Number 2139: Professor Memory forgets

Professor Memory has a special job, but unfortunately can’t remember what it is. Also unfortunate is how much Professor Memory’s memory problems remind me of...me.

What was a I saying? I remember: Professor Memory. He is helped by Green Lantern and GL’s little buddy, Doiby Dickles. Since we have featured some superheroes with boy sidekicks recently, along with my snarky comments, it is a relief to tell you that Doiby is an adult. Or, presumably so. He is a taxi driver and a good guy, except for mangling the English language. More snarky comments on dialect-writing are in order, but offhand I can’t remember any.

The story, from Comic Cavalcade #10 (1945) is from the period when publisher Maxwell Gaines decided to pull his comic book line, All American Comics, away from DC Comics. Later, as the story goes — if I remember it correctly, and I believe I do — Gaines sold his business, and his paper ration, to DC Comics. The war ended shortly thereafter and Gaines made enough to start another company, Educational Comics (EC), which eventually became the infamous Entertaining Comics (EC), with the late Mr Gaines’s son, William (Bill) Gaines) in the publisher’s chair.

The story is drawn by Jon Chester Kozlak, whose comic book career was mainly for DC in the forties. Also according to the Grand Comics Database, the script is by Alfred Bester. He later became a top-selling science fiction author who did classic novels like The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man.

Here is another tale of Green Lantern and Doiby, originally posted in 2012. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 2052: Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles go to a costume party

The original (if you prefer, “Earth Two”) version of Green Lantern puts on a costume over his GL costume for a party. He and his dumpy little buddy, Doiby Dickles, take on a villain from the future who landed in America in the 1940s after aiming for another time. Knodar, the villain, is the world’s last criminal! Also the dumbest for missing his time target. (Not much smarter are the future people who put the last criminal in a museum jail, rather than a real prison.)

Speaking of time, Green Lantern’s time as a forties superhero was coming to a close. With this issue, All-American Comics #100 (1948), Green Lantern was replaced on the cover by the Western hero, Johnny Thunder. A couple of issues later, All-American Western would replace the venerable flagship title of Maxwell Charles Gaines’ original comic book line, in partnership with DC Comics. Green Lantern would go on until 1949 with his own title, and until 1951 in All Star Comics, but after that would disappear until the new (if you prefer, “Earth One”) version would appear in 1959. Sheldon Mayer, who had been editor, quit that position to go back to drawing. Issue #100 was the first by editor Julius Schwartz, and the powers-that-be at DC thought some changes in the line-up were in order.

Credits by the Grand Comics Database have John Broome as writer, and Irwin Hasen the artist.

Number 1370: Doiby’s ruint derby

Paul Reinman was an American comic book journeyman who was born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. at a young age. He worked in comics from at least the early forties to the mid-seventies. His work is instantly recognizable, and he drew thousands of pages over a long career.

Green Lantern was one of the features he worked on during his time at DC in the 1940s. This entertaining story, which takes place in the time of King Arthur, is a pretty good example of the DC superheroes of the era whose time ended in 1949, only to be revived in different form about ten years later. By then Reinman was long gone from DC, working at Marvel, ACG and Archie. Reinman died in 1988, at age 78.

Doiby Dickles was Green Lantern’s sidekick, supposed comic relief. I find the character annoying, like I did the Three Stooges knockoffs who showed up with The Flash in his comics. I suppose they were there so the main character had someone to talk to, like Woozy Winks in the Plastic Man stories. The difference was Woozy Winks was actually funny.

From All-American Comics #72 (1946):

Number 1081


"Youse don't haveta encourich me, Lantrin!"


Journeyman artist Paul Reinman's work is all over the history of comics, from 1940 until the mid-1970s. His work shows up at many comic book companies, including Atlas/Marvel, ACG, and Archie Comics. It was at Archie that he and writer Jerry Siegel created the "Mighty Heroes" superhero comics, featuring characters from that company's 1940's past as MLJ Comics, including Black Hood, the Web, Steel Sterling and others.

Reinman was doing superhero comics in the 1940s at DC, where he had a longtime association with Green Lantern. This story, from All-American Comics #69, was published in 1945 under the All-American logo, when founder M. C. Gaines broke off his association with DC Comics. DC bought him out and continued his popular features.

Comedy sidekicks were popular in that era, and for Green Lantern it was the English language-mangling New York cabbie, Doiby Dickles.

Reinman died in 1988, a few weeks after his 78th birthday.