Dead Artists' Society 1 1

[Theagenes]

I was going through Gerber looking for covers to nominate and I discovered why that illustration of Chinese bandits looked so familiar:

 

 

 

OK, back to the review. On the the two S&S features, I enjoyed Slam Bradley, but I thought Spy was a little flat. There has been a lot of discussion about the different influences on the two of them, but in Slam Bradley I see a lot of Chester Gould and Tracy. Another thing I noticed is that all of Schuster's male leads look like Superman (not just Bradley and Dr. Occult) and all of his female leads look like Lois Lane.

 

I thought Claws of the Red Dragon was pretty well written, though obviously a Sax Rohmer/Fu Manchu knock-off. I would like to read some of the other installments.

 

Larry Steele was the closest of all the stories to your standard film noir gumshoe fare, both visually and in the writing. Like CotRD, it's difficult to really judge with one piece of a multi-part story arc.

 

Cosmo I thought was pretty weak storywise, though I liked the artwork. The figures were awkward, but I liked the grainy, sketchy linework - it works for a genre like this.

 

The Range Detective was pretty lame and stretched my willing suspenstion of disbelief. CSI: Dodge City? Come on.

 

Overall, I thought the writing on most of the stories in this issues was much better that what we saw in the two books from the Eisner/Iger shop, though the quality of the artwork was mixed.

[Detroit MIke]

Great reviews Theagenes! I enjoy all the insights.

[Scrooge]

Detective Comics # 6 review – (written as usual before reading Theagenes’ comments)

 

I really wanted to include an early ‘Tec early in the books to showcase how good they are for such early books. I mean this is September 1937 and it shows a level of “sophistication” that books from other companies will take a few years to achieve or simply will not achieve. In a sense, from its earliest days, National (DC) was already molding its own identity. What a great slate of editorial control benefited the outfit.

 

Slam Bradley: Mysterious drowning deaths in Atlantic City require the help of Slam and Shorty …

 

Aaah, this is our chance to see the boys, Jerry and Joe, before their act on Superman. The story is light-hearted, whimsy and to a great extent a wish-fulfillment story where I saw Jerry having fun playing with Sam to whom everything comes easy: swimming, rescuing and wooing the girl, fighting, … the great man of action (here’s that word again). Despite the paper-thin plot, I found the feature entertainment and, yes, charming. It had the quality that Roy Crane gave to its strips: deceivingly simple art (loved the swordfish scene) at the service of a light story.

 

Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise by Sven Elven: Emil Rogello dies, Cosmo takes his place to unmask the culprit.

 

I don’t quite know how to describe the scratchy over-worked style of Sven Elven. The story is a straight forward no non-sense murder mystery. In the end, the tale was blah. I have seen better outing from Elven.

 

Bruce Nelson in The Claws of the Red Dragon by Tom Hickey: We catch this story mid-stream when Bruce and Sigrid’s father are bartering for her release in exchange for some shards of the famed Red Jade Dragon.

 

I’ve always liked Hickey’s staging. The feature takes place in mostly one room and yet the story is made to flow nicely along. His figure work is decent but his talent shows clearly once you realize that all of his characters are different and distinct. It’s too bad we don’t get the resolution of the story. Some of the archs of Bruce Nelson’s adventures spanned quite a few issues of Detective, quite unusual for the time period when most stories were done-in-one. As mentioned before, as a sucker for Oriental Menace, I did enjoy this feature, especially the Chinese torture bits.

 

Text Feature: I think Theagenes has already talked about it above (ok, I peeked). Great illustrations by Flessel on those throughout the early ‘Tec books. I can’t anything that hasn’t already been said about Flessel’s amazing work in these pages.

 

Gumshoe Gus by Bill Patrick: Gus is assigned to help out a play for the milk drive and showcase his acting talents …

 

This is the customary funny story in the funnies. Nothing much funny in here I fear. I much preferred the kids feature in last week’s Wonderworld comics.

 

Spy: After the dirigible Colossus burns down, Bart and Sally are assigned the task to find the culprits …

 

The reason I selected this particular issue of ‘Tec is to show everyone that Zeppelin in the splash, it struck me the first time I saw it and is still a favorite image. I enjoyed the story, not for the imaginativeness of the plot by Jerry but because of the interaction of Bart and Sally and the character Sally herself: this is a warm-up before Lois comes onto Superman’s scene. It’s nice to see the boys work their way up to Superman. The physique and appearance of Bart is very similar to early Clark Kent and I also feel it’s not very different from Slam Bradley.

