Number 2468: Into the catacombs you dirty rat!

“A Lovely Night in Paris” is far from lovely. It is a horror story where a woman gets kidnapped by some little red monsters and taken deep into the catacombs of Paris. It is a love story in the making, as a handsome gendarme follows her and her captors underground.

Joe Gill wrote the story, and Tom Sutton drew it. Despite the artwork seeming rushed it is very dynamic: deep shadows, monsters, a beautiful woman and a brave gendarme.

And it has a bondage cover. I am only a bit surprised that the Comics Code let that go by. It had been 20 years since all of the foofaraw over comic books brought on the Code. At some point in the '70s the Code started to lighten up by approving comics they would not have approved in the past. Comic book buyers were getting older, and I have also heard the Code became relaxed because of television, and how much sex, violence and swearing was allowed by TV network censors. By then nobody in the larger outside world cared what happened in comic books.

Back to this comic book. The story is from Ghostly Haunts and was originally published in 1974 by Charlton. This edition was published in 1978 by a promotional company called Modern Comics. I read they were reprinted to be sold three to a bag. In the '70s I bought some Modern Comics one at a time (no bag) from an F.W. Woolworth store. Woolworth is now out of business, as is Modern, but I assume one had nothing to do with the other.

From Ghostly Haunts #41 (1978 reprint of 1974 issue):

Read more »

Number 2467: Blackhawk, Dr Omega and “the world as we know it is doomed!”

The Blackhawks are flying around, but do they have a destination in mind? We don’t know. While in the air they intercept a powerful signal and land on an island with only two inhabitants. Human inhabitants, that is, Dr Omega and Moth.

Dr Omega dresses like Robin Hood. Moth is a beautiful woman, thanks to artist Reed Crandall. Her place with Dr Omega is somewhat mysterious. Dr Omega calls Moth his “beloved companion,” yet doesn’t seem affected by her fate (warning: that is a spoiler).

Then there are robots with light bulbs for noses.

Something about Dr Omega struck me, something he said: “The outside world will destroy itself...our civilization and the men who make it will disappear in the next hundred years.” He predicts “wars, plagues and famines” and further states, “the world as we know it is doomed!” Blackhawk is more optimistic but that is something of a postwar optimism; some naïve projection of the future. I am okay with optimism of others, but I can be a downer.  On bad days I believe more in “gloom, doom and rumors of boom!” as said in an old Pogo comic strip.

Oh, also there is an ugly racist panel on page 7 with Chop-Chop. Be aware. 

From Blackhawk #19 (1948):

Read more »

Number 2466: The pinball racket

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are credited with the entire contents of Headline Comics #24. It had been a superhero comic, and then became a crime comic.

In this story they tell of the pinball racket. The mob would force small businesses to put in machines that would draw money from customers, then the mobsters would benefit, usually to the detriment of the business owner. Although crime comics used a line like “Crime Does Not Pay” somewhere in the story (“Crime Never Pays” in the splash panel of this story), in the real world outside of comics Simon and Kirby probably knew that crime did pay. Organized crime controlled unions, trucking, construction, along with the usual vices in New York. To do their illegal businesses they had police and judges on their payroll. A couple of New York guys in the comic book business were likely aware that organized crime also had their hooks in periodical distribution, which included comic books.

Crime comics were big sellers in 1947, when this was published. I’ll bet gangsters also got a kick out of them.

Read more »

Number 2465: Vulcan: Out of the fire and into more fire

The comic book character Vulcan (presumably no relation to Mr Spock from Star Trek) is found in the Public Domain Superheroes website: “A descendant of the Roman God of Fire who shares his name, Vulcan could control all forms of fire, flame, and heat. His powers also included flight, fire projection, super strength, and being virtually bulletproof (bullets always melted before they hit him).”

Vulcan was inside the volcano taking time to study and decide when to make his debut. He popped out of the volcano in costume, speaking English, ready to fight evil. He became active  in time to get to an American city and rescue a man on fire. The man turned out to work for the arson squad. Amazing coincidence, wouldn’t you say? That reminds me, I once thought Amazing Coincidence Comics would have been an apt title for an early comic book.

There are no credits in the Grand Comics Database for whomever did the writing or drawing. It is crude, especially the lettering. Vulcan lasted a little bit longer than some of the early superheroes, but not by much. His stories were in Super-Mystery Comics for 17 issues, and three issues of Four Favorites Comics, then someone put out the fire on this character.

Grand Comics Database leaves us with this tantalizing sentence: “Per information from the NY Superior Court hearing, Ace art director, Fred Gardener, stated that Patrick "Pat" Lamar's studio provided all of the artwork for this issue, as well as script, lettering, and coloring.” What Superior Court hearing, and why? And it is the first and only time I have seen any reference to Patrick Lamar’s studio, which is unknown to me, and another question mark.

Read more »

Number 2464: Joe Sinnott could draw horror

Joe Sinnott, comic artist, died this year at age 93. Despite his advanced age, it is still a bit jarring when I see the death notice for someone I admire, no matter how old. I admire Joe Sinnott’s art, and have enjoyed it for over 60 of Joe’s 93 years.

For Halloween I’ve got four stories Sinnott did for Atlas horror comics in the early '50s. The stories are well drawn and effective, especially one of my favorites, “The Witch in the Woods.” It retells the story of Hansel and Gretel as a comeback to enemies of horror comics. We can assume that horror stories have been told to children around the campfire probably as far back as early humans telling their kids tall tales of monsters and ghosts. I have shown these before, some years ago. They're just as fun to read now as they were then.

From Menace #7 (1953):

From Dead of Night #1 (1973); reprinted from Adventures Into Weird Worlds #6 (1952):

From Uncanny Tales #13 (1953):

From Uncanny Tales #16 (1954):

Read more »