Number 2587: Dr Sivana’s vampire

How dumb can people get, anyway? The city fathers have brought to America a castle from Transylvania and rebuilt it as a museum for a park. It is said that at one time a vampire lived in that castle. Ewwww...that is dumb, folks! In this comic book there is a mad scientist and a superhero who is a young boy in “real life.” One should not tempt fate by putting innocent people in a place where a vampire lived. After all, vampires don’t just die, do they? Everybody knows that...don’t they? Maybe not.

This story appeared in The Marvel Family #4 (1946). According to the Grand Comics Database It is credited to C.C. Beck (with a question mark) for pencils, and inking by Pete Costanza. The story is credited to Otto Binder.

 

Number 2476: Hey Kids! Eat your Wheaties and score a free Captain Marvel comic book!

Wheaties (the “Breakfast of Champions” as the advertising tag-line has said for decades) had a giveaway of free comic books in 1946 . Along with Captain Marvel Adventures, they had Whiz Comics, both from Fawcett, and Flash Comics and Funny Stuff from DC. If I had been a youngster at the time I would have bugged my parents mercilessly to get me Wheaties. The problem is that my dad, Big Pappy, worked in sales for the competition, Quaker Oats Company. Big Pappy frowned on buying anything from business rivals.

Here is a story from the Captain Marvel giveaway, identified by the Grand Comics Database as written by Bill Woolfolk, and drawn by Pete Costanza. There is another personal touch here. Along with the pandemic, this year in my town an earthquake in the spring set off thousands of aftershocks, and some damage to the Pappy abode. The real thing was no fun, but the story from the comic book is amusing. The “keystone rock,” the rock that holds all the other rocks in the world together, is found in an old well by Horace Shakum, and when scoffed at for his discovery, Horace uses it for revenge. He claims, “Just tapping the rock will produce violent earthquakes!” I admit it, earthquakes and aftershocks get me shakin' all over. Give Horace his accolades, and send him far away from that keystone.

Number 2475: Captain Marvel is all shook up

Today’s posting came from a 1946 Captain Marvel Adventures comic book available to readers who bought two boxes of the breakfast cereal, Wheaties. The comic included this story, “The Man Who Made Earthquakes.” (On a personal note, the area in which I live had an earthquake a few months ago. As earthquakes go it was a pretty good shaker, enough to give us many aftershocks. There was some damage to the Pappy abode. So I have had earthquakes on my mind.)

The Captain Marvel stories isn’t great, but it’s not bad, either. The character, geologist Horace Shakum, is in an abandoned well and finds the “keystone of the world. The very stone that holds all the others in place!” Horace claims to fellow geologists that one tap on the keystone can bring earthquakes, and hitting it with a hammer could destroy continents. Of course he is not believed, so he has to prove it.

The Grand Comics Database credits the script to Bill Woolfolk, and artwork to Pete Costanza.

Number 2253: The Marvel Family and the School for Witches

Halloween today. Time for me to sneak up behind kids and steal their Halloween candy.* Or maybe not. I am too slow moving, and they can see me coming.

If I only had a magic spell to make myself invisible. I could learn it from the School for Witches, but the witch is Ichabod Vort, who comes from a long line of witches, yet is unsuccessful with spells from his book of black magic. They just don’t work for him. Ichabod has a school to train witches, and could be an example of the old adage, “those who can, do; those who can't, teach.” However, I don’t believe that adage. I think Ichabod is just a crappy witch. Maybe he needs a teacher because he can’t read very well.

The story is written by William Woolfolk and drawn by Pete Costanza, according to the Grand Comics Database. It comes from The Marvel Family #52 (1950).

*This is a joke, sensitive ones.

Number 2200: Golden Age Black Adam, one and done

Old Shazam blew it when he gave powers to Black Adam (Shazam called him Mighty Adam originally), who was created as an evil version of Captain Marvel. In looking at the Grand Comics Database for the issue this story appeared in, Marvel Family #1 (1945), I see this origin story has been reprinted several times since DC Comics acquired the rights to Captain Marvel in 1973. The character is an interesting bad guy, but it appears no one at Fawcett had any plans to keep him on as a resident menace.

A Wikipedia page gives information about Black Adam’s appearances after the character was revived, but I keep it simple here at Pappy’s. In keeping with my simple mind, I stick with the Golden Age versions only.

Otto Binder wrote it, and C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza are given credit for the artwork.