Number 2260: The Claw, one-man chain gang

Ah me...I showed the prior chapter of this story last August. If anyone thought I was building suspense, it was more that I just forgot. If curious, you may swing back to August 22, 2018 and see the Claw from Pappy’s #2223.

The Claw, big fellow that he is, is held captive with a large chain. He gets slipped some pills (you know they are for him because the name “The Claw” is on the pillbox) and is mysteriously free of the chains. What th--?! At the risk of spoiling it for you, the mystery of the disappearing chains is not solved, but we are told in the last panel that police are looking for “the Orientals who dropped mysterious pills into [the Claw’s] mouth — making his escape possible!”

Another cliffhanger. Now I must find Daredevil Comics #5 and continue the story. If I were you I would not hold my breath waiting, because when it comes to this blog and my memory, nothing is as certain as uncertainty.

Byline credit for Bob Wood, published in Daredevil Comics #4 (1941).

Number 2223: The Claw: Mad monster of hate!

By request, the follow-up to the Claw story I presented last month in Pappy’s Number 2204. The Claw continues his rampage in America, and we find out something about the monstrously large villain (as in the preceding story, misspelled “villian”): his huge lungs need 50 times the amount of oxygen that us regular-size people need. Maybe that is how he keeps going, by sucking all the air out of the room.

The story is from Daredevil Comics #3 (1941), published by Lev Gleason, and edited by Charles Biro, who kept his own readers breathless from all of the action and activity of these early comic books. The story is signed by Bob Wood, who became his co-editor on titles like Boy Comics and Crime Does Not Pay.

Number 2204: The Claw; the missing Dick!

Dick Hopkins is one of 2000 soldiers — a whole troop-train full — falling prey to the “World’s Worst Villian” [sic]. Said villian, errrr, I mean villain,* is the Claw, another in a long line of sinister, murderous “Orientals” falling into the genre called the Yellow Peril, a whole bunch of racist pulp literature, movies, et al, popular for far too long. The most (in)famous example would be Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu.

At 25 feet tall the Claw stands out, yet is allowed to roam the American landscape with what looks like hundreds of henchmen, without being caught by the American military. In these stories it is usually a lone white man, in this case Dick Hopkin’s brother, Bill, who defeats the Claw and his army, if only until the next issue.

Signed by artist/co-editor Bob Wood, and originally published in Daredevil Comics #2 (1941).

*Weird also misspelled “wierd.”

Number 2050: Zounds! The Claw!

Credit goes to Jack Cole for creating the Claw, the 25-foot “Yellow Peril” monster from Silver Streak Comics, and then Daredevil Comics. When Cole created a character he did not go half way. The Claw was a monster in size, and in every other way, also.

This story, from Daredevil Comics #10 (1942), features the Claw’s nemesis, the Ghost. The Ghost is pilot Brad Hendricks, who flies a fancy plane with a big skull emblem on the front. Like the Ghost’s mask, the skull is stylized with long piano-key teeth. I guess if he couldn’t scare his enemies, he could take 'em when they were laughing at his mask. Regardless, while the Claw went on for years yet to come, the Ghost disappeared, apparently forever, after Daredevil Comics #20.

I don’t think I am spoiling anything by telling you the story ends with the Claw tied up, a prisoner on a ship. It promises to be continued in the next issue, but the story in the next issue has the Claw in a different place wreaking havoc. There is often no explanation for the way they did things in those early days of the comics, except maybe some editor didn’t care, or screwed up. I showed the story from Daredevil #11 just over 10 years ago. You can go to the link below.

Art (presumably) by Bob Wood, who created the Ghost.

From Pappy’s early days. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1776: Jack Cole pulls out the stops

I can’t say enough about this Claw vs Daredevil story, from Silver Streak #7 (1941). I can’t say enough, and I’ll try not to say too much (a problem with me, once I get started).

This is a Jack Cole masterpiece of style, which could veer from the placid and bucolic (page 3) to the Seventh Circle of Hell, represented by the depictions of the Claw’s realm on the next two pages. Cole, who was at heart a funny-pictures kind of cartoonist, used that comic exaggeration to great effect, even when it concerned more “serious” subject matter. (I use the word “serious” guardedly...none of this mayhem can be taken seriously.)

Different artists working for the Lev Gleason company drew and wrote the Claw stories for the length of his villainous career within the pages of Silver Streak and later Daredevil Comics. But, in my opinion, none of the artists had the flair for the cartoon-grotesque of such a comic book creation as did Cole. When he applied his considerable creativity to any feature, no one could top him.