Number 680


Scourge of the Nazis! The origin of Miss America


After a long hiatus, Miss America returns to Pappy's, this time with her two-part origin story from Marvel Mystery Comics #'s 49 and 50, from 1943.

Her look was a bit different in her earliest adventures. I like the hood; later on it changed and looked like a beanie perched on her hair.

According to the Grand Comics Database, the origin was written by Otto Binder. Part 1 in Marvel Mystery #49 was drawn by Al Gabriele, and Part 2 by Charles Nicholas.

I've shown some other adventures of Miss America, a very entertaining second banana feature from 1940s Timely Comics. Click on "Miss America" in the link below to see the others. I took the scans from the internet about 2003, on a website devoted to Miss America. I'm glad I saved these because I believe the site is gone. The only thing I did to the scans was enlarge them from 500 pixels to 600 for easier reading.

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Number 447


"C'mon you yellow Ratzis!"


As a young comics fan in the early 1960s, some of the first World War II-era comics I saw were by Al Avison and Al Gabrielle, carrying on the work of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby on Captain America. Avison and Gabrielle were part of the shop that produced those popular comics, and carried on when S & K left to go to DC. I loved the frantic action, legs flying out of panels, heroes and bad guys alike flying through the air in the endless fistfights that filled the pages. It was heady stuff for a kid raised with the more sedate post-Code comics.

Al Avison worked for many years in the industry. He was a true professional and an artist who worked in several styles, often imitating other artists. He did many covers for Harvey Comics, working in the style of Chester Gould on the Dick Tracy reprints, for instance.

The Grand Comics Database shows that "The Cobra Ring Of Death" was published in Captain America #22 from 1943, and again in The Golden Age Of Marvel Comics, a one-shot published in 1997. It doesn't show this printing, which was in Captain George's Comics World #23-24, a double issue from 1969. George Henderson, a publisher and store owner in Toronto, Canada, had gotten ahold of some black and white photostats from Timely Comics of the 1940s, and published them in his fanzine.

The Grand Comics Database guesses the writer was Stan Lee.

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Number 423


The Photo Phantom


The Human Torch and Toro flame on, from Marvel Mystery Comics #83, July 1947.


The postwar period was a tough one for those two hot-heads. They no longer had America's war enemies to give the hotfoot. How do you follow that act? By solving mysteries, apparently. This particular story involves some blackmail and a masked photographer who pulls a few camera tricks. In these days of Photoshop, where no one can trust a photograph, it's hard to remember when a picture was worth a thousand words, or in this case ten thousand dollars.

The Grand Comics Database gives us a couple of names with question marks for credits. They throw out Al Fagaly? and Carl Pfeufer? for artwork chores, so take it for what it's worth. The cover they credit to Al Avison and Syd Shores. It's a pin-up style, not unlike the kind Alex Schomburg was doing in that era when like Torch and Toro, he had to give up wreaking havoc on the Axis powers.

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Number 414


Miss America and the Shocker


Miss America, as the blurb on page one of this story tells us, is 16-year-old Madeline Joyce. In the best comic book tradition, Madeline had an accident in her scientist uncle's lab and got super powers. This particular story is from Miss America #2, 1944, a different format from issue #1, which was a standard comic book. In #2 Miss America, the super-heroine, was featured in this one story, while the magazine was filled out with other features that would appeal to girls. "Comics. Movies. Stories. Charm."

Speaking of charm, the cover girl, according to the Grand Comics Database, is Dolores Conlon. She looks several years older than Madeline's 16. The use of the photo is to give it a non-comics look, a technique Timely used in the 1940s on several of their titles. The toothsome Dolores was sure to draw attention on a crowded newsstand. I'm sure a lot of girls bought this issue, but I wouldn't doubt quite a few boys bought it also.

The artwork on the story is credited by Grand Comics Database to Ken Bald.

I took these scans from the Internet. According to the "properties" of this jpeg file, I originally downloaded it in 2003, from a site devoted to just this heroine. I am unable to find the site now, nor do I know who did the scans. If you know, please tell us so we can give proper credit.

The only thing I did was enlarge the pages from 500 pixels to 650 pixels, which is easier for me to read. I also posted another story from the aforementioned website, from Miss America Comics #1. You can see it here.

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