A huge fan-boy favorite from the fabulous 50s was the sci-fi/monster flick 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH. It starred William Hopper,Joan Taylor and the special effects wizardry of Ray Harryhausen. Directed by Nathan Juran with a screenplay by Bob Williams and Christopher Knopf 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH featured one of the most unforgettable creatures from 50s cinema...the Ymir. Oddly enough the name Ymir is not used at anytime in the movie. But the movie's working title was "THE GREAT YMIR FROM OUTER SPACE".
The story has a spaceship returning from an expedition to Venus and crashing into the sea releasing an alien creature. Something in Earth's atmosphere causes the creature to grow rapidly to a height of 25 ft. tall and it attacks Rome. Hopper is solid as the hero. And Joan Taylor is good as the heroine proving ,as she did in EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, that she might have been a good June Robbins in a Challengers of the Unknown movie. The true star of the movie though is Harryhausen's stop-motion animation magic. And the highlight is the battle between the creature from Venus and an elephant.
This seemed to me like the perfect movie to be adapted to the comic book page by Dell. With perhaps Gil Kane doing the artwork. Then again I can see the pre-Marvel Atlas Comics doing an adaptation as well. With art by either Ditko or Kirby. Or maybe a combination of the two. But then the Ymir would have been clad in swimming trunks!!!
(Retro comic cover by Vance Capley)
editor note* Bluewater Productions (now TidalWave) in conjunction with filmmaker Ray Harryhausen, made comic book sequels to his films, including 20 Million Miles to Earth. The sequel, 20 Million Miles More, was written by Scott Davis and illustrated by Alex Garcia.
The comic book sequels to this classic sci-fi flick were a lot of fun.Too bad there was no original movie comic.
ReplyDeleteI've just discovered your articles. They are well written. No offence to your artist but unfortunately, the artist you've chosen just doesn't cut the mustard. My friend, I implore you to seek out artist who actually worked on comics during the silver age.
ReplyDeleteThey'd probably be out of my price range.But I think you're selling Vance Capley short.He's a fine comic book artist.He does better than good work.
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