Number 2424: Lance Lewis and the overgrown amoebas

I think I mentioned once that in the early '70s upon first acquiring some Nedor comics for their Alex Schomburg covers, I was somewhat appalled by the contents, with what I thought were dopey characters and dopey stories. I've read so many comic books since then that I am practically immune to that sort of thing, which means, I suppose, that I am becoming de-sensitized to dopeyness. In those long ago days Lance Lewis was one of the characters I thought to be below my dignity as a “mature” comic book connoisseur to be reading. How things have changed.

Lance didn’t last for long in comic books. He was in two issues of Mystery Comics, and nine issues of Startling Comics.

In its listing for Lance Lewis, Space Detective, Public Domain Super Heroes includes this:

“The Nedor comics were renewed by Popular Library, which was eventually bought out by Fawcett Books. When Fawcett went out of business, Popular Library was sold to Warner Bros. A number of different publishers, however, are currently/have been using these characters without any lawsuits from Warner Bros., so any action over them is (probably) unlikely. They are still, however, ‘use at your own risk’ characters.”

I admire those comic book fans who take the time to look up information like the above. I understand why someone would modernize a public domain hero for their own character, but much of the charm for me in the original is that it comes across as naïve and silly, and of its time.

From Mystery Comics #4 (last issue, 1944). Grand Comics Database doesn’t list an artist, but art spotter extraordinaire Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr says it is Bob Oksner, and I agree.

Number 2035: Lance Lewis battles Mr Potato Head

Lance Lewis, Space Detective, was born of the Buck Rogers tradition. In this untitled adventure he and his girlfriend, Marna, zip off to Mercury (just like a trip to the corner grocery is the impression given by the old school of science fiction) to track down a force dragging both Venus and Earth into the sun.

That is when Lance and Marna meet the Mercurians, who look a lot like Mr Potato Head. You remember Mr Potato Head, don’t you? He was invented in 1952, but now is much improved from my childhood. My parents bought me the parts, and then Mom handed me a real potato to play with. Oh, what joy...a 'tater rotting in your hand after a couple of days of play time. (Digression over.)

Artist Bob Oksner, who eventually went to work for DC Comics, could draw funny. Adventures of Bob Hope and Adventures of Jerry Lewis — no relation to Lance — stand out for me. It looks like he had fun with the Sun King of the story, making him as silly as possible. It is the mustache that does it for me.

The story is from Startling Comics #47 (1947), and the bondage cover is by Alex Schomburg.