Number 2583: John Lee survived the gallows

Englishman John Lee, often called John “Babbacombe” Lee, was sentenced to death and met the hangman in 1885. The gallows trap door did not open, and after three attempts to hang the murderer, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment.

The version of John Lee, surviving execution as told in Crime Does Not Pay #26 (1943), has the basic story of Lee fairly straight, but the ending is fanciful. The problem is that Lee’s further fate, after prison is mostly unknown. Some say his fate brought him to the United States after deserting his family in England, the rotter! Lee is purported to have emigrated after deserting his wife and children. It makes for a good story, anyway, which makes it sound a lot like folklore.

Art by Dick Briefer.

Number 2440: Tom Mix and a hearty breakfast

Ralston-Purina made animal food, and also made breakfast cereal. Both the animal food division and the breakfast cereal division have been sold a few times, and I’m not really interested in all that. I am interested in Ralston-Purina’s affiliation with Western movie star Tom Mix. A radio show based on Mix was sponsored by Ralston-Purina, and in 1940 they produced a comic book version of Mix. For two box tops from Ralston Purina cereal a fan could get the comic book in the mail! That’s worth buying a couple of boxes of cereal, I guess. The first issue came out in 1940, and I have the whole issue here.

It looks like some thought (and hard work) went into it. It is a top-notch comic book for 1940. The artwork, by Fred Meagher (pronounced “Mar”) for the Tom Mix stories is excellent. It looks like the issue may have been produced with help from Charles Biro (Daredevil, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, et al.) Biro signed one of the stories. There are also a couple of racial caricatures of a type sadly common 80 years ago, so be aware.

Tom Mix Comics had nine issues, then three more as Tom Mix Commandos Comics, switching to a wartime theme. The partnership with Tom Mix ended there, although Tom Mix had nothing to do with it, as he was deceased. He died in 1940 on an Arizona road when he crashed his 1937 Cord. The Tom Mix business continued without Tom Mix. Other actors had been portraying Mix on the radio show. The posthumous heroics of Tom Mix continued with a series of stories in a couple of Fawcett’s anthology comics, Master Comics and Western Heroes, as well as his own title for 61 issues, from 1948 until Fawcett ended its comic book line in 1953.

Number 2408: Crimebuster busts Iron Jaw

“C.B. (as Crimebuster was usually addressed) didn't have super powers. His costume consisted of a hockey uniform, plus a cape he'd grabbed almost as an afterthought. He wore a mask only on the cover of his first issue — he had a secret identity, but never used it. His sidekick was nothing but a small monkey. ” Quoting Toonopedia.

Crimebuster seemed like a smart young man, clever and agile enough to escape Nazi saboteurs, crime bosses, hitmen, and even the worst villain of all, Iron Jaw. Iron Jaw is in this story from Boy Comics #10 (1943) with Crimebuster, in another battle with his Nazi foe. As Don Markstein explained in his Toonopedia entry, Iron Jaw, who began his career in Boy Comics #3, was “killed” in Boy Comics #15 but returned years later in Boy #60.

I found the cover on Heritage Auctions. It shows how good editor Charles Biro was at making his comics stand out on magazine racks crowded with comic books.