Joseph Greene (writer) - Corbett Debut On TV and In Comics

Corbett Debut On TV and In Comics

On October 2, 1950, at the start of TV's third full-schedule season, drawing on the unpublished newspaper strip, and undergoing a last minute name-change, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet premiered on CBS. Eleven months later, on September 9, 1951, a newspaper strip of the same name, written by Paul S. Newman (with unknown levels of input from Greene) and illustrated by Ray Bailey (a ghost artist for Milton Caniff on the Steve Canyon strip), made its debut. Distributed by Field Enterprise Syndicate, it drew heavily on the unpublished 1949 Tom Ranger strip, itself recycled and adapted into the first TV episode.

In 1951, Greene sued Rockhill over royalty payments, ultimately being awarded a judgment over payments "for the television or radio show but not both," as well as full rights (minus royalty fees to Rockhill) to any comic book version of Tom Corbett. Greene wrote Tom Corbett, Space Ranger comics for Dell Publications between 1952 and 1954. In the same year, Grosset & Dunlap began publishing a series of Tom Corbett books, beginning with Stand by for Mars!, while the second and third seasons of Tom Corbett proceeded on ABC television, while a six-month radio show aired on ABC radio.

In 1953, with the financially successful release of the theatrical feature It Came From Outer Space, Rockhill sued Universal Pictures for using "a modified Practi-Cole Products Tom Corbett helmet" in the production. Universal settled the case for $750.