Number 2575: “...and a parrot called Snoopy”

Twilight was a short-lived character, and as a guess perhaps Twilight failed because of his costume. Furry and brown. It’s unusual, but also not colorful enough for super hero fans of the era.

How many characters of the early war years were in the armed services, and when the enemy struck the home front, dropped their uniforms for a (usually) colorful, masked character? Twilight, in that way, is not very original, but his parrot, named “Snoopy,” is colorful, at least.

Artist John Cassone did his usual superb job on the drawing. From Clue Comics #3 (1943).

Number 2511: Those murdering Fleagles

Jack Kirby did a short history of the infamous Fleagle Gang, bank robbers. They robbed a bank in Lamar, Colorado, in 1928, and it's where their life of crime began to catch up with them. The story hits the high notes of the bank robbery and aftermath and is fairly accurate judging by other sources I have read of the Fleagles’ history. A gang member was shot in the jaw by the bank president as the bank was being robbed. Later, a doctor was called to treat the wounded man. Apparently the treacherous Fleagles' solution for not having health insurance was to kill the doctor when his usefulness was over.

Jack Kirby is credited with the artwork, but no writer is given. The 1947 issue of Hillman Publishing’s Clue Comics (Volume 2, Number 3, whole number 15), was the last issue.

 

 

Hillman’s “obscene” crime

I have been re-reading Greg Theakston’s Complete Jack Kirby books. In a volume on Kirby’s output in June-August 1947, several crime comics stories by Kirby and Simon are shown. A point Theakston made about Hillman Publishing, where Kirby/Simon art was published for a time after World War II, was that in 1940 a newsdealer who carried a Hillman black and white magazine, Headquarters Detective, was raided by police and all copies of the magazine confiscated. There was a law in several cities, including New York, that publications devoted exclusively to crime were considered obscene. The newsdealer went to jail, and it took a Supreme Court ruling in 1947 that there was uniform freedom of the press, even for publications that were devoted to lurid crime stories.

Theakston made a claim I have never before heard: “By 1947, one of every three periodicals sold in the United States was a comic book. This is an important statistic to consider when examining the war against comics.” Theakston then added, “Who stood to benefit by the condemnation of the comic art form? Using ‘follow the money’ logic we can dismiss the actions of mothers and fathers, teachers and librarians. The real enemies of the comics were the other media. Comics had cut deeply into the sales of movies, magazines and newspapers.”

Theakston did not use any footnotes to guide us to specific evidence his claim was true. I know comic books were big sellers, but were they one third of all American periodical sales? That I don’t know.

Sadly, Greg Theakston is not here to ask. He died in 2019, at age 65.
 

Number 2342: Face-to-face with Micro-Face

Micro-Face was an unusual hero with a gimmick: Among other tricks, he could turn his voice into a megaphone. Public Domain Super Heroes has this to say about Micro-Face: “Tom Wood was a factory worker and a failed inventor. Years ago, he invented a “Micro-Mask“ — a full-face mask that contained a built-in microphone (which allowed hm to amplify and throw his voice), a hearing amplifier, and “photoelectric lenses” that gave him x-ray vision. He could also attach telephone wires to his mask to make phone calls. Tom offered the invention to the U.S. government, only to be turned down.

When his brother, Jim Wood, was shot by gunfire of gangsters, Tom promised to avenge his death.To that end, he decided to use his invention and an old masquerade costume to costumed crime-fighter known as Micro-Face.”

Hmmm. “Photoelectric lenses that gave him x-ray vision”? “Attach telephone wires to his mask to make phone calls”? Those U.S. government guys were saps to turn those inventions down!

Micro-Face appeared in 10 of the 15 issues of Clue Comics from Hillman publishing. The character was created and drawn by Allen Ulmer. Ulmer worked in comic books for several years, but there are also photos of some of his fine art online. According to Rogallery.com Ulmer was born in 1922 and died in 1990.

