Number 2510: The “mister-y” of Mr Justice:

Mr Justice...hmmm. That name just doesn’t sound right, considering the origin story of Mr Justice has him a ghost of Prince James of England. Prince James was trapped in a castle, and died. The castle was dismantled and sent to America to be rebuilt. Mr Justice was “born” after a German U-Boat sank the transport ship. Beside wondering about the wisdom of putting a heavy load of stones and building materials on a ship during wartime, shouldn’t Mr Justice to changed to Prince Justice?

Mr Justice isn’t a bad character, as supernatural characters go, and my problem with him being a “mister” changed somewhat when I read the Wikipedia origin of the word “mister:” 

“Mr. (US) or Mr (UK), is a commonly used English honorific for men under the rank of knighthood. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier forms of master, as the equivalent female titles Mrs, Miss, and Ms all derived from earlier forms of mistress.” 

Apparently Mr Justice got a royal demotion, going from prince to mister, but if he can accept that, then so can I.

Script is by Joe Blair, and art by Sam Cooper. From MLJ’s Jackpot #6 (1942):

Number 2353: Mr Justice and the big Green Ghoul

Don Markstein’s Toonopedia tells us about Mr Justice:

“The Royal Wraith, as Mr. Justice was sometimes called, was Prince James of England, lured to his death by Scottish rebels in the year 1040. He murdered them back, but afterward, his destiny thwarted (according to an unseen voice), his spirit was trapped in the castle where all this took place. In 1940, the castle was dismantled and shipped to America, where it was to be re-assembled, but the ship carrying it was sunk by a Nazi submarine. James's spirit was thus released into the modern world. He then re-assumed corporeal form, took on the ‘Mr. Justice’ monicker, and, love interest being de rigeur for a 1940s superhero, picked up with an American woman named Pat Clark. The story was written by MLJ regular Joe Blair and drawn by Sam Cooper, both of whom stayed with the character through most of his run.”

Don also tells us that Satan is featured in the strip, as he is in this episode. Mr Justice is a supernatural being, which is fine. Despite the hokum surrounding how super heroes are made, most of their origins seem like magic.

This story is from Blue Ribbon Comics #18 (1941).

Number 2157: The Fox goes to a nightclub

The Fox is another costumed hero who has no super powers. He is Paul Patton, a newspaper photographer with a hidden camera hidden in his chest emblem. The first body cam?

MLJ, who published Blue Ribbon Comics #8 (1940), where this story appeared, cut back its roster of costumed and super heroes over time, and became Archie Comics. While this episode of the Fox seems relatively tame, early MLJ had a reputation for rowdiness.

The Fox was gone after the last issue of Blue Ribbon (#22, 1942), not to be seen until the mid-sixties, when Archie Comics resurrected their MLJ heroes.

Artist Irwin Hasen, who went on to draw Green Lantern for DC and in the fifties drew “Dondi,” a popular newspaper strip, was another of those early comic book journeymen. He died in 2015 at age 96.

Number 1993: Who is..the Fox?

The Fox was an athletic costumed character without super powers. Unless you count having a cool costume containing a hidden camera for taking newspaper pictures of bad guys and evildoers. He was invented by writer Joe Blair and artist Irwin Hasen for Blue-Ribbon Comics, an MLJ anthology comic. The Fox, undoubtedly because of that cool costume, has been revived a few times.

Irwin Hasen went from comic books to the long-running newspaper comic strip, Dondi. Hasen died in 2015 at age 96.

This story, which comes from MLJ’s Blue-Ribbon Comics #9 (1941) is the Fox’s fifth appearance. After a time in the forties MLJ superheroes gave way to the inevitable, and were replaced by the teenage antics of Archie and his pals and gals.

Number 1972: Justice for Mr Justice

This is a re-telling of the origin of Mr Justice from the last issue of MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics. Mr Justice, also called the Royal Wraith, was a ghost who apparently discorporated and returned intact in Jackpot Comics #5.

Why was this the last issue of Blue Ribbon Comics? I will guess it was because in 1942 paper rationing was instituted as World War II began for Americans. MLJ, like other publishers, had to trim where they could. Just a guess, mind you.

Joe Blair wrote and Sam Cooper drew this tale. It has a hideous green spectral figure popping out of the splash panel: “the ghost of Rogers,” as the Grand Comics Database explains. MLJ was still in its wilder phase, which began to tone itself down as they shed themselves of superheroes over a period of time before morphing into Archie Comics.

From Blue Ribbon Comics #22 (1942):

Number 1833: Evil eye

Mr Justice (also referred to as the Royal Wraith) was a supernatural hero who appeared in MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics. This particular story pulls out all the stops, and includes the evil eye, a soul being yanked from a body, Satan making a deal, and Mr Justice confronting Satan himself on the devil's own territory. It is one of the reasons that the early MLJ Comics were popular. They later got into the Archie business, and dropped their lurid fare for a more “wholesome” style.

The story is written by Joe Blair, and drawn by Sam Cooper. The name of the blind soul-seller, Ribo, is an anagram of Biro. Charles Biro worked for MLJ with the same sort of gusto as he did for other comics, particularly Lev Gleason, with Boy Comics, Daredevil, and Crime Does Not Pay. Besides being an inside joke, I see the name assigned to such a sinister and twisted character as a paean of praise for a master of early comics and exploitation.

From Blue Ribbon Comics #19 (1941).