Number 1924: What is Mad Hatter mad about?

The Mad Hatter was a costumed hero, non-super powered, who appeared in two issues of a self-titled comic in late 1945, early 1946. He shared his comic with some kiddie characters, Danny the Demon and Freddy Firefly, which is to me an indication his first issue was thrown together with some existing inventory. (So thrown together that the cover promoted a story that didn’t show up until issue #2.)

Although the publisher in the indicia is listed as O.W. Comics Corp., there was some connection to EC Comics and Maxwell Gaines. Danny the Demon and Freddy Firefly also showed up in some early EC Comics. Whatever the connection it didn’t last long.

By the end of the war superheroes were going out of vogue, and the push was on to find new genres. Mad Hatter isn’t a bad character or comic...just more of a curiosity, created and put on the newsstands at the wrong time. Unless, if my theory of existing inventory is true, two issues may have been all that were intended to be published.

Writing is credited by the GCD to Bill Woolfolk, but artists listed in their credits included Mort Leav and John Giunta. The art for “A Date With the Mad Hatter” isn”t specifically credited.

From Mad Hatter #1 (1946):

Another Mad Hatter story, this time from issue #2. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1438: Mad Hatter shares the wealth

Mad Hatter was a short-lived comic, two issues, published in 1946. Superheroes were not having an easy go of it in the postwar comic book era, and Mad Hatter was no exception. The premise of the character, as shown here, isn’t much different than many others. A guy dresses up in panties and a cape and goes about fighting crime. The advantage to the strip, if there is one, is the creative team of William Woolfolk for the script, and Mort Leav for the art. Woolfolk once claimed he was the highest paid comic book writer of the 1940s, and I’ll take him at his word. Leav spent the latter 1940s drawing crime, western and romance comics for publisher Rae Herman.

I wonder if anyone noticed that the Golden City is a communist paradise? As De Leon, ancestor of the Spanish explorer who found it claims, “Our wealth belongs to all! From each we ask only what he can give and to each we grant whatever he may need!”

From Mad Hatter #2 (1946):