Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Sweet! Never read a Clock story! Jeff Be patient about the hosting of the file. The link might change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Here's the new one for the coming week - Crack Comics # 1, May 1940 Crack Comics # 1 Your link takes me to an error page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Here's the new one for the coming week - Crack Comics # 1, May 1940 Crack Comics # 1 Your link takes me to an error page. Please try it again. I moved the file to another service. Let me know if it works now. Use the link from my edited post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Your link takes me to an error page. Please try it again. I moved the file to another service. Let me know if it works now. Use the link from my edited post. Got this message: "The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Wait a minute. I only uploaded the cover. Let me change this again ... I'll let you know when to try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Allright, give me a hand BZ and try to download this: Crack Comics # 1 On the first page, you need to type in the code they give you. Then you'll have to wait up to 45 seconds for the download then you should be able to download the large file. Then if you don't have the reader, you'll have to download the reader. Check out the first few posts in this thead for hopefully a working link for the reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Allright, give me a hand BZ and try to download this: Crack Comics # 1 On the first page, you need to type in the code they give you. Then you'll have to wait up to 45 seconds for the download then you should be able to download the large file. Then if you don't have the reader, you'll have to download the reader. Check out the first few posts in this thead for hopefully a working link for the reader. I downloaded the file but the link for the reader takes me to a page that says it's under construction. Do you have a recommendation for another site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 I downloaded the file but the link for the reader takes me to a page that says it's under construction. Do you have a recommendation for another site? Glad to hear you got the Crack file. Try this link for the CDisplay software - CDisplay Reader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I downloaded the file but the link for the reader takes me to a page that says it's under construction. Do you have a recommendation for another site? Glad to hear you got the Crack file. Try this link for the CDisplay software - CDisplay Reader Done. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Done. (thumbs u So, you've opened and can read the comic and you will contribute a review, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Done. (thumbs u So, you've opened and can read the comic and you will contribute a review, right? Sure, but I'll let the experienced reviewers have a go at it first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Done. (thumbs u So, you've opened and can read the comic and you will contribute a review, right? I hope so! I'd love to read a Bangzoom review! Anyway, I'm home from work and downloading right now. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Overall, a pretty solid offering from the Eisner/Iger shop. The artwork was a little weak for the most part, with a couple of exceptions (Powell, Fine) and some of the characters were a bit a generic, but as GA goes it was pretty readable. Okay, I'll start with the Clock. As I mentioned this is the first Clock story I've read so I was looking to seeing what the first masked crimefighter in comics was all about. Truthfully, the character is pretty derivative. The Clock may have been a novelty for comic books when he debuted in 1936, but basically he is a knock-off of the other suit-and-fedora wearing masked adventurers of the pulps and radio like The Shadow, The Spider, and the Green Hornet. Organized crime is the protagonist, a theme common to several of the stories in this issue and I thought the hooded mob boss was a nice touch. The Jane Arden strip reprints were kind of ho-hum. More interesting were the Lena Pry back-ups which I had never seen before. Interesting mainly due to the stereotyping of hillbillies/Okies (women doing the plowing, men are lazy drunks) with an incongruous labor movement twist. The hillbilly archetype would pop up a few more times in the issue in various guises. Space Legion was my favorite piece in the issue, by far. Granted I'm a big fan of early sci-fi so I'm probably biased, but truthfully most of it is really bad. This story, while somewhat generic, was just a lot of fun and contains many of the elements that I like to have in my sci-fi: spaceship dogfights, rayguns, space pirates, etc. Great stuff! The main protagonist, Buck Bradford... er... Brick Gordon... uh... Spurt Dexter... Oh whatever his his name was -- he was pretty one dimensional, as was Harg the pirate, but over all I enjoyed it more than many of the offerings in early Planet Comics. (thumbs u The Spider was interesting, just to see another bow-and-arrow costumed hero that I had never seen before. GCD credits Paul Gustavson with this feature, and if that's correct, I have to say I was disappointed with both the writing and the artwork. I'm trying to remember some of the Fantom of the Fair stories I've read - was Gustavson's grasp of anatomy that bad? Maybe it was. Wizard Wells was a bit different, with the science-based hero who dislikes physical confrontation, backed up by Tug, the former boxer turned sidekick. Probably would have been more effective if we hadn't just seen Pug, the Clock's former boxer turned sidekick a couple of features back. Once again organized crime is the heel, with the very ethnic-sounding Black Morda as crime boss. Molly the Model by Joe Devlin was not bad and was one of the better drawn features IMO. Of course having a couple of cutsie lingerie panels didn't hurt. Ned Brant strip reprints - just couldn't get into it. Sports strips do nothing for me unless it's boxing. Lee Preston by Bob Powell was enjoyable and original, with a female aviator as the protagonist. To put this in context, Amelia Earhart's disappearance was a couple of years before this. Once again the hillbilly stereotype appears. As you can probably imagine, Red Torpedo was one of my favorites. I love these stories that give some insight into what America was thinking about the war in Europe prior to our own entry. This story would have been written in early 1940, when The Battle of the Atlantic was well underway. At this point, the advantage was with the U-Boats, as an effective strategy to deal with them had not yet been developed. To the creators of these comics, many of whom were children of Jewish immigrants, the threat of refugee ships from Europe being torpedoed must have hit close to home -- some those refugees would have been cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. trying