Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine

2009-11-27T01:31:00.000-08:00

Number 637

Spacehawk and Dork help the war effort

We've had some fun this week, and we'll end the week in the same way. Spacehawk was Basil Wolverton's creation, who started his run in Target Comics #5 as a strictly off-this-world spaceman who fought Wolverton-style grotesque aliens. As World War II began Wolverton's editors told him to bring Spacehawk to Earth so he could fight our enemies. Wolverton is said to have protested this change, and in retrospect he was right. Spacehawk didn't last long after that.

However, even after the theme of Spacehawk was changed there were still memorable stories in the Spacehawk canon because they're by Basil Wolverton, who never drew an uninteresting comic in his life. He was famous for his funny dialogue and funny names, and for an alien name "Dork" seems great. In 1942 when Basil drew this he was probably thinking of a good, punchy name, not realizing he would be making us laugh almost 70 years later for reasons he couldn't anticipate.

From Target Comics Volume 3 Number 1, March 1942:

Make sure you come back on Sunday for the beginning of a special Jungle Girl week. We're kicking off with a Sheena story, and will follow each day for six days with beautiful jungle babes.

2009-11-26T02:06:00.000-08:00

Number 636

Pappy's Fourth Annual Thanksgiving Turkey Awards

Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. I am thankful for all of Pappy's readers.

Today is Thanksgiving Day, time for Pappy's annual Thanksgiving Turkey Awards. It's
the one day a year I get to pick the dumbest story I've found all year and present it to Pappy's readers. It's all my subjective judgment. You don't get to vote.

This year I've chosen "Million-Year Monster," which originally appeared in Forbidden Worlds #14 in 1953. I've scanned it from its appearance in a black-and-white magazine, Shock, volume 1 number 3, from 1969. Here's the cover of Forbidden Worlds by artist Ken Bald, where the story was so highly thought of it got the pole position. Note the red dinosaur with a man's face, note the Shemp Howard hairstyle. Note the atom bomb cloud surrounding the monster and a lone soldier shooting.

Inside note that the Million-Year Monster can speak, but what it mostly says is, "Me want Jill!" Words alone cannot describe this story. You just have to read it. The Grand Comics Database says the artists are Paul Gattuso? (? means they aren't sure) and Dick Beck.

"The Million-Year Monster," our award winner for 2009, earns four turkeys.

Previous award winners are:

2006: "The Flat Man"
2007: "The Day the World Died"
2008: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen in "The Bride of Jungle Jimmy"

2009-11-25T01:57:00.000-08:00

Number 635

O. U. Kidd!

I considered running this strip in September on Talk Like A Pirate Day. It's by Al Hartley; a prime example of his pre-Archie days and his ability to draw busty woman. Hey, talk about your treasure chests...

"Captain O. U. Kidd" is from an Atlas Comics Mad imitation, Wild #1, 1954. We've shown two other Hartley satires from Atlas' sister publication, both of them featuring buxom girls. You can go here, and then you can go here for those tales.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the fourth annual Pappy's Thanksgiving Turkey Award for the dumbest story I've found this year.

2009-11-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

Number 634

Our bud, Pud

These Fleer Dubble Bubble ads are taken from DC and Fawcett Comics of the early 1950s, circa 1951-54. They're drawn by Ray Thompson, an oldtime cartoonist who went into advertising.

Pud, who looks like Tubby Tompkins' first cousin, and his gang, are featured in these Sunday-style strips. They (of course) prominently display the bubble gum product the kids are selling. What I remember about Dubble Bubble was if it wasn't fresh it was a tiny pink brick which could break your teeth. You worked it in your mouth to get it softened sufficiently to chew. The flavor didn't last very long, and was usually gone by the time you could make a bubble.

Pud and his gang hung around places like haunted houses.

They promoted international goodwill by helping a boy who didn't speak their language. And, of course, with Dubble Bubble gum.

Pud was a hero. He single-handedly foiled robberies, just by using gum! Pud's gang could be a little kinky, playing pirates and bondage. Pud saved his sister, tied up by his friends. Heh heh...it's all in fun, isn't it, Pud? No need to get hostile. Have another chaw of tiny pink bricks.

