Number 625


The comic book civics lesson


If a United States senator is having a tough time getting his bill passed through the regular American lawmaking process he can always resort to what the villains in "Forged Faces" did in Uncle Sam Quarterly #1, Autumn 1941. Just replace the senators and congressmen--even the President--with lookalikes.

In this comic book civics lesson from the Will Eisner crew the Bill of Rights can be changed by mere votes, instead of a Constitutional amendment. Tsk tsk. It's a good thing it's not that easy to change the Constitution or those rights would've been gone years ago.

Despite its silliness I like this story. I'm not sure that Uncle Sam, an enduring American symbol, was a good comic book character. Maybe it's because he was already a symbol before Eisner and Co. got ahold of him. He's still a symbol, and although he was revived by DC with a bunch of other Quality Comics heroes in the 1970s he didn't last past the end of the war in his own title (which became Blackhawk), or his lead spot in National Comics.

According to the Grand Comics Database Eisner did the splash page and may have written the story, and Dan Zolnerowich pencilled pages 2-16. The inker is unknown.

Number 624


Edgar Allan Ditko


Hear that scratching? It's the sound of fingernails feebly trying to get out of a casket with six feet of earth on top of it. Yes, it's the old Premature Burial plot by Poe, reworked as a nice little 6-pager by Steve Ditko from Black Magic Volume 4 Number 4 (whole number 28), Jan.-Feb. 1954.

I know that Halloween was last week, but I still have plenty of stale Tootsie Rolls left in my trick or treat bowl. You can come on over if you don't mind making your way through the razor wire strung across my front yard. I tried to discourage the kiddies, you see...and one of these days I've got to go out into the yard and retrieve the two who couldn't be deterred.

Number 623


Fast girl, slow boys


Bill Ward drew this story, a "pulsating tale" as it claims on the cover. Got me pulsating, all righty. As usual, Ward's girls are some of the sexiest to ever appear in comics. Tess, in "They Said I Was Too Fast!" is a Torchy-clone, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Love was about the most popular genre of comics at the time Campus Loves #2 was published in late 1949 by Quality. They were supposedly bought by girls, but I wouldn't doubt that a lot of boys — and men — read these things, too. Especially when they saw Bill Ward's gorgeous leading lady. Love comics were written and drawn for young women by older men, and seemed to follow some male-female prejudices. The girl who teases isn't well-liked by guys, and Tess fits that description. Man, how she worked over poor "corn-fed" Elmer..."Hey, Elmer, is that a corncob in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Still, love triumphs in the end, doesn't it? That's why it's a comic book and not real life.

Number 622


Cave Girl and the Mau Mau


The Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, Africa, between 1952-1960, was a real event and atrocities were committed both by insurgents and the British who were colonizing Kenya at the time. It led to Kenyan independence, but not before a lot of people were killed.

This Wikipedia entry has an overview of the situation.

Cave Girl (another blonde jungle girl! See the list at the bottom of this posting for other comic book jungle gals) was a character from Magazine Enterprises, drawn by Bob Powell and his assistants. This story is from Cave Girl #13, 1954. Even with all of the action going on in this story, Cave Girl manages to keep the flower in her hair. It switches sides from panel to panel, but stays in her hair.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by e-mail by Bashir Faruqui, a reader who wondered if I'd ever seen a picture of Bob Powell. Here's a picture of Powell and his assistants in the late 1940s, around the time he was doing The Shadow Comics for Street and Smith. Powell is wearing an eyeshade and glasses.

I scanned the photo from the book, Six Men of Evil and The Devil Monsters, two Shadow pulp novels reprinted by Nostalgia Ventures in 2007. The picture of the Powell shop is from the chapter by Anthony Tollin on Shadow Comics.

Note: Chuck Wells' Comic Book Catacombs showed us a Cave Girl story here.

Also, Hairy Green Eyeball posted four of Powell's horror stories from Harvey Comics (including one provided by yours truly) here.

