The Hood also joins the company of comic books characters like Black Hood. The Hood also had no super powers; he was an Army major who put on a costume.
This story was drawn by Jack Alderman, an artist I don’t see as fitting in with costumed characters. I see him doing what I thought he did best, crime stories. His dark panels lend themselves more to nefarious deeds of the underworld than heroics. Alderman drew stiff figures, not good for superhero comics. In order to do a hero socking a bad guy panel (last page) Alderman borrowed a Jack Kirby pose. If you don’t usually draw action poses, Jack Kirby is the artist to swipe.
In the story the Hood’s girlfriend is Ray Herman. Ray, or Rae, was a real person, an editor and publisher in one of the most confusing mixes of comic book publishing ever. Due to some sleight of hand of the guy who started the company — or companies — over 70 years ago it is hard to trace the connections between Et-Es-Go, Continental, Holyoke, et al. Rae Herman was involved in them, and she was co-owner of Orbit Publishing, which published Wanted Comics, Toytown, and Westerner, among others. The story also uses the name “Quinlan“ — a nod to Charles M. Quinlan, mostly identified with Cat-Man, which he drew.
Writing credited to Jack Grogan. From Cat-Man Comics #23 (1944):
And, once again, someone escapes injury in a crash by exiting a vehicle at the last instant. I see that a lot in juvenile fiction. My favorite example is when occupants hop from a falling autogyro in an episode of The Whispering Shadow, but I think that I perhaps first saw it in leaps from a car in an episode of King of the Rocket Men.
ReplyDelete(I have no idea when you are going to get your rocket belt.)
This one needed some editing! I like the visuals, Lady Satan was striking, and her powers were interesting, but making her the then un-announced wife of the factory owner (and then knocking off her mask in a panel so small you couldn't see her real face, as if it mattered) and then the old "show don't tell" last page text reveal.
ReplyDeleteHow did the Hood survive the electrical charge?
Daniel, last car wreck I was in, which totaled my car and fractured my sternum, happened so fast I didn't realize I had been in an accident until the airbag deflated.
ReplyDeleteI still know people who, despite the law and common sense, refuse to wear seat belts. Maybe they can point to this panel of the major jumping clear of a car hitting a pole, and say, "See! That's the reason I don't strap myself in!"
Brian, my eyes are getting bad! Until you mentioned it I didn't realize Lady Satan was wearing a mask. I was more interested in the final panel where Ray, the caricature of the publisher, Ray (or Rae) Herman, was saying, "What a man!" I wonder if that's how employees of Ms Herman wished she viewed them...?
ReplyDeleteFrom that too-small-to-be-seen-by-aging-eyeballs glimpse of Lady Satan sans mask, I think she looked better with the mask on.