Ima Slooth-Jack Cole-1939

The great Jack Cole was quite prolific in the Golden Age in spite of having to concentrate on his monthly PLASTIC MAN stories and, early on, ghosting THE SPIRIT strip for Will Eisner. Here he is with an early MLJ strip that later resurfaced at another company.

Lidsville-Roger Armstrong-1973

"In the middle of the summer, in the middle of a park, there began a strange adventure for a boy whose name was Mark..." One of my favorite Saturday morning theme songs opened up this typically hallucinogenic Krofft Brothers production which starred former Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick. The comic was pretty far-out as well!

A Feline Feast-Lee Marrs-1975

One of the treats found buried in DC's "mystery" mags of the Bronze Age is Lee Marrs, the talented underground and "ground-level" cartoonist, with all-too-few pages printed in the mainstream. Here are a couple from WEIRD MYSTERY TALES. For the story behind them and other interesting facts about WMT, see my article on same in an upcoming issue of BACK ISSUE due out early in 2015.

The Lodestone-Ernie Bache-1956

Starting put as an assistant to Dick Ayers, Ernie Bache's output mostly consists of inking other pencilers which is too bad. One look at this early post-Code story penciled by Bache shows just how talented he was, even for the kind of money Charlton paid.

Navy Jones-"Frank Pensley"-1940

Vikings, undersea princesses, sea serpents and even Jules Verne's Nautilus, complete with Captain Nemo! Yes, it's another wacky SCIENCE COMICS treat!

Perisphere Payne-"Arnold Hardy"-1940

SCIENCE COMICS may well be THE most psychotronic comic book of them all, featuring weird but simplistic stories and even weirder but also simplistic art! Comic books tended to copy popular comic strips in those days and this one seems to be a Flash Gordon rip-off. 

Squeaks McCarthy-Big Shorty-1944

Some frenetic cartooning here from the presumably pseudonymous "Big Shorty" concerning an anthropomorphic...well...noise. A squeak, to be precise.

The Red Rocket-Phantom Lady-1955

A nice looking splash and some fairly good storytelling on this very late entry into the Golden Age superhero saga. Timely and DC had long since given up on the genre and even Timely's revival had come and gone with nary a ripple. But then there's this guy, still some months prior to The Flash!