Pud gave out really bad advice. Kids, listen to Pappy, not to Pud: Bears in the wild are not tame. Every year there are campers who get mauled by bears. Do not mess with bears.

Pud and his gang visited the zoo and despite the "Do not feed the animals" signs they give a chimp some gum. Some fun!

The Dubble Bubble kids went to exotic locales, including the frozen north...

...and the land of the headhunters. Hope they got away before the flavor of the Dubble Bubble disappeared and the headheader got interested again in their heads. Where were their damn parents?

They showed up in India, where they met a snake charmer:

Pud and his friends didn't practice safety when playing. Once again kids, listen to Pappy. Do not shoot arrows in the direction of your friends.

Finally, the Pud Posse were able to defy the law of gravity with bubble gum.

The ads were so well known they were the target of satire in Mad #21, drawn by Will Elder.

Thompson also did the campaign for White Cloverine Brand Salve, another advertiser ubiquitous in comics. The history of the Wilson Chemical Company, which produced the salve, is interesting in itself.

It's Thanksgiving Week. Even with travel and get-togethers I'd like you to stop in on Thursday, November 26. I'm not going anywhere. I have Pappy's annual Turkey Award, given to the dumbest Golden Age story I've read this year.

2009-11-22T02:55:00.000-08:00

Number 633

Stormy Weather is "just Fine..."

On October 30 I showed you a Spirit story by Will Eisner. This story, drawn by Lou Fine and probably written by author Manly Wade Wellman, is from an underappreciated era of the Spirit, from the World War II years when creator Will Eisner was in the armed services.

This Spirit story doesn't have the cinematic flair that Eisner brought to the strip, the film noir elements from the postwar period, but it's a well drawn story, nevertheless. All of the non-Eisner stories, I believe, have been reprinted in The Spirit Archives, but I don't own any of those books. I got this from The Spirit #3, 1945.

Hedging his bets that Eisner might not come back alive from the war, publisher Everett "Busy" Arnold had the character Midnight, visually a Spirit-clone, appearing in Smash Comics. How Eisner tolerated such an abuse, a blatant infringement on the Spirit, is beyond me. But Busy was his partner on the Spirit, so it was probably just a business decision. Early on, after the initial appearance of Superman, Victor Fox hired Eisner to make Wonder Man as much like Superman as possible, and Fox lost a lawsuit from Superman's publisher. Eisner knew about plagiarism.

The non-Eisner Spirit looks more to me like Midnight than Eisner's Spirit, but there was a time when they co-existed.

2009-11-20T00:41:00.000-08:00

Number 632

Billy Dollar

This is the second World War II-era strip I've posted with a theme of buying U.S. War Bonds. The first is here. Someone at the U.S. Department of Propaganda probably approached comic book publishers and asked them to encourage the kiddies to spend their money on savings stamps or bonds.

After you read this story by Walt Kelly from Our Gang Comics #6, 1943, I'll tell you something about War Bonds.

OK, back again, are we. Here's what I just read from the Associated Press on Sunday, October 25, 2009: War Bonds matured after 40 years. By the 1980s, when the 40 years were up, many bonds had been lost, destroyed, forgotten, the owner had died, were sitting unclaimed in safety deposit boxes or at the bottom of landfills. The U.S. government made no announcements, they made no effort to inform or find original owners of these bonds, so according to a lawsuit filed by several states, $16.7 billion is owed by the federal government as unclaimed property on unredeemed bonds. The states figure they are owed the money. Huh. Well, I guess they can try to get it.

In the 1940s and 1950s there was always a push to get kids to buy savings stamps every week. I never bought in. I guess I'm just not very patriotic, or I didn't want to wait 40 years to get my money out. (Too bad. The forty year maturation period would have been up for me years ago and I could've cashed in!)

During World War II even Bugs Bunny got into the act.

