Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine

2009-07-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 557

Bulldog Drumhead

Bulldog Drumhead was a take-off on--surprise--then-popular literary detective Bulldog Drummond. Does anyone even remember that character?

Ron Santi did the fine artwork for this strip from All-American's Funny Stuff #6, Fall, 1945. He also did the artwork on another well-drawn strip I showed you in Pappy's #212. I have no information on Santi, who seems as forgotten as Bulldog Drummond.

2009-07-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 556

A Captain named Comet

Captain Comet was introduced to readers of DC's Strange Adventures in number 9, June 1951, which means that he beat out both the Manhunter From Mars and the revived Flash as a '50s superhero. There's a good article on the details in Don Markstein's Toonopedia. The origin is in two parts, so I've included the second part from Strange Adventures #10.

The stories were written by John Broome under the name Edgar Ray Merritt, for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Cummings and A. Merritt, all fantasists of the generation before Strange Adventures. The artwork is by Carmine Infantino, and unlike his 1940's style, this is his modern style, which took him through the rest of his career as an artist. In those early days of Strange Adventures the author's names, like Edmond Hamilton, Gardner Fox, et al., were used, but never the artist's, unless he signed his name.

The artists weren't the only uncredited folks in that era at DC. Whitney Ellsworth was listed as editor, but Julius Schwartz was really the editor. Captain Comet didn't last all that long, which is probably why he never got his own book. Years later Schwartz was still at it, putting continuing characters like Adam Strange and Atomic Knights in his anthology titles. They didn't get their own books at the time but the stories still read very well, and are at least as good as characters like the Atom or Green Lantern who did have their individual books. I think Captain Comet should have had a shot at it during the '60s superhero revival.

Catch the coloring goofs on page 7 of the second part.

2009-07-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

Number 555

"That bullet bounced off my bean and bonked a bozo behind me!"

Whatever fed Basil Wolverton's fantasies must've been very potent, because his images are unforgettable. Whether he was drawing humor or horror he was equally facile. That's why today I'm showing you examples of both.

Powerhouse Pepper was an ongoing character whose stories originally appeared in 1940s' Marvel Comics, but black and white reprints popped up for years in pages of Humorama Publications cartoon books. This one is from an issue of Wheely Nuts, an obscure cartoon book from the early '70s, and maybe one of the last of the Humorama line. I can't find my copy of Wheely Nuts, but luckily I'd made a photocopy somewhere alone the way.

I also made a copy for my friend Clark, whose mind is dirty like mine. He said, "With a title like 'A Hot Squat Shot' I was expecting something a little bit different."

Here's a really paranoid story by Daniel Keyes ("Flowers for Algernon"), and drawn by Wolverton originally for Atlas' Journey Into Unknown Worlds #15 in 1953. It's one of those "nobody believes me!" stories where the people who "don't believe" the main character are in on the conspiracy.

Giant crabs. Who'd thunk it? Only Wolverton could pull this one off and he does it in such a creepy and claustrophic way. Hey, I've been there, had that...paranoia, that is...not crabs.

I scanned this sharp black and white version of "They Crawl By Night" from Dark Horse's Basil Wolverton's Gateway to Horror, published in 1988. Karswell has "They Crawl By Night," scanned from the original Atlas comic book, today at The Horrors Of It All. Crawl on over and tell 'im Pappy sent you.

2009-07-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 554

Flying Saucer from Mars!

Sixty-two years ago today, July 8, 1947, is the day the Roswell Daily Record of Roswell, New Mexico, announced a flying saucer had been found. The story was later rescinded, but the headline from that day remains famous.

So what better day, 62 years later, to show you a flying saucer story? This is "Menace from Mars," from Adventures Into the Unknown #13, 1950. According to the Grand Comics Database it's drawn by Charles Sultan.

Watch the skies!

2009-07-06T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 553

Where Lorna goes trouble follows...

Man, Lorna the Jungle Girl's bf, Greg, is really a jerk! He's always putting her down and the problem is she lets him. You'd think with her skills, i.e., killing animals, reptiles, dangerous-type critters, he'd be grateful. But no, he just walks through the jungle like he's taking a walk to the corner 7-Eleven. No danger of being attacked by crocodiles or lions because he's got Überbabe to take care of his sorry male chauvinist ass. What I'd like to see sometime is for Lorna to jump into the hammock, put her shapely legs up and say, "Greg, I'm gonna take a nap. Why don't you go out and do the jungle thing today." I'll bet he'd be crawling on all fours to get her back taking care of him. I mean, he doesn't appreciate what he's got. If I had a long-legged, bazoomy blond Amazon like Lorna looking out for me I'd be happy. Very, very happy.