to escape Eastern Europe. Although Germany is not explicitly named, the leader of the "aggressor nation" is obviously supposed to be Hitler. Actually my intitial thought was that the figure in the middle in that panel was supposed to be Admiral Doenitz, who was the commander of the U-boat fleet at the time (later Hitler's successor after the latter's suicide), but I'm not sure how well known he would have been at that time - it may just be a coincidence. The figure on the far right bears a slight resemblence to Goering as well. Madam Fatal - Transvetite hero out for revenge dressing as an spoon-kicking granny. Of course, even after he gets his revenge he decides that he enjoys dressing as an old lady so much he's going to keep doing it to fight crime (not that there's anything wrong with that). Honestly I'm just not sure what to make of this one. Slap Happy Pappy - two of our favorite themes: Unnamed-Foreign-Power-that's-supposed-to-be-Germany vs. sterotypical dumb hillbillies. Love it! Black Condor - First appearance of the Black Condor. Right off the bat, the first reaction is Wow! The art blows away everything else in the issue - by far! No surprise though as the artist is Lou Fine. Having his work at the end of the issue, after all the other features, really punctuates just how far ahead he was of most of his colleagues. GCD credits Eisner with the -script, and if that's right then I have to say this one of his weaker offerings - the origin story stretched credibilty, even for a GA comic. I found my self glazing over the dialogue and just enjoying Fine's work. I did like the fact that his dad was an archaeologist though. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 great thread...how the heck have I missed this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit MIke Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Too bad it fizzled out. Maybe Scrooge is ready to try again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted June 21, 2008 Author Share Posted June 21, 2008 Too bad it fizzled out. Maybe Scrooge is ready to try again? ... (thumbs u Will look for a nice one to restart this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAP Freak Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) Too bad it fizzled out. Maybe Scrooge is ready to try again? ... (thumbs u Will look for a nice one to restart this thread. :popcorn: Edited June 22, 2008 by CAP Freak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Continuing on. Here's where we've been: 1. Planet Comics # 6, June 1940 2. WonderWorld Comics # 4, August 1939 3. Detective Comics # 7, September 1937 4. Amazing Mystery Funnies v.2 # 7, Summer 1939 5. Blue Ribbon Comics # 7, November 1940 6. Victory Comics # 1, August 1941 7. Crack Comics # 1, May 1940 We're moving to a later time: December 1943 with Rangers Comics # 14. Rangers is probably one of the lesser titles for Fiction House so I believe a look inside will provide fresh material for most everyone. Download Link: Rangers Comics 14 Again, in order to view the file above, you need this viewer: CDisplay Reader Let's try and have the reviews in by next Sunday (even though half of everyone here is going to Chicago Con!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit MIke Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Hey Scrooge, I'm gonna read my first Rangers Comics and I hope others will join in the fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit MIke Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Hey Everybody, I sure don't claim any expertise in the area of golden age comics beyond knowing what cool WW II covers I'd like to add to the collection. I usually read the DC Archives or Marvel Masterworks and don't spend any time with other books from the era, so this represents a chance to broaden my horizons. Overall, I really liked this issue of Rangers Comics. And, I took the time to check out all the covers on GCDB and research the main features, artists, etc., and now I've got a few more books on the wantlist. I strongly encourage taking the time to read some golden age books even if you don't care to write about them. But, if you want to contribute to the thread, that'd be even better. Commando Ranger “Iron-Masked Captive” Grade:A- I thought the Commando Ranger story was well-written and contained above-average art by Art Saaf (who also drew the cover). Norway’s best Nazi ally, Quirling, is torturing the good guys in his castle fortress. Commando Ranger with the help of the Underground has to stop Hitler’s helper and put this den of evil out of commission. The Sea Devil “Nazi Sub Nest” Grade C- At first glance, I was pretty excited by the splash page, but unfortunately I thought the Sea Devil story was pretty weak. It did sport some nice Graham Ingels art. I guess it’s hard to get much accomplished in six pages? Save your time and read Commando Ranger twice. U.S. Rangers “Hirohito's Giant Headsman” Grade B Captain Morgan and the U.S. Rangers provided a pretty good read with lots of good girl art credited to Jim Mooney (?). I like Jim’s golden age work on the Ace Comics line so I’m a little biased. It’s a sexy brunette in China’s resistance to Japan vs. a knock-out, blonde American who works as a brainwashing school teacher. What’ll the kids decide to do to our villainess at the end of the story? Look carefully at the second-to-last panel… it’s pretty gruesome. I’m not sure why Cap endorses this type of behavior? After all, aren’t we the good guys? Glory Forbes “Day at the Metro” Grade B This story was a little more light-hearted than the war stories and flowed smoothly. Glory is a G-girl who is recovering from an auto accident. Her overprotective father wants her to take it easy and avoid her exciting lifestyle. She compromises with dad by working at the metro station. Of course, trouble isn’t far behind when thug are kidnapping people at the station in their search for secret government microfilm. Private Elmer Pippen “Letter Mix-Up” Grade C+ I didn’t like it and I didn’t hate it since I pretended Elmer was Andy Hardy. I’ve read too many Archie books so Elemer doesn’t have a chance. The Werewolf Hunter “Puppet Show” Grade B I’m not too sure who this Werewolf Hunter is but he gets dates with girls who are out of his league. It doesn’t take long for Hunter’s sexy companion to get into a dangerous situation. I liked the Lily Renee art and the black magic and gypsies stuff but it was another super-short trip. I gotta admit that I was cheering on the bad girl in this story. The Silver Ape of Lilani by Kim Roberts I never read these text stories so why start now? Phantom Falcons “Never Trust Women’s Intuition” Grade C- I don’t know if I could call this a war story? It sure didn’t excite me like Commando Ranger or Capt Morgan. This was definitely the tamest story of the bunch, not counting Elmer. It didn’t fit in with the rest of the book: weak good-girl art, less violent, and not worthy of the Fiction House label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
