Flash Comics Journal 3 3

[rjpb]

 

Regarding Moldoff, he worked directly for Bob Kane and he needed to blend in and not outshine his employer...

 

 

That would explain it to some degree. I stopped by the excellent dialBforblog archives and read up on the difference between "ghosts" hired by DC and those hired by Kane directly. And I can see how Kane would have wanted those he employed more discreetly to mimic his own crude style ( as much as he bothered to draw at all). I will say however that the earlier "Kane" work attributed to Lew Sayre seems to have a fluidity that the Moldoff stuff lacks. In the Bat books, Moldoff's characters often look stiff and clumsy in action poses. The Paris and Sprang stuff from the 50s - which I gather was commissioned directly by DC, manages to have a look that compliments Kane's "house style" and surpasses it as well. Since Kane would have had no problem sticking his name on Frank Frazetta's work had he been hired to do a Batman strip, is it possible that Moldoff's inferior work was actually the result of Kane actually inking it, and not so much an effort to "hack it down"?

 

 

[tabcom]

Thanks for the support, fellas!

 

I now have 74 reviews completed. By issue 74 the series survives with the aid of Joe Kubert's reboot of the Hawkman. Here is a preview of that issue with its proto-SA magical whistle:

 

The other stories during 45-46 begin to get silly and repetitive. Same can be said for Action, Detective, and Sensation.

Edited February 16, 2013 by tabcom

[vaillant]

tabcom, this is awesome.

 

I think it’s more than a mere coincidence that you’ve been the first person I crossed posting here, and whose articulations I followed with sympathy.

 

As an italian I felt quite a sense of estrangement landing here, simply because the painstaking comics collecting practice of americans is pretty alien to the majority of italian comics readers and collectors.

 

But what surprises me mostly (although there are differences in how we feel about the matter) is the love and interest you have in superhero comics and how they relate to the climate around them (both ways). In the 1940s it was the war, now it’s something different (that’s where we differ) but it’s been a great interest in getting into the years of the war through comics that has given me the strongest motivations to stay here, in the beginning.

 

Would you be interested in seeing or reading stuff concerning italian’s own comics production of the same period (from where my research stemmed). In 1940, the war was a far echo to most american kids, it was a harsh reality for the italian ones (and their families).

 

The Christmas of 1940 to some of the italian kids:

 

 

No superheroes, but rather the patriotic heroes like Romano il legionario (here with his fiancée, Isa, whose relationship is surprisingly similar to that of the Flash with his wife, from what I grasp).

 

Edited February 16, 2013 by vaillant

[tabcom]

vaillant . . .

 

The images capture the collective imagination of the era.

[vaillant]

Comics in Italy were still in their infancy (I mean our own production).

There were fine artists which worked in them, but the overall grammar was somewhat erratic, also in Italy comics meant the great syndicated strips, and this won’t change: as the USA entered the war it was a "NO WAY" for any possible superhero (although a microscopic amount had been published, during 1942-1945).

 

Kurt Caesar (the creator of Romano) was obviously influenced by Alex Raymond.

I think the biggest difference between the italian poetics and the US one, is a prevailing sense of a certain realism in the first, and an imaginative transfiguration in the second. Could be that’s been what attracted me towards the somewhat realistic approach of Charles Biro? I don’t think so, I was attracted by the weirdness and mystery of the covers.

 

I have very little knowledge of Golden Age DC and this will be greatly informative in this aspect, but I have gathered some experience with the less obvious US publishers. If I can, I will chime in with some Lev Gleason imput as you proceed. Daredevil is very different from the DC and Timely heroes.

 

 

[vaillant]

tabcom, if possible please add the cover dates of each issue. This will be great to relate better the various things into a whole.

 

 

The same month Flash Comics #3 hit the stands (March, 1940), in Mystery Men Comics #8 the episode of "Secret Agent D-13" offers an interesting perspective on the war events.

 

Still felt as a quite distant thing and illuminated by a sense of fair play and integrity – which could be kept even within an unfair event –, that the darkness of nazism and the horrors of the war would have swiped away in a few years.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2013 by vaillant

[tabcom]

tabcom, if possible please add the cover dates of each issue. This will be great to relate better the various things into a whole.

As the Journal moves on, I'll be posting more covers. I'll be posting covers of comics I own. Which is about 90 of them.

