Number 2056: So beautiful, so psycho

“What mysterious psychological quirk motivated her crimes?” asks the splash panel blurb. To answer the question I would guess Laura, the focus of “The She-Wolf Killer,” is a psychopath. Nowadays psychiatrists would say she has an antisocial personality disorder, but yeah, to me she’s a stone-cold psychopath. In a six page story it takes nearly three before she commits her first killing, but it is easy for her, so she keeps it up until she is shot dead.

This is not a particularly well-written crime story, but it is prettied up considerably by Matt Baker’s artwork. He could turn an evil psychopath into a blonde cheesecake model, so young fellows reading might fantasize about Laura. Nice trick getting her skirt to billow above her knees. It reminds me of his work on Sky Girl in Jumbo Comics. This story is from Weird Adventures #1 (1951), from the small publisher, P.L. Publishing Co., also known as X.L. Publishing. In one of the weirdest things about Weird Adventures, it has two indicias, one for X.L., and one for P.L.

Number 1907: Agent of the Border Patrol

When I think of the U.S. Border Patrol I think of uniformed officers stopping people at the border and checking for contraband. According to Wikipedia the agency called the United States Border Patrol was founded in 1924, far too late for the tale I am showing today. “The Wandering Killer” is a story of an undercover agent of the BP, investigating some mysterious killings. Referring again to Wikipedia, as early as 1904 there was an organization of mounted guards, working for the U.S. Immigration Service, but they never numbered more than about 75, and as the article states, they only went to work when resources permitted. You could fit this story somewhere in that time frame, but for now I’ll just consider this posting from Border Patrol #3 (1951) an exaggeration using artistic license; it is anachronistic to call John Brand a member of the Border Patrol. But then, the story is actually a tale of Indian slaves, sinister Mexicans, and the hunt for buried gold.

The handsome drawings are by Harry Anderson.

Number 610


Aurora of Jupiter


We're finally wrapping up the entire contents of Captain Rocket #1, a one-shot comic from 1951.

Aurora is quite a babe, 1951-style or 2009-style. Bikini-wearing space-babes...the reason I wanted to be an astronaut.

...and dig that crazy cigar-chomping alien!

The other three stories from the issue are in Pappy's #517, Pappy's #533, and Pappy's #563.

Number 563


Space Falcon and the Pirates of the Stratosphere


Here is the third story from the one-shot Captain Rocket, a Canadian comic book from 1951.

It's well-illustrated, but the silly costumes, as usual, crack me up. I especially like the open-shirted look of Tubby. Say, this isn't Tubby Tompkins of Little Lulu fame grown up, is it?

Futuristic fashions notwithstanding this has robots, and I love a story with robots.

The first two stories from this science fiction comic can be found in Pappy's #517 and Pappy's #533.

Number 533


Monsteroids of the underworld!


Captain Rocket returns in the second story from his one and only appearance, Captain Rocket #1, from 1951.

In this story we have a villain named Gorgo, a gas that turns humans into monsters (or monsteroids, as they're known here), a primitive version of the Internet where Captain Rocket references the story on Gorgo, an earth-boring machine, art swipes from Flash Gordon...this is fast-paced and goofy, just how I like my comic book science fiction.

Number 517


Graveyard of the Rocketeers!


Captain Rocket #1 from 1951 was from P.L. Publishing of Canada.

At one time I heard that Harry Harrison had something to do with Captain Rocket. Harrison was Wally Wood's collaborator for a time, and went from comics into being a world famous science fiction writer. But whether he had anything to do with this comic I don't know. I'm not an expert on Harry Harrison’s comics work.

Captain Rocket is space opera, pure and simple; Planet Comics stuff...rocket ships that look right out of Buck Rogers, ridiculous costumes, and girls who wear bikinis as everyday clothing. It's so simple-minded that Captain Rocket can disguise himself as a bearded rocket ship navigator in a crooked gambling joint, and you know he's a navigator because it says so right on his tunic.

I love this sort of thing. In spite of its built-in dumbness the strip is great fun. Captain Rocket may have been doomed by low sales or poor distribution. I'll be posting the other three stories from the comic at some future time.