Quoth The Raven …

The Golden Age had its share of ersatz supermen and bat-men, but publishers were equally anxious to pilfer other sources to fill their comic-books with colorfully clad crime-fighters.

(Superman and Batman weren’t exactly created out of whole cloth themselves. Both have roots in such pulp characters as Doc Savage and The Shadow, and that only represents a fraction of the many factors that influenced the creators of DC’s Worlds’ Finest cash-cows.)

The Green Hornet, created in 1936 for the same Detroit radio station that unleashed The Lone Ranger and Sgt. Preston Of The Yukon to an unsuspecting world, inspired a host of masked men with similar monikers and gimmicks, including The Crimson Avenger, the original original Blue Beetle and the star of today’s tale: The Raven.

Like many Golden Age heroes, the Raven was a police officer who was frustrated by criminals who escape justice via legal loopholes. In an effort to even the playing field, our hero wore a disguise to battle such fiends and redistribute their ill-gotten gains to the city’s poor.

As a result, the Raven was sought by the criminal underworld and the police force, who considered the modern-day Robin Hood a dangerous vigilante. He was aided in his crusade by his chauffeur, Mike – and let’s not get into just how a supposedly honest cop could afford a chauffeur – and girlfriend, Lola Lash, the daughter of the police commissioner.

Created by Robert Turner and Martin Nodell – the artist behind DC Comics’ Green Lantern – The Raven enjoyed a two-year run in various Ace Periodical comics before fading into oblivion.

Today’s tale originally appeared in Lightning Comics vol. 5 #1 (Ace Periodicals, February 1941). The writer and artist are uncredited.

Hmmm, in a way you could consider this particular adventure the Golden Age equivalent of The Superior Spider-Man. Only this time, justice is served in 12 pages… just the way I like it!

Back To The Future

Halloween is less than a week away, which means it’s time to pull out all the stops and highlight some of my favorite Pre-Code horror stories by some of the genre’s greatest creators.

Our Four-Star Fright Fest begins with Lou Cameron – who may be better known these days as a prolific crime and western novelist. Before making his name in that field, however, he held court at Ace Periodicals as its star artist.

His clean, yet moody, style easily holds its own with any of the famed EC bunch. The following story – which makes about as much sense as any comic-book tale about time travel – is greatly enhanced by his detailed take on the “fifth dimension” that injects the proper amount of surrealism but also remains strangely down to earth.

Based upon this and other, equally striking stories, I could easily imagine Cameron producing classic Silver Age Doctor Strange tales … that is, if the artist hadn’t moved on to greener pastures where he could actually profit from his creations.

“12 Hours To Doom” first appeared in Baffling Mysteries #18 (Ace Periodicals, November 1953). The story was pencilled and inked by Cameron.

Lightning Strikes

Like many other Golden Age comic-book companies, Ace Periodicals was brought into existence by a pulp magazine publisher who noticed those upstart funny books were ringing in big profits thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman.

Ace rode the super-hero trend as long as it remained popular, but really made its mark with its post-WWII horror, sci-fi, crime and romance titles illustrated by the likes of Lou Cameron.

In fact, the creators behind such Ace titles as Web Of Mystery and Crime Must Pay The Penalty did their jobs so well that the small company found itself prominently featured in Fredric Wertham’s Seduction Of The Innocent.

The following story was published during Ace’s dalliance with the super-hero genre and features two of its more memorable characters: Lash (Originally “Flash,” but changed to avoid confusion with a certain Scarlet Speedster) Lightning and Lightning Girl.

The violence found in Ace’s earlier pulp and later horror titles is well represented, however, and artist Louis Ferstadt tiptoes into Daliesque surrealism in his depiction of the villainous Maestro’s hypnotic powers. Put together, “Die! You Must Die!” easily ranks among the more unusual long-underwear adventures of comics’ Golden Age.

The story originally appeared in Four Favorites #12 (Ace Periodicals, November 1943).

Tempting Fate

It’s always a pleasure to post a story drawn by Lou Cameron, and this particular comic is a personal favorite.

As an impressionable young’un, I was blown away in the early 197os by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo’s interpretation of The Spectre. Grim and gritty super-heroes weren’t the flavor of the week back then, so it was exceedingly rare to see a supposed good guy turn an evildoer into a piece of wood and run him through a buzz-saw.

So I was surprised a year or two ago when I first discovered “The Man Who Would Be Fate” in The Mammoth Book of Horror Comics. Here was the Fleisher and Aparo Spectre, albeit in another form, dispensing supernatural justice without shedding a tear. It was a great story that also introduced me to the fine work of Cameron, a horror and crime artist every bit as accomplished as the more famous EC crew.

From The Hand Of Fate #24 (Ace Periodicals, August 1954), here’s “The Man Who Would Be Fate.”

Curse Of The Spider Woman

’Tis the season for … supernatural predators whose unholy appetites serve as a not-so-subtle metaphor for adolescent sex urges? Guess some stories work all year round!

“Web Of The Spider Woman” originally appeared in Hand Of Fate #18 (Ace Periodicals, June 1953). The story is not credited.

The Hitchhiker

The 13 Days Of Halloween continue with a chilling tale that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Rod Serling’s fabled Twilight Zone. In fact, the series did air an episode with a somewhat similar premise eight years later!

From The Beyond #9 (Ace Periodicals, March 1952), here’s “The Other Side Of Death’s Door.” The story and art are uncredited.

Nicked And Nora

Bert and Sue Sleuth were Ace Periodicals’ answer to Nick and Nora Charles, the dapper, wise-cracking husband and wife gumshoes who headlined numerous “Thin Man” movies in the 1930s and ’40s.

Since Bert and Sue only had seven or eight pages to wrap up a mystery, the couple brushed aside the witty banter and borderline alcoholism of their silver screen counterparts and relied instead on that staple of Golden Age adventure comics – no-nonsense fisticuffs.

The most notable aspect of the following story, however, is the identity of the artist: Frank Giacoia, who would later make a name for himself as a skilled and prolific inker for DC and Marvel during comics’ Silver and Bronze ages.

At this point of his career, Giacoia was plugging away at the Iger Studio and demonstrated a noticeable Caniff influence in his work. (As did just about every artist of the time who wasn’t cribbing from Alex Raymond, Hal Foster or Roy Crane … or some combination thereof.)

From Super-Mystery Comics Vol. 8, No. 6 (Ace Periodicals, 1949), here’s “Bert And Sue” with art by Frank Giacoia and B. Lander.

The Walking Stones

It’s easy to see why Lou Cameron was Ace Periodical’s star artist.

Although the small publisher provided work for such future hall of famers as Gene Colan, Mike Sekowski and L.B. Cole, Cameron’s imaginative splash pages, crisp story-telling and ability to evoke the proper mood lent his stories a unique edge.

Despite his prodigious abilities, however, Cameron is better known as a novelist than a comic artist. Since 1960, he has written dozens of stories under his own and a variety of pseudonyms and received a Golden Spur for his work in the Western genre.

The following story, which originally appeared in Web Of Mystery #19 (Ace, 1953), mixes elements of film noir with the traditional monster-of-the-week format. There’s the requisite hard-boiled narrator, shadow-filled alleyways and suspicious characters.

Oh, yes … and there’s also the small matter of museum statues coming to life and embarking on a murder spree. The fact that Cameron is able to keep such disparate elements together and tell an entertainingly chilling story is testament to his artistic skill.

The 13 Days Of Halloween continue with “The Night The Statues Walked.”