Weird War Tales #31: "Doomsday!"

Download Weird War Tales #31





I must have over 50 issues of Weird War Tales boxed and bagged in my storage shed out in my backyard, which I picked up one at a time—no subscriptions! It was thanks to offbeat tales like "Doomsday" that kept me coming back for more. In retrospect, I realize that "Doomsday" is hardly an original story idea, but I thought it was downright mind boggling back when I was only 12. David V. Reed (writing as Coram Nobis) turned in a superb script and Alex Niño executed the artwork flawlessly. This one is highly recommended.

Alex Niño was among the vanguard of Philippine comics artists — including Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, and Gerry Talaoc — recruited for American comic books by DC Comics editor Joe Orlando and editor-in-chief Carmine Infantino in 1971, following the success of the pioneering Tony DeZuniga. Niño's earliest U.S. comics credit is penciling and inking the nine-page story "To Die for Magda" in DC Comics' House of Mystery #204 (July 1972) written by Carl Wessler. Niño was soon contributing regularly to such other DC supernatural anthologies as companion title House of Secrets and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, Secrets of Sinister House, Weird War Tales, Weird Mystery Tales, and The Witching Hour.

Except for one story for Gold Key Comics' Mystery Comics Digest #17 (May 1974), Niño, who moved to the U.S. in 1974, drew comics exclusively for DC through the beginning of 1975. With writer-editor Robert Kanigher, Niño created DC's 19th-century Caribbean-pirate protagonist Captain Fear in Adventure Comics #425 (Dec. 1972). Niño and writer Jack Oleck created the science-fiction feature "Space Voyagers" in Rima, the Jungle Girl #1 (May 1974).


Credits

Script: David V. Reed (as Coram Nobis)
Pencils: Alex Niño
Inks: Alex Niño