[tabcom]

The Mystery Men story you present reflects the relative quietness of the War at the beginning of 1940. With Hitler invading Eastern Europe, it was believed that the West was safe with the shield of the Maginot Line and the English Channel.

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2013 by tabcom

[Sqeggs]

tabcom, this is awesome.

 

I think it’s more than a mere coincidence that you’ve been the first person I crossed posting here, and whose articulations I followed with sympathy.

 

As an italian I felt quite a sense of estrangement landing here, simply because the painstaking comics collecting practice of americans is pretty alien to the majority of italian comics readers and collectors.

 

But what surprises me mostly (although there are differences in how we feel about the matter) is the love and interest you have in superhero comics and how they relate to the climate around them (both ways). In the 1940s it was the war, now it’s something different (that’s where we differ) but it’s been a great interest in getting into the years of the war through comics that has given me the strongest motivations to stay here, in the beginning.

 

Would you be interested in seeing or reading stuff concerning italian’s own comics production of the same period (from where my research stemmed). In 1940, the war was a far echo to most american kids, it was a harsh reality for the italian ones (and their families).

 

The Christmas of 1940 to some of the italian kids:

 

 

 

Very interesting and well-executed cover. The figures appear to be looking at a television -- although, of course, it is far too early for that. Perhaps a movie screen?

[vaillant]

Very interesting and well-executed cover. The figures appear to be looking at a television -- although, of course, it is far too early for that. Perhaps a movie screen?

I don’t want to derail from the line dictated by tabcom with excessively unrelated posts, but the cover illustration is the combined work of two of the three greatest artists of the first tenure of "Il Vittorioso" (1937-1947): Kurt Caesar, the creator of Romano, and my beloved Sebastiano Craveri. What they are looking to is a fireplace, but in pre-war Italy, this was entertaining way more than a TV set could ever be, as you could tell tales to the whole family.

 

As the US entered the war, Craveri was busy explaining kids how a thunderstorm worked – from "Il Viaggio delle Meraviglie" ("The Marvelous Journey", 1942):

 

Large size: http://i.imgur.com/m8NcqeE.jpg

[BB-Gun]

 

Regarding Moldoff, he worked directly for Bob Kane and he needed to blend in and not outshine his employer...

 

 

That would explain it to some degree. I stopped by the excellent dialBforblog archives and read up on the difference between "ghosts" hired by DC and those hired by Kane directly. And I can see how Kane would have wanted those he employed more discreetly to mimic his own crude style ( as much as he bothered to draw at all). I will say however that the earlier "Kane" work attributed to Lew Sayre seems to have a fluidity that the Moldoff stuff lacks. In the Bat books, Moldoff's characters often look stiff and clumsy in action poses. The Paris and Sprang stuff from the 50s - which I gather was commissioned directly by DC, manages to have a look that compliments Kane's "house style" and surpasses it as well. Since Kane would have had no problem sticking his name on Frank Frazetta's work had he been hired to do a Batman strip, is it possible that Moldoff's inferior work was actually the result of Kane actually inking it, and not so much an effort to "hack it down"?

 

 

 

Before Robinson and others took over Batman, strips signed by Bob Kane looked like work signed by Bob Wood. It is possible they both used the same ghosts. Bernie Klein might have drawn some of the work. He worked for Lev Gleason, MLJ and DC at one time and signed as Bob King. I think he stopped working in 1944. Just wondering...

[EJR]

Thanks for this great thread! Flash comics sure don't get the love that they deserve! EJR

[Psithyrus]

Thanks for this great thread! Flash comics sure don't get the love that they deserve! EJR

 

I agree.

[tabcom]

Entry #14Issue #8Rating: 5The Flash and the Hawkman are cementing their personalities by this issue. Flash, an altruistic defender of justice, is more personable with the citizens.

The Flash, through a slightly skewed prism, could be Keystone Cities Superman. The counter balance, Superman\Batman Flash\Hawkman is taking shape nicely.

 

The Hawkman is darker and his good deeds are less known amongst the public at large. The Hawkman stories read like they could be altered slightly and become a Dark Knight adventure. Gardner Fox is credited for Detective Comics #29 - 32."The Batman Meets Doctor Death", "The Return of Doctor Death" , "Batman vs. the Vampire, Part 1 and 2"Sheldon Moldoff for Backgrounds and Lettering in #30 - 34.