From Lorna the Jungle Girl #7, 1954. Story by Don Rico, art by Werner Roth.

2009-07-05T03:01:00.001-07:00

Number 552

Dress me in a flag and salute me!

Yesterday was the 4th of July, so I thought I'd show a patriotic comic strip today. It's courtesy of my MLJ buddy, Nix, who is generous with his scans.

The Shield first appeared in Pep Comics #1, January 1940, but this later appearance, in Shield-Wizard Comics #1, is a more detailed story of his origin. References are made to the Black Tom explosion, which killed the Shield's dad. Ninety-three years after it happened it's an event nearly forgotten. In 1916 German agents blew up a munitions dump on Black Tom Island outside New York. Although not then at war with the U.S., the Germans blew it up to prevent it being the ammo supply to American allies. Officially sabotage, not a terrorist attack, it was the biggest explosion in the U.S. until the attacks on 9/11.

The Shield story also has the distinction of featuring none other than the Queen of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.

The Shield was written by Harry Shorten, who later on became a publisher. It was drawn by Irv Novick, who went on to a long career in comics, working into the 1970s. The Shield preceded Captain America's first appearance by a couple of months.

2009-07-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 551

Zombie killer!

Skeleton Hand was a very successful pre-Code title for ACG. According to the excellent article on ACG by Michael Vance in Alter Ego #61 (highly recommended!) all of the "supernaturals" sold well for that company. They used a lot of artists, some of them old-timers from the beginnings of comic books, which included artist Jon L. Blummer, who drew the eerie zombie-crime story, "Death For Hire."

Blummer drew for several companies, including very early DC. He had a style that reminds me a bit of Rudy Palais. According to biographical information I've read, Blummer had only a couple of years left to live when he drew this story, which appeared in Skeleton Hand #1 in 1952. He died in 1955.

2009-07-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

Number 550

Li'l Abner meets the monster and the suicide bomber!

Li'l Abner was such a part of my life for so long it's hard to believe the strip officially shut down in 1977. I read it every day from the time I learned to read until it ended. It ran for more than enough time to establish it as a major cultural phenomenon. Among other things it introduced the Sadie Hawkins Day storylines, which played out year after year. Daisy Mae chased Abner futilely until she finally caught him in the early 1950s.

Like most great comic strips, creator Al Capp introduced themes that were re-done at intervals, and kept his readers coming back. Sadie Hawkins Day was also played out in real life on some college campuses.This particular Sadie Hawkins Day epic is scanned from Toby Press' Li'l Abner #74, from 1950. Toby Press was owned at least in part by Capp.

In light of events of the past few years, the part about a guy with dynamite strapped to him seems more creepy than funny.

2009-06-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 549

Bank Robber Blues

Here's another hilarious story from ACG's funny animal Ha Ha Comics. "Those Bank Robber Blues" appeared in #59 from 1948.

I don't know the artist. GCD guesses Ken Hultgren. You laser beam-eyed art spotters out there tell me who did it.

2009-06-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 548

Lee Elias' Green Lantern

Longtime comic artist Lee Elias drew every kind of comic book, including super heroes. I'm a fan of his Milton Caniff-styled artwork. Elias worked as Caniff's assistant for a time. The first time I saw his work was in the early '60s on Tommy Tomorrow for DC's Showcase. I searched out his earlier work, which included Black Cat for Harvey, a cute chick, Linda Turner, movie star by trade. Linda wore a mask and sexy costume for her alter-ego as a crime fighter.

This particular and un-sexy Green Lantern story, "Situation Wanted," is written by Robert Kanigher, penciled by Elias and inked by Bob Oksner.

I got this story circa 2003 from a DC fan web site; it's scanned from Comic Cavalcade #29, 1948. Comic Cavalcade was originally a DC anthology featuring stars like Wonder Woman, Flash and GL. If the original poster comes forward I'll give him credit.

