Number 1450: Waterfront girl

When I was in junior high school Big Pappy took me aside to give me the talk. You know, the one where he warned me about what girls and women to avoid. After hearing about how those girls and women would lead me down the road to sex, sin and ruin, I spent the rest of my teenage years looking for them.

He never warned me about is the subject of today’s post, the waterfront girl (probably because we lived 700 miles inland). Our story is about Sal Benson, singer in a waterfront dive. Our gal Sal has had a rough life, and is now trapped on an island entertaining a bunch of coarse roughnecks. She sees a chance to get out by stealing another woman’s fiancé.

“I Was a Waterfront Girl” is drawn by Paul Gustavson and Bill Ward, and is from Quality Comics’ Love Letters #3 (1950).

Number 1449: Spy Smasher and the fear of little men!

Boy, the little men in this story about little men are really little. They’re about the size of those “100 toy soldiers” you used to be able to buy from an ad in comic books. The tiny guys under the control of the Nazi saboteur, Dr. Potz. The story reminds me of the movie, Dr. Cyclops, which came out in 1940, and could well have been an influence on this tall short tale. Also, the Gulliver-like scenes of Spy Smasher tied up by these Lilliputian-sized men remind me of another movie, the animated Fleischer feature, Gulliver’s Travels, from 1939.

From Fawcett’s Spy Smasher #3 (1942):

***********

Here's another Spy Smasher adventure...just click the thumbnail.

Number 1448: Joe Kubert and the Dance Macabre

“Dance Macabre”* by Joe Kubert is another of his early works, this time from Black Cat #2 (1946). Over the past few years I've posted some of Joe’s work from those days when he was in his teens and early twenties. (See the links down below the story scans.) Even in his earliest artwork Joe showed signs of being a prodigy, but he constantly worked at his craft. Over time he became one of the greatest, and most respected comic book artists of all time. Because he had been mentored by artists like Mort Meskin he did the same with his Joe Kubert School. The history of comic art would be a much different place without Joe, and so I find virtually everything he did to be of interest.

*The name of the musical piece is actually “Danse Macabre,” written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1874.

**********

More early Joe Kubert. Just click the pics:

Number 1447: Prison break!

Five cons try to shoot their way out of prison only to find that CRIME CAN'T WIN! Nor can busting out of prison.This story, which tells each killer's crimes, is a bit like a television or movie script, and accentuates the drama leading up to the fatal final scenes.

Syd Shores, one of the great journeymen artists of the Golden Age, lends his considerable talents to telling this violent tale. I have some links to more of Shores’ fine work after the story scans.

From Wanted Comics #51 (1953):

**********

As promised, more Shores, representing horror, war and Western. Just click the pictures.