(1879-1957) US writer for Comics – mainly for DC Comics's All-American Comics between 1939 and 1941 – and author, active in the magazines from about 1908, where over the next few decades he published more than 1600 magazine pieces, including many short stories in various genres; he began to publish sf with "The Land of No Shadow" for American Boy in February 1931, where seventeen sf stories eventually appeared. "The Land of No Shadow" served as the basis for the third volume in the Adventures in the Unknown sequence (see below); it has not been determined how radically the magazine story was recast, though the death of one of the protagonists in the original suggests that the recasting was very thorough. Other stories needed less recasting.
In book form the series – featuring the exploits of young Alan Kane and Ted Dolliver, who grow up very suddenly into adult professionals between the third and fourth tale – comprises four volumes: The Mystery Men of Mars (November 1931-February 1932 American Boy as "The Master Minds of Mars" with John C Page; exp 1933), in which the lads travel to Mars via an Antigravity device; A Thousand Years a Minute (May 1932 American Boy as "A Million Years Ago"; exp 1933), an Apes as Human tale set in the time of the Dinosaurs, which Alan and Ted reach via Time Travel; The Land of No Shadow (February 1931 American Boy; exp rev 1933), in which a bleakly constrictive new planet, a kind of Pocket Universe accessible via the fourth Dimension, turns out to be an environment Allan and Ted can only understand through frequent horror-stricken analogies to Flatland as unseeable observers manipulate them; and The Blue Grotto Terror (October 1934 American Boy as "The X Mystery"; exp 1934), in which Alan's Discovery of an explosive new Power Source leads to the exploration of an Underground world; hints here of what seems to be a Hollow Earth are expanded into a fully Symmesian inner world in "Doom Tocsin" (December 1937-March 1938 American Boy). This last serialized novel – along with "The Infra-Red Destroyers" (February-May 1936 American Boy), about an Invasion from Venus, and "Return to Mars" (September 1939-December 1939 American Boy), which directly sequels The Mystery Men of Mars, plus some shorter tales – was published only in magazine form. Adventures in the Unknown was also serialized in All-American Comics (issues 1-18; 20-25); this version of the series was based on its earlier iterations in magazine and book form.
Claudy's tales made up probably the most vigorous and imaginative Juvenile Series up to that time; it is unfortunate that only the first four tales were revised for book publication. Versions of "The Land of No Shadow" and "The Master Minds of Mars", plus "Tongue of Beast" (May 1939 American Boy), appeared in The Year after Tomorrow (anth 1954) edited by Lester del Rey, Carl Carmer (1893-1976) and Cécile Matschat (?1895-1976); but this restricted revival did little to revive Claudy's name. [JC/JE]
see also: Boys' Papers; Children's SF.
Carl Harry Claudy
born Washington, District of Columbia: 13 January 1879
died 27 May 1957
works
- The Mystery Men of Mars (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1933) [first version appeared November 1931-February 1932 American Boy as "The Master Minds of Mars" with John C Page: Adventures in the Unknown: hb/A C Valentine]
- A Thousand Years a Minute (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1933) [first version appeared May 1932 American Boy as "A Million Years Ago": retrofitted from an independent story for series: Adventures in the Unknown: hb/A C Valentine]
- The Land of No Shadow (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1933) [first version appeared February 1931 American Boy: Adventures in the Unknown: hb/A C Valentine]
- The Blue Grotto Terror (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1934) [first version appeared October 1934 American Boy as "The X Mystery": Adventures in the Unknown: hb/A C Valentine]
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