Number 211


Witch's Cauldron


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I thought for this special day you might like a really early comic book horror story. It even has a witch.

The story comes from MLJ's Blue Ribbon Comics #22, March 1942.


I did a little research and saw that the feature, "Tales From The Witch's Cauldron," began in Blue Ribbon #20, and was continued in Zip Comics, because #22 was the last issue of Blue Ribbon. I believe it comes from the same source as the EC horror comics of a few years later, the original radio program, The Witch's Tale.

To me the most horrible thing about the story is the lead character lets a doctor listen to his chest, then tell him he has three months to live…and the dope doesn't get a second opinion!

The Grand Comics Database tells us that Joe Blair wrote the script and Sam Cooper did the artwork.

Have a great Halloween and keep your hands out of the kids' trick or treat bags. As for me, well, I'll be busy on Halloween day wrapping Ex-lax in Hershey wrappers for the arrival of the little kiddies. They usually stop at Pappy's Putrid Palace, a crumbling and ancient, cobwebbed mansion…but once is enough. They never come back! Bahahaha!

Number 210


The all-American bullet-headed Saxon mother's son


Bulletman was created by Bill Parker, who also created and wrote the early adventures of Captain Marvel. The artwork for this story, "Bulletman Fights the Gagman," from Master Comics #40, July 1943, is by the Jack Binder comic art shop.

Jack was brother to Otto Binder, who did the bulk of the writing chores on the Captain Marvel stories. At the time Jack and Otto were valuable contributors to the success of Fawcett Publications. This story seems pretty good considering it is a shop job, worked on by several hands.

The Gagman might've gotten his arsenal of weapons from the Johnson Smith Company, the mail order novelty business that advertised in most comic books of the day. Maybe those ads inspired the character.

Bulletman, and his gal pal, Bulletgirl, wear anti-gravity helmets, which is why they look like Coneheads. I wonder why anti-gravity helmets wouldn't cause disruptions, make them light-headed, or cause Bulletgirl's hair to float rather than stay down.

Finally, this blog tells you G.I. Joe fans that this Bulletman isn't the G.I. Joe Bulletman.

Number 209


Hanging around with Dick Ayers

Here's a gruesome little tale, taken from Ghost Rider #10, 1952. Dick Ayers was at the peak of his powers in this story. His storytelling and drawing ability were at their best during the early '50s, in my opinion. It's obvious that Ayers loved the subject material he drew, whether it was western, or horror, or both, like this story.

Ayers drew a guy hitting the end of a rope really well. If you don't like gruesome pictures, then don't look. Showing a hanging was one, amongst many, of the things that got comics in trouble. Twenty years later, in a freelance job for the non-code Eerie Publications, he drew another gruesome hanging scene, this time with popping eyeball.

ME Comics didn't publish horror comics, so Ghost Rider was the closest they got to the horror comics genre. However, "The Hangman," not part of the official Ghost Rider canon, is a good example of a horror comic story. Take away the western setting and it would fit right into an Atlas horror title.

Number 208


No return from Davy Jones!


This well-illustrated story appeared in a magazine called Monsters and Things #2, dated April, 1958. No credits are given.

Monsters and Things was a 25¢ magazine I remember from the magazine stands, spending time loitering, looking at this sort of thing. It was made up of monster movie stills and three of four text fiction pieces. At the time I wouldn't have dared bring home a magazine devoted to monsters. My mom would have tossed it. I was already on shaky ground for buying Mad and its imitators. While I remember this issue of Monsters and Things from its appearance on the stands, I didn't find this copy until 1980 or so. The cover and a couple of full-page interior illustrations are by Bob Powell.

The comic story appears to be a black and white reprint of a pre-code horror story. "Curse Of The Living Crossbones" is of the variety of horror story where a young attractive couple gets drawn into the supernatural. The story title doesn't bring anything up in the Grand Comics Database, but it is apparently reprinted from an Ace Comics title.

It is a pretty good pirate yarn, ye swabs. Yarrrr.

Number 207


Locked Up!


This story is scanned from Crypt Of Shadows #4 (1973). It was reprinted from Atlas Comics' Adventures Into Weird Worlds #9 (1952). Carmine Infantino drew it, Sy Barry probably inked it, Hank Chapman wrote it. The ending to the this story is totally off-the-wall, like a shaggy dog story. Or I should say, it's shaggy, just not a dog.

Number 206


Grass Green's American Man


There were a few superstars in comics fandom, circa the early 1960s. Richard "Grass" (for "Grasshoppa") Green was one of the top fan artists of the day. After being discharged from military service, he lived with fellow artist, Ronn Foss, and Ronn's then-wife, Myra, in Northern California. I don't think the arrangement lasted long, maybe less than a year. In that time they were known as Triad, and took over publishing The Comicollector and Alter Ego from founder Jerry Bails.

Grass and Ronn had gone to high school together in the 1950s, and were budding artists of their time. In his fan art, Ronn seemed more influenced by Joe Kubert, and Grass by Jack Kirby. Grass told me years later in a letter he wanted to be the "black Jack Kirby." He had sporadic success over the years, but he never achieved what I believe he wanted. Grass had the talent, but at the time he and Ronn tried to break into pro comics in the 1960s, the comic book industry was a closed shop. There was enough work to keep the established artists busy, but newcomers just didn't have a chance. Later on when the field opened up and older artists retired Grass and Ronn's styles were superseded by a new generation of artists.

Grass was African-American. In a moment of candor, he told me he had been discriminated against by comic book editors. I have no way of knowing if that's true. Over the years many African-American artists have worked in comics, and some have been extremely successful, but in retrospect, during the time of the early 1960s the comics do appear to have been a white man's industry.

Grass Green did some pro comics, some underground comix, some self-published comics. He kept himself busy over the years with his appealing art style and had the advantage of a great sense of humor, which made his work a lot of fun to read.

"American Man" appeared in The Comicollector #7, dated September, 1962. It's printed by an old-fashioned spirit duplicator, just like the tests and worksheets our teachers handed out in school. It required drawing same-size on a stencil. This particular strip was redrawn from a story he had done during his high school days. It's Kirby-styled, influenced by Grass' favorite, Fighting American. If you'll notice, the hero, whose real name is Buff Freedom (!) has two kid sidekicks, one of whom is African-American. Both of the boys are artists doing comic strips for a magazine. Ronn and Grass?

I scanned this from its source over a year ago and had to bump up the contrast to make it readable. The bumping brought out a horizontal line, the fold of the fanzine when it went through the mail. I tried some ways to get rid of the line. In looking at it recently I thought it gave it more of the feel of how it looked to me when I read it originally over 45 years ago. There is a funky charm to those old crummy-looking dittoed fanzines, and this is a good example of their appeal.

Grass Green died of cancer in 2002 at age 63. His lifelong friend, Ronn Foss, preceded him in death by six months.