Number 370


"Dragged to your death!"


I'm not a big Western fan, not of movies, books or comics, but I do enjoy the occasional story if it's well done. Robert Kanigher, editor, scripted this story for Alex Toth, artist, and Frank Giacoia, inker. It appeared in All-American Western #107, April-May 1949. I love Toth's dynamic, action-filled artwork. Giacoia inked it in DC's late-1940s house style, borrowed from Milton Caniff.

The Indian characters are treated the same way they were treated in movies, as stereotypes.

I like Johnny Thunder's rock 'n' roll hairstyle, anticipating the look of a decade hence. Something that bugs me is how a white horse can be called Black Lightning. And wasn't Johnny Thunder a name borrowed from another DC character of a couple years earlier? And wasn't Black Lightning the name of a superhero two or three decades later? I guess comic books were the original recyclers: plots, art, names, everything used again and again!

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Okay, Who Came Up With This?

Meet Little Ambrose:



That's him at the top of the ladder. More to the point is the chap at the bottom of the ladder. That's Little Archie, aka, Archie Andrews, the character who sold more comic books in the Silver Age than anybody. And what is he doing? Well, it looks like he's rather cleverly painted the ladder so that Little Ambrose can't come down.

From this you might assume that Little Ambrose was some hate-worthy villain like Reggie or Lex Luthor or even Gladstone Gander.

But no. Little Ambrose was the youngster in Archie Andrews' neighborhood that Little Archie bullied. And I am not kidding about that. Consider these scenes from that first issue:



And:



And:



And incredibly:



Little Archie made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Horrific characterization for one of the most important comic book characters of all time. Little Archie and Archie himself were always good characters; when they joined the Superhero craze, Archie became Pureheart the Powerful, but in Little Ambrose, Archie should be Brutus the Bully.

Fortunately Little Ambrose did not survive past his inaugural issue; I assume that he had appeared in the Little Archie mags as well. I'm pretty sure he did not appear in any of the teenage Archie mags in the Silver Age. There is nothing particularly wrong with the character of Little Ambrose; he's the underdog who comes out on top. That's admirable.

The problem is making his tormentor Archie.

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#059.Spider Man

Amazing Fantasy was a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular character Spider Man which was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.

Here is very first Spider Man comic.




Vol1N15-1962- Spider Man




All thanks and credits for providing this rare comic go to our friend Dr. Krishna Raman.

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Friday Trivia Quiz #7: Superman

I decided to try something different this week. I've combined bits and pieces from several different covers from the Superman family of comics. Can you identify all the covers. Some of the covers may give you a clue. For example, note the super tots frolicking in #1; is there something unusual about the Superman uniforms they're wearing?

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Number 369


Supermouse goes ape!


I was going to make a comment about Supermouse and the 800-pound gorilla...but in this story, "The Great Gorilla Plot," that gorilla looks like he weighs more than 800 pounds. A lot more.

This entry in the Supermouse series by the great cartoonist, Milt Stein, is from Supermouse #22, December 1952. To see more of the stories posted on Pappy's, click on the Supermouse link in the labels below. For more cartoon funny animals go to the great blog, Sherm Cohen's CartoonSNAP. To see Sherm's links to more Supermouse go here.

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Thursday Links

The always-recommended Dial B for Blog has a terrific series on what would have happened if Bazooka Joe had joined up with the Justice League of America.

Both Beaucoup Kevin and Mark Engblom take on the recent announcement that the Superman movie series is going to be rebooted, with a darker take on the character, thanks to the success of Dark Knight.

Most comic fans probably agree that Superman Returns was a mess, but I agree with Kevin and Mark; Superman is not a dark character.

Booksteve has a post dedicated to Lost In Space, the other 1960s Trek through Space show.

The Fortress of Fortitude celebrates the return to continuity of a couple "Batman and the Aliens" stories. Although these stories were largely a plague on Batman prior to the New Look, it is hard to eliminate them completely; after all, the sci-fi elements may mostly have been jettisoned from Batman and Detective, but he still encountered them often in the pages of the Justice League.

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Number 368


American Pig!


As a young G.I. in the U.S. Army I was drilled in the Code of Conduct. The Code is a set of rules we, as soldiers, were expected to obey in the event we were held as prisoners of war. After hearing about what some prisoners went through I was sure if captured and got even a whiff of torture I'd sell out my mother, not to mention my country. It never happened so it's moot, but to my understanding the Code of Conduct was initiated because of what happened to some P.O.W.'s during the Korean conflict of the early 1950s. Some men were supposedly brainwashed into making statements for the enemy. Some American soldiers who went over the hill during that war are still living in North Korea.

This particular story came out of a coverless war comic, published by Superior, a Canadian publisher who used the services of Jerry Iger's comic book production shop. It also looks like it was produced under another code, the Comics Code, because Iger pre-Comics Code stories were usually pretty violent. About the worst thing that happens here is the P.O.W. gives one soldier a karate chop that looks like it wouldn't kill a mosquito, and another a headlock.

The best thing about the story is the frontispiece to this post. I love that squirrelly-looking panel!

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#058.Indrajal Comics 20 (Hindi)

This Indrajal Comics is first time in any language posted at net. A interesting adventure of Flash Gordon.

384-1981-Flash-Ghrina ka Davanal

Password: bookscomics.blogspot.com

This is Anurag's contribution. All credits & thanks go to him.

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Trivia Quiz #6 Answers

Match these villains with the person who either created them, or augmented their powers in some way:

1. The Destroyer
2. The Absorbing Man
3. The Wrecker

A. Queen of the Narns
B. Odin
C. Loki

1. B.
2. C.
3. A.

Answered correctly by Joe Bloke, Thelonius Nick and Kryp44

4. Who was the comic relief character in the Tales of Asgard series? Upon which famous literary character was he based?

The Voluminous Volstagg was the comic relief character in Tales of Asgard. He was clearly based on the character of Falstaff, who appeared in several Shakespearean plays, including the Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V.

5. What villain (villainess) appeared first in JIM/Thor and then subsequently appeared the most often in other Silver Age Marvel mags of any of Thor's opponents?

Among villains and villainesses appearing first in JIM/Thor, the Enchantress had by far the most appearances in other Marvel mags in the Silver Age. She made her initial appearance in Journey into Mystery #103, then appeared in a startling number of early Avengers issues, including Avengers #7, #9, #10, 15, 16, 21, 22, as well as Hulk #102 and several other issues. This is beyond her significant appearances in Journey into Mystery. She's on the short list for female villain of the 1960s; indeed she's the favorite.

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Number 367


Double Mummy Monday!


Karswell of The Horrors Of It All has been featuring Mummy Monday postings this month. Since I wish to jump into his pyramid scheme, I did an archaeological excavation at the site of Pappy's Sarcophagus of Stuff to drag out two pharaoh-to-middling mummy stories. First up, Al Camy took to the papyrus for a fine 10-pager from Forbidden Worlds #5, March-April, 1952. You may Tut-tut when you find this story so whack that the hero's girlfriend wants to tag along because she's jealous of a priestess back from the dead, fresh from her mummy wrappings! Note to hero: This girlfriend will cause you problems later. She is not very tightly wrapped herself. This is typical ACG of the 1950s, so crazy, so fun.

The second story is from Atlas Comics' Crazy #6, scanned from its reprinting in 1975's Arrgh #3.

**********

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