Single-Issue Review: All-American Men of War #73

Hmmm, given that the Amerikaner has a better grip on the rope, with his right hand instead of his left hand, I'd guess that he can hang on longer than the German. And I don't get what's going on with the GI's helmet strap. Unless it has just now come loose, wouldn't it be hanging down, and wouldn't the helmet be falling from his head?

The cover story, No Detour, opens the issue and is a real page turner. Two soldiers named Mac and Lee find themselves facing detours every where they go, both literal detours that take them longer to get to the action, and figurative detours, where they are being shot at by an German 88 tank, and duck into a nearby house, only to find it occupied by a machine gunner. Later they make it to the roof of one building only to find it being blasted by a mortar crew across the way.

Through it all they survive by their wits and courage, as here:



In the climax, the soldiers are climbing a mountain to reconnoiter the area, when a German fighter plane blasts at them. Check out this picture-in-picture:



But even after defeating the pilot, there's still one roadblock up ahead, and no detour:



But Mac saves Lee by tugging on the rope, a pre-arranged signal for Lee to come down. The German is unprepared for the sudden movement and falls to his death.

Comments: Excellent story by Robert Kanigher and superb art by Joe Kubert. Look at the menace in that smile by the German; that's really quite perfect. I particularly like the detours theme being used to frame the story.

The second story, Tanks Don't Cry, is about three brothers. One is a pilot, and he swears that his plane is human and that he heard it cry when it was almost shot down, but it got him home safely. The second is in the Navy, and recalls the time that his aircraft carrier was almost sunk, but though it cried it refused to sink.

Of course the third brother, a junior tank officer, thinks this is silly. His tank is just a bucket of bolts, a mechanical marvel to be sure, but not human. But in a tough situation, caught in a tank trap, the tank somehow escapes and crashes into a German pillbox, rescuing the men but destroying itself in the process. And in the end:



I was pleased to recognize Mort Drucker's style in the artwork; I am getting a little better at identifying artists without looking them up these days. Of course, this panel was a pretty big hint:



Comments: Very neat and tight little story. Humans do tend to anthropomorphize pieces of equipment, like cars, so it's not surprising that a tank man would get emotional over his "bucket of bolts". I did think it was a little bit of a stretch to say that the plane and the aircraft carrier were crying, but obviously that was needed to give the ending some punch.

The finale is Nobody Owns a Medal. A green soldier eyes with some envy the Bronze Star of his corporal, but the non-com insists that he's just holding the medal temporarily until somebody comes along who deserves it more. Sure enough, the kid proves his resourcefulness and courage in the next skirmish, knocking out a machine gun nest, and the corporal hands over his Bronze Star.



But sure enough, when he goes out on patrol with a rookie and things look grim:



And at the end of the action, he gives the rookie his Bronze Star, with the title admonition.

Comments: Another terrific short form tale from Bob Haney (who also wrote the second story), with fine art by Jack Abel. It strikes me reading this entire book how terrific the writing was, and yet it was done by two writers who are probably more remembered for the cringe-worthy work they did on Wonder Woman and Brave & Bold/Teen Titans. Yet another reminder that not every person is suited for every genre.

Have a healthy and safe Memorial Day, everyone!

Update: Other Memorial Day posts:

Easily Mused has the first appearance of the Ice-Cream Soldier in Sgt. Rock. Not to be missed!

Mark Engblom reflects on the reality of the soldiers as compared to the comics versions and recommends a book of letters from servicemen.

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Single Issue Review: Batman #217

Or, farewell to all that. Most of the time, these covers turned out to be just teases, and you knew by the end of the story that all will be back to normal. Just two issues earlier the cover had depicted Batman blowing Wayne Manor to smithereens; needless to say, that didn't actually happen. But this really was the end of the Batcave for all intents and purposes, and thus this is a significant story.

