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Issue #60December 1944Rating: 3 Regretfully, this issue has to rank as one of the worst ofthe series. Not only is the Martin Naydel artwork flat (his treatment ofJoan is unforgivable), the Fox Flash story reads like an Angela Lansbury'Murder, She Wrote' vehicle – YUK! Ghost Patrol, Johnny Thunder – painful to read. The three page'Picture Stories from History', "The Story of Ferdinand Magellan"just doesn’t feel like a good fit for the series. The Hawkman and Hawkgirl story is well done. Shelly’s art is top notch. The Humming Bird makes another appearance. If only Sheldon Mayer would have picked-up on the value of having super-villans oppose the heros earlier, it would have made for more interesting stories. It wasn't until Julie Schwartz took over before the appearance of super-villian became mandatory in the later issues of the first series. This panel is a rare acknowledgment by Hawkgirl that the world was at war.

All Star Comics #42 also shared an August 1948 cover date. So it comes down to whom ever hit the newsstand first. Here is the splash page from The Flash Comics #98. The play on words sort of alludes to this being the first appearance of Hawkman (and Hawkgirl) in his new costume.

Glad you enjoyed it! (thumbs u

Issue #59November 1944Rating: 4 The Flash story may hint to Gardner Fox’s boredom withwriting mobster yarns and his need for a vacation. The John Chester Kozlak artin the story is ok. Peachy Pet, along with Johnny’s help, continues to have fun in Hollywood. "The Story of Leif Ericsson and the Norsemen" by M.C.Gaines and Don Cameron, doesn’t seem to transition well with the other stories. Although credited as the last Minute Movie strip inOverstreet and CGC Labeling, it was replaced by Ed Wheelan’s 'Fat and Slat' one pager. DC begins adding the title of the series to the top of thepage.

By the summer of 1948 there was a shift in customer preferences from superhero to westerns. These three house ads all appeared in Flash Comics #99.

Issue #58October 1944Rating: 5 When ‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon’ was matinee gold in 1954, Gardner Fox must have been saying to himself, ‘Yeah, I did that ten years ago’. The murky green bog that the Merman lives in works well with Jon Chester Kozlak art The story begins with a Moses like origin of the Merman. Ashe becomes an adult his duel nature finds that he is not accepted as a man. Themissing link between fish and man turns to a life of crime and has to swimupstream when the Flash is in pursuit. Hawkman and Hawkgirl serve up the corny jokes with their punches. This issue is the correct end of the run of 'Minute Movies' strip.Overstreet and CGC Labeling mistakenly cite the next issue.

Issue #57Sept 1944Rating: 4The Ghost Patrol find themselves off the battle front and inan art gallery. Martin Naydel art for the Flash is still challenged by adjusting his cartoon style art to suit the superhero genre. This issue would be Ed Wheelan's penultimate Minute Movie strip which began in 1921 in newspaper form and ran in all Flash Comics thru issue #58. Below follows the typical format of a silent film parody. Most of which I found very entertaining.

Ask Gator . . . . Will you (or do you know of any other GA dealers) be attending Wizard World Austin -- October 2-4, 2014?

Issue #56August 1944Rating: 4 The Flash story in this issue feels like a rush to meet adeadline submission. The Martin Naydel art is rough and looks cartoonish.Peachy Pet gets another lead in the Johnny Thunderstory. Johnny only makes a cameo. The Hawkman story is typical formula. Page count has been reduced. The Whip didn’t make the cut.The Minute Movie utilizes a mysterious Japanese drug that fakes death. The best strip is the Ghost Patrol battling Nazis in Holland.

The fever is in my brain now.

My first post to this thread!

Issue #55July 1944Rating: 5 This is a transitionally issue. The Flash story is futuristic with its televisiontheme. The art, along with the Ghost Patrol story looks progressive as well.This new look makes The Minute Movie, The Whip, and The Hawkman stories lookdated. Once again, Peachy Pet Thunder gets her own story with out appearancesfrom Johnny or the Thunderbolt.

Issue #54June 1944Rating: 4 The storytelling in these strips are all formulas recycledmany times over now that the title is in its fifth year. Rating the strips in this issue are as follows 1. The Whip2. Minute Movies3, Ghost Patrol4. Johnny Thunder 5. Hawkman – no Hawkgirl6. FlashThe Whip story is the typical formula superhero concealinghis identity by playing the out of touch fool, but done with just enoughvariance to stand out from the rest in this issue. Homer Fleming really had aknack for rendering Dr. Jekyll\Mr. Hyde expressions from his villains. Ed Wheelan’s Minute Movies story playsthe romantic strings again for the countless time with the same (successful)emotional effect. Ghost Patrol and Johnny Thunder (Peachy Pet story withoutJohnny nor Thunderbolt) are standard fair. Shelly Moldoff’s trademark actionscenes are very effective in an otherwise recycled crime yarn. Of the many fineartists to draw the Flash, Martin Naydel work is undistinguished amongst thegroup. He commits the unforgivable crime of rendering Joan Williams from theirrespirable blonde beauty with a great intuition into a homely grade schoolteacher spinster that looks more like Jay’s second cousin then his girl friend. [/color]

New editor, writers and artist makes this run a proto-SA feast for the eyes.

Issue #53May 1944Rating: 5The Flash has to determine how the prototype microwave oven can be used to break into banks. Johnny gets discharged from the navy. I would hate to be on the receiving end of a Hawkman hay maker How many kids tossed our their Flash Comics #1 after reading this Ghost Patrol story?

HALFTIME SHOW

Thanks for the kind words and support. These past few weeks have been difficult to keep up. My Mac Mini is showing its age. I need to migrate my files to a new computer for the other half of the issues. As for tough issues to track down. I only need one more issue to review, and it is not #104.

Issue #52April 1944Rating: 5 With a cover date stamp of February 16, 1944, I found this music entry: Eddie Miller 'Yesterdays' Equipped with no more than a magnesium flash pot, glider wings, and her stunning good looks, the Humming Bird makes her debut and the Hawkman and Hawkgirl must stop her. Puzzling still, is the Hawkman’s unilateral decision to turn the Humming Bird free. Another precursor, in addition to the Witch of the King strip, to the Black Canary motif. The charm of these backup stories can be found in the ingenious way they get started. In this issue we find a postcard from Berlin (Johnny and Peachy Pet Thunder), Undersea cave where the inhabitants are given tainted water to worship a dictator (Ghost Patrol), an SOS message in a can of green beans uncovers Nazi Saboteurs of the Allies food supply (the Whip). That leaves the least imaginative story of the issue, the Flash!

Issue #51March 1944Rating: 5 The Flash does battle with the Mighty Thor. It wasn’t until the newsstand date of the first week of January 1944 before the Hawkman makes reference to the war in any of his stories.

Issue #50 February 1944 Rating: 5 , This issue brings back memories of childhood television watching from the 60’s and early 70’s. Twilight Zone (Flash story) I Dream Of Jeanie (Johnny Thunders) Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (Ghost Patrol) Fractured Fables (Minute Movie). The Hawkman story brings its usual high quality punch!

THANKS! 3 issues to go before we reach the halftime show. ::