowed to draw Rod Serling narrating them.

His favorite piece of the trilogy, "Musk's Daughter", (Mr. Simonson calls it "...one of the best jobs of (his) early career.") was primarily inked with technical pens as Walter was trying to emulate the inking style ("textures and period feel") of the great Howard Pyle. He was also thrilled to actually get to draw Serling in this story--complete in "fairy tale" costume.

Oh, and Gold Key was actually returning original art at that time, so Walter got the original pages for these classics back after they were printed. Now that's cool!

Thanks again to Mr. Simonson for his interest and generosity in sharing all of the above tid-bits. And a special thanks to Stephen ('Mazing Man) DeStefano for bringing this post to Mr. Simonson's attention. What an awesome day this has been, Groove-ophiles!