Number 2544: The ghost who can be conked

Public Domain Super Heroes says this about the character, The Duke of Darkness: “The Duke of Darkness was Paddy Sullivan [emphasis by me, Pappy], a police officer from an unnamed American city. When he was killed in the line of duty, Danny [another emphasis of mine] discovered that he continued to exist as an 'Earth-bound spirit.' He decided to continue fighting crime as the Duke of Darkness.”

The bringing up the two civilian names of Duke of Darkness (from his former mortal existence, of course) is because at the bottom of the entry for Duke of Darkness the anonymous writer for PDSH says this: “Many sites state ‘Danny’ as the character's real name however, this [Danny name] never appeared in a public domain story.”

Tsk tsk. Looks like some editing is needed. I depend on that site, so I'm just giving those fine folks at the PDSH a friendly heads-up.

It wasn’t like the Duke of Darkness set any records for longevity. He made but a few appearances and then was gone. Each comic book he appeared in had a different name, and each lasted one issue. I am supposing my old theory that they were published by someone who sold (or used) their paper ration at the end of World War II to cash in on the comic book market. Finally, the Public Domain Super Heroes site gives us this final note: “Even though he's a ‘ghost,’ he is able to be knocked out by a bump on the head such as in his first adventure.” Maybe there is a learning curve, watch your head, for people finding out they have died and are now a spirit.

Created by Sam Cooper and John Giunta, and presumably written and drawn by them for this first Duke’s story from K.O. Komics #1 (1945):

 

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 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).

Number 416


Origin of Mr. Justice


This is a followup to our Halloween posting, Pappy's #405. Correspondent 1506NixNix writes: I saw the comment asking about Mr. Justice, whether he was a ghost like the Spectre. This is the origin story from Blue Ribbon Comics #9. It was published in 1941. Mr. Justice was a good character from MLJ but the company went another direction and by 1943 he was dropped in favor of the Archie comics.

Story is by Joe Blair, artwork is by Sam Cooper. Don Markstein's Toonopedia gives us the short course on Mr. Justice here.

...and what is that name again? The name of the kidnapped girl's family? Piddle? Did I read that right? Let me look...yup, I read it right.