Number 1183: Caught with her panthers down

"Fangs of the Panther," from Harvey's All-New Comics #11, which is cover-dated Spring 1945, is probably at least partially inspired by the movie, Cat People, which was a big hit in 1942. Jerry Robinson, who had started his career assisting Bob Kane on Batman, is the artist. He was proud of this story, or appeared to be, since he signed it in both the splash and last panels. Signed comic book stories weren't unusual, but signed in two places was unusual.

Robinson died December 8, 2011, at age 89. He was active at that late stage in his life, based on this drawing of Robinson which appeared in The New Yorker magazine in May, 2011. Robinson was one of the pioneers of comic books, having joined Kane's studio as a teenager in those days when comics were finding their form.

Another pioneer, Bob Powell, was also represented in the same issue of All-New Comics, with a predecessor to the character, The Man in Black Called Fate*, the Man in Black Called Death, a name with a morbid air about it. It's the same character, though, with the gimmick of the Fate/Death character's face always in shadow.

*The Man in Black Called Fate is represented here by issues number 1 and 2 from 1957 in Pappy's #822, and Pappy's #1019. In 1947 the character appeared in Green Hornet Comics as The Man in Black, who introduced himself as Mr. Twilight! I showed a story in Pappy's #867.

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RIP, Jerry Robinson

One of the giants of the Golden Age and the creator of the Joker has passed.

I have a number of posts on Robinson's terrific artwork at Nothing But Batman.  Although Dick Sprang was to me the definitive Batman artist, I actually thought Robinson's lithe, gymnast-like body for the Caped Crusader seemed more realistic.  A great artist, and by all accounts an even better human being.

Update:  More tributes to Jerry Robinson, by Bill Jourdain and Chuck Wells.

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Number 884


The Green Hornet and the mummy murders!


I see that The Green Hornet, the movie, was number one at the box office last weekend. So I thought I'd show folks what the original comic book Green Hornet looked like.

As we fans know, the Green Hornet was created as a radio show by the same folks who created the Lone Ranger, George Trendle and Fran Striker. Before the current hit movie, and over several decades, the Green Hornet has been featured in radio, movie serials, comic books, and a TV series.

This story is from Harvey Comics' The Green Hornet #29, 1946, drawn by Jerry Robinson, in much the same style as he put into his Batman pages.

I'm the type who waits for the DVD of a movie, so I imagine I won't see The Green Hornet for another few months, but only if you guys who've seen it tell me it's worth watching.

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Number 762


The middle Atlas


Pappy reader John Kaminski gave me the germ of the idea for this post by requesting the story, "The Trap," from Atlas' Mystery Tales #42. It's only four pages and that doesn't seem like much of a post, so I looked around at some of the other Atlas post-Code comics I have. I've always seen these comics as being somewhere toward the late middle of the Timely/Atlas/Marvel progression of the 1940s to early '60s. Until the Atlas implosion of 1957 a lot of the old horror comics artists, who didn't quit comics, got work from Atlas in a severely shrunken market.

These are some examples I've chosen.

"The Trap," drawn by Bob Bean, is from Mystery Tales #42, 1956, as is "The Captive," by Jerry Robinson.

Two stories from World Of Mystery #4, from 1956: "Things In The Window" by Werner Roth, and "The Man With The Yellow Eyes" by Dick Ayers.

Rounding it out, "The Ghost Wore Armor," published in Journey Into Unknown Worlds #55, 1957, drawn by Bob Forgione and Jack Abel.

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Number 512


London calling!


London, a hero with a blue suit, bowtie, cowl and cape, was created by Jerry Robinson for Charles Biro and Bob Wood, because as I explained in last Sunday's Blackout posting, they wanted some of that Batman magic. Jerry Robinson, one of Kane's assistants, created London, just as another assistant, George Roussos, created the short-lived Blackout.

I don't know how long London went about his business. This story, drawn by Robinson, is from Daredevil #11, published in 1942. I'm sure by the end of the war, if not sooner, London would have gone back into the inkwell, or wherever it is that secondary comic book characters go when their services are no longer required.

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