2009-11-18T01:29:00.000-08:00

Number 631

Toni Gayle and Big Bertha get down

What have we got in this story from Guns Against Gangsters Volume 2 Number 1, 1949? We've got art by L.B. Cole, we've got model Toni Gayle with her Bettie Page hairdo and sexy high heels, and we've got Big Bertha and Toni in a chick fight!

I don't know what else you guys want, and it's all for free, courtesy of Pappy's Prurient Interest Blogzine.

More about Toni here and here.

2009-11-16T01:56:00.000-08:00

Number 630

Comics McCormick and Marvel Maid

From Fat and Slat #2, 1947, here's another Comics McCormick short, featuring sexy Marvel Maid. M.M. looks, facially at least, to be patterned on Wonder Woman, whose adventures were published by Max Gaines. (See yesterday's Pappy posting.) At the time of this issue of Fat and Slat Gaines had sold his interest in that publishing company and was publishing the EC Comics line, which included educational and entertainment comics for young readers, like Fat and Slat.

Ed Wheelan, who created Fat and Slat, also created Comics* McCormick. In the 1920s he created the daily comic strip Minute Movies, a double-tiered comic strip with sprocket holes like strips of movie film. Wheelan never changed his art style and his art seems quaint, even for those longago days of 1947. I posted the first Comics McCormick strip here and an earlier Ed Wheelan story here.

*I refuse to do like Wheelan and use quotation marks around nicknames. It's old-fashioned and unnecessary. And it's irritating; almost as irritating as an asterisk leading to a footnote.

2009-11-15T02:23:00.000-08:00

Number 629

Guilty pleasure

The original Wonder Woman is a real guilty pleasure for me. I like it for the very reasons others probably hate it. It was one of a kind. No one could imitate this strip and its grotesque artwork by Harry G. Peter. (Max Gaines, the original WW publisher, tried it with the character Moon Girl, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, without much success.) Wonder Woman and her friends and enemies inhabit a bizarre universe. The closest I can come to it is Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, a strip which also existed in its own grotesque reality. Both the early writing on Wonder Woman by William Moulton Marston and the art by H. G. Peter, who outlived Marston, are eccentric enough that even if you hate it, you've got to call Wonder Woman a unique comic.

This story was originally to be published in Sensation Comics, but didn't see print until 1974 with its appearance in The Amazing World Of DC Comics #2. Marston, under his pen-name, Charles Moulton, isn't credited. Marston died in 1947 and I believe both editing and writing chores were taken over then by Robert Kanigher.

2009-11-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

Number 628

Bubbles in the brain

Here's some more high-larity from the gang at the Sangor shop, where issues of Giggle, Ha Ha and Coo Coo Comics were produced.

Animator Hubie Karp wrote this funny story which comes from Coo Coo Comics #39. "Bubbles in the brain"; I love it. I wish I could do what Colonel Punchy Penguin does. Sometimes you've just gotta unscrew your lid and let out those bubbles.

My appreciation to Dave Miller, who scanned this story for us. Thank you, Dave.

2009-11-11T02:09:00.000-08:00

Number 627

South Seas Girl

I can't resist another jungle goddess, this time drawn by Matt Baker.

Alani was the South Seas Girl, not proprietress of some African jungle domain, so that made her somewhat unique. Maybe she was a response to sarong-wearing Dorothy Lamour's movie popularity. Alani normally appeared in Seven Seas Comics, a rip-roaring postwar comic. This particular printing was from an unusual place, Tales of Voodoo Vol. 2 Number 3, 1969, published by the bad boys at Eerie Publications. Besides the presence of a guillotine I presume retitling it "The Bloody Ax" and painting some blood onto the artwork qualifies it as a horror comic.

2009-11-09T02:05:00.000-08:00

Number 626

This song's a killer!

"Record of Doom" from DC's Tales of the Unexpected #2, 1956, reminds me of the backwards masking scandal of a couple decades ago. You remember when recording artists were accused of sending hidden messages in their songs, backwards, subconsciously influencing their listeners. I couldn't understand what they were saying consciously, much less subconsciously.

The story is drawn by Bill Ely, a longtime comic book journeyman who came into the industry in the 1930s. For DC Comics he later drew Rip Hunter, Time Master.