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Submitted by Zu-Go 9/16/09

Here is my list of female jungle characters along with the main titles that they appeared in. No doubt the list is incomplete. But it is a pretty good start for anyone who is interested.

Alani (aka South Sea Girl) -- Seven Seas Comics and others
Ann (the mate of Ka'a'nga) -- Jungle Comics, Ka'a'nga Jungle King, and others
Blanda -- Miracle Comics
Camilla -- Jungle Comics and others
Cave Girl -- Thun'da, Cave Girl, and others
Dorothy Lamour -- Dorothy Lamour Jungle Princess
Fana -- Fana the Jungle Girl
Fantomah -- Jungle Comics and Ka'a'nga Jungle King
Gwenna -- Jo-Jo
Jana -- Jungle Girl
Jann -- Jann of the Jungle
Jessie -- Ka'a'nga Jungle King
Juanda -- Jo-Jo
Judy -- Exciting Comics and others
Jun-Gal -- Blazing Comics
Jungle Lil -- Jungle Lil and others
Kara -- Exciting Comics and Fighting Yank
Kazanda -- Rangers Comics
Leopard Girl -- Jungle Action
Lorn -- Tragg and the Sky Gods
Lorna -- Lorna the Jungle Queen, Lorna the Jungle Girl, and others
Lura (mate of Jungle Jo) -- Jungle Jo and others
Marga -- Science Comics and Weird Comics
Nimba -- Safari Cary in Dagar Desert Hawk comics from Fox
Numa -- Rulah Jungle Goddess
Nyoka -- Jungle Girl, Master Comics, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, and others
Pha -- Thun'da and others
Phara -- Zegra Jungle Empress
Princess Pantha -- Thrilling Comics
Raa -- Ki-gorr the Killer
Ranee -- Jungle Jim
Rima -- Rima the Jungle Girl
Rulah -- All Top Comics, Rulah Jungle Goddess, Zoot Comic, and others
Saari -- Saari
Safari Cary -- Dagar Desert Hawk
Shanna -- various Ka-Zar titles, Shanna the She-Devil, and others
Sheena -- Jumbo Comics, Sheena Queen of the Jungle, and others
Shirl -- Jungle Girls
Taanda (aka Tarinda) -- White Princess of the Jungle and others
Taj -- Jungle Comics
Tanee (mate of Jo-Jo) -- All Top Comics, Jo-Jo, and others
Tangi -- Dagar Desert Hawk and others
Tara -- Tara of the Dark Continent, Jungle Girls, FemForce, and others
Taranga -- Jungle Adventures
Tegra (later called Zegra) -- Tegra
Tiger Girl -- Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, and others
Tiger Woman -- Tiger Woman
Tigra -- Tigra
Tygra -- Startling Comics
Wana -- Zago
Zara -- Mystic Comics
Zegra (originally called Tegra) -- Zegra and others
Zenta (mate of Bantor) -- Terrors of the Jungle

Pappy here. Once again, thanks for the list! If anyone can add to it please do.

Number 621


The Last Whiz


Whiz Comics, which had been a top seller for Fawcett Comics from its first appearance in 1940, went out with a whimper, not a bang--not even a Whizbang*--in 1953. After more than a decade, a protracted lawsuit from DC Comics claiming Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman, and low sales in the comic book industry in general, Fawcett got out of the comic book business. Whiz Comics #155, with its lead Captain Marvel story drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, was the last issue.

I thought back to how many comics I followed that suddenly just didn't appear anymore. There was no way a kid had knowledge of what was canceled, so I would check the stands, hoping there would be another issue. Back in 1953 there were many Captain Marvel/Marvel Family/Fawcett Comics fans who wondered what happened. They had to wait until DC Comics licensed the Fawcett characters and started republishing them in 1974. Unlike the quiet, unannounced way the Marvel Family of comics went out, they were revived with a lot of advance publicity from DC. Shazam! #1 was a collector event, ensuring a sell out.

*Captain Billy's Whizbang, a jokebook started after World War I by William "Captain Billy" Fawcett, was the foundation of the Fawcett Publishing Company.