Number 2420: Thanksgiving Turkey Award: Dan Hastings and the baby killer

It is the American Thanksgiving Day, where the traditional bird of choice to eat is a turkey. A turkey is not very intelligent, so I have named my annual award the Thanksgiving Turkey Award. It gives me a chance to show what I consider the worst/most unusual/weird or whatever-it-is comic book story chosen for the year.

This one is definitely one or all of those. It has a mad scientist who sends huge bugs to kill children, and a couple of killings are shown in graphic detail.

Dan Hastings, according to Public Domain Super Heroes, is a copy of Flash Gordon, which was not unusual at all in early comic books. It explains why he wears a gaudy costume yet uses his real name. Dan has a Dr Zarkov-like friend, Dr Carter. Dan and Dr Carter’s daughter, Gloria, are a couple. After the gruesome beginning of the story, it turns into another mad scientist story, with the girlfriend of the hero, in a bondage scene, being threatened with death. The anonymous comic book writer in 1942 had a disturbing imagination.

The story is from Scoop Comics #2, and skeletons of bug-stabbed infants earn this story three and a half turkeys.

No writer or artist is credited by the Grand Comics Database.

More Thanksgiving Turkey Awards! Just clink on the thumbnail.

Posted in: Pappy Comics