How Many Ways Is This Wrong?

Oh, my lord:



How do you make one of the greatest villains in history a hero? Granted, Stevenson was always a little ambivalent towards Silver, allowing him to escape with a portion of the gold at the end of Treasure Island. When I first saw this I assumed that the CCA had told Charlton, "Yes, you may have a pirate comic book, provided the pirate is lovable." But apparently it was based on a movie and subsequent TV series as you can see from this poster:



Here's a brief clip from the movie:



Looks like a faux swashbuckler a la the Crimson Pirate.

BTW, take a closer look at that cover. Notice something missing?

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#035.Indrajal Comics 11 (Hindi)

Hindi IJC Readers!

Anurag contributed both parts at once for you. Enjoy.

I very appreciate his selfless efforts to share his collection with others. Majar part of his collection is in Hindi.

All thanks and credits for these comics go to him only.



327-1979-Phantom-Vetal Ka Sathi 1

328-1979-Phantom-Vetal Ka Sathi 2

Password for both files: bookscomics.blogspot.com

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The Lesser-Known Heroes of the Silver Age: Jigsaw

There was a core of about 20 superheroes who had a significant number of adventures in the Silver Age. For DC, it was Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Hawkman. Marvel had the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, X-Men, Hulk, The Avengers, Daredevil, the Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange and Captain America.

But there were plenty of other superheroes who lasted only a few stories and then disappeared. Almost all comics publishers tried their hand at superhero comics at some point in the 1960s. During the height of Batmania, this was especially the case, as superhero comics seemed to fly off the stands while other genres tended to languish.

Harvey was probably feeling the pinch more than other publishers. As I have noted earlier, the baby bust in the late 1950s was reducing the pool of young comic readers by 1966. And the kids who were old enough to read Harvey's titles were all going straight to Batman. So they decided to fight back with a few superhero characters. Jigsaw debuted in his own magazine in Sepember 1966.

Colonel Gary Jason is an astronaut who experiences unexpected trouble while reentering the earth's atmosphere:



He gets sucked into the cone of debris, where his capsule is destroyed. Fortunately it's a probe from aliens on the moon, who put him back together. More or less:



At first he's grateful just to be alive, but it's not long before Ben Grimm syndrome sets in:



Especially when he discovers he has freakish powers. Despite the interesting design, this turns out to be basic stretchability along the lines of Mr Fantastic. But his girlfriend and the US government react to him as if he was Freaky Freak McAlienFreak. He's so upset that when he visits his science fiction writer buddy, he forgets his own name:



And his alien friends, who look like robotic chickens:



The real villains turn out to be the Pulots, an alien race that looks remarkably like humans, at least in #1:



Although by #2 that's gone by the wayside:



Overall the series (which ended with that second issue) is pretty dull. The artwork is passable but not elevating. Jigsaw has nothing really unique to recommend him; I suppose he serves as a decent introduction to the superhero genre for the young readers that Harvey appealed to at the time.

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Number 336

Legion Of The Undead!

I haven't posted a horror story in a while. When I do I always sweat because I might find out Karswell has already done it. So if he has, well, so be it. This story is from Beyond #11.

This past week has been my own experience with the undead. My hard drive crashed a week ago, and I had to have data recovered, not to mention get a new hard drive. I'm a little bit lighter in the wallet now. I had backed up most of my files, which is good because even with the data recovery not everything was able to be recovered. I have been slowly restoring what I can. Think of what I'm going through as bringing the dead to life. What I'm putting together now is probably more of a clone of what I had before the crash, not a zombie, but as long as it works for me, I won't split hairs.

The computer I was using as a backup, an old HP with Windows ME, lasted until the day I was due to get my resurrected computer back. With one last gasp it gave up its own ghost. While I paid to bring one back from the dead, the older, dutiful HP, will now have to rest in peace.

******

I haven't forgotten the American national holiday, so HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.

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#034.The Phantom - Harvey Hits #01, #06, #12, #26, #36, #44, #48

122 comics published between Sep 1957 and Nov 1967, each running for 36 pages. A variety of characters were included besides the Phantom (e.g. Little Lulu, Casper and Spooky, Sad Sack, etc.), but each issue would feature one major character. The nine Phantom comics were as follows:

#01-Sep 1957

#06-Feb 1958

#12-Aug 1958

#15-Dec 1958 - Here (updated Aug4,2009)



#26-Nov 1959

#36-Sep 1960

#44-May 1961

#48-Sep 1961

#56-Apr 1962 - Here (updated Aug4,2009)

For more information visit www.deepwoods.org

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Number 335

Oona Goosepimple and the Yo-Yo scale

I just heard the good news that the John Stanley Nancy comics will be reprinted in book form. Sorry, I don't have any other details, and if you do please share them with us.

While you're waiting like I am for the book to come out, here's a great Oona Goosepimple story by Stanley from Nancy and Sluggo #177, 1960.

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Number 334

Love and hate

Jay Scott Pike was one of the top bullpen artists for Stan Lee at Atlas in the 1950s. He left comics after they crashed, and went on to become a calendar girl artist, like Gil Elvgren. Frankly, it was news to me. I was surprised to hear that and to see examples of his art because I hadn’t seen his pinups before.

I like his drawings for the Atlas love and horror comics, and I have two stories. The first is from My Own Romance #37, and the second a reprint from Vault Of Evil #16, 1974, originally published 20 years earlier in Mystery Tales #21.

Two blondes…one still in love with a guy from her past, one wants her husband dead. Women, can't live with them, can't live...etc.

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