Number 1354: The homicidal maniac

Looking at this Zebra story from Green Hornet Comics I asked myself, “Superhero or crime comic?” Since the subject of the story is a crazed killer with a female accomplice, it seems more crime comic. I counted the panels (yes, I have been known to do things like that), and found that of 63 panels, the Zebra appears in only seven, including the splash. It fits into my Crime Wave series.

If serial killers looked like Maurice they’d be easier to spot. Maurice’s tongue lolls out and he giggles. He doesn’t care who (or what, check out the bug squash) he kills. It was not untypical for a Zebra story to regularly feature some grotesque villains. With Bob Fujitani's deft drawing in an Eisner-style, the killer is portrayed in all his psychopathic fury.

From Green Hornet Comics #26, 1945:

Number 1353: War Gods of the Deep

In the sixties I made a point to see movies with Vincent Price, especially movies based on stories by Poe. So why did I miss War Gods of the Deep, based on Poe's “City In the Sea”? I don't know. I wasn’t aware of it, or was busy doing something else, I guess. I’ve still never seen the movie, and can't comment on it. But the comic book adaptation, which came out in 1965, is well done. The artwork is credited by the Grand Comics Database to John Tartaglione, inked by Dick Giordano. There's a lot of photo reference in the panels, but at least the characters look like the actors in the movie.

Dell had a weird numbering system for comics in the Movie Classics line, and this one is considered to be #900.

Number 1352: Rocky Lane and the dancing bear

Allan “Rocky” Lane was a Republic Pictures B-Western star of the forties and fifties, popular enough to have his own comic book from Fawcett. Lane had appearances in television, and then went into voiceover work, including his starring role as the voice of “the famous Mr. Ed”! (I can clearly remember Lane’s voice and his “Hel-lo, Willlll-bur.”)

Rocky was popular enough to have some advertising tie-ins. Here's one from 1951.

This comic book story, from Rocky Lane Western #15 (1950), is part comedy by adding a dancing bear. I had one of those “What th—?” moments when I read the explanation for why the bear lived through Rocky emptying his guns at him, but go ahead and read the story and we’ll talk a bit more of it after the last page.

The Grand Comics Database lists Ralph Carlson as artist. Issue #15 is not specifically indexed, but a note on another issue says that Carlson’s tell is his “lively horses” and their outstretched front legs. In this story that happens in panel 6 of page 7.

Rocky emptied his six-guns at the bear, yet it lived through the barrage. Rocky then apologized to the owner, who said that Rocky’s bullets didn't even “bust his hide.” I find that incredible, but maybe there was a delayed reaction and the bear dropped dead later. Based on this little cartoony “factoid” drawn by George Papp for Big Shot Comics #6 in 1940, a grizzly bear can run a hundred yards with a bullet in its heart. And of course I always believe everything presented as fact in a comic book.