 

Buck Marshall by Homer Fleming: Buck finds a ranger dead at his station and helps unmask the murderer …

 

Why is it that early GA books could not develop interesting or exciting western plots? This is another example of a rather hum-drum western feature: there is no suspense, the resolution is shoe-horned, the action quite flat. I know there are only so many western stories to tell but there are some better ones than this one. I understand it’s difficult to build suspense in a few pages but the western writers seem to forget about human nature and concentrate on action too much and too early in their stories.

 

Larry Steele by Bill Ely: another to-be-continued story: Larry is recovering from a plane crash and continues to try and figure out who kidnapped some celebrities …

 

This is a transition piece in the story but it allows for the most dynamic and moody sequences in the book. The first 4 pages are great fun comic reading. Overall this segment stands out over some of the weaker ones (Cosmo, Gumshoe, Buck Marshall, …)

 

Speed Saunders at the Rodeo by Creig Flessel: After Tex Dallas is shot at the rodeo, Speed takes his place and arrest the culprit.

 

Here’s a case of wasted effort. The plot is laughably short and awkward. Aside from some panels here and there, Flessel isn’t his usual inspired self and considering the weak Gardner Fox plot (as per GCD) I can’t blame him to throw this one away. I am now curious to go read some more Speed Saunders feature to see if they are generally this weak …

 

Overall, the art chores are well handled and the stories are detrimental to the overall experience. In fact, Siegel in retrospect turns in some of the stronger done-in-one stories in this issue. These early ‘Tec are attractive books for more than their covers!

[Scrooge]

Allow some comments now that I turned in my copy. Overall, we seem to agree on most aspects:

 

OK, back to the review. On the the two S&S features, I enjoyed Slam Bradley, but I thought Spy was a little flat. There has been a lot of discussion about the different influences on the two of them, but in Slam Bradley I see a lot of Chester Gould and Tracy. Another thing I noticed is that all of Schuster's male leads look like Superman (not just Bradley and Dr. Occult) and all of his female leads look like Lois Lane.

 

There must be an echo around here. I find it interesting that Slam reminded you of Tracy. I must admit not to see the similarities but I haven't read much Tracy though I am half-way through the IDW recent reprinting but it's tough going for those early strips. They share an unfortunate resemblance to some of the weaker detective stories we've been reading but I understand it took a while for Gould to really get going. I agree it is somewhat funny to see Superman in these stories. It feels as if we're following an actor's career.

 

Larry Steele was the closest of all the stories to your standard film noir gumshoe fare, both visually and in the writing. Like CotRD, it's difficult to really judge with one piece of a multi-part story arc.

 

I thought too that the feature had potential. I do have more early 'Tec in this format so if you're interested, please PM me.

 

Cosmo I thought was pretty weak storywise, though I liked the artwork. The figures were awkward, but I liked the grainy, sketchy linework - it works for a genre like this.

 

Glad to hear you having a tough time describing the art. It's strangely attractive despite the "fussyness".

 

CSI: Dodge City?

 

Too funny, I was thinking to call it CSI: Sagebrush when I was thinking over my review

 

Thank you as always for your insights.

[Scrooge]

For next week, I thought we could go back to that sweet spot we seem to like: Summer 1939 with our first Centaur book: Amazing Mystery Funnies v.2 # 7 with some great Gustavson and Everett interior art -

 

Amazing Mystery Funnies v.2 # 7

[Detroit MIke]

fantom of the fair cover... i gotta try to read this one... i've been too dang busy

[Theagenes]

I very much looked forward to reading a book put together by the creators who would form Funnies, Inc. a months after this issue and I wasn't disappointed. It was very cool to see some of Everett's and Burgos' work pre-Subby and Torch. Other than those two, the artwork was pretty ho-hum, but the writing on several of the stories was very interesting and original.

 

I love the Fantom of the Fair because it is so rooted in it's context. In New York, in the spring and summer of 1939 everything revolved around the World's Fair and there is somehow an intimate link between the Fair of 1939-40 and the concept of the "comicbook superhero" itself. Both were creations of the psyche of an America that had pulled itself out of the doldrums of Depression was now ready to embrace a future that celebrated the greatness of human potential. It would not be long before world events would make that optimism of the late 30's look hopelessly naive (by the Fair's second season in 1940 actually), but for a time it must have seemed as though the world would have a future in which we were all "Supermen" and "Superwomen" living in a utopian metropolis of Trylons and Perispheres, airships and art deco light fixtures.

