Number 616


Buscema @ ACG


I don't need to tell anyone about John Buscema. I hope not, anyway. He was one of the best pencillers in the business for many years, drawing thousands of pages for Marvel Comics in the 1960s and '70s.

These are two superbly illustrated 1959 stories by John Buscema for ACG's Adventures Into the Unknown numbers 108 and 110.

Buscema died at age 74 in 2002.

Number 615


The birth after death stories


In May of this year Karswell of The Horrors Of It All showed us a story from a 1953 issue of Black Magic about the circumstances of the birth of Sir Walter Scott. I'll link you to it after you've read the version of the story from Harvey Comics' Ripley's Believe It Or Not #4, 1954.

According to the story behind the story, writer Jack Oleck borrowed from himself, penning both the Black Magic and Ripley's stories. It happens...a guy is on a tight deadline, he's straining for ideas, and why not use this one? After all, the guys who publish and edit Harvey Comics didn't look at Prize Comics' products...but the readers did.

Now check out the Simon and Kirby version of this story from The Horrors Of It All.

Number 614


Two tough broads


In his famous screed, Seduction of the Innocent, Dr. Fredric Wertham claimed that all comic books were crime comics. That's true of both of these stories. "Jailbird's Romance" is from My Romantic Adventures #49, 1954, and is disguised as a love comic.

There's no disguising "Killers on the Loose! Francine O'Connor, the Empress of Crime," which is from a 1952 Avon crime comic, Prison Break #3.

Ogden Whitney's "Jailbird's Romance" tells of a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who falls into crime. She goes to prison, gets out, falls in love, and then in defiance of the usual love comics ending she loses the guy she loves and goes back to prison. In my book that makes it a crime comic, not a love comic. Whitney used Craftint* board for his artwork.













The Grand Comics Database gives credit to artist Tex Blaisdell for the "Empress of Crime." He drew some good girl fight panels. The women in these stories are tough. They need to kick ass and do. They need to survive in a world of men. And they do.

*Craftint, now known as Grafix, has been discontinued. See the story here.

Number 613

Star Pirate


I love Star Pirate, a regular series from Planet Comics, drawn by Murphy Anderson.

I first saw Anderson's work in the late '50s in DC's Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures. I love his clean artwork, his well drawn characters, muscular guys, beautiful girls. Murphy was young, in his late teens and early twenties, when he drew episodes of Star Pirate. But he was thoroughly professional, as he continued to be throughout his career.

Many times I've written of the journeymen in comics, the guys who went in and slogged it out for low page rates and gave it the best they could, month after month, year after year. Anderson drew syndicated strips (most notably stints on Buck Rogers). He drew many comic books, and though he could draw anything, I remember him best for science fiction and super-heroes. Star Pirate is in the best Planet Comics tradition: sexy girls, action heroes, rocket ships and ray guns. It's obvious from looking at this that he had a lot of fun doing it.

This Star Pirate episode is from Planet Comics #46, January 1947. I showed another in Pappy's #409.