The suicide theme of the story seems morbid for a Comics Code-approved story, especially so soon after the Code was adopted. (However, in the pre-Code days the guilty party would have done his own killing.) Also, the cops in this story are pretty dumb. They don't notice until several people have taken the plunge that the suicide notes are all in the same comic book lettering. It makes me think of Jack Webb's Dragnet. In my head I replaced the comic book cops with Frank Smith and Joe Friday. Panel 5 and 6, page 5:. "Look at this letter "O", Frank. Notice the break in it on every single note?" "What are you getting at, Joe?" "They were all written by one man."

Dramatic Dragnet theme music rises: DOMM-DA-DOMM DOMM!

2009-11-08T02:49:00.000-08:00

Number 625

The comic book civics lesson

If a United States senator is having a tough time getting his bill passed through the regular American lawmaking process he can always resort to what the villains in "Forged Faces" did in Uncle Sam Quarterly #1, Autumn 1941. Just replace the senators and congressmen--even the President--with lookalikes.

In this comic book civics lesson from the Will Eisner crew the Bill of Rights can be changed by mere votes, instead of a Constitutional amendment. Tsk tsk. It's a good thing it's not that easy to change the Constitution or those rights would've been gone years ago.

Despite its silliness I like this story. I'm not sure that Uncle Sam, an enduring American symbol, was a good comic book character. Maybe it's because he was already a symbol before Eisner and Co. got ahold of him. He's still a symbol, and although he was revived by DC with a bunch of other Quality Comics heroes in the 1970s he didn't last past the end of the war in his own title (which became Blackhawk), or his lead spot in National Comics.

According to the Grand Comics Database Eisner did the splash page and may have written the story, and Dan Zolnerowich pencilled pages 2-16. The inker is unknown.

2009-11-06T00:40:00.000-08:00

Number 624

Edgar Allan Ditko

Hear that scratching? It's the sound of fingernails feebly trying to get out of a casket with six feet of earth on top of it. Yes, it's the old Premature Burial plot by Poe, reworked as a nice little 6-pager by Steve Ditko from Black Magic Volume 4 Number 4 (whole number 28), Jan.-Feb. 1954.

Yes, I know that Halloween was last week, but I still have plenty of stale Tootsie Rolls left in my trick or treat bowl. You can come on over if you don't mind making your way through the razor wire strung across my front yard. I tried to discourage the kiddies, you see...and one of these days I've got to go out into the yard and retrieve the two who couldn't be deterred.

2009-11-04T02:04:00.000-08:00

Number 623

Fast girl, slow boys

Bill Ward drew this story, a "pulsating tale" as it claims on the cover. Got me pulsating, all righty. As usual, Ward's girls are some of the sexiest to ever appear in comics. Tess, in "They Said I Was Too Fast!" is a Torchy-clone, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Love was about the most popular genre of comics at the time Campus Loves #2 was published in late 1949 by Quality. They were supposedly bought by girls, but I wouldn't doubt that a lot of boys--and men--read these things, too. Especially when they saw Bill Ward's gorgeous leading lady. Love comics were written and drawn for young women by older men, and seemed to follow some male-female prejudices. The girl who teases isn't well-liked by guys, and Tess fits that description. Man, how she worked over poor "corn-fed" Elmer..."Hey, Elmer, is that a corncob in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Still, love triumphs in the end, doesn't it? That's why it's a comic book and not real life.

2009-11-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

Number 622

Cave Girl and the Mau Mau

The Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, Africa, between 1952-1960, was a real event and atrocities were committed both by insurgents and the British who were colonizing Kenya at the time. It led to Kenyan independence, but not before a lot of people were killed.

This Wikipedia entry has an overview of the situation.

Cave Girl (another blonde jungle girl! See the list at the bottom of this posting for other comic book jungle gals) was a character from Magazine Enterprises, drawn by Bob Powell and his assistants. This story is from Cave Girl #13, 1954. Even with all of the action going on in this story, Cave Girl manages to keep the flower in her hair. It switches sides from panel to panel, but stays in her hair.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by e-mail by Bashir Faruqui, a reader who wondered if I'd ever seen a picture of Bob Powell. Here's a picture of Powell and his assistants in the late 1940s, around the time he was doing The Shadow Comics for Street and Smith. Powell is wearing an eyeshade and glasses.

