Number 1189: Herbie and the Purloined Pops

It seems fitting to follow up yesterday's Dynamo UFO posting with a Herbie story. They were both comics I instantly grabbed when I spotted them on the comic book spinner at my local pharmacy. Every comic fan has that moment, when they spot a new issue of their favorite. In 1964 I was routinely picking up the latest Marvel Comics and anything else that looked interesting (a new Carl Barks was always nice, too), but there had already been one issue of Herbie and I was overjoyed to find yet another. A new issue of Herbie was a welcome distraction from the personal turbulence in my life. If only my problems had been as simple as tracking down and finding my favorite lollipop!

From Herbie #2 (1964):

Jeff Overturf has posted a lot more stories from Herbie on his blog, Inside Jeff Overturf's Head. Use the search engine in the upper left corner of the blog and you will be led to more joy than you can handle.

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Number 1188: Celebrating the 8th of July!

This is the Pappy's fourth annual* July 8 celebration of flying saucers. Sixty-five years ago today the Roswell (New Mexico) Daily Record published its historic headline:

To commemorate the date I have a couple of flying saucer/UFO stories.

I was inspired to get out my copy of Dynamo #1 (1966) and scan the lead story by Dan Adkins and Wallace Wood based on this wonderful splash panel from Heritage Auctions. I lifted the scan from their website.

My favorite panel is Dynamo saying, "I bet I'm the first guy in history to knock down a space ship with a rock!" The story is full of action and the art is great.

The story, "Landing of the Flying Saucers!" is another zany story from Wonder Woman. Although the whole thing is wild—aliens shaped like skinny Michelin men with lollipop heads and antennae who use expressions like "Heee! Hooo!"—I give writer/editor Robert Kanigher and artist Harry G. Peter credit for originality. I even like the flying saucer, which, unlike most depictions of UFOs in those days doesn't look like it's made of sheet metal, and in fact doesn't look like anything mechanical.

It's an oddball story, something we've come to expect from this title. From Wonder Woman #68 (1954):

*Previous postings are from Pappy's #554, Pappy's #768, and Pappy's #978.

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Number 1187: Origin of the Black Knight

Black Knight was a transitional character for Atlas Comics in 1955, created after the Comics Code was implemented. Black Knight was not a superhero, but had a secret identity. Merlin the Magician was a major player in the series. The real magic was a combination of writing and drawing by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely.

Maneely drew the character for the first three issues, after which it was taken over by Fred Kida for the penultimate issue, #4, and Syd Shores for the last issue, #5.

I showed stories from Black Knight #3 in Pappy's #897 and Pappy's #964.

This story is the origin story from Black Knight #1, 1955.

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