And that's not the most important ending in this issue. Dick (Robin) Grayson had been around as Bruce (Batman) Wayne's crime-fighting partner since 1940, when he appeared to be a lad of about 10. But if the clock ticks a little slower in the comic universe than in our world, it ticks remorselessly:



His fashion sense leaves a little to be desired, but obviously he loves his new university (Hudson U, to be specific), and is thrilled at the thought of beginning this new phase of his life (which would include solo adventures as Robin in Detective Comics), while Bruce and Alfred contemplate life without him. This was effectively the end of the Bruce/Dick partnership; although they have worked together on many occasions since, it was always on an ad hoc basis. As I presume most of you know, Dick grew into adulthood and became Nightwing, and there have been two (or more) new Robins since, and at this point Dick is the most likely candidate to become Batman in the Battle for the Cowl while Bruce is thought dead although he's really alive back in the caveman era.

But all that was in the unknown future at the time. One rather jarring note that the story is indeed set in 1969:



I don't even know if they have draft cards these days; you still have to register even though the last draft was held in 1972. Dick tears up a bit as the cab drives him away, and suddenly Batman is on his own again as he was in 1939. Bruce decides that it's time to close up old Wayne Manor, and move into new digs:



The first time that building was shown, I believe. Quick trivia: What was the original name of the Wayne Foundation? Answer at end. By the way, the building was remodeled later to house an atrium with an enormous tree, which featured in innumerable "establishing shots" later. It looked neat, but the commercial real estate analyst in me has to question the amount of rentable area lost.

Bruce decides to become a victims' rights advocate:



This is not what the Wayne Foundation became, but it's an interesting start as it gives Bruce Wayne an excuse to look into crime from his real identity. Bruce starts, not terribly coincidentally, with the shooting death of a doctor (like his own father's murder). Jonah Fielding was killed after treating a hoodlum who had been shot. Unfortunately, his wife did not see the crook, but she knows that he had been wounded in an extremity, and yet he wasn't limping so they know to look for a man with his arm in a sling.

So Batman baits a trap for the killer, letting it be known in his "Matches Malone" identity that the doctor's wife was going to tell all to the police. Unfortunately, his deductions turn out to be wrong, as the real killer was the man who originally shot the victim the doctor was treating. Batman manages to save the wife of the doctor by taking a bullet intended for her. Oddly, the story ends with Batman deducing who the real killer was, but the police end up picking him up.

Comments: Some poignant moments at the beginning, with excellent characterization for Bruce, Alfred and Dick. It was cool to see more of the personal side of their lives for a change. Bruce muses about how messy Dick is (apparently messy means leaving a shoe visible underneath a well-made bed). It was very cool to read this back then as I was approaching college age myself. The story is good, although even as I read it I wondered if Batman wasn't assuming too quickly that the killer was the guy the doctor treated. Excellent art by Irv Novick.

Quick Trivia answer: The Wayne Foundation was originally named the Alfred Foundation. As I discussed last year, Alfred was apparently killed in Detective #328, giving Bruce the inspiration to create a foundation in his honor. After Alfred returned from the dead in the Outsider series, Bruce renamed the charity for his parents.

BTW, sorry for the lack of posts in the last week or so. I have been battling a back injury that made it uncomfortable to sit at my desk, although things seem to be returning to normal.

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Single Issue Review: Showcase #41

DC had good success relaunching some of their Golden Age superhero characters in the early 1960s, so it was only natural that they'd try the same treatment with some of their sci-fi heroes as well.

Tommy Tomorrow debuted in 1947 in the pages of Real Fact Comics #6, which at least puts in doubt the trustworthiness of the title, because of course his adventures were completely fictional. After a few appearances in that magazine, Tommy got a big break, being promoted to Action Comics with #127. I'd have to look around to be sure, but I believe that he replaced Hayfoot Henry.

At any rate, TT held down the fort at Action for a long time indeed, finally being bumped to make room for Supergirl in Action #252. Ironically, for most of his run, Tommy Tomorrow was drawn by the man who would go on to fame as Supergirl's first major artist, Jim Mooney.

