The Platinum Blonde

Jean Harlow, Hollywood’s original Blonde Bombshell. That said, my favorite Harlow film is called Red-Headed Woman, which opens with Harlow mocking the notion that blondes have more fun.

Love And Death

Bob Powell’s Mr. Mystic faces off against his greatest foe, The Shadowman, in a surprisingly dark story printed days before Christmas of 1940.

The Shadowman was a precursor to Powell’s Man In Black, the human personification of death. Given the nature of such a foe, it’s not surprising that Mr. Mystic would have much to lose if defeated.

What is surprising, however, is that … well, let’s just say Spider-Man wasn’t the first super-hero to fail in a key, life and death situation.

The following story originally appeared in the Dec. 22, 1940 edition of The Spirit Section.

Zoom Zoom Zooma Zoom

The Sorceress Of Zoom was one of comic books’ first “bad girls,” an out-and-out villain that was presumably granted an ongoing feature in Weird Comics because publisher Victor Fox liked as much T&A in his periodicals as possible.

Created by the great Don Rico, the Sorceress’ adventures certainly fit comfortably in the “weird” category. Zombie slaves, floating cities and bizarre transformations were the norm rather than the exception, as the villainess never hesitated to take any step deemed necessary toward achieving world domination.

(Of course, she never quite succeeded but you can’t fault a woman for trying … )

This particular adventure features an apparent Heel Face Turn by the Sorceress, but her sudden heroic acts are as ruthless as ever and are only based upon the character’s own selfish needs.

The dashing hero’s assertion that “she’s not so bad” is probably based more upon her provocative appearance than anything else. Nobody ever accused Fox comics of providing wholesome lessons, after all.

“Fantastic Valley” originally appeared in Weird Comics #12 (Fox, March 1941). The Grand Comics Database guesses that the story and art are provided by Rico.

Say Hey!

Happy 82nd birthday to Willie Mays, a giant among Giants!

Marvel Comics

To celebrate Free Comic Book Day, here’s the complete Captain Marvel Adventures #78 (Fawcett, November 1947), advertisements and all.

This particular issue features two of my favorite Captain Marvel stories: the hero’s epic battle against Mr. Atom and an excellent human interest tale entitled “The Street Of Forgotten Men.”

According to the Grand Comics Database,  the issue was produced by the following creators: “Captain Marvel Meets Mr. Atom” was written by Bill Woolfolk and drawn by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza; “Lucky Boy” was written and drawn by George Marko; “Climbs To New Heights” was drawn by Al Liederman; Captain Marvel Saves Sivana was written by Woolfolk and drawn by Beck and Costanza; “Stone Head” was written and drawn by Marko; “The World Stealers,” a Jon Jarl text adventure, was written by Otto Binder under the pseudonym Eando Binder and “The Street Of Forgotten Men” was written by Binder and Costanza.

Anything else that wasn’t ad-related was written and/or drawn by the ubiquitous “Anonymous.”

The issue was scanned, of course, by the good people at the Digital Comic Museum.

RIP George Jones

A real lip-smacker indeed…

Triumph Of The Spirit

Captain Triumph debuted in 1943, a bit late to capitalize on the initial super-hero boom. Unlike such early birds as the The Arrow and The Clock, the good Captain outlasted the faddish interests of the ’40s audience and hung on until the end of the decade, headlining several issues of Quality’s Crack Comics in the process.

Created by Alfred Andriola, Captain Triumph’s origin was more unique than most of the era. Lance Gallant vowed to fight the forces of tyranny after his twin brother, Michael, was murdered by Nazis. Unknown to the surviving Gallant, however, The Fates decided to aid the grieving brother’s quest.

Lance soon discovered that Michael’s ghost still walked the Earth, and that the two could combine into the super-powered Captain Triumph whenever the surviving brother touched his birthmark.

Despite his mystic background, Captain Triumph mostly fought down-to-earth criminals in well-crafted tales that employed a bit more characterization than most Golden Age slug-fests.  His rather simple costume also probably aided the Captain’s longevity, as he didn’t quite look like your garden variety super-hero.

The following story introduces a femme fatale who claims to be Michael’s widow, a claim that is obviously false but nevertheless leaves the Gallant brothers in an interesting quandary. Reed Crandall’s typically slick art completes the package.

“The Man Who Robbed The Dead” originally appeared in Crack Comics #53 (Quality, March 1948).

Clan Of The Cave Girl

Cave Girl was Magazine Enterprises’ entry in the Golden Age’s ever-popular “Jungle Girl” genre, albeit one that borrowed elements from Edgar Rice Burroughs’  Lost World novels as well as Fiction House’s iconic Sheena, Jungle Queen.