The story is from Clue Comics #2 (1943):

Number 2255: Zippo, the crimefighter on wheels

Zippo, the crime-fighter who has wheels attached to his ankles and gets his mobility from the power of compressed air, was another small-time superhero, this time in eight issues of Hillman’s Clue Comics. When he was introduced in 1943 superheroes had mostly run their course, and a hero like Zippo probably didn’t make any comic book fan’s heart pound, so off he sped into oblivion on his carborundum wheels.

Zippo’s secret identity was detective Joe Blair. Did the creator of Zippo know that a real-life Joe Blair was a comic book writer? Maybe it was an inside joke. Also, so you know that I know, Zippo is the brand-name of a metallic cigarette lighter that can be carried in one’s pocket. My dad used a Zippo in World War II. I am sure many GIs knew what a Zippo was when they bought Clue Comics.

This Zippo story is drawn by longtime comics journeyman, Tony DiPreta. DiPreta drew comic books and comic strips until his retirement. DiPreta could draw straight superheroes (like Zippo), funny animals, teenage, crime comics like Crime Does Not Pay, and later on he drew the comic strip, Rex Morgan M.D. I first saw his signed work on a filler strip, “Vinnie the Vet,” in Beetle Bailey comic books. At the time I thought his art looked like that of Beetle Bailey’s creator, Mort Walker.  He was one of those guys who could draw in different styles, handy for comic books, which were known to change genres overnight. Tony DiPreta, born in 1921, died in 2010 at age 88.

This is Zippo’s second adventure, from Clue Comics #2 (1943).

Number 2248: Hero and the Porcupine

Twilight is another character from the moldering archives of old comic books. He appeared in Hillman’s Clue Comics #’s 1-5, 7-9, and then like a lot of masked crimefighters, was gone. I can't say I like his costume; the color is what I’ve heard described as “sh-t-brindle brown.” In this story he is up against a character called The Porcupine, which may be one of the more unusual villains I have seen. And yes, Porkie (as Twilight calls him in one panel), shoots quills.

Twilight is credited by Public Domain Super Heroes and Grand Comics Database as being created and drawn by John Cassone. Comic art spotter extraordinaire Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr also claims in a note with the online scans that Reed Crandall worked with Cassone on the story. I see figures that look like Crandall’s...and I know Cassone and Crandall both worked for early Quality Comics. The only biographical information I can find on Cassone is in an obituary published online that gives his birth year as 1923, and his death in 2008, making him 85 when he died. He would have been about 20 when this story, and his stories of the sexy Black Angel, were published in Air Fighters Comics, also published by Hillman. You can find a link to a Black Angel story below.

There is also a talking parrot who goes around with Twilight. Talking animals weren’t common, like the underage boys who were sidekicks of superheroes, but I have also seen some other non-human sidekicks.

From Clue Comics Vol. 1 No. 2 (1943).

Here is a story by John Cassone of the Black Angel. It is from Air Fighters Comics #3. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 2061: Get outta my face, Micro-Face

Micro-Face, created by Al Ulmer for Hillman’s Clue Comics, was yet another short-lived costumed, gimmicky hero of the World War II era. Here's what Public Domain Superheroes has to say about Micro-Face:

“Tom Wood was a factory worker and a failed inventor. Years ago, he invented a "Micro-Mask" - a full-face mask that contained a built-in microphone (which allowed hm to amplify and throw his voice), a hearing amplifier, and ‘photoelectric lenses’ that gave him x-ray vision. He could also attach telephone wires to his mask to make phone calls.” The desire to carry a telephone on one’s person has come true.

I admit to being intrigued by the character’s name, originally picturing him as being along the lines of a Dick Tracy villain, with a tiny face planted on a normal-sized head. Not so.

Both Micro-Face’s name and his powers are at least unusual.

I couldn’t resist showing a panel of Micro-Face tweeting (above). “Tweet” is a word that in our era has taken a new meaning.

From Clue Comics #2 (1943). Signed by Ulmer in the last panel.