Adventure Comics # 37, April, 1939

 John Richard Flanagan's pulpy covers continue as the book itself seems to me to be coasting, waiting for...something. The serials have largely become repetitive and violent, the humor strips more and more obviously just filler. Longtime gag strip GOOFO THE GREAT appears for the final time in this issue.

BARRY O'NEIL continues to be the flagship serial now that FEDERAL MEN has been notably dulled down. GCD even credits this period to the Shuster "Shop" rather than Shuster.

 As far as RUSTY & HIS PALS, Bob Kane's life was about to get a bit busier, also, as witness this unprecedented text ad at the top of this Fred Schwab humor page. The Batman was only a month away in DETECTIVE COMICS.

 Seriously. Tell me that's not Flash Gordon.

 Seriously. Tell me that's not Flash Gordon, also!

 DC expands its line again with the debuts of MOVIE COMICS and ALL-AMERICAN COMICS. Note that both are advertised as "All in Color" whilst ADVENTURE continues to have a goodly amount of black and white and two color pages. At this early stage, ALL-AMERICAN is an example of the newspaper strip reprint titles mixed with some original features. MUTT & JEFF would be almost inexplicably published by DC in various titles including their own for nearly two decades! Sheldon Mayer's SCRIBBLY would become a cult favorite, HOP HARRIGAN would be popular on radio, in serials as well as in comics and RED, WHITE & BLUE was yet another feature created by the spread-too-thin Jerry Siegel.

Adventure Comics # 36, March, 1939

 John Richard Flanagan is the new cover artist this time around and the inside front cover is now yet another of the Ripley's-style pieces, ADVENTURE EVENTS.

 Below is a half-page educational filler one would be unlikely to find in a "kid's comic" today.

 Okay, so I pointed out over the past few days that Fred Guardineer's art often seemed stiff and lifeless on the covers. Apparently, Editor Vin Sullivan agreed and Guardineer was quickly replaced. We also wrote of the increasing levels of violence in the title. Well, this issue's installment of Guardineer's ANCHORS AWEIGH may be the most explicitly violent story to yet appear! See below for just SOME of the violent panels from this issue. All from one six page story!

Adventure Comics # 35, February, 1939

 It's well-drawn, it's clean and it's...dull. Must be another Fred Gaurdineer cover.

I may be wrong but I believe this is the first time Dale Daring has gotten her own logo!

 The pre-Batman Bob Kane was fairly prolific. adding to his two regular ADVENTURE COMICS strips with this inside front cover kids strip.

 COTTON CARVER was a bit of a rarity in the mag--Instead of the art-style (and sometimes the art itself) being ripped off from TERRY & THE PIRATES' Milt Caniff, this strip's artistic muse was very clearly FLASH GORDON's Alex Raymond.

Speaking of Bob Kane as we were above, this issue's RUSTY installment (below) looks like crap. Was the artist over-extended and rushing to meet a deadline or was he already employing others to do much of his work for him? Compare to the  GAS HOUSE GANG strip above.

 And below we have yet another RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT style info page, another very popular type of feature in both newspapers and comics of the day. These types of things lasted in some venues well into the nineties at least.

***EXTRA: Bob Kane Swipe Spotted***

A reader caught this when I didn't. This panel from a Dec, 1938 RUSTY & HIS PALS story by Bob Kane was lifted nearly intact by Kane as a panel for the debut BAT-MAN story 6 months later in DETECTIVE! Since much of that story has been documented as Alex Raymond swipes, I'm wondering if this panel, too, might have originally come from FLASH GORDON! Thanks Silver Fox!

Adventure Comics # 34, January, 1939

 Not a major one but the first hint of real change of late in this title finds Fred Gaurdineer doing this month's cover. Certainly a competent artist and already a comics veteran,  Guardineer's work was, however, very stiff and his cover here shows that limitation. His style gave many of his stories an endearingly interesting, oddball flavor but his covers...particularly these supposed to look "adventurous," were a little trickier to love. Even the blood looks bland.

 Kind of a dull issue all around with not too much happening in most of the serious strips. There were, as almost every issue lately, a few more new humor strips. GRAN'PA, clearly filler since it doesn't even take up a full page, is by Fred Schwab who would end up as the cover artist on the infamous, unreleased MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES WEEKLY # 1 which would mark the first appearance of Timely/Marvel's SUB-MARINER by Bill Everett. That book would not come to light until the 1970's. Schwab similarly did the inside back cover dog strip, TINY.

JUST LIKE JUNIOR normally appeared in MORE FUN COMICS and may have ended up here to fill for someone ,missing their deadline . It's a very clean, nicely drawn strip which brings to mind the not-yet-created ARCHIE. GCD, in fact, indicates this may be by future Archie creator Bob Montana.

Adventure Comics # 33, December, 1938

Could be just me but this cover seems kind of dull compared to what we've been getting. Still Creig F doing the honors, though. The single most interesting thing about this issue, however, is the ad below. Looks like Siegel and Shuster were attempting to take advantage of their success at DC by starting a mail-order "school" out of Jerry's home address in Cleveland (designated a landmark in a 2009 ceremony as seen in the pic below). Odd to find the creators of such dramatic and fantastic strips as the ones listed here (as well as the oddly omitted DOCTOR OCCULT) selling their expertise on HUMOR!

 Maybe it's just me (again) but this issue seems more violent than the ones before, also, as evidenced by the following panels.