 

National/DC of course, jumped right in to whole World's Fair spectacle with it's two giveaway comics and even by having a Superman Day at the Fair. In the Fantom story, however, we see a different take on the Fair, perhaps unconsciously. The story has nothing to do with the lofty concepts that Fair represents, but rather the very real mundane world of ruthless, corrupt contractors fighting it out over the lucrative job of working on the Fair. The Fantom is less a product of Gernsback's scientifiction utopianism like Superman, than he is a product of gothic horror, poling his way along underground rivers like Lon Chaney. He is a product of the Shadow pulps, not Amazing Stories. This issue would have come out just as the Fair was opening in late spring of 1939, and we already have a bit of New York cynicism showing itself.

 

The story and Fantom concept itself has potential; I like the fact that they left us hanging a bit as far as his origin - keep him mysterious for a while as it adds to the appeal. What's in the Icelandic book? Makes me want to shell out another dime and pick up next month's issue to find out - and I suppose that's the point, right?

 

"Inner Circle" also looked to have potential, despite the artwork being rather weak, but then it flopped at the end. The concept of a team of specialists ala The Dirty Dozen is always a winner - it's an archetype at least as old as Jason and the Argonauts. Unfortunately the story fizzled out especially with the weak, anti-climatic ending. In fairness, pacing can tough when you only have a few pages to work with. BTW, did you catch the reference to the Chinese civil war again?

 

The Air Sub story by Burgos was a real treat - I had never even heard of it before and I'd really like to read more. This was my second favorite piece in this issue (of course I'm a sci-fi guy so I may be biased) after the Everett story. I was impressed with the whole "scram-jet" concept of barely leaving the atmosphere, orbiting the earth and then re-entering the atmosphere in order to quickly get any where on the planet. This is of course exactly what is being planned for commercial aviation in our own near future (and possible already exists in military aviation). I think the B&W format actually enhances Burgos' linework and helps him create the feeling of constant dynamic movement that gives the story it's faster pace and makes it more exciting. I love this panel showing the aerial battle:

 

 

The "C-20 Mystery" by Everett was my favorite story easily - well written and well-drawn, with the same chiaroscuro technique that I loved in Flessel's work in the Tec we read last week. This dark, gritty, violent story with drug references really makes you wonder what age readers they were targeting. This panel is great!

 

 

BTW, the writer (Everett?) has confused "benzine" with "benzene" - both are petroleum derivatives and have similar uses as cleaners and solvents, but are not the same chemical. "Benzine" has always been a popular drug to inhale and has mild psychotropic effects, but it is "benzene" that is fatal when inhaled in large doses, especially in confined spaces.

 

Grizzly Dunn was pretty weak. I get the joke and all but... .

 

Jack Strand - now this was interesting story! Started out like it was a typical mystery or mad scientist plot, then quickly went down the rabbit hole and turned all surreal. Freudian ideas were still somewhat new in the popular consciousness (slight pun - sorry) and this story obviously wanted to explore them a bit with the evil "Psyk" ruling a subconscious dreamworld. Very interesting and original - I'd definately like to read more. Sadly, the artwork was stiff and uninspired, which was unfortunate given the material. Imagine how visually interesting this could have been with Burgos drawing it!

 

"The Pardon" was different - I thought star-crossed lover stories were always supposed to end in tragic double suicides like Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe. What's with the lame happy ending? And I'm sorry, but I just can't take any story seriously when all the characters are running around in lederhosen.

[adamstrange]

Nice review, thagenes!

 

"Benzine" has always been a popular drug to inhale and has mild psychotropic effects, but it is "benzene" that is fatal when inhaled in large doses, especially in confined spaces.

 

Now I know why nothing happened!

Edited March 17, 2007 by adamstrange

[Theagenes]

Nice review, thagenes!

 

"Benzine" has always been a popular drug to inhale and has mild psychotropic effects, but it is "benzene" that is fatal when inhaled in large doses, especially in confined spaces.

 

Now I know why nothing happened!

 

 

It's nice to know someone besides Scrooge, Black Hand, and me are still reading this thread.

[Detroit MIke]

Nice review, thagenes!

 

"Benzine" has always been a popular drug to inhale and has mild psychotropic effects, but it is "benzene" that is fatal when inhaled in large doses, especially in confined spaces.

 

Now I know why nothing happened!