Tommy moved over to World's Finest with issue #102 and lasted for another 23 adventures ending in #124; Aquaman coming over from Detective bumped him, and for the first time in 15 years TT had no home in the DC Universe.

The story begins as Tommy is a lowly cadet at Planeteer Academy, the West Point of the Solar System. In an early test, Tommy apparently pulls out the wrong gun by accident when facing the dragonlike creature shown on the cover. But he later discovers that he was "accidentally" issued two of the same gun, and none of the one he needed. Tommy also meets Lon Vurian, the spoiled son of the commander of the Venusian forces.

In another test, Tommy mistakenly takes water rather than forasic acid into a test chamber. Or did he?



One night, Tommy observes Vurian fiddling with Tommy's controller for a test the following day. But when he accuses the young Venusian, he's embarrassed as the techs test the controls and discover them to have been recently repaired but working fine.

Despite those errors, Tommy is tied with Vurian at the end of the semester for best student. It will all come down to a war game, with the two young men in charge of their respective teams. But there is a revolt in the ranks:



After they land on an asteroid tasked to locate a powerful gem, Tomorrow's men mutter sarcastically that he has probably already sabotaged the other team. Sure enough Vurian's directional finder isn't working. Meanwhile Tommy's team has encountered another problem:



But the young cadet figures out that he can use the local version of giraffes to cross the stream. Meanwhile the Blue team has prepared an obstacle for Tommy's men. They broadcast them about the directional finder, which is the last straw for the Red team, who now refuse to help TT. But Tommy is determined to succeed and eventually he breaks into the chamber where the gem was being held, only to discover Vurian entering from the other side, and the gem missing.

It turns out that Lo Duey, a Martian cadet had been sabotaging both teams, with his goal to steal the powerful gem. He blasts off before the cadets can get back to the ship, but he does cause Tommy and Lon Vurian to join forces:



The gem grants its owner invulnerability when the gem is exposed to the sun. They track down Lo Duey and almost catch him when the sun goes down on a planet where he's stealing something from a hydrogen generator plant. Unfortunately, it looks like Lon Vurian gets killed:



Lo Duey's plan is to create two miniature suns orbiting around Venus so that his powers will work permanently. But Tommy Tomorrow has figured out a plan to get rid of the suns:



And Lon survived the collapse of the lighthouse, so it's a happy ending all around.

Comments: I really like the story in this one, particularly the part where they stop to check the viscosity of the stream. I guessed that Lo Duey was the real villain early on, although mostly it was the usual "Okay, they introduce this guy early on and then don't do anything with him for the next 11 pages, so he must secretly be the baddie." Lee Elias provides the art, in a style very reminiscent of Milt Caniff. About the only major negative to the story is that there are no women; the Planeteers apppears to be a males-only bastion.

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Single Issue Review: Daredevil #12

I was flipping through this one today and thought with current events in the world it would make for a topical review. This is Johnny Romita's first effort for Marvel. Daredevil had struggled to find a regular artist during its history. The first issue was drawn by Bill Everett, #s 2-4 by Joe Orlando, and #s 5-11 by Wally Wood. Wood bailed to start up Tower Comics, as I discussed. So this marked what might have been a long run at Daredevil for Romita, had fate not had other plans for him.

As the story begins, Matt is leaving Karen and Foggy behind. Believing that Karen doesn't love him, Matt has decided to go on a long cruise to leave the field open for Foggy. But as he boards the ship he hears a passenger ask a curious question:



And Stan doesn't put those foreshadowing bits in there for nothing:



But the pirates hadn't planned on DD being aboard:



Unfortunately for DD, the Plunderer has a trump card in the form of hostages. Surprisingly however:



Does that reply by the Plunderer sound more than a little gay? Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that this comic has some very weird displays of affection going on. From another part of the story check out this:



The Plunderer is your classic loony:



