Number 370


"Dragged to your death!"


I'm not a big Western fan, not of movies, books or comics, but I do enjoy the occasional story if it's well done. Robert Kanigher, editor, scripted this story for Alex Toth, artist, and Frank Giacoia, inker. It appeared in All-American Western #107, April-May 1949. I love Toth's dynamic, action-filled artwork. Giacoia inked it in DC's late-1940s house style, borrowed from Milton Caniff.

The Indian characters are treated the same way they were treated in movies, as stereotypes.

I like Johnny Thunder's rock 'n' roll hairstyle, anticipating the look of a decade hence. Something that bugs me is how a white horse can be called Black Lightning. And wasn't Johnny Thunder a name borrowed from another DC character of a couple years earlier? And wasn't Black Lightning the name of a superhero two or three decades later? I guess comic books were the original recyclers: plots, art, names, everything used again and again!

Number 369


Supermouse goes ape!


I was going to make a comment about Supermouse and the 800-pound gorilla...but in this story, "The Great Gorilla Plot," that gorilla looks like he weighs more than 800 pounds. A lot more.

This entry in the Supermouse series by the great cartoonist, Milt Stein, is from Supermouse #22, December 1952. To see more of the stories posted on Pappy's, click on the Supermouse link in the labels below. For more cartoon funny animals go to the great blog, Sherm Cohen's CartoonSNAP. To see Sherm's links to more Supermouse go here.

Number 368


American Pig!


As a young G.I. in the U.S. Army I was drilled in the Code of Conduct. The Code is a set of rules we, as soldiers, were expected to obey in the event we were held as prisoners of war. After hearing about what some prisoners went through I was sure if captured and got even a whiff of torture I'd sell out my mother, not to mention my country. It never happened so it's moot, but to my understanding the Code of Conduct was initiated because of what happened to some P.O.W.'s during the Korean conflict of the early 1950s. Some men were supposedly brainwashed into making statements for the enemy. Some American soldiers who went over the hill during that war are still living in North Korea.

This particular story came out of U.S. Fighting Air Force #19 (1955), published by Superior, a Canadian publisher who used the services of Jerry Iger's comic book production shop. It was produced under another code, the Comics Code, because Iger pre-Comics Code stories were usually pretty violent. About the worst thing that happens here is the P.O.W. gives one soldier a karate chop that looks like it wouldn't kill a mosquito, and another a headlock.

The best thing about the story is the teaser (above) to this post. I love that squirrelly-looking panel!

Number 367


Double Mummy Monday!


Karswell of The Horrors Of It All has been featuring Mummy Monday postings this month. Since I wish to jump into his pyramid scheme, I did an archaeological excavation at the site of Pappy's Sarcophagus of Stuff to drag out two pharaoh-to-middling mummy stories. First up, Al Camy took to the papyrus for a fine 10-pager from Forbidden Worlds #5, March-April, 1952. You may Tut-tut when you find this story so whack that the hero's girlfriend wants to tag along because she's jealous of a priestess back from the dead, fresh from her mummy wrappings! Note to hero: This girlfriend will cause you problems later. She is not very tightly wrapped herself. This is typical ACG of the 1950s, so crazy, so fun.

The second story is from Atlas Comics' Crazy #6, scanned from its reprinting in 1975's Arrgh #3.

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