I scanned the photo from the book, Six Men of Evil and The Devil Monsters, two Shadow pulp novels reprinted by Nostalgia Ventures in 2007. The picture of the Powell shop is from the chapter by Anthony Tollin on Shadow Comics.

Note: Chuck Wells' Comic Book Catacombs showed us a Cave Girl story here.

Also, Hairy Green Eyeball posted four of Powell's horror stories from Harvey Comics (including one provided by yours truly) here.

**********

Submitted by Zu-Go 9/16/09

Here is my list of female jungle characters along with the main titles that they appeared in. No doubt the list is incomplete. But it is a pretty good start for anyone who is interested.

Alani (aka South Sea Girl) -- Seven Seas Comics and others
Ann (the mate of Ka'a'nga) -- Jungle Comics, Ka'a'nga Jungle King, and others
Blanda -- Miracle Comics
Camilla -- Jungle Comics and others
Cave Girl -- Thun'da, Cave Girl, and others
Dorothy Lamour -- Dorothy Lamour Jungle Princess
Fana -- Fana the Jungle Girl
Fantomah -- Jungle Comics and Ka'a'nga Jungle King
Gwenna -- Jo-Jo
Jana -- Jungle Girl
Jann -- Jann of the Jungle
Jessie -- Ka'a'nga Jungle King
Juanda -- Jo-Jo
Judy -- Exciting Comics and others
Jun-Gal -- Blazing Comics
Jungle Lil -- Jungle Lil and others
Kara -- Exciting Comics and Fighting Yank
Kazanda -- Rangers Comics
Leopard Girl -- Jungle Action
Lorn -- Tragg and the Sky Gods
Lorna -- Lorna the Jungle Queen, Lorna the Jungle Girl, and others
Lura (mate of Jungle Jo) -- Jungle Jo and others
Marga -- Science Comics and Weird Comics
Nimba -- Safari Cary in Dagar Desert Hawk comics from Fox
Numa -- Rulah Jungle Goddess
Nyoka -- Jungle Girl, Master Comics, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, and others
Pha -- Thun'da and others
Phara -- Zegra Jungle Empress
Princess Pantha -- Thrilling Comics
Raa -- Ki-gorr the Killer
Ranee -- Jungle Jim
Rima -- Rima the Jungle Girl
Rulah -- All Top Comics, Rulah Jungle Goddess, Zoot Comic, and others
Saari -- Saari
Safari Cary -- Dagar Desert Hawk
Shanna -- various Ka-Zar titles, Shanna the She-Devil, and others
Sheena -- Jumbo Comics, Sheena Queen of the Jungle, and others
Shirl -- Jungle Girls
Taanda (aka Tarinda) -- White Princess of the Jungle and others
Taj -- Jungle Comics
Tanee (mate of Jo-Jo) -- All Top Comics, Jo-Jo, and others
Tangi -- Dagar Desert Hawk and others
Tara -- Tara of the Dark Continent, Jungle Girls, FemForce, and others
Taranga -- Jungle Adventures
Tegra (later called Zegra) -- Tegra
Tiger Girl -- Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, and others
Tiger Woman -- Tiger Woman
Tigra -- Tigra
Tygra -- Startling Comics
Wana -- Zago
Zara -- Mystic Comics
Zegra (originally called Tegra) -- Zegra and others
Zenta (mate of Bantor) -- Terrors of the Jungle

Pappy here. Once again, thanks for the list! If anyone can add to it please do.

2009-11-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

Number 621

The Last Whiz

Whiz Comics, which had been a top seller for Fawcett Comics from its first appearance in 1940, went out with a whimper, not a bang--not even a Whizbang*--in 1953. After more than a decade, a protracted lawsuit from DC Comics claiming Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman, and low sales in the comic book industry in general, Fawcett got out of the comic book business. Whiz Comics #155, with its lead Captain Marvel story drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, was the last issue.

