Number 2318: The Clock introduces Butch to the iron maiden

The Clock, early masked do-gooder, began his career in the earliest days of comic books, 1936 to be exact. He found his way to Quality Comics and Feature Funnies, beginning in #3 (1937). This story is from Feature Funnies #6 (1938), written and illustrated by the Clock’s creator, George E. Brenner.

I have shown a few Clock stories in the past, and you can find them by typing his name into the search engine in the upper left corner of this page. What I see in this story is that the Clock has a torture chamber where he takes crooks to scare them. I know I would be scared if someone threatened to put me in an iron maiden. Who knows? Maybe between issues he actually tortured people. “One can’t help but get chatty in the confines of my torture pit!” the Clock tells bad man Butch. What jolly fun we find in early comic books!

Number 2231: The Clock: “...a piece of rubber hose...”

The Clock is one of the earliest comic book heroes, appearing as early as 1936. His adventures, all signed by George Brenner, went on through several comic book titles, until the Clock stopped in 1944.

The Clock had been in comics published by Centaur, then Quality Comics, where he first appeared in Feature Funnies (title later changed to Feature Comics). He helped kick off Crack Comics, where today’s story appeared. The thing I first noticed were the gaudy colors of the stone work in the splash panel. The publisher, Everett “Busy” Arnold wanted more colors in his comic books, because kids liked colors. (Arnold was color blind.)

As I read the story I noticed that the bad guy, Moe Klone (love that name) was on bail for murdering a cop. That made me wonder where in America a guy could be arrested for killing a police officer and be released on bail. Well, nowhere, that is where. Unless the judge is taking a payoff, that is.

The other thing I noticed is Clock’s advice to the Police Captain: “...And a piece of rubber hose applied to the right spots, Captain, should make Klone tell you how he planned to leave the country.” So the Clock is encouraging police brutality! And did I tell you the Clock was once District Attorney? Now retired, and living as a society fop secretly meting out justice and also encouraging the third degree, Brian O’Brien is the man under the mask.

I have a couple of other Clock stories I showed in 2011. You can go to them with the link below.

This story is from Crack Comics #14 (1941).

For two more vintage Clock stories, click on the thumbnail.

Number 1978: Crack Comics crack up!

The Black Condor, in one of the captions from today’s story, is said to be “the only man in the world endowed with the gift of flight.” In the self-contained universe the Black Condor occupied in Crack Comics, there is no room for any other flying men...well, except for the kite men, who can throw lightning bolts and bring down buildings. Despite the fine Lou Fine artwork (yuk-yuk), the story is fairly typical humdrum mad scientist with a hideout, directing chaos from a mountaintop

Madam Fatal, at least, is one of the most non-traditional comic book heroes ever, because she is really a he in women’s clothes, masquerading as an old woman. The story of artist Arthur Pinajian is even more interesting. After leaving comic books he took up painting, at which he was unable to earn a living. He never married, and lived with his unmarried sister until he died. After he died over 3000 pieces of art were found when his former home was sold, and Pinajian was at last discovered. As the late art historian, William Innes Homer wrote of Pinajian, “He pursued his goals in isolation with the single-minded focus of a Gauguin or Cézanne, refusing to give up in the face of public indifference.

“He was passionate and unequivocally committed. Ultimately, Pinajian's work reflects the soul of a flawed, yet brilliant, artistic genius. When he hits the mark, especially in his abstractions, he can be ranked among the best artists of his era.” Just as Madam Fatal was unusual for mainstream comic books, so was Pinajian's posthumous success in the rarified air of the art world.

Finally, the Clock ticks along in another story by George E. Brenner. The Clock is a very early masked vigilante character, who was created in 1936. Brenner left the feature when he became editor of Crack Comics, and the Clock chimed his last in 1944.

All stories are from Crack Comics #6 (1940):