Number 945


Check and double-Check


Compared to many of the journeymen comic book artists I feature in Pappy's, Sid Check did relatively few stories during his career. He did a reasonable imitation of the better known Wally Wood, some stories looking better than others. He even found his way into EC comics as a freelancer with a couple of memorable stories.

Here are two stories of Check's that I have on file: "The Werewolf's Victims" I showed long ago, but I have re-scanned it so the pages are actually readable. It's from Atlas Comics' Mystic #31, 1954. "Death Sentence" is a story I have both in the printed version from Harvey's Tomb Of Terror #14, also from 1954, and these scans of the original art I took a few years ago from the Heritage Auctions site. It's the originals I've chosen to show you today.

More Check stories can be found, posted by Mr. Door Tree in his Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog, here.

Number 944


Still lost in the Land Of the Lost


This is the third and final story from EC Comics' Land Of the Lost #1, 1946, written by Isabel Manning Hewson--who created the radio show on which the comic is based--and drawn by Olive Bailey.

The other two stories from issue #1 are available in Pappy's #706 and Pappy's #859.

Bailey, who provided the artwork for 9 issues (and one unpublished issue, for which I have scans of original art, available on this blog at some point in the future), and the illustrations for one LOTL hardcover book, is an artist whose comic book career may have been on this one title alone. I looked on the Grand Comics Database and found only her credits for LOTL, so if any more knowledgeable fan knows if she did any other comics work please let me know.

I've also included the in-house ads from the back of the comic.

Number 943


The Butterleggers


The last couple of Plastic Man stories I've shown I've expressed doubts as to whether they were done wholly or in part by Jack Cole. This story from Police Comics #30, 1944, looks like it could have been penciled by Jack Cole. He signed the cover, but not the story.

I was born soon after World War II, and growing up I heard stories of wartime rationing. Gasoline, tires, meat, sugar, butter, etc., were rationed. And when something is in short supply criminals will find a way to make a buck off it. So this Plastic Man story is set firmly in the time of war, with its tale of "butterlegging." I love the word, but it is of its era. I couldn't think of anyplace nowadays to use it, but then thought it could be used as a more polite version of the "m-f" word: "Up against the wall, butterlegger!"

**********

Where do ideas come from?

When Police Comics #1 came out in 1941 it contained the short origin story of Plastic Man, written and drawn by Jack Cole. Cole created Plastic Man, one of the most original of the bunch. He had what could be called a "cartoon brain," ideas full of gags and comic exaggeration.

I found this Arrow Shirt ad in the February 26, 1940 issue of Life magazine. I don’t claim Cole saw the picture of the man with the stretched neck and said, "Aha! That would make a great super hero, one who can stretch!" But I'm also not saying he didn't. In our era of Photoshop something like this is clever, but not uncommon; in those days a trick photo like this would have gotten attention. If I put myself into Cole's cartoon brain at the time and found myself looking at this ad I think it would trigger a response.

It's interesting to speculate, anyway.

Number 942


Bill Ely's tough guys


Bill Ely was an artist who kept busy from the earliest days of comics until at least the 1960s, when he was drawing Rip Hunter, Time Master for DC. I presented some short stories from House Of Secrets by Ely last July in Pappy's #772.

"Beowolf" is from Famous Funnies' Conquest, a reprint of a 1953 one-shot comic, the reprint dated Spring 1955. Bill Ely's contribution was the unusual 7-page version of "Beowolf" (also known as Beowulf). It's been over 40 years since I was a college student and had an exposure to "Beowulf," the epic poem, but I don't remember the monster Grendel being a dinosaur. It's an interesting interpretation, anyway.

Another example of Ely's work is this 1948 "Iron Man" strip, which as you've already noticed, is not the Marvel Comics Iron Man, but an undercover policeman who beats the crap out of crooks. The story is the backup strip in Dell Comics' Dick Tracy Monthly, from 1948. I showed three more stories, including another Iron Man story by Ely, in Pappy's #695.