Number 579


I pity the poor immigrant...


It's a shame that this decades-old story should seem so timely and modern. I'm sorry we're not past tribalism. Old prejudices and xenophobia die hard. Or never die, as the case may be.

The story is written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita, originally published in Menace #3, May 1953.

Number 578


Joe Shuster's ghost


After writing a review of Craig Yoe's Secret Identity, The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator, Joe Shuster I did a little research. Since Shuster did the illustrations for the Nights of Horror booklets that caused such a stir in 1954, I looked at some other work he did that year. Or should I say, didn't do. I have a couple of strips signed by Joe Shuster for Charlton Comics. I scanned these stories from 1954, "Secrets Of the Box" from Strange Stories of Suspense #22 and "Quest of the Beyond" from This Magazine Is Haunted #20. They're inked by Ray Osrin, but although the top signature says Joe Shuster, it appears to me that Shuster hired a ghost to do the pencils. None of the artwork in these strips looks anything like the Joe Shuster artwork for Nights of Horror, or for other work I associate with him, early Superman or even 1948's Funnyman. It doesn't make much sense for him to do unsigned artwork for Nights of Horror and make it look like the Superman creator Joe Shuster, and then sign artwork for Charlton that obviously wasn't by him. But that's what looks like happened.

I also posted an unsigned strip in Pappy's #331 called "Mental Wizard" from Charlton's The Thing #16, which is obviously by the same artist. Check out the bearded character, who looks like Smirnov in "The Secret In the Box."

UPDATE: Shuster's "ghost" is actually Bill Molno.

Stay for one more comment after you read the second story.












Do you think that last panel is goofy? That's not a human heart, but a Valentine heart. Since it's supposed to be a human heart my thought is that being 1954, with loud criticism of horror comics at an ear-splitting level, somebody in charge at Charlton said, "Better soft pedal that last panel. Put in something that is supposed to be a human heart but not so gory." I don't know that's what happened, but I can't figure it out otherwise.

Number 577


Oswald's war jitters


New Funnies #72, where this Oswald story appeared, came out in 1943, but the story was drawn in 1942. I posted another strip from this issue, Billy and Bonny Bee by Frank Thomas, in Pappy's #168. Both of the stories show that while the war wasn't directly addressed in New Funnies, it wasn't that far away. Many, if not most, of the children reading this comic book would have a father, brother, or other family member in the war. It was close to home for everyone.

There's at least a nod to the war jitters of the time, some mosquito dive bombers. That wasn't a new image; everyone who made animated cartoons had used that cliché a time or two. It just had poignancy because of the circumstances around the time this comic book was published.

I like the crazy Woody Woodpecker in this story better than the later bland version.

Number 576


Flash by unflashy Lee Elias


Leopold Elias was born in 1920 in the UK, moved to the US when he was six-years-old. He entered comics very early on in their existence, and was a part of them until at least the 1970s, when he was drawing Human Fly for Marvel and the Rook for Warren. Elias died in 1998.

His work evolved over the years, but the period when this Flash strip was done was his Milton Caniff period. He used this style effectively on the Black Cat for Harvey. He was Caniff's assistant for a time and had some time on syndicated comic strips of his own. Elias is one of those comic book journeymen I often tout, the guys who could draw anything, Western, war, horror, crime, super heroes...the only thing I haven't seen is a funny animal strip.

A few weeks ago I showed a Green Lantern strip by Elias. "Anything Can Happen" is from All-Flash #30, 1947. Take note of the panels where Flash burns the ropes off his hands and feet. Don't try this at home, kids.

Number 575


Dr. Judas and the Wannaketa spell for zombie making


I hadn't read this story since I bought Eerie Publications' Tales From the Crypt one-shot* in 1968, and at the time I didn't understand or appreciate its perverse sense of humor. Dr. Judas, for a fee, will resurrect a loved one after death, but there is a problem with the resurrectee...it's a zombie.

In the New Testament Judas was the betrayer, and the one he betrayed was the one who could resurrect the dead. I love Dr. Judas' line at the grave, "Yes, I think the spell of Wannaketa should be used! Wannaketa, the first zombie master!" Who? Wannaketa? That sounds like a story in itself.

"Forever Dead" is truly strange, with a bizarre and funny ending. It was originally done by the Jerry Iger shop, probably for the Ajax/Farrell line, but I don't know what specific title.

*Speaking of resurrections, since titles usually can't be copyrighted, Eerie Publications probably thought they were okay in titling a magazine Tales From the Crypt, after the presumably defunct EC comic book title of the 1950s. However, someone using an active title could be considered unfair competition. Eerie Publications might have gotten a letter from EC publisher Bill Gaines' lawyers telling them to cease and desist. The title, Tales From the Crypt, licensed from Gaines, was used by Ballantine just four years earlier for one of their EC reprint paperbacks, and it may have been licensed by the time of this title usurpation for the British film that came out a couple of years later. Whatever happened, Eerie Publications' Tales From the Crypt Volume 1, Number 10 (Eerie Publications never numbered their first issues #1) was a one-shot.

Number 574


Dudley and the Dumb Belles


Boody Rogers' Dudley returns in his self-titled second issue, from 1950. Dudley was Prize Comics' attempt to get in on the teenage comics market, but Dudley was up against a formidable rival, Archie, and the Boody Rogers comic — which I think is one of the better comics using the formula —was canceled after only three issues.

In this episode Dudley lines up some girls to tutor. Ha-ha. So that's what they call it, eh? I should've thought of that when I was in high school. But then, Dudley's intentions are more pure than mine would have been.

If you want to see more of Dudley, go to the search box in the upper left corner of this screen and type in his name. Better yet, if you're new to Pappy's, type in Boody Rogers for stories about his characters Sparky Watts and Babe, also.