Number 369


Supermouse goes ape!


I was going to make a comment about Supermouse and the 800-pound gorilla...but in this story, "The Great Gorilla Plot," that gorilla looks like he weighs more than 800 pounds. A lot more.

This entry in the Supermouse series by the great cartoonist, Milt Stein, is from Supermouse #22, December 1952. To see more of the stories posted on Pappy's, click on the Supermouse link in the labels below. For more cartoon funny animals go to the great blog, Sherm Cohen's CartoonSNAP. To see Sherm's links to more Supermouse go here.

Number 368


American Pig!


As a young G.I. in the U.S. Army I was drilled in the Code of Conduct. The Code is a set of rules we, as soldiers, were expected to obey in the event we were held as prisoners of war. After hearing about what some prisoners went through I was sure if captured and got even a whiff of torture I'd sell out my mother, not to mention my country. It never happened so it's moot, but to my understanding the Code of Conduct was initiated because of what happened to some P.O.W.'s during the Korean conflict of the early 1950s. Some men were supposedly brainwashed into making statements for the enemy. Some American soldiers who went over the hill during that war are still living in North Korea.

This particular story came out of U.S. Fighting Air Force #19 (1955), published by Superior, a Canadian publisher who used the services of Jerry Iger's comic book production shop. It was produced under another code, the Comics Code, because Iger pre-Comics Code stories were usually pretty violent. About the worst thing that happens here is the P.O.W. gives one soldier a karate chop that looks like it wouldn't kill a mosquito, and another a headlock.

The best thing about the story is the teaser (above) to this post. I love that squirrelly-looking panel!

Number 367


Double Mummy Monday!


Karswell of The Horrors Of It All has been featuring Mummy Monday postings this month. Since I wish to jump into his pyramid scheme, I did an archaeological excavation at the site of Pappy's Sarcophagus of Stuff to drag out two pharaoh-to-middling mummy stories. First up, Al Camy took to the papyrus for a fine 10-pager from Forbidden Worlds #5, March-April, 1952. You may Tut-tut when you find this story so whack that the hero's girlfriend wants to tag along because she's jealous of a priestess back from the dead, fresh from her mummy wrappings! Note to hero: This girlfriend will cause you problems later. She is not very tightly wrapped herself. This is typical ACG of the 1950s, so crazy, so fun.

The second story is from Atlas Comics' Crazy #6, scanned from its reprinting in 1975's Arrgh #3.

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Number 366


Dick Briefer's Yankee Longago


Right on the heels of my last post featuring off-the-wall back-up features, here comes yet another weird feature, Yankee Longago, by Dick Briefer, the Golden Age Frankenstein artist himself.

If you drop down to the labels on the bottom of this posting you'll find his name. Click on it and you will see I've posted 25 stories by Briefer. That's the record for any one artist on Pappy's.

This particular story episode reminds me of another feature that came later, "Danny Dreams" by Kubert and Maurer for Joe Kubert's Tor, a caveman comic from the early 1950s, published by St. John. The premise was much the same, although Briefer played his as a humor feature, unlike "Danny Dreams" which was played straight.

This is scanned from Boy Comics #13, December 1943.

Number 365


Bizarre back-ups


I've seen some off-the-wall comic book stories, but Pedro the Peril about takes the oddball prize for me. The round figures, the facial expressions, the phallic sheath for Pedro's sword, the Herbie-esque "looking for cinnamon candy" (Herbie on lollipops: "...and hard to find cinnamon")...it's just all too screwy. This story, as well as its accompanying tale of the Vagabond, are the back-ups from Young Allies #4, Summer 1942. I looked up Pedro's artist "M. Fred" on the Grand Comics Database and the only thing that shows up is this story. I haven't seen this artist's work anywhere else, so is it a pseudonym for someone like Fred Guardineer? The careful inking makes me think of Guardineer, although the penciling might be by someone else. "Don Rico" is the name of an artist/writer from the Golden Age, so his name is used as an inside joke.

"Vagabond" is another strange character. Interesting what went into comic books when they had 64 pages to fill and folks were desperate for ideas. According to GCD the art is by Ed Winiarski.

As with all of the old-time racist tales that find their way onto my blog I offer an apology to those they may offend. It is never my intention to do that; I'm doing this in an historical context as well as presenting Golden Age comic art. Racial prejudice was much more public in those days, and found its way into print.

I've also included a couple of house ads from this early Timely Comic.