 

 

It's nice to know someone besides Scrooge, Black Hand, and me are still reading this thread.

 

Don't forget the Motor City. I love this thread. I just wish I wasn't so dang lazy.

[Detroit MIke]

I'm starting to get an itch for Centaurs. I just thought I'd add this nice pic.

 

 

Some more on the Fair:

 

1939-1940 World's Fair

 

[Theagenes]

Nice review, thagenes!

 

"Benzine" has always been a popular drug to inhale and has mild psychotropic effects, but it is "benzene" that is fatal when inhaled in large doses, especially in confined spaces.

 

Now I know why nothing happened!

 

 

It's nice to know someone besides Scrooge, Black Hand, and me are still reading this thread.

 

Don't forget the Motor City. I love this thread. I just wish I wasn't so dang lazy.

 

My bad! And Detroit Mike too, of course!

 

Mike, that's a gorgeous copy!

Edited March 18, 2007 by Theagenes

[Scrooge]

It's nice to know someone besides Scrooge, Black Hand, and me are still reading this thread.

 

Actually, I've failed you this week. I have yet to read the AMF but will in the coming days and post a quick review. Spring Break is my busiest time.

 

For the coming week, we'll switch publisher again and fast forward about 1 year to 1940 with this book (scan courtesy of CMan) -

 

Blue Ribbon Comics 7

[adamstrange]

Spring Break is my busiest time.

 

Breaking all those young girls' hearts on the beach at Cancun?

[Norrin_Radd]

Spring Break is my busiest time.

 

Breaking all those young girls' hearts on the beach at Cancun?

 

Well, he is French. And apparently the French were born to love.

[Scrooge]

Well, he is French. And apparently the French were born to love.

 

It's on the cover of a comic book so it's got to be true, no?

[Norrin_Radd]

Well, he is French. And apparently the French were born to love.

 

It's on the cover of a comic book so it's got to be true, no?

 

I just saw the comic in the SA forum. Up until now I just figured your sig quote was just braggadocio.

[Scrooge]

Before reading Theagenes' review, here are my thoughts:

 

The first thing that struck me about last week’s comic is the inside front page for 2 reasons: 1) the advertisement of Centaur selling early Lone Ranger story books and yet (as far as I know), there never was a Lone Ranger comic book feature run by / in Centaur and 2) the Editor’s page discussing early sci-fi ‘zines. We know they were common place but to be mentioned in this page is interesting all the more so since one name jumped out: John Giunta! The ‘zine is Scienti-Tales (copies of which can be found in the collection of the University of Maryland – Baltimore County). This is 1939 so Giunta, born in 1920, was 19 and on his way to a 30-year comic career with Harvey, DC, Marvel and Archie. Some of his earliest work was for Centaur around the same time. As for Forrest Fickling, the budding editor first mentioned. He went on to create the Honey West series of Detective novels. He died at age 72 in 1998. You can read more about this series at : Honey West .

 

This time, I’m writing up comments as I finish each sequence.

 

The Fantom of the Fair was simply put amazing, helping to give legitimacy to the book’s title. The art fluidity and impression of movement is way above the average art of the period. The story, while not much to write home about, is a winner for me because of the atmosphere of mystery and danger it creates: the Fantom is truly a man of mystery and of few words plus he remains masked throughout. Gustavson relied a little too much on the swooping down panels but they are all well executed. Truly a joy to read and one of the few features so far that was a page turner. I’d love to hear more about that Icelandic book they’ve found; I took 2 years of Icelandic in college.

 

The Inner Circle by ? starts on a good premise with promise and then by page 4 jumps the shark to the land of non-sense. Add to that the horrible job of copy-editing / spelling / lettering and the feature had me stop in my tracks. Too bad the idea, non-original as it is, was still-born.

 

2039 A.D.

 

Air-sub DX by Carl Burgos has more rebounding than a hopped-up kangaroo but shows great potential and certainly would have had me waiting for the next chapter. Is Dr. Montan the Conqueror? Who were those giants? Burgos’ work here is uneven, especially in figure work, but it shines in enough panels to make the feature attractive overall. There is a strange quality to Burgos’ decision to work some panel all in lines and others all in curves, so much so that there isn’t a single boring panel of the characters while in the DX spacecraft. Quite interesting.

