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Monday, November 25, 2019

Number 2417: Black X and the suicide bombers

Black X, master of espionage, decides to resign after falling in love with Madam Doom. Apparently he is so besotted he ignores the fact that Madam Doom’s name describes her. Madam Doom has developed a suicide bomb which works by drinking a liquid, causing the drinker to go out in a big explosion. It is less trouble...no bulky dynamite vests for Madam Doom.

Black X is a spy whose job is known to his enemies. When he meets Madam Doom in a nightclub she asks, “...is it true that you have resigned from the espionage?” Instead of asking where she got her information Black X dances with her.

Will Eisner created Black X, and according to the Grand Comics Database he scripted the story. It looks like one of his Spirit stories, but GCD credits artist Dan Zolnerowich with pencils and inks.

“The Legion of Living Bombs” is from Smash Comics #14 (1940).










2 comments:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Another story with so many points of absurdity that to list them would seem itself absurd, and to object to any of them still more absurd.

But the art is beautiful; and, yes, I love the coloring, though it too is absurd.

I notice that a lot of early golden-age comic book stories, and especially amongst those from the Eisner-Iger studio, depict places that look like the sets of the expressionistic fantastic cinema of the late '20s and of the early '30s. One could easily imagine Brigitte Helm slinking up or down those steps.

Darci said...

This is Madam Doom's 4th appearance with X, but the PDSH site notes that after these events the romantic tension between the two disappeared.