Number 1244: Mandrake and the Blue Bandit

Mandrake the Magician fans (“Fandrakes”?), face forward! Here's a classy continuity of the stage mage reprinted from his one appearance in Harvey Comic Hits. Lothar fans should not be as happy. Mandrake's giant friend is missing from this sequence.

The story is by Lee Falk, with artwork by Phil Davis.

From Harvey Comic Hits #53 (1951):

Here’s a two-page sequence from the inside covers of the comic, explaining Mandrake’s early years:

Number 1243: “A Thrilla, dilla night…”

This is the final posting of four this week, spotlighting Quality Comics. I really enjoyed presenting these theme weeks, and will do this again sometime.

Plastic Man, star of Police Comics since its first issue, was on his way out. After this issue Plas would appear in Police Comics two more times, then be replaced by a couple of crimefighters in civilian clothes, Ken Shannon, Private Eye and T-Man Trask. I’m sure the Plastic Fans of the day felt let down when they saw what had befallen the title.Plas went on for another few years in his own title, filled with a lot of reprint material, and then was sold to DC Comics along with Blackhawk.

This story is credited to Cole, story and art, by the Grand Comics Database. I’ve been snake-bitten a time or two by identifying Jack Cole as artist, so I’ll leave it to more knowledgeable fans to determine if this is a Cole-solo, or as was often the case, whether he was assisted by others.

From Police Comics #100 (1950):

Number 1242: Luck be a Lady

This is the third of four postings this week from Quality Comics.

Why did Lady Luck only last five issues? I’d think she would have lasted longer just based on the pin-up aspect alone. Or maybe that was the problem. Around the time the Lady Luck comic book appeared in 1949 the critics of comics were in their battle armor and rattling their sabers. There were many other sexy female characters in comics, ranging from Sheena to Katy Keene, and despite them perhaps Quality lost its nerve about publishing sexy comic books. They also published the queen of comic book pin-ups, Torchy, and toned her down. So Lady Luck was Lady Out-of-Luck. Regardless, Lady Luck was a good character (part of Will Eisner’s Spirit Section in newspapers, published in four-page installments, and reprinted in Smash Comics #’s 42-85).

Klaus Nordling is credited with drawing and writing Lady Luck. He died at age 76 in 1986.

From Lady Luck #86 (1949).*

*Actually the first issue. It was continued from Smash Comics, which ended at #85.

Number 1241: Eisner pre-war and postwar

This is the second of four postings this week with features from Quality Comics.

Will Eisner was one of the more accomplished artists in the comic book field, even from his very early days in the industry. And he joined the industry before it was an industry.

He had a distinctive style before World War II, and it grew into the style we all know and admire from after the war. (He also had several people helping him, but the overall look of his work is consistent with his layouts and inking.)

“Espionage Starring Black X” was a strip from early issues of Smash Comics. This episode is from #12 (1940). The Spirit story, reprinted in a 1950 issue of Police Comics, #100, originally appeared in the newspaper comic book section Eisner produced, dated April 28, 1946. “Black X,” who always wore a monocle (even when covering his face, as he does in this story), is a type of pre-war spy story where spies were gentlemen, and agents had numbers instead of names. The Spirit story is one of the types of Eisner stories I really like, whimsical and pure fantasy.

Less than two months ago I did another posting with Eisner's Black X, in Pappy's #1212.