 

The C-20 Mystery by Bill Everett: any Everett job is enjoyable. This one was different for me. I’m not used to see Everett play with lights and shadows as he does here. I know that those effects are augmented by the duo-tone coloring of the story, nonetheless it is quite effective. I wonder if Everett knew ahead of time what color treatment his story would get or if it’s a later editorial decision? The story telling is nicely done, the strip does not feel cramped. Everett is great at using the space available to him and spread out the objects around for an airy / breezy story and fluid reading. We’ve talked elsewhere about his ability to convey depth in this story. It’s a little forced but works well. Another solid feature for a good score for this Centaur book.

 

Grizzly Dunn by ?: I’m still scratching my head at this one. Plus the horses change color every page

 

Jack Strand by Frank Frollo: Now this is a different feature! In spite of an apparent hitch in logic, i.e., I don’t see how the restaurant scene and Diana’s disappearance in the closet are related, this is the kind of story we’ve not yet seen in other books, especially not in Planet for example. The story is Lord of my Mind’s Ring it seems. If Psyk is really Lord of the Subconscious, who knows where the story will lead? All I know is that “Psyk is mental dynamite!”

 

The Pardon by Claire S. Moe: A little, ok waaay too sweet for my taste + I never cared for Moe’s style so this early Alpine Romance deserved to close the book!

 

In the It’s Really a Fact page, the Age (A) and Weight (W) trick is easy: the feature asks you to do (2W+5)*50+A-250 which is really 100W+A and so, yes, it will be your Weight followed by your Age.

 

Kidding aside, this was a very enjoyable book to read, probably the best one so far for me.

[Scrooge]

Again, way more insightful than I was. Great job.

 

It seems we agree about everything on this book. One day I'll learn to put the stories in their cultural context.

 

Who knew that little Icelandic book would attract so much interest!

 

Keep them coming T.

[Scrooge]

I'm working ahead this week, so here are my comments on the Blue Ribbon issue -

 

Aaaah Blue Ribbon Comics. It should be a good comics right? Let’s see.

 

Rang-A-Tang, the Wonder Dog with Richy, The Amazing Boy by Ed Smalle, Jr. and Joe Blair: I don’t know if the rest of the issue will have the same tone as this story but this was clearly written with kids in mind. It’s highly explanatory and future events are “telephoned” ahead of time robbing the reader of any real surprise. The art is serviceable to the story but, apart from a few well-executed canine stunts, rather forgettable. The aspect of this first feature that struck me the most is how close to stereotypes the writer stuck: Mr. Wyngold as the Hollywood executive, Hy Speed as the ace detective, come on! More shocking / jarring to me was the representation of the Native-Americans in this story: clearly the time is now with the Hollywood production team and cop cars, yet we have these savage Indians (savage used here in the Rousseau meaning of the word) that rampage out like it’s 1849; it’s just plain odd.

 

Hercules by El(mer) Wexler and Joe Blair: Oh boy, here we come with another Blair -script. Here’s hoping it holds up better. By the second page, the quality of dialog is already evident: “I can’t be so far from what these moderns call an airport. Good! I’ll go there!!” huh. It gets worse: “The men in authority must be quartered there! Perhaps I may learn something.” ARRRGGHHH. At the bottom of Page 3, the Bundanian find the snooper to be suspicious; I’d say, just his get-up should be alarming, much less the snooping. On page 4, we hear: “Hurry, we have only a few hours until daylight!,” while the coloring places the action at about high noon or 1 p.m. I don’t mean to pile on this feature but the dialog given to Hercules makes him appear as a nitwit! The drive behind having him achieve works requiring similar skills to his legendary exploits is clever but the execution is a severe let-down.

 

Gypsy Johnson, Adventurer by Johann C. Bulthuis: This issue is a doozy! In this story, we have the epitome of the annoying character: the insane coward. This character is nothing but irritating and completely unnecessary to the story, which is weak as it is. This book is starting to look like a loser.

 

The Fox by Irwin Hasen and Joe Blair: huho … another Blair plot. It’s actually a little better even though still straightforward. The Hasen art helps the story along. I have never been a huge fan of Hasen’s work and this story did not change my opinion but compared to the ones surrounding it, I can see how he stood out. When the Fox and Johnny take down the arsonist, there is a reference to “Down Went McGinnty” which is really mis-spelled for ‘Down Went McGinty.” This is a reference to a big 1940 movie: The Great McGinty for which Preston Sturges (of The Lady Eve fame) won the Best Writing – Original Screenplay Academy Award in 1941. From an online source, here’s a bit more info on the movie:

 

“Its story is one of political corruption and greed, its tone irreverently comedic and cynical, and its moral is summed up in the foreword to the original 1933 version of the -script (when it was called The Vagrant): “Meat is not good for cows, whisky is terrible for gold fish, and I purpose to show that honesty is as disastrous for a crook as is knavery for the cashier of a bank.”

