Number 60


Boy Heroes: Terror In Transylvania

Kid heroes were all the rage in the 1940s, especially during the war years. Simon and Kirby came up with Boy Commandos, Timely had the Young Allies, and Harvey Comics had the Boy Heroes.

I'm sure there were a lot of kids during that period that wished that somehow they could be part of the war, could help defeat the enemy. The comics provided a great fantasy outlet. Some of these kid groups stayed around for a time after the war, but didn't last much into the 1950s. About the only kid group that was published during the 1950s I can think of is Simon and Kirby's Boy's Ranch. That's off the top of my pointy little head. I might be missing someone, and I'm sure one of you will let me know if I am.

The Grand Comics Database guesses the Kirbyesque artwork might be by Louis Cazeneuve, with a question mark.

The cover of All-New Comics #10, September 1944, where this story appeared, is another Alex Schomburg action fest. It didn't matter whose heroes he was drawing, or what company it was for, Schomburg put in a lot of detail and his covers are a true joy to study.

 

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Dr Jerry Bails, RIP

One thing I don't get into much around here is the fan aspect to comic book publishing. I liked comics but only attended one comic convention (around 1971 in New York), and only knew of a couple other kids my age who were into them as well. I only wrote one letter to the editor (pointing out a mistake in a Thor issue), which went unpublished. I pretty much was out of comic collecting by 1977, and the only comics I bought from about 1979-1998 or so were Spirit reprints, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns and the final issue of The Flash.

But Dr Jerry Bails' passing does deserve mention, because he was the young man who pushed for the return of the Justice Society of America with letters to Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox in the 1950s, and thus may have been a partial inspiration for DC's Silver Age heroes. And considering that it was sales of the (renamed) Justice League of America which inspired Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to create the Fantastic Four, it's not hard to see that this man had a huge impact on Silver Age comics.

Here's a terrific interview with him from a couple years back, hitting on a theme I've returned to on occasion here:

A culture passes on its values through stories, and I credit comics with shaping many of my values. I noticed when I wrote a book on the impact of technology on the environment, I made lots of references to the morals in famous children's stories, and classical stories. My view of the moral world was shaped by comics, radio drama, movies, storybook time at the library, as well as the traditional Sunday school. All these sources conveyed values by telling stories. It's part of humanity's oldest tradition. Comics were just the best visual method for the mid-20th century.

The lighter moments when we are reading for fun are not trivial. They are part and parcel of the mortar that strengthens our character by providing both stress relief and reaffirmation of cultural values. I don't personally get into the study of this function of pastime reading, but I'm aware of it.

Frankly, I think readers tend to be more empathetic and less aggressive than people who prefer aggressive sports for the cathartic effect. Unfortunately the mass media today sell more advertising and admissions by playing up caustic, vituperative and downright antisocial values. I can't believe that's good for any of us, but especially kids. Stories, even crime stories, can and should have a redeeming value. I guess that's why horror for its own sake never interested me. I prefer heroic behavior in my stories, even if the hero is a slow learner.

I especially liked his tale of hunting down the All Star issues back in those pre-comic store, pre-Ebay days. I didn't buy a whole lot of back issues by mail back then because they were expensive and so my experience was pretty much the same; slowly finding back issues by checking around here and there--used bookstores, somebody's older brother, etc. I had one great score around 1970 when an antiques show came to town with a big batch of 5 cent comics including a nearly complete run of the Legion issues of Adventure.

Batman was probably the easiest to locate, as everybody had bought issues back during the TV show craze, and I quickly assembled a fairly long run (although I did have to break down and buy one "filler" issue). Which resulted in my fascination with the character that continues to this day.

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Number 59

A Humbug Christmas Carol

Ho! Ho! Ho! Only five weeks until Christmas, boys and girls! Have you got your online shopping done yet? It can be exhausting going to website after website, typing in your credit card number, can't it?

