Number 2270: Doc Strange’s big apes made a monkey of me

I'll be damned! I have been took! I have been fooled...hornswoggled! I found the splash panel for “Doc Strange” from America’s Best Comics, and thought it terrific. Two huge apes threatening a hero! But as I read through the story, to my disappointment I found out those apes do not appear. About the best the creators could muster is a weird-looking crocodile, for which the uncredited artist used no reference photos. The story seems typical of  Nedor comic books, where logic and coherence are thrown out in favor of slam bang action panels.

I originally thought Doc Strange was a Doc Savage knockoff, but found he is more Superman than Savage. Since I feel snookered by the splash panel, and out of pique not willing to write any more, I am including Public Domain Super Heroes’ online capsule history of the character. So, take it away, PDSH!*

Origin Doc Strange

“Dr. Hugo Strange was a brilliant scientist who developed a serum called Alosun, a ‘distillate of sun atoms’ in order to ‘defeat crime.’ He spent many years developing it before he decided to field-test it in his first appearance, when he faced off against the Faceless Phantom. Ingestion of this serum gave him superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and invulnerability. Doc Strange was assisted by his sidekick, Mike, and his fiancée, Virginia Thompson.

“Doc Strange didn't have a secret identity and he was usually recognized on the streets of his native city. The city’s mayor occasionally contacted him to request assistance in some case that was beyond the capacities of mundane law enforcement. However, he wasn't as widely known in the greater United States, which allowed him and Mike to travel incognito on several occasions.”

Real Name Dr. Hugo Strange
First Appearance Thrilling Comics #1 (Feb. 1940)

Original Publisher Nedor
Created by Richard E. Hughes and Alexander Kostuk

Golden Age Appearances: America's Best Comics #1-23, 27, Thrilling Comics #1-64

The untitled story is from America’s Best Comics #15 (1945):

*I did a few small edits in the text for grammar purposes, not any factual information.

Number 1821: Asque Miss Masque

Miss Masque came in as regular Nedor superheroes Fighting Yank and Black Terror were on their way out...the heroes of World War II were being replaced by other comic book features. Miss Masque was, as was typical, a bored socialite who put on a sexy red costume with cape, mini-skirt, hat, and mask (or “masque”) and took on the bad guys.

As is also typical of many other masked heroes or heroines, once she donned the mask it seemed beyond the people who knew her best (her aunt, among them) to recognize her.

The Grand Comics Database has some guesses on the artwork, giving us Bob Oksner with a question mark and Paul Gattuso with a question mark for the penciling. I think I can tell based on how Gattuso drew faces and figures in action that it is more likely to be the former, Bob Oksner. Oksner had a way with pretty girls, and went on for the rest of his career, spent at DC Comics, proving it. The GCD also equivocates when choosing an inker, giving us three guesses, including Lin Streeter and Paul Gattuso, along with Oksner.

The cover is by Alex Schomburg, signing himself Xela, who gave Miss Masque a leggy pin-up pose. It is from America’s Best Comics #25 (1948):

Number 1531: Zapped by Pyroman

Despite his name, Pyroman didn’t set the comics world on fire. He appeared in comics published by Nedor (or Better, or Standard), edited by Richard E. Hughes (who stayed on when the publisher became the American Comics Group, known as ACG.) Pyroman, as Dick Martin, was charged up with electricity by being zapped in the electric chair. He got his powers when he survived the execution attempt and was from then on loaded up with electricity. which could be re-charged by grabbing on to live wires, (Kids, do not try that at home.)

The Nedor stories of the era are mainly action, panel after panel of slugging and flying and escaping and — you get the picture. This is no exception. In this tale a mechanical “brain” leads a group of German saboteurs and that’s all it takes for Pyroman to do his electric/magnetic thing for 12 pages.

Artist is unknown by the Grand Comics Database. The story is from America’s Best Comics #6 (1943):

Number 1372: Dastardly drugmaker vs phighting pharmacist!

I give Black Terror some credit for having an unusual secret identity for a costumed hero. He was Bob Benton, a pharmacist. We don’t think of those guys as crime fighters as such. But I knew a pharmacist who wasn't afraid of crooks. He was my former pharmacist, Mark, who was 5'3" and slight of build, and who took off across a parking lot after a man who had just stuck him up for Oxycontin. Mark didn't need a mask or cape; he had a golf club, a flapping white pharmacist's jacket, and righteous anger. He was able to subdue the robber, whose drug habit had apparently left him unable to get far by running. The story made the local news and when I asked Mark about it he said, “When he gave up he asked me, ‘do you think you could give me a half dozen Oxys before I go to jail?’” I’m not sure even Black Terror could have handled the situation better than Mark.

Black Terror, and his young buddy, Tim, get on the bad side of ex-con, drug inventor Sinistro, who has created a drug to bring out the animal in man. My feeling about people with such talents using them for crime has been mentioned in the past. Anyone who could come up with such a drug could make a fortune peddling it to a drug company. It’s better than stealing. It just doesn’t make for good comic books.

From America’s Best Comics #2 (1942):