Flying Fool

Throughout his career in comics, Basil Wolverton created countless humor strips for countless publishers.

Whether it appeared in books produced by Fawcett (Culture Corner), Lev Gleason (Big Bang Buster and His Horse Hedy) Key Publications (Jumpin’ Jupiter), Timely (the great Powerhouse Pepper, natch) or numerous other publishers beyond my ability to research,  Wolverton’s work reliably provided young readers their needed doses of warped humor, delightfully ugly caricatures and indefatigable underdog heroes who delivered distinctive dialogue with the artist’s patented “zip.”

The following story originally appeared in Gay Comics #23 (Timely, 1946) and features an aviator who only could have been conceived by Basil Wolverton: “Flap Flipflop The Flying Flash.”

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• Spacehawk Goes To War (timebulleteer.wordpress.com)

Spacehawk Goes To War

Basil Wolverton’s Spacehawk was one of the artist’s earliest, and most popular, strips. The “Powerful, Mysterious Man From Outer Space”  debuted in the fifth issue of Novelty Press’  Target Comics (June, 1940) and proceeded to warp readers’ minds with some of the most unusual-looking alien beings in the nascent medium’s history.

( A good example of  the bizarre villains Wolverton created for Spacehawk can be found in Fantagraphics’ excellent 2009 compilation, Supermen! The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941)

Sadly, by the 13th issue Target’s publisher decreed that the publication’s characters concentrate their efforts on aiding America’s WWII efforts. This shift in direction was accompanied by a less than subtle spread detailing Uncle Sam’s new assignments for each of Novelty’s adventurers.

Art by Ben Thompson

Suddenly the futuristic Spacehawk found himself stuck in the 20th century battling Axis spies and saboteurs, a situation Wolverton greatly disliked. Although the feature continued in Target until 1942, the writer-artist correctly pointed out in later years that the “zip had been taken out of the strip.”

Although the following untitled tale appeared in the selfsame issue (Target Comics, Vol. 2 #1, 1941) that featured Uncle Sam’s marching orders to Spacehawk, Wolverton still managed to sneak in a few trademark sci-fi grotesqueries to more than offset some rather wooden attempts to pacify Novelty Press’ Powers That Be.

Smiling Faces

I cannot imagine how Golden Age comic-book readers reacted to Basil Wolverton’s work.

He routinely worked in such disparate genres as humor, super-heroics, science-fiction and horror, yet his style never bended to the conventions of the assigned story. Rather, Wolverton’s vision bent genre conventions to fit his unique style.

Nothing in the comics field before, during or since Wolverton’s career is quite the same as a story by the artist himself.

The following three-page story originally appeared in Weird Chillers #1 (Key, 1954). “The Man Who Never Smiled” is a short and simple tale that nonetheless achieves a level of freakiness that transcends the years due to Wolverton’s inimitable art.

Robot Woman

Boy, the world just seems nuts these days.

Between labyrinthian debates on health care, rampant unemployment, crippling disasters in the Philippines and Indonesia and the continuing spectacle of public figures self-destructing on national television, it appears that life as we know it is spiraling down the drain.

Thank goodness for comic books!

When the nightly news becomes too much to bear, I like nothing better than reaching back into the old Fortress Of Fortitude archives for a classic chiller to take the edge off my evening. And what can be more classic than a demented tale of true love from one of the most distinctive artists of any era, Basil Wolverton?

From Key Publications, one of the most gloriously gory horror publishers of the pre-Code era (check out David Hajdu’s The Ten Cent Plague for the juicy details), here’s Wolverton’s “Robot Woman.”

The story originally appeared in Weird Mysteries #2.

There now, don’t we all feel better … albeit a bit grossed out?