We learn that his ship can convert to a submarine and that his hideout is called Skull Island which is located in a hidden land (of course, Ka-Zar's hidden land). But when they arrive at Skull Island, it has been raided by the Swamp Men. Before the Plunderer can seek his revenge against them, however, he is raided by Ka-Zar and Zabu. We get the obligatory good guy fight scene:



But later, when Daredevil is wounded, Ka-Zar remembers the courageous way he fought and brings the fallen hero back to his cave. The issue ends on a cliffhanger note, with DD near death's door as Ka-Zar tries to get some medicinal berries from a man-eating plant:



Comments: I really like this issue. The bit with the Plunderer not actually robbing the cruise ship seems unlikely, but it's a classic 1960s spy thriller plot device. Romita's artwork (with layouts by Kirby) hits home in every panel.

Update: A more critical reaction at the Comic Treadmill several years ago:

This story, involving pirates, the Savage Land and international intrigue, was beautifully suited for Kirby and Romita’s art. And it looks pretty. But what the heck was Daredevil doing in the middle of this? Like Spider-Man, Daredevil works well in an urban setting and stands out like Capt. Underpants at a JLA meeting when moved into fantasy realms.

A fair criticism. One thing is obvious about Stan Lee; he did things by the seat of his pants and often struggled for awhile to find appropriate villains and settings for his characters before hitting his stride.

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Single Issue Review: Fox & Crow #35

DC fiddled around with funny animals for most of the Golden and Silver Ages. Unlike Dell, however, they never signed up with a major cartoon shop, so while Dell was publishing (with huge success) Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and several other licensed characters, DC created their own knockoff characters or licensed a few quite a bit less-known cartoon features. Among the former were Flippety and Flop (Sylvester and Tweety knockoff), Nutsy Squirrel and Dodo & the Frog.

Fox & Crow was a licensed series, although I doubt very much that many of the kids reading their comics in the 1950s and 1960s were aware of it:

The cartoon was well received, and another with the same characters was produced, for release six months after the first. In fact, they became the studio's biggest stars ever, easily eclipsing Scrappy. But by then, Tashlin had departed for greener pastures — he was working at Warner Bros., and making a name for himself with such characters as Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. This one was directed by Bob Wickersham, who used the characters in a completely different way. His Fox just wanted to be left alone, but The Crow wouldn't let him; and the gags were done in a more traditional style than the earlier blackouts. Innocent Fox paired with aggressive Crow became the formula for the series, most of which was directed by Wickersham.

DC licensed the characters in the mid-1940s when the cartoon series was still running, and used them as the cover feature for Real Screen Comics and Comic Cavalcade. Ironically, though, by the time Fox & Crow graduated to their own magazine, they were through in Hollywood as their animation studio was sold and the characters quickly ignored by the new company.

They settled in for a very long run by comics standards, with their first issue hitting the stands in early 1952 and their last in early 1968 (at which point they had been DC's only funny animal title for about 7 years). They did suffer the humiliation of seeing their comic taken over by a backup feature (Stanley and His Monster)

As Markstein notes, perhaps the most amazing thing about the Fox and Crow series is that most stories did not feature any other characters. The Fox and Crow were perfect enemies; indeed it is hard to imaging Luthor and Superman battling each other as relentlessly as those two did. Crawford Crow is a lazy, sponging con artist while Fauntleroy Fox is his eternal mark. However, the writers and artist Jim Davis (no, not that Jim Davis) managed to make the Crow entertaining enough and the Fox insufferable enough that there was always a balance. And you could never guarantee whether the Fox would win out in the end or the Crow.

In the first story, we find the Crow miserable as he realizes that he's completely run out of ways to "chisel" the Fox. But he gets inspired when he learns that the Fox is about to inherit $5,000, tomorrow (August 15, 1956 as a calendar reveals). The Crow reaches through the window and rips out the 15th from that calendar, then starts singing a bluesy tune about how there's not going to be a tomorrow.



