Number 2347: The zoo of the future

The Boy Commandos, created by Simon and Kirby during World War II, were popular enough during the 1940s that they had their own comic book, and also appeared in DC’s World’s Finest and Detective Comics. Like a lot of other comic book characters, they were gone by the end of the decade. They were probably victims of both shrinking comic books for their World’s Finest and Detective Comics appearances, and a shrinking readership of their solo comic. I like the series, but can be impatient with the “boy” angle. They were used for the purposes of making the characters feed into a child’s fantasy of being involved in the war effort, not to mention fighting crime, or even flying in a spaceship.

This is one of those spaceship stories. I like science fiction, and tend to be attracted more to the rockets and futuristic (for the 1940s, that is) costumes. Rip Carter, the adult male of the group, and the boys are kidnapped and sent 20,000 years in the future to help those future people collect zoo animals. Why? Well, they have their reasons, but at the end of the story Rip and the boys are back into their regular lives. We do find out, lest we wondered, that Rip Carter does like adult women.

“The Zoo of the Future” is from Boy Commandos #28 (1948). Art is credited to Curt Swan and John Fischetti. Fischetti is listed with a question mark, since the Grand Comics Base is not sure.