It is day two of our Week of Quality theme, presenting examples of the Quality Comics Group.
Kid Eternity, star of
Hit Comics from 1942 to 1949 and his own book for 18 issues, had a gimmick. He would travel from his home in Eternity (another name for the afterlife, or heaven), with his buddy, Mr. Keeper. He would solve problems by invoking the word “Eternity!” at which time a (dead) character from history would appear to help out. Apparently in Eternity they don’t distinguish between dead real people or myths and legends. In this story from
Kid Eternity #1 (1946), written by William Woolfolk and drawn by Al Bryant, Kid Eternity calls for Paul Bunyan and Sir Galahad. The other person he calls up, fireman Patrick Clancy, well, I don’t know if he was a real fireman or not. Frankly, I don’t care.
The main plot is another of these types of stories* brought back from a male-dominated, chauvinist era. In this case Mr. Keeper is worried because men who hardly have souls are appearing at the gates of Eternity. They’ve been browbeaten by women. Kid E. and Mr. K. travel to the Amazon where they encounter — you guessed it — Amazons, who keep their men tiny and unmanly. (I think page 6 is actually hilarious, where Sir Galahad invokes the knight’s code of chivalry against fighting women: “Page 45, paragraph 15," and the kept men of the Amazons worry about such things as dishwater hands and fixing beet soup.)
If I run into more of these types of stories I’ll post them. Even though most comic books were aimed at a male market, girls and women read them, also. It sends a message to both: guys, you’re in charge, and don’t forget it; gals, your man is in charge, and don’t you
dare forget
that. **********
*For the classic “It’s a Woman’s World" from
Mystery in Space #8, just click the picture:
