Number 488


He's lean, he's mean, he's green


Stark...the scoundrel? Where was the writer's thesaurus when he wrote this story? Stark is a killer who gets put to death in the electric chair, then is revived by some vegetable formula at the expense of turning the color of broccoli, and goes on a crime spree, and all he is is a scoundrel? How about Stark the slayer? the savage? the sociopath?

This story is from Blackhawk #16, Autumn 1947. Grand Comics Database, using their old question mark trick, lists Bill Ward? as artist. I don't claim to know who drew it, but the artwork is good.

Number 487


Tubby is a drag


Gran'pa Feeb was a character introduced in Tubby's Clubhouse Pals #1, a Dell Giant Comic from 1956. I wrote an article about him in Pappy's #161.

Feeb is a pretty hilarious character, an oldster going through a second childhood. I laughed out loud when I reread this story, especially the sequence at the top of page two: Feeb says to Willy, "Lucky for you you're wearing glasses! I never fight boys who wear glasses!" Willy responds, "I'm not wearing glasses, Feeb." in the next panel Feeb says, "Lucky for you you've got big glassy eyes!"

Another gag is Tubby dressing in drag to make Feeb hate girls, to help him pass the admissions test for their boys' only club. Tubby is a kid who wants to fit in with his peers so he pretends to hate girls, but he doesn't hate girls. He loves them! Tubby is used to disguises, which he uses when he's his alter ego, The Spider, solving mysteries for Lulu. In this case he's able to fool Feeb, something he never did with Lulu's dad.

The entire Dell Giant is written by John Stanley and illustrated by Irving Tripp.

Number 486


We come from the land of the ice and snow


In 1955, after implementation of the Comics Code, DC Comics created The Brave and the Bold, an anthology comic with three different heroes. The original lineup was Viking Prince by Joe Kubert, Shining Knight by Irv Novick, and Golden Gladiator by Russ Heath. Gladiator was soon replaced by Robin Hood.

The Brave and the Bold was a hit with me because of the Viking Prince. At the time I didn't see it as DC Comics' take on Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, all I knew was I really loved the artwork and the stories about Vikings.

As the series opens, Jon, the main character, is an amnesiac, who is rightful ruler of a kingdom usurped by the "evil Thorvald." Thorvald wants him permanently out of the way. This story, "The Ice Dragon," is from Brave and the Bold #5. The stories for B and B were by Robert Kanigher, who also edited. The three artists for B and B also worked for him on the war comics.



"The Ice Dragon" is scanned from DC Special #12, May-June 1971.

Number 485


Katz Outta the Bag


Uncanny Tales #20 was about the second pre-Code horror comic I ever saw. I was 12 in 1959 and in that youthful way I was very impressed by the panel of "Who Shall Judge" with its graphic suicide. Wow. When I saw it I felt I knew why comic books had at one time been in trouble.

The story is drawn by Jack Katz, an artist who, later in his career, spent several years drawing his magnum opus, The First Kingdom. Katz was a good artist, with a careful approach to anatomy. His panels are obsessively busy, loaded with detail.

Uncanny Tales #20 is dated May 1954. I scanned "My Other Body" from Vault of Evil #17, a Marvel Comics reprint. The story was originally published in Menace #11, the last issue of that title with, coincidentally, the same date as Uncanny Tales #20.

I've also scanned a vignette 1954 from Johnson Smith in Uncanny Tales. Something else that got comics in trouble: advertising. An 8-foot plaited leather bullwhip for only $2.69! You definitely want to arm kids with something like that.

Number 484


Monster of Flame!


Karswell showed the lead story from this issue of Plastic Man, #43, November 1953, called "The Evil Terror," some time ago. The whole issue has a definite horror bent, which represented the time it was published, right in the horror comics boom. But the stories aren't drawn by Plastic Man creator Jack Cole. The Grand Comics Database gives credit to Al Luster?, the question mark meaning they're not sure.

The artwork is pretty good, whoever drew it. No one else had Cole's genius and I'm sure this story would have been even wilder had he drawn it.