Asked for evidence, the Crow points to the calendar, where tomorrow's date is indeed missing. This causes him no end of consternation until the Crow reveals that he in fact has tomorrow, so the Fox begs him to give it back. So the Fox cooks him a turkey dinner, and gives him his convertible and $3,000 cash to get tomorrow back. Of course, in the end he realizes he spent $10,000 in cash and other goods to get $5,000; Bernie Madoff could have done better than that.

Running Tally: Fox 0, Crow 1.

Comments: Good start, mediocre ending.

Next up is an ad for the Superman Space Satellite Launcher:



I don't remember the Superman connection, but certainly remember these cool little toys. They really did fly somewhere close to 25 feet high in the air. Kellogg's had a long association with Superman, dating back to their sponsorship of the radio program in the 1940s.

The filler is a strip called Hound and Hare, which also had a long run. The young hound has discovered that manufacturers have created a mechanical hare, which his father promptly purchases. The Hare overhears this and decides to ensure that the hounds continue to chase him. He stuffs himself in their mailbox with a shipping tag and they assume it is their mechanical pal. But when he starts operating, they learn that he's a little trickier than their normal quarry:



After that the Hare sends them into the briar patch and on top of Old Smokey, at which point they are exhausted. They return to find the real mechanical hare in their mailbox, but they assume the mailman just found it and brought it back to them and they mail it back.

Comments: Cute if predictable.

As you can see from the cover, this issue featured the DC 5000 contest. DC was offering lots of prizes including 18 Columbia bicycles with 80 pairs of roller or ice skates for second place. Third prize would probably bring a firestorm of protest today as there were 200 3rd prizes for boys (a football with a kicking tee) and only 120 3rd prizes for girls (a doll named Sweet Sue that according to the accompanying copy can "kneel down to say her prayers").

The contest was to come up with a slogan for DC Comics. Among the suggestions were:



The slogans were to be chosen by a panel of judges, not a random drawing as was typical; I'll have to find out what the winners were and whether they became significant slogans for DC.

The second Fox & Crow story is something of an oddball because they are not antagonists. While experimenting with a chemistry set, the Crow accidentally creates a storm in his tree. He tries to sell an April shower to the Fox, who scoffs, but:



The Fox gets the brilliant idea of growing corn in partnership with the Crow. But predictably, the Crow gets impatient with watering the corn slowly and creates a deluge that washes their profits and homes away in a flood.

Running Talley: Fox 0, Crow 1 (Neither wins this battle).

Comments: Definitely a mediocre effort without the conflict that makes the series so entertaining.

In the third story, the Crow is reading some nursery rhymes when he comes across a famous one:



This inspires a new mooching idea. The Crow offers himself to the Fox as one of the ingredients for the pie (along with lots of other ingredients of course. The Fox agrees and soon has him wrapped up in dough and peas and turnips and carrots and spuds).

So the Fox plunks him in the oven and they have a running conversation about how things are going. Eventually the Crow asks for a spoon so he can stir things up a bit. Of course we all know that he's probably using it to eat up all the pie. Eventually the pie is finished and out pops the blackbird to sing a little ditty. The Fox kicks him out and returns to the pie, only to find that there's nothing there but the empty pie shell.

Running Talley: Fox 0, Crow 2.

Comments: Good beginning but in the middle you can't help wondering how the Crow isn't being killed by the heat of the oven, which does indeed cook the pie crust. But of course this was quite common in cartoons. You could easily see the story going the other way--with the Crow bravely talking about how hot it's getting and how he hopes that the Fox is going to enjoy this dinner as the Fox gets more and more upset.

Overall comments: I really like this series, but unfortunately I picked a below-average issue to review here. A lot of Fox & Crow gags depend on the willingness to suspend disbelief; this is easier when the Crow is dressed up in a silly disguise and we're supposed to accept that Fauntleroy can't figure it out.

