Kenton of the Star Patrol: A review of Stories: Vampires of the Void, and Serein's of Space

In this episode of the 1950s Science Fiction Podcast, the host reviews two early 1950s pre-code comic stories featuring Wilson Keaton from "Star Patrol" in "Strange Worlds." In “Vampires of the Void,” Keaton battles Queen Misery, who uses humans to power her planet’s generators. In “Sirens of Space,” Keaton confronts a queen who hypnotizes and enslaves space liner passengers with her voice. Both stories highlight classic pulp sci-fi action, inventive villains, and pre-code comic edginess, while the host reflects on the era’s storytelling and ethical themes.

Hello, and welcome to this mini-cast of the 1950s Science Fiction Podcast. Today, we will follow up on a previous episode discussing a pre-code comic from the early 1950s, **Keyton of the Star Patrol**. Keyton is a Buck Rogers-style character assigned to tough cases throughout the known universe. As an officer of the Star Patrol, he enforces law and order while helping those in need. The series was published in the comic book **Strange Worlds** during the early 1950s. For a more in-depth perspective, be sure to listen to Season 2, Episode 6 of our podcast.

In today's podcast, I will review the next two stories in the **Keyton Complete** series, which I used as source material for the previous episode. First, I will discuss **Vampires of the Void**, published in **Strange Worlds** Number Four. Then, I will cover the story **Sirens of Space** from issue number Five.

Directly for the first comic story, Vampires of the Void.

This story starts on the planet Demb and, within the chief city, Plamora; the ruler is discussing a crisis. The ruler is a female named Myraz, and she is an evil queen. She tells her minions that their generators can't run on animals and that humans must be used for that purpose. The generators use the life force of living beings as their power source and the planet's supply is dwindling. Myraz conducts a meeting of the planet's council and it is decided to obtain new supplies from Earth. She sends her soldiers to the solar system to attack Earth.

One by one, Earth's defenses fall, leaving the solar systems defenseless. Onboard the spaceships, the crew experiences sleep paralysis due to the aliens' weapons. The aliens plan to use the captured crew for energy in their planet's generators. While the aliens seize control of the ships, Kenton hears reports over the radio and decides to investigate. He discovers the defense ships on the planet but finds no sign of the crew. Kenton is then discovered by the aliens and captured, although he puts up a fierce fight. He is taken to Plamora. One by one, Earth's defenses fall, leaving the solar systems defenseless. Onboard the spaceships, the crew experiences sleep paralysis due to the aliens' weapons. The aliens plan to use the captured crew for energy in their planet's generators. While the aliens seize control of the ships, Kenton hears reports over the radio and decides to investigate. He discovers the defense ships on the planet but finds no sign of the crew. Kenton is then discovered by the aliens and captured, although he puts up a fierce fight. He is taken to Plamora.

Once on Plamora, Kenton is brought before the Queen, who explains her plan. She reveals that her subjects will use every Earthman to power their machines that drain the life force from the victims. When Kenton witnesses a victim perish within one of these machines, he becomes enraged and vows revenge. However, he is quickly repelled from escaping and must devise a new strategy to defeat the evil Queen.

Kenton convinces the queen that he truly wants to help her and her people in their quest, and she finds him appealing. She decides to spar with him and assigns him tasks in their laboratory. However, they do not fully trust him, so he is locked inside. While working there, Kenton discovers a UV light labeled as dangerous. He realizes that this device could be weaponized and decides to modify it. When the queen returns with her guards, and sets Keton free from the lab. Kenton tells the queen he has a gift for her. Before her guards could react, Kenton managed to destroy the life force machines and vowed to destroy her and her people. The queen's guards try to subdue him; however, he deploys the UV light weapon and vaporizes the guards and the queen, who is the last to go. In the aftermath, Kenton vows to be vigilant against any enemies of this kind.

This episode of the series is excellent. It is filled with mystery and action, which is typical of most of Kenton's adventures. However, I am concerned about how he is allowed to eliminate all his enemies without regard for ethical considerations. I suppose this plot device was a characteristic of pre-Code comics

Now on to the next story, The Sirens of Space.

In this story, Kenton once again deals with another evil female queen. This time, it is something right out of Greek mythology. The Sirnes of Space appeared in issue number 5 of the Strange Worlds comics.

The episode begins with a luxury space liner traveling through a remote region of outer space. As it moves along, small spaceships crewed by women approach, starting to sing strange songs to the passengers and crew. The eerie music leaves both the crew and passengers feeling unwell or highly agitated. Once their performance concludes, the mysterious women, accompanied by their queen, board the liner and take control of the ship. They proceed to rob the vessel of its money and enslave the crew.

On the passengers' deck, a female reporter contacts Kenton using a secret transmitter, prompting him to investigate. When Kenton arrives at the rocket liner, he is confronted by the Queen. He soon learns that the Queen of the Outer Space Serines has taken control of the vessel and that their songs overpower him. The evil queen explains that they use ordinary sound waves amplified many times above safe levels for humans, which creates a stunning effect on anyone who can hear it.

They capture Kenton and the Queen explains her plans. She enslaves the passengers, forcing them to work on her home world, while some are kept in suspended animation. The Queen also uses the captured spaceships to smuggle contraband to other planets. Kenton is taken to a storage room and locked up, and the temperature is lowered to prepare him for freezing.

As he looks around for a weapon to use against the Queen and her guards, he unexpectedly finds some lactic acid lying around and decides to contaminate the water supply. After executing his plan, he manages to escape in his rocket ship but chooses to visit the Queen first.

During this visit, he discovers that the serenaders can use their voices but are otherwise powerless. With this newfound knowledge, Kenton is able to arrest the Queen and her crew, freeing the prisoners in the process.

This story was just as good as the previous one. It seems that many stories follow a similar formula. I noticed some pre-code elements in this story, such as a shower scene in one panel and a mention of the word "narcotic" in another. The shower panel featured certain parts of the female character covered, but it was still intended to be suggestive. The drug reference relates to illegal drug use.

Well, that is all for now. I hope you have enjoyed listening to this episode of the show. I will look for a new topic for the next podcast soon. In the meantime, follow me on social media, Instagram @ Sutterbug1681, X @EdwardGerman3, besure to subscribe to my blog at the 1950ssciencefictionpodcast.blog