Just think of those poor folks out in the stores trying to elbow each other for the last of this year's fad toys, the ones your kids have just gotta have, the ones they'll have broken or discarded before Christmas brunch. Remember, those desperate shoppers all have tired feet from walking the shopping malls, you have tired fingers from keyboarding.

So while taking the occasional break from your online shopping, check with me. For the next five weeks I'll be presenting a different Christmas offering every Sunday until Christmas Eve. First up, a really off-the-wall retelling of an old Christmas chestnut, "A Christmas Carol."

Harvey Kurtzman and his friends started Humbug magazine when their other venture, Trump, was killed by publisher Hugh Hefner after two issues. Humbug was a great magazine, killed by low sales and spotty distribution. It was printed and distributed by Charlton Comics in the same size as comic books. It was priced a nickel more than comic books, and printed in a duotone format. It was also the sort of adult humor that Kurtzman had tried originally with the magazine issues of Mad he had edited. Because of Humbug's size it was most often put with the comic books on a spinner rack, where adult readers weren't likely to find it.

"A Christmas Carol" was published in Humbug #6, January 1958. It was drawn by Arnold Roth, whose work always reminded me of the British Punch magazine cartoonists. A perfect cartoonist to reinterpret Charles Dickens. No writing credit is given, so I'm guessing Kurtzman, who had a way of finding the core silliness of any subject he was lampooning. Nothing was safe from him, not even a maudlin but beloved Christmas story like "A Christmas Carol."

Jack Davis autographed my copy at the 1985 San Diego Comicon.

.…and anyone who doesn't find this story funny will be boiled in his own plum pudding and buried with a sprig of holly through his heart.

 

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Howling At Hitler

In the early 1960s, the World War II generation began to come into power. This was reflected in both politics, where Navy veteran John F. Kennedy was elected to the White House over fellow Navy vet Richard Nixon, and in pop culture, where the theatres were filled with WWII features like The Longest Day, The Great Escape and The Guns of Navarone. On TV, there was Combat, the Rat Patrol and McHale's Navy.

So it's not surprising that as Marvel was casting about for new ways to wrest 12 cents out of the nation's youth, that they hit upon the idea of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. As is de rigeur in such series, there is an ensemble cast:





This was a tradition dating back to the Boy Commandos (also co-created by Jack Kirby) and Blackhawk, and movies like Destination Tokyo. But this group was a little more integrated than most. Although it isn't obvious in the portrait above, Gabe Jones was a black man, and Izzy Cohen the first explicitly Jewish heroic character that I can remember in comics.

The Howlin' Commandos typically get the suicide mission assignments with big stakes. In SFAHHC #1, they have to rescue the resistance leader who knows the planned date of D-Day, while in #2 they are assigned the task of destroying Hitler's attempt at an atomic bomb. By the standards of the time, these were incredibly violent comics, although Kirby avoided the gore with some clever tricks:



There are many memorable moments in the first few issues, such as when the Howlers intentionally get themselves imprisoned in a concentration camp:



As always with Marvel, there were frequent crossovers. For example Reed Richards appears as a young major in #3, while Baron Zemo, Captain America's nemesis, pops up in #8. Cap and Bucky themselves fight side by side with the Howlers in #13.

As with most war comics, the bullets hit all around the Howlers but seldom were stopped by them. However in Sgt. Fury #4, that changed suddenly:



We have already discussed how Sgt. Fury #6 tackled the subject of racism. In retrospect, it is obvious that Stan was using the backdrop of World War II to talk about issues that were on the front burner in 1964.

Of course, another issue that was moving to the front burner that year would eventually doom the war comics: Vietnam. For the times, they were a-changing.

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Number 58


Frankenstein Friday: The Strange Love Of Shirley Shmool

Frankenstein plays cupid in this cute story. It is the second story from Frankenstein #7, May-June, 1947, written and drawn by Dick Briefer.

This story was most likely originally slated for the lead spot. The splash panel says "Book by Dick Briefer."

