Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Captain Commando and the Boy Soldiers-Clem Weisbecker-19


This was the final Captain Commando story since the war was over. Supposedly a hitherto secret wartime mission, half the story is taken up with an illustrated retelling of The Trojan Horse myth. The art is by Clem Weisbecker. Previously, we posted a WEB story purported to be by him. As always with WWII era tales, we must ask that you forgive the wartime stereotypes and note that this is being posted for historical purposes.








Monday, April 29, 2013

The Garden of Time-Rocke Mastroserio-1958


I'm becoming more and more a fan of Charlton mainstay Rocke Mastroserio, here channeling Don Heck in some panels and Joe Kubert in others. Not much of a story here but some of the individual panels are interesting. 




Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Purple Zombie-Tarpe Mills-1942


This was the final episode of an odd series drawn by female artist Tarpe Mills that was a bizarre combination of various other series including, in this oddly paced installment, ALLEY OOP! The colorist couldn't quite seem to get a handle on the fact that the hero was supposed to be purple, not just a tad ashen. The series ends with everybody joining up for the duration!




Saturday, April 27, 2013

Little Dynamite-Boy Comics-1948


Running in BOY COMICS for a few years in the late 1940's, Little Dynamite was the head of a kid gang that was sort of a combination of The Dead End Kids and the Boy Commandos. Since Lev Gleason's DAREDEVIL was giving way to his sidekicks, The Little Wise Guys, I guess it was decided tehre was only room for one kid gang at the company. This was one of Little Dynamite's final appearances. 






Friday, April 26, 2013

Outlaw's Hideout-Al Williamson-1956


After his legendary EC stint, the great sci-fi illustrator Al Williamson turned out some impressive as all get out work for Stan Lee's Atlas line for several years, often in cowboy stories such as this one from QUICK TRIGGER WESTERN.





Thursday, April 25, 2013

Ali Baba (and the Blue Beetle)-Ray Willner-1943


ALI BABA was a serialized humor adventure in Holyoke's version of the BLUE BEETLE comic in the early forties. This particular installment features "Erbert, a young comic book reader who ends up in the action thanks to the unexpected help of...The Blue Beetle himself! Artist Ray Willner would go on to work with Reed Crandall.







Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Pirate Prince-Dick Briefer-1944


Often seen on this blog, Dick Briefer is justly revered in some circles for his quirky, schizophrenic take (takes?) on FRANKENSTEIN but I also enjoy his PIRATE PRINCE stories. We ran one a couple of years ago and here's another fun episode.






Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Little Max-Warren Kremer-1949


There was a time when JOE PALOOKA was the hottest thing in comic strips and, in fact, Harvey comics credited their deal to publish JOE PALOOKA comic books with saving the company. Joe appears here with Little Max, an ultra-cute, mute little fella who appeared in his own comic for a while. GCD doesn't say but I'm thinking this is Warren Kremer art.




Monday, April 22, 2013

Zatara the Master Magician-Joe Kubert-1949


Here's our old pal Zatara again, Zatanna's daddy. This time we get some nifty early DC artwork from the late, great Joe Kubert, inspiration to several generations of comic book artists. Although a longtime ACTION COMICS feature, this particular story comes from WORLD'S FINEST. It's typical of what you'll eventually find at THE WORLD'S FINEST BLOG, the just-launched replacement for the recently completed DAYS OF ADVENTURE.