Number 2569: Halloween treat from Powell and Nostrand

Halloween is this weekend, on Sunday. More candy treats, kids! Get those cavities young! Halloween candy will rot your teeth, just as surely as old horror comics will rot your mind.

But speaking of treats, we have two stories from 1953 Harvey Comics today. It is interesting to me that artist Howard Nostrand was an assistant to Bob Powell, and also did solo work. I read years ago in a fanzine that someone was mistaking Nostrand for artist Jack Davis. It's apparent, in my opinion, that the aforementioned fanzine writer did not see that Nostrand's inking style, while “borrowed” from Davis, the artist had his own drawing style under the Davis-like inking.

In the pre-internet days we had to depend on the printed word, so we had to take the bad information along with the good. Bill Spicer's superb Graphic Story, Magazine #16 (1974) was good. He had an interview with Nostrand. That is where I found out the artist's identity. And the cover by Howard Nostrand is beautiful, in a horror comics kind of way, that is.
 

“Big Joke” is by Powell, and was originally published in Tomb of Terror #10 (1953), and “The Blonde Man” was published in Black Cat #46 (1953). I found scans of the original art from Heritage Auctions (and thanks again to Heritage for such sharp scans). I had the scans in a file called “Comic Art 2005,” which is a year before I began this blog.

Number 2536: Doc and Nick

 

The Street & Smith publishing company was founded in 1855 by Francis Scott Street and Francis Shubael Smith. Over the years they published low cost periodicals and pulp magazines. The company did well for itself with characters like The Shadow, Doc Savage, and Nick Carter. Both The Shadow and Doc Savage were created in the Depression years of the 1930s, but Nick Carter was created in 1886. The Street and Smith comic book line was published from 1940-1949, featuring The Shadow, and in the case of today’s postings, stories featuring other famous characters, Nick Carter and Doc Savage. Besides the Shadow, Nick Carter also had a radio program, as you can see by the ads plopped into the story.

Despite the artwork of Bob Powell and his assistants, I think Street & Smith didn’t do much with Doc Savage and Nick Carter. I wonder if the writer who wrote the scripts even read any of the dime novels or pulp magazines featuring the two characters. 

These two stories, from Shadow Comics Volume 8, Number 9 (whole number 93, 1948) seem like filler, which is how I feel they were conceived. I like the robots in the Doc Savage story, and I like the girl who knows how to throw a punch in Nick Carter. Otherwise it doesn’t appear that Street & Smith was treating such legacy characters, whose dime novel and pulp magazine appearances had helped keep Street & Smith in business for years, with the respect they deserved. Oh well, I can imagine what someone in the editorial office probably said, “it’s only comic books, so who cares?”

 

Number 2508: “I suffered for love!”

 

Julie and Jeff are brother and sister; growing up together they are inseparable, going everywhere together. But then Julie gets to an age where she wants to go on dates with boys, not a brother. Jeff does not take well to Julie’s choices for dates. He acts like a jealous boyfriend. Right away we readers begin to think there is something wrong with this relationship.

The story ends in what I think, to say the least, is an unusual turn of the plot.

This story also brings out your old Pappy’s advice for young women: do not date a man with a pencil thin-mustache. They are always carousers and con men. Be warned!

Art by Bob Powell. From Harvey Comics’ First Love #4 (1949):

Number 2435: If you see a UFO, wave and say hello for me

Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine was retired on December 31, 2019. I fully intended for it to be permanent. It’s now been six months, filled with a whole lot of distractions and things going on, and me, Pappy, twiddling my thumbs while the world we all knew has come crashing in on us. Since this is a worldwide problem I am doing what I have done all my life during troubled times, hide out and hope things get better before getting much worse. To keep myself distracted I went through files of comics I never posted on this blog during its original run. My plan, such as it is, will be to post once a week on Sundays during the summer of 2020, giving you, also, a brief distraction from worldly woes.

First up is a comic book I added to my collection in 1980, Vic Torry and His Flying Saucer, a 1950 one-shot from Fawcett Publications. It is drawn by Bob Powell and his studio, who did their usual excellent job. It was written by Fawcett editor Roy Ald. I am usually not a fan of photographs on comic book covers, but I admit the composite cover is eye-catching.

As always, I have a few gripes, and one is how did Vic get his girlfriend in on his test flight of a new jet aircraft.

Ultimately, the handsome American and his beautiful blonde girlfriend triumph. Oops, was that a spoiler? Sorry.

As a lifelong comic book, novels and movie fan, it feels to me that what we are all experiencing now is science fiction, but it’s real science, no fiction. My wish is that you and your loved ones are well. My hope is that we all survive the pandemic and come out on the other side to rebuild our lives, and the whole planet, if possible. Be smart, and above all, be safe.