BangZoom Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Spy Stories v1#1 (March 1929) Cover: Walter Baumhofer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Mystery Adventures (January 1937) Cover: Alvin Pearson All the interior illustrations are by Will Ely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 All the interior illustrations are by Will Ely. Ely has some interesting work (westerns, if I recall) in pre-hero DC books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 All the interior illustrations are by Will Ely. Ely has some interesting work (westerns, if I recall) in pre-hero DC books. He did a variety of strips for DC beginning in 1937. Will Ely Chronological Listing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Mentallo Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 (edited) That stunning cover took my breath away. Now where can I get me one of those? Edited April 19, 2011 by alanna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) Spy Stories v1#1 (March 1929) Cover: Walter Baumhofer I recently purchased a comic with the story of Mata Hari but forgot to post it. I also found this picture a few weeks ago as a supporting document, sort of. Also found another famous criminal name in the box. Edited April 20, 2011 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Spy Stories v1#1 (March 1929) I only knew a few superficial details about Mati Hari's life so I checked Wikipedia and was shocked to read the specifics about her death and the final resting place of her body. Trial and execution On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Secret ink was found in her room, which was incriminating evidence in that period. She contended that it was part of her make-up. She was found guilty and was executed by firing squad on 15 October 1917, at the age of 41. Pat Shipman's biography Femme Fatale argues that Mata Hari was never a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage. Georges Ladoux had been responsible for recruiting Mata Hari as a French spy and later was arrested for being a double agent himself. The facts of the case remain vague, because the official case documents regarding the execution were sealed for 100 years, although, in 1985, biographer Russell Warren Howe managed to convince the French Minister of National Defense to break open the file, about 32 years early. It was revealed that Mata Hari was innocent of her charges of espionage. Disappearance and rumours Mata Hari's body was not claimed by any family members and was accordingly used for medical study. Her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris, but in 2000, archivists discovered that the head had disappeared, possibly as early as 1954, when the museum had been relocated. Records dated from 1918 show that the museum also received the rest of the body, but none of the remains could later be accounted for. The fact that a former exotic dancer had been executed as a spy immediately provoked many unsubstantiated rumours. One is that she blew a kiss to her executioners, although it is possible that she blew a kiss to her lawyer and former lover Edouard Clunet, present at the execution. Her dying words were purported to be "Merci, monsieur". Another rumour claims that, in an attempt to distract her executioners, she flung open her coat and exposed her naked body. "Harlot, yes, but traitor, never," she is reported to have said. A 1934 New Yorker article, however, reported that at her execution she actually wore "a neat Amazonian tailored suit, specially made for the occasion, and a pair of new white gloves" though another account indicates she wore the same suit, low-cut blouse and tricorn hat ensemble which had been picked out by her accusers for her to wear at trial, and which was still the only full, clean outfit which she had along in prison. Neither description matches photographic evidence. According to an eyewitness account by British reporter Henry Wales, she was not bound and refused a blindfold. Wales records her death, saying that after the volley of shots rang out "...Slowly, inertly, she settled to her knees, her head up always, and without the slightest change of expression on her face. For the fraction of a second it seemed she tottered there, on her knees, gazing directly at those who had taken her life. Then she fell backward, bending at the waist, with her legs doubled up beneath her..." A non-commissioned officer then walked up to her body, pulled out his revolver, and shot her in the head to make sure she was dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Thanks for the story BZ. Mata Hari's guilt was more obvious in the comic book story but who knows the truth? bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 here's another big-league femme fatale perhaps slightly more fictive than Mata Hari. 1958 reprint of 1951 PBO and 1954 PBO 'Return of Sumuru' with cover by James Meese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 #105 1950 3rd, #555 1956 1st -cover by Charles Binger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 I recently purchased a comic with the story of Mata Hari but forgot to post it. Also found another famous criminal name in the box. I found another 'Mata Hari' story in Popular Comics #67. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Great pb's, Pat. This is one of the few Sax Rohmer items in my collection. Mystery (October 1932) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 this 1950 gem 'has to be' by Rudolph Belarski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I picked up a copy of Weird Tales today (Oct '35, vol 26 no. 4) and it is a yellow cover book. Nothing unusual about that, but the spine is the exact same color of yellow. Now I've seen WT with nice red spines, and also heavily faded to dull orange spines, but a yellow spine? The Weird Tales spine logo is completely unreadable, but the date and volume number is in dark, bold black. The book has nice paper, too. So is this another pulp anamoly, or is it possible for a spine to be so heavily sun faded that it can go from red to straight yellow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 It's completely faded and is a fairly common defect on WTs. Faded spines on WTs are a personal pet peeve of mine though I do have a couple of yellow ones. One of the main things I look for now is to see if it has a nice red spine. It's like finding a Fiction House with true reds instead of oranges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Great pb's, Pat. This is one of the few Sax Rohmer items in my collection. Mystery (October 1932) This Sax Rohmer stuff is great! I've never seen any of these before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) from 'yellow peril' to 'yellow spine peril' and back! 1957 PBO Barye Phillips cov- Dr Fu sets out to steal an A-bomb... Edited April 21, 2011 by pcalhoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Mentallo Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 here's another big-league femme fatale perhaps slightly more fictive than Mata Hari. 1958 reprint of 1951 PBO and 1954 PBO 'Return of Sumuru' with cover by James Meese Return of Sumuru seems to turn up frequently on ebay - are they a good read? And can we please have more femmes fatales please? I mean, please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Sumuru is fun in a breezy way... here's an 'FF' from Howard Browne that he wrote while (presumably) moonlighting after his day job as managing editor of Amazing Stories. HB was 1947, pb 1952 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 It's completely faded and is a fairly common defect on WTs. Faded spines on WTs are a personal pet peeve of mine though I do have a couple of yellow ones. One of the main things I look for now is to see if it has a nice red spine. It's like finding a Fiction House with true reds instead of oranges. Thnx Jeff, I was unaware a spine could fade like that. More the strange because of the yellow cover, the spine color matches it perfectly. It really sticks out when constrasted with the red spines when I stack the books! I hear you on the Fiction House - my only copy of Planet Stories has a very dull orange spine as well. But for now, it's a defect I can live with as the front covers are strong and present very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
