Georgie Visits Timely Comics-1946

GEORGIE was an ARCHIE or ALDRICH FAMILY-style comic put out by Timely as their superheroes began to fade in popularity. In this particular story by an unidentified artist (Timely experts please feel free to chime in), the characters actually visit the company that puts out their comics! Note that the editor they meet looks not a bit like real-life editor Stan Lee or even publisher Martin Goodman.

Ken Shannon-Reed Crandall-1952

Quality's big lug private eye, KEN SHANNON, gets a bad rap from some comics fans because he bounced Plastic man out of POLICE COMICS. Hey, if it hadn't been Ken it would have been someone else. The day of the superhero was ending...for a while. This series, largely drawn by the former BLACKHAWK team of Reed Crandall and Chuck Cuidera, was actually pretty good, though, with the unique looking title character reminding me from my own, modern, perspective of TV ELLERY QUEEN Jim Hutton, perhaps crossed with a bit of former GOOD MORNING AMERICA host David Hartman. This particular story, from POLICE COMICS 116, showcased both the ending, as well as the murderer's identity, on the cover! Luckily for you, I'm not showing that cover!

Electro-Steve Dahlman-1940

Steve Dahlman came from the same group that brought Bill Everett and Carl Burgos into comics, Funnies, Inc. Like those two, his work appeared regularly in early issues of MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS. His character, the robot Electro, never gained the fame of Sub-Mariner or the Human Torch but, as visually sort of a Golden Age Iron Man, he had some well-drawn adventures.

Hawkman-Joe Kubert-1948

Yesterday's post mentioned how I made my own action figure of Blazing Skull when I was a kid. That reminded me of my favorite custom action figure--the Golden Age Hawkman! I knew the character from his JLA appearances with the yellow mask so I made the mask out of the end of a yellow balloon. I made the wings out of bendable straws--a relatively new invention at the time--with shredded paper towels taped over them. Definitive Hawkman artist Joe Kubert drew this late story of the character from 1948. 

Blazing Skull-Mystic Comics-1942

 As a kid, I made a Blazing Skull action figure! I took Captain Action's Aquaman costume and modified it with paper towels. I had a skull mask that I painted red. I don't even know where I would have seen the character at that point but I even used his real name, Mark Todd. I did get one thing wrong, however. I called him Flaming Skull, not Blazing Skull. When the character cameoed in an AVENGERS issue I was thrilled!

Bo Bunny-Sheldon Mayer-1954

And now, for your post-holiday reading enjoyment, may we present once again the masterful comic stylings of Mister Sheldon Mayer (NCS), highlighted here with one of his lesser known but no less amusing characters, one Bo Bunny.

A Very Merry Christmas...-Don Martin-1957

Sometimes, as we all learn, life isn't always in black and white. Conversely, not all comics are in four colors. We here at Booksteve's Blogs thank you for your support and hope you have a MAD-ly enjoyable holiday season!

The Spirit-Will Eisner-1946

 Like many of the great Comic Book artists and writers of the Golden Age, Will Eisner was Jewish. That did not keep him from becoming identified with the Christmas holiday via his annual CHRISTMAS SPIRIT stories. This one is from 1946, his first holiday season back from the War. As with many of the best SPIRIT stories, the main character himself is incidental to this one and barely appears.