Lobo the Flying Sleuth-Max Neill-1940

His legacy hasn't survived as well as some others but Max Neill was a contemporary of Bill Everett and Carl Burgos in the Funnies, Inc. shop.

Hot-Rod-Little Ike-1953

At first glance, St. John's LITTLE IKE might be thought yet another DENNIS THE MENACE rip-off but, at least in this story highlighting some of the supporting characters, it's actually a LITTLE LULU rip-off...and a pretty good one at that!

Cleo and Clancy-Bob Kane-1939

A thoroughly inconsequential and not terribly amusing humor filler featuring clones of Laurel an hardy as cops. The interest here lies in the fact that this ran in DETECTIVE COMICS # 26 and is bylined to Bob Kane, just one issue before the debut of another strip in that title (as seen at the top of this page).

He Wished he Was a Vampire-Gene Colan-1952

Out of nearly 3000 posts on this site, we've had a dozen or so by the great gene Colan who was so good right out of the gate that he could draw rings around other greats who had not yet developed to their fullest extent. Here's another early, Pre-Code, example.

Nemesis-Chic Stone-1966

The writing was on the wall for ACG's OFF the wall heroes by the time this story appeared. Nemesis was no long even featured on the cover. They were just burning off stories it felt like. Still, lots of campy fun here. See TwoMorrows' upcoming HERO A GO GO by Michael Eury for more on Nemesis!

Bazooka the Atom Bubble Boy-1949

Before there was one eyed Bazooka Joe with his baseball cap, there was Bazooka, the Atom Bubble Boy! Because, you see, before the truth in advertising laws, you could actually run an ad like this that seems to say if you chew my gum, you can fly fast and save planes and even talk--backwards yet!--while blowing a giant bubble. Just like me!

Lil Stooge-Jeff Michaels-1954

Years later we would have the Little Stooges but here we see the original Lil (sic) Stooge from Norman Maurer's St. John original comic starring Larry, Moe, and Curly/Shemp.