I thought back to how many comics I followed that suddenly just didn't appear anymore. There was no way a kid had knowledge of what was canceled, so I would check the stands, hoping there would be another issue. Back in 1953 there were many Captain Marvel/Marvel Family/Fawcett Comics fans who wondered what happened. They had to wait until DC Comics licensed the Fawcett characters and started republishing them in 1974. Unlike the quiet, unannounced way the Marvel Family of comics went out, they were revived with a lot of advance publicity from DC. Shazam! #1 was a collector event, ensuring a sell out.

*Captain Billy's Whizbang, a jokebook started after World War I by William "Captain Billy" Fawcett, was the foundation of the Fawcett Publishing Company.

2009-10-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

Number 620

Halloween tales of sex and death

It's a special Halloween edition of Pappy's today, featuring two of my favorite all-time subjects, sex, as in illicit and otherwise not normal, and death, as in dead people up and walking around, looking for that aforementioned sex.

What better way to remember deceased loved ones than to have them coming in the door at midnight stinking of decomposition, rotting flesh dripping from their bones, maggots crawling from their eyesockets, looking for a little lovin'! Works for me!

First up is a tender tale of unrequited love from Twisted Tales #1, written by Bruce Jones and drawn by the incredible Alfredo Alcala. Then a story of a love worth waiting for, even after death! It's drawn by Good ol' Ghastly Graham Ingels from Vault of Horror #19. The original art scans are taken from the Heritage Auctions site.

Bonus!

From Creepy #3, a 1965 Joe Orlando-drawn tale of morbid revenge that fits into our theme. This seems like Horror Comics 101: husband killed by wife and her lover, then returns from grave. It's written by Arthur Porges, an author who wrote hundreds of stories over the years that appeared in mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock's, etc. He was very prolific. So what was he doing writing a pseudo-EC Comics story for Creepy, when Archie Goodwin is credited for all other stories in the magazine? Damned if I know!

I believe it was Porges' only story for Creepy. I wonder why he named the cuckolded husband Arthur, after himself...?

2009-10-30T02:13:00.000-07:00

Number 619

The Spirit of horror comics

Halloween is tomorrow. Usually Will Eisner did a Halloween story with the Spirit every year, but while this 1950 Spirit episode isn't a Halloween story, per se, it is about a guy drawing a horror comic and the Spirit shows up in the last couple of panels. That's close enough for Pappy's.

I scanned it from a British fanzine, Comic Media #10, published in 1973.

(I wonder if this story with its onomatopoeia influenced Harvey Kurtzman to write the Wally Wood story, "Sound Effects," in Mad #20?)

Tomorrow I come back with a special Saturday posting, three horror stories for Halloween!

2009-10-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Number 618

Babe and the Magic Lamp

Boody, a book of Boody Rogers' comic book stories, compiled by Craig Yoe and published by Fantagraphics, will give you an outstanding look at the entertainment Boody Rogers produced during his career in comics in the late 1940s.

There are examples from Sparky Watts, Babe, and a story from Dudley. At least a couple of the stories have been seen here. All the stories Craig has chosen are good. It's a book I highly recommend.

Here's a story from Babe, Darling of the Hills #10, 1950. It's full of the same inventiveness, manic energy and fine cartooning we expect from Rogers. If you want other stories of Boody's buxom beauty, or any of the other Rogers stories we've shown, type Boody Rogers into the search engine in the upper left corner.

2009-10-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

Number 617

As the twig is Bentz, so grows the tree

Dear Editor, Gangsters Can't Win,

All my life I wanted to be a master criminal. I didn't want to be a chump and work. I wanted to steal jewels and money, live the high life, have expensive cars and fast women...or is that expensive women and fast cars? Anyway, that was the type of life I wanted to lead. No one could dissuade me from my goal to someday steal a million dollars and live the life of a king.