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Single Issue Review: Jimmy Olsen #64

Everything a youngster needed to know about relationships back in the early 1960s, he could learn from Mr Sensitive himself, Jimmy Olsen.

The first story is Jimmy Olsen, Hollywood Star. The splash shows Jimmy about to drown in a pool of quicksand as the camera rolls, but the text box at the side informs us that this is really happening, and that we should prepare ourselves for a surprise ending.

The story begins with Jimmy falling off a high-rise office building under construction. Fortunately he calls Superman with his signal watch and is saved in the nick of time. We discover that it's actually a stunt for a movie on Superman's life and that Jimmy's sticking around in LA, which in typically demure DC fashion is referred to as "the television city on the coast". Jimmy encounters some of the biggest stars of the time:



What follows are some bizarre short gags, which really don't fit Jimmy Olsen. He encounters a Bizarro, who does some weird stuff. But it's not a Bizarro, it's:



Bizarro Bob Hope!

And then a parrot escapes on a set to the top of a mast. Jimmy has the elastic formula with him and saves the bird which results in him getting some attention from the starlets:



I get the feeling that Jimmy's a Maxim kind of guy, maybe some of that Axe body wash, I mean class all the way.

But then we get one of the classic dun-dun-DUH panels of all time:



Quicksand? Did you say quicksand?

I decry the appalling tendency for liberal judges in Metropolis to permit obvious gangsters out on bail to murder red-headed cub reporters:



But with Jimmy in the quicksand he doesn't even have to fire his gun. As the bow-tied boy reporter is about to drown an unknown person comes in to rescue him:



Who is Jimmy's mysterious savior? Well, to spoil the 46-year-old suspense, it's Boris Karloff although even Jimmy never finds out.

Mort gives the identities of the Hollywood celebrities in the commissary shot:



Note: Although the idea of a story featuring some famed characters was not new, it was interesting that their names were given in the comic, especially Karloff's; I think kids back then would have seen it as something different and surprising

I don't know who "Margie" is; it does not appear to be the gal from My Little Margie. Anybody?

Update: Michael Rebain points to the TV show called Margie which aired around those years, and I was able to find this promo pic for the show with the lead actress (Cynthia Pepper):



As you can see, it looks like somebody's idea of what college was like in the 1920s.

Story #2 (yes, we've barely cracked this classic) is summarized here:



Could this be a story exposing Lois' irrational prejudice against fiery beings? As it turns out, Lois and Jimmy are assigned to cover the story of an exploding volcano in the South Seas, as is another familiar redhead, who gets just a little too honest with Lois:



The locals, a bunch of ignorant savages despite the suits, are talking about fire gods emerging from the volcano. The sophisticates from Metropolis yuk it up a bit:



A few seconds later they are on the run themselves as they encounter the fiery beings, who appear to be following Lana and Jimmy:



Because of their fiery hair. At first the story seems like a classic, "How can we kill these monsters?" tale, but Jimmy proves protective of the little creatures and coaxes them back into the volcano and gets a scoop.

Comments: The mediocre story is aided by the lack of Superman other than as a statue in the town, so that it's a question of whether Jimmy can save the lava beings.

The letters page starts off with a request for Jimmy to give it to Lucy Lane "good and rough".



And indeed given Lucy's treatment of Jimmy in the cover story we can see where Joanne got that sentiment:



But Jimmy goes home with a friend's shortwave radio set, and a few modifications later he's talking to intergalactic babes who want to meet him:



She helps him make a bracelet that gives him super-smarts. But does he use it for the good of humanity? Does he find a cure for cancer?

Well, first he busts Lucy's twisting pilot buddy as a spy. But then he puts some poor carnival operator out of business to impress her:



But Lucy still doesn't consider Jimmy #1 on her hit parade, so when Allura calls again he agrees to be transported to her planet.



Unfortunately they prove unable to overcome their prejudiced size-ism despite the fact that they are perfect for each other.

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