 

The Witch returns, again, to square off with the King.

I have yet to comment in detail about the other strips in these early issues. They are very good. The early Whip Johnny Thunder, and Minute Movie strips are very wordy and leave little room for art.

The house ad on the last page has a 1/2 page for All-Star Comics #1. The bottom half features a thumbnail image of Batman #1 – ‘Now On Sale’.

Edited February 23, 2013 by tabcom

[ciorac]

You are right about those Hawkman stories. Lots of attention has been paid retrospectively to my beloved Dark Knight of the late 1930s and early 1940s due to his vengeful nature and willingness to take a life. However, he wasn't the only dark avenger out there at that time.

[tabcom]

(thumbs u

 

I revised my entry to include:

 

Gardner Fox is credited for writing the Batman stories in Detective Comics #29 - 32.

"The Batman Meets Doctor Death", "The Return of Doctor Death" , "Batman vs. the Vampire, Part 1 and 2"

 

Sheldon Moldoff for Backgrounds and Lettering in #30 - 34.

[tabcom]

Newsreel 05/40From Luxemburg to Dunkirk.

May 15, 1940. UFA Tonwoche No. 506. (English transcript) Against an impending enemy extension of the war in the territory of Belgium and Holland, and with that a drive into the Ruhr by the Allies, the German West Army has undertaken an offensive on a wide front across the German western borders in the early morning hours of May 10. Bridge obstacles have been removed. A Luxembourg customs official is led away.Here, an iron border gate is taken down. The remainder is removed with hammers and torches. In Luxembourg there was hardly any resistance offered. Placards inform the local population. The tanks advance over the cobblestone streets. The columns move forward according to plan. The advance towards the decisive battle in the West has begun. A concrete barrier is unable to halt the column.Rolling stock makes its way quickly through Luxembourg. A security troops keeps a look out.Our brave infantry is greeted by the German border population.Everywhere the German infantry are given refreshments. The advance into Belgium continues at the same time. Here the border barriers are removed in only a short time. The path leads over ruined roads. A tank assists in clearing the roads. Our troops are given a warm welcome by the German population of Eupen-Malmedy, which had been cut off from the rest of Germany. The Luftwaffe has attained supremacy from the first hours in action. Infantry climb aboard a transport aircraft.They are given a special task. In quick flight they are taken to their goal, while marching columns move far below them. In rolling attacks, bombers and Stukas support the the advancing infantry. Enemy defensive installations, defensive positions,marching columns and troop concentrations are attacked from the air. Railroads and bridges are damaged or destroyed.The enemy airbases have been cleared in the first great attack. The result of one German bomb.Thus everywhere railway lines and stations have been reduced to rubble, preventing the enemy from moving supplies. Here, enemy aircraft have bombed the defenseless city of Freiburg in Breisgau (Baden-Württemberg). Schools,kindergartens and hospitals have been destroyed or heavily damaged. 50 persons have been killed - including 13 children - as a result of this brutal and unscrupulous attack upon this defenseless German city.

[tabcom]

Entry #15

Issue #9 09/40

Rating: 5

 

The only miscue with this issue is the cover. The Hawkman is not out west in the story. He does travel to an abandon gold mine in Colorado to investigate a man named John Denver in the next issue. In this issue, the Hawkman occupies the first story position. He is down under the sea off the coast of NYC. He meets Poseidon; who aids in defeating a sea demi-god.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flash story is a case of science in the hands of crooks. Their plan goes wrong when the giant gila monster that they created terrorizes a town. This is another story where Jay is known by another one of his old college buddies as the Flash.

 

 

All the stories in this issue are excellent. A great variety of super-hero action, crime, espionage with a ‘foreign country’ with a U-boat off the coast at the Panama Canal, humor, and wild west adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2013 by tabcom

[vaillant]

Could you provide the cover dates as well? I think it is handy – if it’s not a big hassle of course, otherwise one can do his homework…

 

I love the cover atmosphere of issue #8.

[tabcom]

Yes, I will start including the cover dates. I'm up to 09/40. I'm also including historical markers from when the issues would have been on the newsstands. Generally, two months prior to the cover dates. Issue #9 would have been on the newsstands at the same time Germany occupied Paris.