Then a friend gave me a copy of your Gangsters Can't Win number two and told me in no uncertain terms, "This could be you!" I have been forced to see the error of my ways. Reading the story of Eddie Bentz, his capture and punishment, has made me take a hard look at myself and realize that my dream of criminal glory was wrong, so wrong.

I owe it all to Gangsters Can't Win because now I know that...err, well, gangsters can't win! Crime does not pay! (Oops, sorry, am I plugging your competition?) I am a better person today because I read the story of Eddie Bentz, and now I think a life of crime is a dead-end road full of potholes and you fall into one of those potholes and it's so deep you can't get out and you cry and scream for your mommy and she won't come because you're a wicked, wicked boy who's gonna end up in prison, you mark my words, and she's got the whole damn family against you and...whew. Well, I think you get the picture.

I think all boys and girls should have to read Gangsters Can't Win, even if some sexy mean girl wearing knee-high spike-heeled leather boots with spurs has to stand over them with a whip and make them read it because it's for their own good.

Your friend and reader for life,

Pappy

2009-10-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

Number 616

Buscema @ ACG

I don't need to tell anyone about John Buscema. I hope not, anyway. He was one of the best pencillers in the business for many years, drawing thousands of pages for Marvel Comics in the 1960s and '70s.

These are two superbly illustrated 1959 stories by John Buscema for ACG's Adventures Into the Unknown numbers 108 and 110.

Buscema died at age 74 in 2002.

2009-10-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

Number 615

The birth after death stories

In May of this year Karswell of The Horrors Of It All showed us a story from a 1953 issue of Black Magic about the circumstances of the birth of Sir Walter Scott. I'll link you to it after you've read the version of the story from Harvey Comics' Ripley's Believe It Or Not #4, 1954.

According to the story behind the story, writer Jack Oleck borrowed from himself, penning both the Black Magic and Ripley's stories. It happens...a guy is on a tight deadline, he's straining for ideas, and why not use this one? After all, the guys who publish and edit Harvey Comics didn't look at Prize Comics' products...but the readers did.

Now check out the Simon and Kirby version of this story from The Horrors Of It All.

2009-10-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Number 614

Two tough broads

In his famous screed, Seduction of the Innocent, Dr. Fredric Wertham claimed that all comic books were crime comics. That's true of both of these stories. "Jailbird's Romance" is from My Romantic Adventures #49, 1954, and is disguised as a love comic.

There's no disguising "Killers on the Loose! Francine O'Connor, the Empress of Crime," which is from a 1952 Avon crime comic, Prison Break #3.

Ogden Whitney's "Jailbird's Romance" tells of a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who falls into crime. She goes to prison, gets out, falls in love, and then in defiance of the usual love comics ending she loses the guy she loves and goes back to prison. In my book that makes it a crime comic, not a love comic. Whitney used Craftint* board for his artwork.

The Grand Comics Database gives credit to artist Tex Blaisdell for the "Empress of Crime." He drew some good girl fight panels. The women in these stories are tough. They need to kick ass and do. They need to survive in a world of men. And they do.

*Craftint, now known as Grafix, has been discontinued. See the story here.

2009-10-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Number 613

Star Pirate

I love Star Pirate, a regular series from Planet Comics, drawn by Murphy Anderson.

I first saw Anderson's work in the late '50s in DC's Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures. I love his clean artwork, his well drawn characters, muscular guys, beautiful girls. Murphy was young, in his late teens and early twenties, when he drew episodes of Star Pirate. But he was thoroughly professional, as he continued to be throughout his career.

Many times I've written of the journeymen in comics, the guys who went in and slogged it out for low page rates and gave it the best they could, month after month, year after year. Anderson drew syndicated strips (most notably stints on Buck Rogers). He drew many comic books, and though he could draw anything, I remember him best for science fiction and super-heroes. Star Pirate is in the best Planet Comics tradition: sexy girls, action heroes, rocket ships and ray guns. It's obvious from looking at this that he had a lot of fun doing it.

This Star Pirate episode is from Planet Comics #46, January 1947. I showed another in Pappy's #409.

Today is my brother's 59th birthday. Happy birthday, and relax, Robbie, baby...compared to me you're still a kid.