Number 2513: “Hup! Toop! Thrip! Four!” Soldier ants are marching!

It’s April, and time for the appearance of insects, without whom I would not know it was spring (I don’t get out much), when ants begin their annual invasion. I am not fond of ants making my home a residence, so I have my ways of getting rid of them. What if, though, the ants were as big as a human, and could think. Not only think, but say things like, “O antmen! It is time for your first test! Go forth this night and try your new power! Kill the hated mortals! KILL!”

My usual ant traps would not work with man-sized soldier ants. What I may have to depend on is the solution to get rid of those giant ants in the story. Personally, I had not heard of an enemy of soldier ants, but it is right here.

The artists who soldiered on by drawing this tale, are listed as Ken Bald ? (which means the Grand Comics Database is guessing) for the cover. Dick Beck and George Klein are credited for the artwork on “The Ant Master!” It is from ACG’s Forbidden Worlds #21 (1953).

Number 1359: Boyoboy! The Boy Commandos

We’re in day three of our “Boyoboy! Week,” where we’re celebrating those kid-gang comic book heroes of the past. Today, the Boy Commandos, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby after they slipped the tether at Timely Comics, then moved to DC. The Boy Commandos were created as a wartime group but lasted until 1949. While they were popular they had their own title, and appeared also in Detective Comics and World’s Finest Comics.

Even during their wartime days the stories occasionally slipped into fantasy and science fiction, and so it is with “The Triumph of William Tell” from Boy Commandos #30 (1948). The Grand Comics Database credits the penciling to John Severin and the inking to George Klein? (Question mark means they’re not sure.)

Number 1043


The monsters that weren't


Halloween is tomorrow, so I have a couple of Halloween-style stories today from DC; kind of a trick, or a treat, depending on your point of view. In House Of Mystery the stories, which start out looking supernatural, usually turn out to have a "logical" explanation. The monsters usually turned out to be not what they looked like.

A couple of examples are "The Mark of X," from HOM #2, 1952. "X" is the creation of a writer that appears to have come to life. "X" reminds me of the monster from a Bugs Bunny cartoon:



The story is drawn by Curt Swan* and George Klein. "The Weirdest Museum in the World," drawn by Bob Brown, is from HOM #10, 1953. It starts out looking like a werewolf story.

There's nothing wrong with these stories, but I wonder if readers of the time felt cheated by them being "fake" supernatural. House Of Mystery apparently sold well, so perhaps not.















*I showed four more of these tales by Swan in Pappy's #757.

Number 358


All-American Miss America


I got these scans off the Internet a few years ago. There was a website devoted to showing Timely Miss America stories. Fortunately, I downloaded the scans from the net and saved them on disk. I went looking for the site recently and couldn't find it. If it's still out there please tell me.

In the meantime, while we're waiting to hear, enjoy this topnotch stuff from Miss America Comics #1 (and only), from 1944. There is some controversy on the artwork; the majority consensus says it's by Ken Bald with George Klein on inks. But the editor at the time, Vince Fago, said it was by an animation friend of his, Pauline Loth. So who did it? The ones the pundits say, or the one the editor said? Sheesh. Questions, questions...do I look like I was there?

Whoever did it, it's great stuff. I'm surprised it only went one issue, but then the character appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics for several years as a back-up.