 

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Getting Smaller, Getting Bigger

Following the Fantastic Four, the next super-powered hero to appear in the pages of a Marvel comic was the Ant-Man (technically, anyway). Hank Pym was introduced in Tales to Astonish # 27, January 1962, in a short story entitled The Man in the Ant-Hill.

Hank is a scientist interested in pursuing his own line of study. He creates a pair of serums that will shrink and later expand objects. He decides to test it on himself, but unfortunately he forgets that he will be too far away from antidote to expand back to normal. The ants are after him, but he manages to elude them with the aid of one friendly ant. Eventually he makes his way back to the serum that restores him to normal size. He decides that the method is too risky, and throws away the twin potions.

But in Tales to Astonish, #35, Hank returns, this time in full superhero garb and with additional powers: he has learned how to communicate with the ants.



At first, Ant-Man changes sizes by pouring liquid on himself from a test-tube. In TTA #36, this changed to a gas that he could inhale; later still it became just a matter of swallowing a pill.

In TTA #44, things changed dramatically for Ant-Man. He had been thinking that he needed help in his fight against crime, an assistant to take some of the load off his shoulders. In a flashback, we learn that Hank had been married to a woman named Maria, whose father had defected from Hungary. She wants them to visit her homeland for their honeymoon, but when they arrive the commie rats kidnap and kill her. In a way, she had led to Hank becoming the Ant-Man, by telling him jokingly that he should "go to the ants".

Back in the present, Hank meets a fellow scientist and his attractive but young daughter, Janet Van Dyne. She reminds him of his wife, but he insists she's too young for him. Meanwhile, she's thinking that she doesn't want a scientist, she wants a man of action.

When her father is murdered, she turns to Hank Pym. However, the Ant-Man answers her summons. She expresses a desire for revenge and Hank wonders if she might be the one he's been looking for. Yep:



He discloses his secret identity to her and outfits her with a small pair of wings and antennae that only appear when she shrinks down to tiny size. However he maintains a strictly business attitude towards her, not wanting to be hurt again with the loss of a lover. But in the end, we see she is determined to win his heart.

Comments: I confess I did not remember these stories having the charm and entertainment value that they did.

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Number 57

The Flat Man

Since I'm writing this on Thanksgiving Day, 2006, it seems appropriate that I inaugurate a new series I'll be running occasionally: The Comic Book Turkey Awards. Rules are strictly arbitrary, judgment is all mine and will be strictly subjective.

The award will be given to the story I think best exemplifies comic book stupidity at its worst. Just as turkeys are reputed to stand looking up at rain until they drown, so do these stories exhibit similar lack of intelligence. First up is a story I mentioned in a Frankenstein Friday entry a couple of weeks ago, "The Flat Man," from Journey Into Fear #19, May 1954.

Most comic book horror stories are by default pretty dumb because the plots depend on wild occurrences that can't happen in real life. Still, with most horror stories we suspend disbelief and just accept the premise or the plot and ride it out until the end, enjoying it for what it is, dumb or not. "The Flat Man" seems to fail on the suspension of disbelief angle. I can suspend disbelief when it comes to rotting corpses rising from the grave, vampires, werewolves, or people making pacts with the devil, but I just can't accept a guy run over by a steamroller, mashed flat, and still living.

It's all a joke, really, because the story ends where it begins, under a steamroller. The artwork was done by the Iger shop for the publisher, Superior, which was a Canadian company. In an industry full of poorly-printed products Superior was definitely inferior to even its poorly-printed competition. I've seen quite a few Superior comics and none of them were printed well. They were sleazy publishers, going for the fast buck with a really crummy product. That's one of the reasons I love them so much!

On this Thanksgiving Day, "The Flat Man" earns 3 ½ turkeys out of a possible 4.

[Note: I have re-scanned artwork, slightly edited and replaced the original posting with this post in August 2012.]

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