Number 2495: The killers are dead shots with head shots

 

Quoting Heritage Auctions, when they sold a near mint copy of the comic book, Underworld #1 in 2006: “Mile High pedigree (D.S. Publishing, 1948) Condition: NM-. This issue's body count is high even for a crime comic, there's someone getting rubbed out on almost every page, with death by a point-blank shot to the head more often than not! Hence Overstreet's "excessive violence" tag. No less a talent than Sheldon Moldoff rendered the issue's cover.”

Those head shots, and other graphic shootings, are there in this tale of a pair of brothers, “The ‘Mad Dog’ Murderers.” It may have been noticed by the vigilantes who had declared war against the comics, and always eager to throw a comic book on a bonfire. We slavering crime comic junkies are fortunate that some comic book readers kept their copies of Underworld #1 away from the book burners.

No writer named, but along with the cover, Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff did the skull-shootin' story art. From Underworld #1 (1948):

Number 2490: Ice cold plunderers from the past!

 In this Moon Girl story, “Plunderers From the Past,” Some Vikings are thawed from ice and come back to life. A character in the story explains that “some frogs” can freeze and yet come back from their organs and body being in the deep freeze. Yeah, I’d heard that a time or two, so to corroborate that factoid it was to the Internet I went. The National Science Foundation has an article, “Frozen Frogs Don’t Croak,” and from that article: “Jon Costanzo, a professor at Miami University in Ohio says at the first sign of ice in late fall or early winter, the frog freezes solid as a rock.

“That touch of ice immediately sets off signals inside the frog that pulls water away from the center of its body, so the frog's internal organs are now wrapped in a puddle of water that then turns to solid ice. . .The frog's heart stops beating, its kidneys stop functioning and its respiration ceases--for months. The frogs endure this suspended animation by producing a type of antifreeze made with glucose, keeping the water in their cells in a liquid state at temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius).” So when the Moon Girl character who talks about frogs asks, “Why not humans?” we know now that it is because we don’t have antifreeze in our blood.

Antifreeze or not, Moon Girl gets involved with these formerly frozen humans.

The story is written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Sheldon Moldoff. It is from EC Comics’ Moon Girl #6, 1949.

Number 2413: Hawkman and Hawkgirl: the elixir of youth

In the second panel of this story, Hawkman grabs a crook in a car speeding down a mountain and says, “Stop or I’ll pull you out one by one and drop you over the precipice.” I guess being a flying hero doesn’t make Hawkman, secret identity of Carter Hall, less threatening than the crooks he is after.

Hawkman has a hawk friend, Big Red, and a girlfriend, Shiera, who is also Hawkgirl, but sometimes he is on his own. That can result in what happens to him when the gang members in the car get the better of him. Then the story has a flashback to the reason for Hawkman’s plight. It has something to do with Shiera’s uncle and a “glandular elixir” he has invented, trying to make Shiera’s aunt into a young woman. Brainy, a gangster, wants to steal the elixir so he can turn his enemies into babies. That seems less effective than the old-fashioned way of killing enemies.

The elixir still needs work, but I am also thinking of it being used commercially. Can you imagine one of those late night infomercials selling this elixir? I could use about a gallon of it right now.

Drawn by Sheldon Moldoff and written by Gardner Fox. From Flash Comics #25 (1942).

Number 2364: “Sky Sabotage”

I can imagine the conversation between EC founder and publisher, Max Gaines, and writer Gardner Fox: “I want you to create a character just like Wonder Woman, only different. No kinky stuff!” Gaines had been the publisher of the All American line, partners with Donenfield and Liebowitz, publishers of DC Comics, where Wonder Woman was a big seller. In 1945 Gaines sold his share, including Wonder Woman, to DC, and went off on his own again. Superheroes were fading fast in the late 1940s, except for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, so naturally he would want to capture some of Wonder Woman’s sales.

It didn’t work as well as hoped, and the only super hero(ine) of the EC Comics line, Moon Girl, didn’t last for long. It doesn’t mean that Moon Girl wasn’t fairly well done; Fox and artist Sheldon Moldoff were professionals who had been working for Gaines for years, but Moon Girl didn’t have the bizarre characteristics of Wonder Woman that made her a big seller. M.C. Gaines died in 1947, and EC was put under his son Bill’s direction. He gradually made decisions that turned the company into his, and not his father’s.

“Sky Sabotage” is from Moon Girl #3 (1948):

Number 2097: Introducing Hawkgirl

I have heard that crooks aren’t very intelligent, and this gang proves it by not observing that the Hawkman is actually a woman. They catch on eventually, so maybe they just had to get a little bit closer.

This story is Hawkgirl’s (or “Hawkwoman’s”), introduction. Hawkman loans his girlfriend, Shiera, a costume for a masquerade ball, and she is mistaken for him.

In 1972 it was reprinted in one of DC’s 100-page special squareback issues. I still have the copy I bought off the comic book racks in 1972. Here is a scan of the front cover, by Neal Adams. I did not scan the Hawkman/Hawkgirl story from this magazine, but from scans I found on the Internet. I'm not popping the staples on my copy to get scans!

Grand Comics Database gives Gardner Fox credit for the story, and Sheldon Moldoff credit for the artwork. It is from Flash Comics #24 (1941).

Another Hawkman story by Shelly, which includes an internal link to yet a second Hawkman story. Just click on the thumbnail.