Does anyone else find characters like Doiby Dickles completely obnoxious? Did kids of the era like this kind of comic relief? Ugh.

2009-06-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

Number 547

Comics McCormick

Here's a story that up until now I've hesitated to show because of the racist character, Ajax. This sort of crude caricature wasn't uncommon in old comics, when racism was more upfront and public. I decided to show it, despite trepidations, because I like Ed Wheelan, a big favorite of mine since I discovered his 1920s comic strip, Minute Movies.

I've featured Wheelan before in Pappy's #215, a Minute Movies story he did in Flash Comics. You can check it out and see what I had to say about him.

"Comics McCormick" was published in the early EC Comics' Fat and Slat, a vaudeville-styled, "Mutt and Jeff"-inspired strip Wheelan did. The scans are from Fat and Slat #1, Summer 1947.

2009-06-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

Number 546

The Shores of Horror

Web of Horror #1 came out in 1969, published by Cracked magazine's publisher, Bob Sproul. This issue used some (then) new artists, Berni Wrightson, Ralph Reese, Wayne Howard. It also used Don Norman, a name I believe is a pseudonym for Norman Nodel of Classics Illustrated fame, and the old Timely/Atlas/Marvel stalwart, Syd Shores. "Blood Thirst" would fit right into an Atlas horror comic, and showed that Shores lost nothing in the decade-and-a-half since the horror comics were erased by the Comics Code.

I especially like the dynamic panels of the crypt on page 3 and the vampire swooping in on page 4. Syd Shores learned his craft during the 1940s, batting out pages with Al Avison, carrying on Captain America from Simon and Kirby. His action figures jumped right off the page, as they do in this story.

Web of Horror lasted two more issues before expiring. Shores lasted four more years, dying in 1973. We fans lost both times.

2009-06-22T02:01:00.000-07:00

Number 545

An Octeel for the Octomom!

George Tuska, another longtime veteran of the comic book wars, did the art for this science fiction short from St. John's Amazing Ghost Stories #16, the last issue of that title. Dated February 1955, it was also one of the last pre-Code comics. Comics with early '55 dates and no Code seal were usually the last of their breed.

Since a science fiction story in a ghost story comic book is about as out of place as an octeel in your bathtub, I believe "The Tentacles of Death" was an inventory story. As unassuming as it seems to us now, it was probably used because they knew it wouldn't pass the new Comics Code without changes.

2009-06-21T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 544

Pirates in the water!

I should have shown this a couple of months ago when the Somali pirates were in the news. The Boy Commandos and their leader, Rip Carter, take on modern day (circa 1946) pirates in "Torpedo Pirates" from Boy Commandos #19, January 1947.

Grand Comics Database has more question marks which means they're qualifying their attributions. They say Jack Kirby? did the art and Howard Sherman? did the inking. It looks like Kirby to me, but I'll leave it to you hawkeyed art spotters to judge.

2009-06-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Number 543

Summer Camp stories

"What I Did At Summer Camp," by Pappy.

First of all, it was cold. It was wet, rained all the time. I had diarrhea, so I stayed close to the facilities. The sergeant made me clean rifles...

Wait a minute. That wasn't summer camp, that was Army basic training. Summer camp, when I was a kid, was actually a lot of fun! A lake, canoeing, swimming, leathercrafts in the afternoon...a big fire at night, marshmallows burned black, molten on the tongue. Or maybe I'm just thinking of an old episode of "Spin and Marty" from the Mickey Mouse Club.

Oh well, at least my memory isn't faulty when it comes to the Dell Giant Comics that arrived just before school let out for the summer. They were kind of a vicarious vacation, promising a lot of summer fun. I never had as much fun--or adventure--as the characters in the Dell Giants, but at least I had the comics, which I pored over. I bought this one, Little Lulu and Tubby at Summer Camp #2, in 1958. Not only did it contain one Little Lulu storytelling time with Alvin, a Witch Hazel story, but also a Tubby storytelling time with Alvin. I don't know if writer John Stanley ever did that again, but the story Tubby tells is every bit the whopper that is usually Lulu's imaginative stock in trade.

Not only did that break tradition, but having Lulu show up at the end of the story breaks the tradition from regular issues of Little Lulu, where the Tubby story at the end didn't have Lulu.

