Number 1797: Phantom Lady, In the wrong place at the right time

Sandra Knight, secret identity of the Phantom Lady, finds herself on a subway platform with a maniac called the Subway Killer. How lucky is that? What an amazing coincidence. (Heavy sarcasm.) Unfortunately, such coincidences are part and parcel of comics. The writers had to get to the action in as short a time as possible. Anyway, as happens to males in these types of stories, Sandra’s boyfriend takes the maniac’s cane upside his head. To chase the villain of course Sandra takes off her everyday clothes to expose herself as the exhibitionist Phantom Lady.

We never find out anything about the maniac, except he pushes girls off subway platforms, and dies in a sort of justice administered by our heroine.

It is from Fox’s All Top Comics #12 (1948). The young guys who bought this comic book also got Rulah, Jo-Jo the Congo King, and Blue Beetle, and assorted females in various states of undress.

Number 1743: The jungle goddess

I feel as knocked on the head as Rulah, Jungle Goddess, in this panel from “The Ravishing Rustler.” I would have sworn on a stack of Fox Features comic books that I had shown a story or two featuring the character...but, in checking back in my files I have not. This is the first.

Huh.

Anyway, in the fantasy jungle that appeared in comics featuring Tarzan, Sheena, Lorna, Jo-Jo Congo King, and now Rulah, there are a whole bunch of white people who cavort about in the forests, barefoot and near-naked, protecting the natives and generally being the law and order in lawless places. Who can blame me for getting confused on my jungle heroines?

Rulah sports a brief two-piece outfit, so does her adversary, the “ravishing rustler” of the story’s title — an “American villainess,” says Rulah — who is rustling native cattle and selling them on the European black market. Remember your history lessons, Pappy readers...after World War II there were shortages of everything, including meat. Of comic book jungle people there were apparently no shortages.

This is a story done by the Jerry Iger shop. It is from Fox’s All Top Comics #13 (1948).

Number 1634: Boys in blue: Blue Beetle

We have yet another theme week; three stories this week featuring blue-clad heroes. (Well, one of them actually has “black” in his name, but his uniform is blue. You’ll see why on Wednesday.)

First up, Blue Beetle, who has a long history in comics for a character who bounced around in different titles over different eras, eventually appearing in the sixties in the more-than-capable hands of Steve Ditko (the high-water mark of Blue Beetle for me). But here Blue Beetle is featured in an anthology comic from Fox, co-starring with Phantom Lady, Rulah the Jungle Goddess and Jo-Jo the Congo King. Blue Beetle doesn’t even merit a mention on the cover. But what interested me about this installment is the art. It's by Jack Kamen, who turned out reams of work for the Iger Shop before landing a position at EC Comics. Personally, I enjoy these early stories by Kamen. This one has action and some cheesecake, something Fox was marketing despite objection from the folks who were upset about comics featuring such material.

From All Top Comics #13 (1948):