Despite the character’s lack of originality, however, Cave Girl did benefit from the talents of her co-creators: the legendary Gardner Fox and Bob Powell.

Powell, of course, was one of the field’s greatest “good girl” artists – which, to be honest, was the entire point of the genre -  while Fox could always be counted on to provide solid stories that added a twist or two to the formula.

(For example, fearsome city that provides the title for today’s tale is a reference to modern civilization rather than a lost, prehistoric land.)

From Cave Girl #11 (Magazine Enterprises, 1953), here’s “The City Of Terror” by Fox and Powell.

Brilliant! Tragic!

Cover to Art Brut’s Brilliant! Tragic! LP
Released 2011; Illustration by Jamie McKelvie

Carmine Infantino, 1925-2013

Like many comic-book fans of my generation, I was initially exposed to the late Carmine Infantino’s work through Batman, Flash and Adam Strange reprints DC published as back-up features in the early 1970s.

Stories like “Hate Of The Hooded Hangman” introduced me to an artist whose work looked modern no matter how long ago it had been published.

At this point in my fanboy evolution, I had taken an interest in the creators behind my favorite heroes.  I looked through my DC collection for other pieces by Infantino and discovered the artist had become the company’s publisher.

I was 10 years old and didn’t really know any better, so I sent a letter to Infantino pitching my Batman knock-off, “Night Man,” as DC’s newest superstar. (Not the most original concept, I admit, but at least my character beat Steve Englehart to the name by 20 years!)

As you might expect, Night Man – and his teen sidekick, “Kid Comet” (!)  – weren’t destined for stardom. However, I did receive a kind letter from Infantino that let me down easily and encouraged I continued honing my craft.

(Sadly, I later learned there was little craft to hone. But that’s another story …)

Even though I stupidly lost Infantino’s letter, I always remembered his words fondly and followed the artist’s career after he moved to Marvel and drew such faves as Spider-Woman, Nova and Star Wars. He also returned to The Flash in time for Cary Bates and DC to wrap up the character that jump-started the Silver Age in the first place.

(Like many other seemingly unalterable deaths, Barry Allen eventually got better. Again, that’s a different story.)

The greatest compliment I can pay Infantino is that his best work – which spanned decades – still stands up today.

A good summation of Infantino’s legendary career can be found here. As for this very small corner of the comics-o-sphere, I’d like to pay tribute to his work by posting several stories from Infantino’s bibliography.

Like many of his contemporaries, Infantino was greatly influenced by the work of Milton Caniff. The following tale, which was originally published in 1947, shows that Infantino had already mastered Caniff’s trick of mixing aesthetically pleasing art with gritty, he-man action.

The story, entitled “Mr. Bedlam Hires A Killer,” first appeared in Airboy Comics Vol. 4 #3 (Hillman, April 1947). The hero of the tale, “Rackman,” can best be thought of as Marvel’s Stilt-Man re-imagined as a hard-boiled P.I.

The art is by Infantino and Bernard Sachs.

Our second story demonstrates how far Infantino’s skill had progressed in the span of two years. His slicker style proved a good match for the romance genre, as shown in this tale from Hollywood Confessions #2 (St. John, 1949). “The Scandal I Had To Confess” was written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Infantino.

Carmine Infantino is best known, of course, for his long tenure at DC Comics. Here’s a story featuring the Golden Age Flash. Although Infantino’s art  – and John Broome’s story – are more sophisticated than most super-hero stories of the era, “The Rival Flash” marked the final issue of Flash Comics until the “Flash” concept was revamped and redesigned by Infantino, Broome and Robert Kanigher seven years later.

The resulting character, Barry Allen, proved popular enough to jump-start the Silver Age of super-hero comics. The boom in sales also led to the revival of the Jay Garrick Flash as well, bringing everything full circle.

From Flash Comics Vol. 1, #104 (DC Comics, February 1949), here’s “The Rival Flash” by Broome, Infantino and Sachs.

When Infantino returned to active freelance work, his style had grown looser but remained vivid. Here’s a story from his tenure at Warren Publications that also demonstrates his long mastery of the sci-fi genre.

“Stand-In,” written by Bruce Jones and inked by Dick Giordano, is primarily about cheating death. Through his lifelong contributions to the comic book industry and its fans, Infantino has achieved an immortality of his own.

The story originally appeared in Vampirella #57 (Warren, January 1977).

My deepest condolences to Mr. Infantino’s family, friends and fans.