 

One might as well substitute the word “politician” for “crook”, as in this film its impossible to distinguish between the two. Brian Donlevy, in a rare leading role as Dan McGinty, starts off as a derelict in a soup line and winds up governor of a state solely through his success at shaking people down. Mentored by gangsters known only as The Boss (Akim Tamiroff) and The Politician (William Demarest), McGinty can ensure a steady cash influx from his constituents through brute force or by guile, but always by remaining oblivious to, or at least unintimidated by his own limitations. Even the act that first earns the attention of The Boss, his feat of voting 37 times in a single election, is so brazen that it requires a certain naiveté.”

 

Corporal Collins, Infantryman by Charles Biro and Abner Sundell: Well, this is issue is starting to get better and better. It’s nice to see a complete Biro job before he became an editor. I will admit that the subject matter is of more interest to me. Here’s a cliff-notes version of the Dunkirk Retreat:

 

“The German advance continues as the Allied lines contract. On May 24, the first 5,000 British troops are evacuated from the port city of Dunkirk. By May 26, it is clear the Belgian army is finished, and more British units begin to fall back on Dunkirk. When the Belgians surrender on May 28, the French and British rush in units to cover the approaches to Dunkirk. There are several planned attacks on the Dunkirk perimeter, most of them involving armored units, but there is confusion and misunderstanding among the German commanders.

 

There is a lull in the fighting on May 30. There is confusion and disagreement among the German commanders over objectives; ultimately, the panzer divisions are pulled from the front and shifted south to continue the attack against France. This means that the final push at Dunkirk falls to the infantry and the Luftwaffe.

 

While the British fight heroically to hold their perimeter, every available ship and boat is put to use evacuating troops to England. By June 4, more than 220,000 British and 112,000 French soldiers are evacuated. When the Germans reach Dunkirk early that morning, they capture some 40,000 men. Although the British exceed their expectations in evacuating troops, they lose virtually all their heavy equipment, and most of the troops arrive in England without their weapons.

 

The Luftwaffe has also played havoc on the fleetmore than 80 merchant vessels and warships are sunk, along with many smaller craft. The damage does not come without a price; the Germans lose more planes than the Allies, but at this point in the war Germany has greater reserves of aircraft.”

 

It is very interesting that real war events are introduced a few months after the fact in the story. Another nice touch was the mention that “only Steel Sterling could help him now,” which to me indicates that Sundell also wrote that other feature.

 

Ty Gor, Son of Tiger by Mort Meskin and Joe Blair: Now, I love Meskin’s art and he does not disappoint in this outing. Joe Blair’s take on Tarzan / Jungle Book is actually quite well-done as a chapter in an on-going saga. Not much is really happening but seen as part of a whole, it works well.

 

Doc Strong and the Isle of Right by Sam Cooper and Joe Blair: I’m sure Theagenes will have a lot of insight about this feature: WWII is predicted to last 100 years and to be the dawn of the decline of civilization, probably a reaction from the writer Blair to the disillusionment of seeing a new global conflict when every heralding WWI as the last and least glorious major conflict. Bio data states that Blair died circa 1980 and so may have been an older guy by the time he wrote these scripts? Then, for a guy called Doc Strong to adopt the solution to dig an underground city as a mean for survival seems like a yearning to turn back the clock and maybe to hint that the US would rather avoid engagement in the conflict. Cooper performs his duty well even though his perspective is all over the place. Consider that Ritter is alternatively a giant, normal size or an over-sized brute.

 

Loop Logan, Air Ace by Joe Blair and Frank Volp: Here’s an artist I was completely unaware of, which is understandable since aside for his work on Loop Logan, he is only credited for some 42-44 work for Lev Gleason on Crime Does Not Pay and Swoop Storm. The yarn itself is entertaining; we see Loop an American volunteer in France take charge during an attack on German forces. The aerial sequences are handled well. I’d be willing to see some more of Volp’s work.

 

The Green Falcon by ?: I will say that this book never ends! And I’m glad since the quality of the work improved in the second half compared to the first half of the book which is odd since editors tended to put up front the more solid stories. They should have gone ahead and called him Robin Hood since this is a direct retelling of the story. Not quite as interesting a feature after the few previous ones though.