Doctor Fate-Howard Sherman-1942

On my WORLD'S FINEST BLOG, I recently wrote that I was really confused when writer Len Wein depicted Dr. Fate as a surgeon when readers knew he was an archaeologist. But Wein was remembering these later stories where Kent Nelson, was, in fact, a real doctor! Apparently he had forgotten that he'd lost the cape, the magic, the full helmet and the holier than thou dialogue, replacing it with Spider-Man style wisecracks, a magic ring and running through the air. Doc, you so wacky!

Death Patrol-Dave Berg-1942

MAD artist Dave Berg often gets picked on for his ultra-staid "Lighter Side" style of later years but here he is being full-out crazy creative for the Eisner shop's MILITARY COMICS in '42. The series ended with this installment, only to be revived later on with art by the somewhat staid Gill Fox.

Little Lulu-John Stanley/Irv Tripp-1951

There was no Thanksgiving story behind this great LITTLE LULU cover but here's an absolutely delightful (aren't they all?) bit of whimsy featuring the young Ms. Moppet, a character I managed to completely and totally ignore during my peak comic collecting years. It was MY loss. The LULU stories rank with the absolute best ever in comics. 

 On this US Thanksgiving Day, I'm thankful I eventually discovered LITTLE LULU!

Targos-Jack Katz/Nebot-1972

I think we'll end the odd combinations with this black and white Warren piece, written and drawn by THE FIRST KINGDOM's Jack Katz (he of the overstuffed panels and heroes with weird hair) but inked by Spanish artist, Nebot, known for his playfully naughty, sexy comic strips both in Europe and later in the US for Warren.

Blackhawk-Gene Colan/Chuck Cuidera-1965

Okay, so now we seem to be in an undeclared Odd Combos week. Today's odd combo is the great Gene Colan, legendary for DR STRANGE, DAREDEVIL and TOMB OF DRACULA...fairly unrecognizable as buried underneath the heavy inking of regular BLACKHAWK inker Chuck Cuidera on this back-up story.

Secret of the Whale's Vengeance-Jerry Grandenetti/Wallace Wood-1969

I was reminded of this story yesterday on FB. It's another odd art combination. In spite of the fact that Grandenetti and Wood both worked under and were strongly inspired by Will Eisner, they had developed in very different ways by this point. Jerry was stylized to the point of almost being abstract while Woody had developed into the smoothest inker of them all. It doesn't quite work in my opinion...but I must admit it IS fun to look at!