tabcom Posted December 27, 2013 Author Share Posted December 27, 2013 Issue #39Rating: 3March 1943This issue is a case where the cover is all you really want to hold in your hands. This issue starts to show the strain of cranking out too many scripts. Gardner Fox’s Flash and the King scripts are not his best. The Flash is forced to perform all the rolls in a play. He doesn’t look so good as a blonde with those bushy eye-brows. Joe Gallagher makes his artistic debut to the series on the King, without much gusto. Johnny Thunder, Ghost Patrol, and the Whip use the Nazi exploitation themes with mixed results Minute Movie – best story of the anthology. The Hawkman – typical crime stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 HAPPY NEW YEARS GA-Bros. Today is also my Birthday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Issue #40March 1943Rating: 5This was my very first Flash Comic purchase. It is the classic issue for me.It captures the zeitgeist of the comic book reader with all the war themes. "The Man Who Could Read Faces," by Gardner Fox and art by Lou Ferstadt, is one of the top five GA Flash stories in my opinion. All of the Lou Ferstadt Flash stories in the series are worth checking out if you are new to the series (34,36,38-44,49). They all are excellent. The other stories in the anthology from the early war era represents some of the best of the whole series. The Hawkman story is titled: "Give Them the Bird". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaillant Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 An happy belated birthday and Epiphany, tab! (thumbs And a happy new year! A question: is the war climate transpiring with explicit references from other stories, besides the Ghost Patrol? 1943… things were getting rougher for Italy’s comics industries. Comics from the late 1943 to early 1945 time frame are very rare here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 The only direct reference to the war by the Flash is the two-page dream of Joan of the Axis in Flash #35 (posted earlier). The Hawkman stories are all crime. Johnny Thunder joined the Navy and saw action at sea.. After the autumn of 1942, Italy had to accept defeat in North Africa. Which set the stage for the invasion of Sicily. 1943-44 saw major battles in Italy as the Germans slowly withdrew to the Alps. Happy New Years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaillant Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have just purchased this amazing publication (from 1951) which tries to rebuilt with documants and first-hand material the situation in Italy in 1944-45. It’s awesome and I can’t wait to read it (I have other stuff which should come first): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaillant Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 This is a 1946 flashback story (which ran for over two years on this title) which is set during the previous years (and it is also the very first comics depiction, I think, of gas chambers, although imagined (as people would have seen them just afterwards in actual pictures) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 (thumbs u That last panel of the girl is in the style of Shelly from his work with the Hawkgirl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaillant Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 The artist is Vittorio Cossio. Sheldon’s artwork is more visionary, Cossio is a great storyteller but follows a more realistic approach, as it was in the italian authors' sensibility and tradition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Issue #41 May 1943 Rating: 5 Every strip in this issue is fun to read. Generally, the Flash and the Hawkman avoid war themes. This issue is an exception. The Flash and Joan stumble across gangsters that are trying to hi-jack gas to sell on the black market. The demand for the black market gas is overwhelming and draws the Flash’s attention. The Hawkman has to find American airport workers that are willing to sell top secret laser guided anti-aircraft guns, invented by Carter Hall, to the Nazis located in South America. The Hawkman also loans his spare wings to an airman that lost his nerve flying combat missions. The Ghost Patrol tale is a doozy! Hitler releases a Jew from the concentration camp in order to conger up the spirits to counter-act the Ghost Patrol. When Attila the Hun, Napoleon, and Genghis Khan, exit this world for the spirit world because modern warfare is too advance for them to fight against, the Ghost Patrol wallop Hitler on the eastern front. Resulting in the poor jewish medium to be sent back to the concentration camp. Johnny Thunder, and the Whip use the Nazis saboteur themes to good effect. Minute Movies and the King are fun too. Great issue! Edited January 18, 2014 by tabcom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Newsreel 03/43 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 Issue #42June 1943Rating: 5 Another outstanding issue of this series in its prime. Every strip is a fun and wierd read. The King is dead. Page count is cut to 56 pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Issue #43July 1943Rating: 4 The date stamp of 5-12 is the day the Axis lost North Africa. With 250,000 Italian and German prisoners, the Axis losses for the North African campaign was close to one million. After the outstanding run of previous issues, it was time for a breather. The Flash story tries linking Dr. Frankenstein with escaped convicts by way of a traveling circus. As convoluted as this may sound, it is. The Hal Sharp penciled and origninal Flash artist Harry Lampert inks are something less than desirable to the eyes. Plenty of Nazis to be found in this issue: Johnny Thunder, Ghost Patrol, Minute Movies.Hawkman story fits nicely within the 8 – 10 year old demographics. What is bizarre about this issue is that most of the strips are geared for young children audiences with horrific themes of death camps and nazi occupation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Issue #44Rating: 5August 1943 Pop quiz! When was the first time the Flash traveled thru time? You guessed it . . . THIS ISSUE!If the editors had a do over on the cover\title, this is the issue! Forget the ‘Liar’s Club’, use the time travel story line. It would have been a sought after classic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innocuous Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 So he doesn't save the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 So he doesn't save the world? no spolier alerts to be revealed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 Issue #45Rating: 5September 1943Playing of the 1925 Lon Chaney movie ‘The Unholy Three’, a safe cracking midget masquerading as a baby gives Jay and Joan a lot of trouble. Lou Ferstadt art work is excellent. This issue has plenty of WWII themed adventures: Johnny Thunder – Nazi saboteurs. Ghost Patrol – Herman Goering Minute Movies – Nips mind control drugs being used to commit a crime. The Whip – Black Market Sugar ration ring Hawkman – Continuing with its noir crime genre, the only nod to the war is a city wide blackout.With a date stamp of July 9, 1943 the invasion of Sicily began. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebel 1911 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I like that four freedoms ad. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabcom Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Issue #46October 1943Rating: 5 Excellent wartime balance of humor, action, adventure, and fascinating plot wrinkles. Also on the newstand on August 9, 1943: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Mann Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 GREAT THREAD!...keep it going, I enjoy seeing all of these books. I didn't start buying FLASH CIMICS off the newsstand until 1946 with issue #70. mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