School's out...what are you doing that's fun this summer?

More summer camp from #1 of this series from Frank Young of Stanley Stories. You can access it here.

2009-06-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 542

Kirby's Kansas City Massacre

Since Jack Kirby was great at everything he drew it's no surprise that his crime comics stories are great, also. Maybe it's because he grew up in Hell's Kitchen, but he seemed to really know bad guys. His action-filled drawings were perfect for tales of killers and outlaws. He drew many crime stories in the 1940s at the peak of the crime comics craze, and he also probably felt the heat from a dismayed public, led by Fredric Wertham, M.D., who thought crime comics were contributing to juvenile delinquency.

What the hell. Wertham could've admitted some crime comics were well drawn, at least.

The Kansas City Massacre is famous in the history of the FBI and that lawless era of the early 1930s. The crime comics all covered it extensively. I read up on the K.C. Massacre and Kirby's version is fairly accurate, hitting the high points of the incident. Verne Miller actually didn't end up dead in a bathtub, but in a ditch. These "true" stories always use some artistic license.

The scans are from Headline Comics #26, 1947.

2009-06-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 541

Demon of Destruction!

This is a famous story, reprinted in fanzines at least a few times that I can remember. "Demon of Destruction," by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta is from Forbidden Worlds #1, from 1951.

Only Williamson signed the story, on page 2, but he was known to ask his buddies to dive in and help.

Except for the artwork, "Demon" is pretty standard ACG fare. A man and woman get mixed up with the supernatural, in this case a demon, Marzo, who is "worse than Satan." Wow, that's bad. As always, the humans are smarter than the evil-doers in these stories. There really was no need for Marzo to grant three wishes because they turned against him, but such is the way of ACG plots.

2009-06-14T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 540

Target

The Target and Targeteers lasted through the 1940s. Created in 1940 by cartoonist Dick (Frankenstein) Briefer, using the name Dick Hamilton, the Target was a metallurgist who wore a costume made of metallic fibers that bullets bounced off. His two business partners joined him as the Targeteers.

This episode is fromTarget Comics Volume 3 Number 12, February 1943. By this time the Target and Targeteers were servicemen, and this particular story uses only one Targeteer. Maybe the other guy was on KP peeling spuds.

Sid Greene did the artwork along with somebody named Ryan. Greene was another of the comic book journeymen I'm always glad to feature. He's probably best known to modern comics fans for the work he did during the '60s at DC, where I saw him first as an inker. He was hired to replace the retired Bernard Sachs. I saw Greene's pencils and inks in various places. I showed a story of his from Mystery in Space a couple of weeks ago. Sid Greene died in 1972.

2009-06-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 539

Powell's Bad Bad Girls

Last Friday I showed you the original art from two stories by Bob Powell of good girls who are tempted into being bad. Here are two stories about girls who are just bad. Witches. And I don't mean that euphemistically.

"Cavern of the Doomed," from Tomb Of Terror #3, 1952, is a tale of a witch who gets her comeuppance. If I'd seen this story and its vision of Hell when I was a kid it might have straightened me out.

"The Spell of the Black Gloves" is a tale that shows us that genes mean a lot. With her ancestor a witch, impoverished Abegail has no choice but revenge and evil. It's from, appropriately enough, Witches Tales #5, 1951.

Both of these stories are courtesy of Heritage Auctions, where I ::evil cackle:: swiped 'em.

2009-06-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 538

Alex Niño

Alex Niño's angular, psychedelic style was probably the most unique of the Philippine comic artist invasion of the 1970s. He could take even the most routine script and turn it into something interesting. As I recall he had some trouble with editors over his style when he stretched his imagination too far, and made the stories difficult to decipher.

There's no problem with that here. These stories are written by Jack Oleck. "Fish Story" is from Secrets of the Haunted House #1 from '74, and "The Evil Power" is from Weird Mystery Tales #9, 1975.

Grantbridge Street has posted an Oleck/Niño DC story here.

2009-06-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 537

The Blowhard

Fremont Frog is a lot like some guys I've known over the years. Blowhards. No matter what you bring up they've done it bigger and better. You'd like to put them in their place.

So that's what Fremont's friends do to him. This is a hilarious story from Giggle Comics #67, September-October 1949. It's hilarious because it's drawn by one of the greatest funny animal comic book cartoonists, Jack Bradbury. I've shown you several Bradbury stories, and they all have something in common: great drawing and funny gags.

