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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Number 1190: “Oh, you beautiful doll” or, “The Power of Positive Shrinking”


Since this is an origin story, of Darrell (Doll Man) Danes' companion, Doll Girl, who is also Darrell's girlfriend, Martha Roberts, you'd think Martha's transition to the power of shrinking would get more than a lousy couple of panels. But it doesn't. For an origin it seems weak to me.

Why create a Doll Girl? I think it was difficult for the writers to combine a normal-sized woman with a tiny little guy like Doll Man. He wouldn't measure up when they got down to some serious sparking, would he? (Heh-heh.)

The Grand Comics Database does their question-mark crediting for this issue, listing Dan Zolnerowich ? for pencils and Chuck Cuidera ? for inking.

From Doll Man #37 (1951):












6 comments:

BillyWitchDoctor said...

"I can't help! I'm just a girl! But if somehow...I could become a smaller girl..."

I can see why there are questions about the art; many of the shots of Elmo are traced/cut-pasted from Elmo's own origin story (which was considerably more elaborate). Heck, the same image is pasted twice on the same page! Who knows what else has been cribbed.

cartoonjoe said...

Where did she get that costume from?

TheUUShadow said...

I've always wanted to see this story. Thanks Pappy!

I always thought It was a shame that she didn't get to be a part of The Freedom Fighters. The old "Only one token female to a team" rule?

Pappy said...

BillyWitchDoc: thanks for pointing out the tracings/stats in this story. I hadn't noticed (having focused on Doll Girl), so I appreciate your sharp eyes.

Cartoonjoe, I'd say Doll Girl got her costume from her Barbie Doll collection, but Barbie didn't appear until 1959. Maybe both she and Doll Man wear their costumes as underwear and whip off their outer garments before they shrink? Did anyone ever try to explain this phenomenon of the magically appearing little costumes?

UUShadow: You're welcome. I've got some more Doll Man and Doll Girl waiting, but I give my standard warning: don't hold your breath. I'm old and I'm slow, and how I determine what goes where and when is a mystery even to me.

Darci said...

Pappy,
Martha Roberts had a previous, one-time-only, appearance as a heroine, in Feature Comics #77 (April 1944). The GCD doesn't list any credits for writer or artist, but I think it's safe to say that story had been forgotten by the time this story was created. Unlike Midge, Doll Girl costarred in this book until its cancellation with #47.

Pappy said...

Darci, in the Golden Age even a couple of years, much less seven or eight, was enough to forget what went before. I ascribe it to a revolving door for artists and writers, but also editors who didn't care about continuity.