Jack Bradbury's son has a website devoted to his father's work. http://jbrad.org/

He shows many of Bradbury's stories for Giggle and Ha-Ha Comics, including some more Fremont Frog. If you like this story you'll love what he has on his website.

2009-06-07T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 536

Comet, cop killer!

Stan Nichols, who goes by Nix, provided these scans for Jack Cole's Comet from Pep Comics #3 and #4, 1940. Nix's synopsis: "Comet is hypnotized by a bad guy named Satan, and kills some cops. He kills Satan, then rather than turn himself in, he takes off to prove his innocence!"

As it turned out for the Comet, he in turn was killed in Pep #17, and his brother sought revenge as the Hangman. Jack Cole drew the Comet stories a couple more times, ending his participation with Pep #8. These episodes, like a lot of Cole's earliest work, appear to be rushed, but the energy Cole put into his drawings still comes through.

Thanks, Nix.

There's a great new blog devoted to Jack Cole. Check out Cole's Comics. I was guided to it through Frank Young's Stanley Stories.

2009-06-05T04:52:00.000-07:00

Number 535

Bob Powell's Good Bad Girls

Regular Pappy's readers know I can't go long without showing something by Bob Powell; in this case original art for two love stories.

Love comics were once the best selling comic books. Can you believe that? That meant that unlike today's testosterone-driven comic book market, girls and young women were buying a lot of comics. What the female readers got with these two stories are cautionary tales of girls with bad reputations. Everybody knows about the girl in school who goes "all the way," or at least has that reputation.

I found scans for the original art to these two 1950's Harvey Comics stories on the Internet, and you may have seen them here and there. They're worth looking at again, though.

"I Joined a Teen-age Sex Club," besides having the wildest title ever to appear in a comic book, is about a girl trying to fit in with the crowd. In this case she ends up with a group of teen swingers who hold regular make-out parties. Propriety and good breeding, also the idea of losing a straight-laced boyfriend, straighten Geri out.

"Anybody's Girl" is about a girl who does succumb to temptation. She's lucky to get out of one bad situation only to have created another when her bad rep costs her a boyfriend. Tsk tsk. You know about those nights in a ski lodge. I had a few fantasies like that myself. I love the line in panel two of page one: "You're even more fun than your sister!" I think I'll put that on a t-shirt or bumper sticker.

The artwork is Bob Powell at his big-lipped best. The kissing scenes are great. With those lips a guy could kiss two girls at once.

2009-06-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 534

Journeymanny

Manny Stallman was yet another of the journeyman comic book artists whose name usually provokes a "...Manny Who-man?" from comic book fans. Stallman was born in 1927, and was working in comics as a teen.

This "Young Robinhood" splash page from Boy Comics #13 (I showed you the Crimebuster story from the same issue last Sunday) is very crude. It was published in 1943. I estimate it was done when Stallman was 15 or 16 and it looks it.*

But Stallman went on to a career in comics and did a lot of them. He often worked as a team with John Giunta, who inked the really creepy "The King is Dead" in Witches Tales #50. This black and white version came from the 1991 reprint in Silver Scream #2. I'm not sure if Giunta helped Stallman on these other two stories. "Monkey Face" is from Astonishing #26. It's signed "S.L.", which probably doesn't mean Stan Lee, who would never miss a chance to put his full name on anything, but Stallman and an as yet unidentified inker whose name starts with "L." "Swap Shop" is from Marvel Tales #141. Stallman spent his last years in the field doing things like the giveaway Big Boy Comics, the circulation of which put his artwork in front of many more readers than the average comic book.

Stallman died in 1997.

*I can't show you the "Young Robinhood" story because I'm missing the last two pages.

2009-06-01T03:01:00.000-07:00

Number 533

Monsteroids of the underworld!

Captain Rocket returns in the second story from his one and only appearance, Captain Rocket #1, from 1951.

In this story we have a villain named Gorgo, a gas that turns humans into monsters (or monsteroids, as they're known here), a primitive version of the Internet where Captain Rocket references the story on Gorgo, an earth-boring machine, art swipes from Flash Gordon...this is fast-paced and goofy, just how I like my comic book science fiction.