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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Adventure Comics # 116, May, 1947


Back to the more lighthearted covers for awhile. 


And the more lighthearted stories as well.

 Here's the return of the Jok....errr...The Bull's-Eye, to take revenge on Green Arrow and Speedy.










A nifty ad for the new TOMAHAWK feature. TOMAHAWK would eventually replace Robin as cover feature in STAR-SPANGLED and was even given his own title!  Perhaps due to the fifties popularity of Disney's DAVY CROCKETT, the TOMAHAWK book had enough momentum to carry it up until 1970.  





Friday, March 2, 2012

Adventure Comics # 115, April, 1947

 

A tad more violent than the usual covers.
  

This issue, Superboy meets Jaguar Boy. Was DC using this as what they call a back door pilot? Jungle comics were starting to come in vogue with the ever-popular Tarzan and Sheena joined by Nyoka and soon many, many more. Maybe DC was looking for their own jungle character? If so, as far as I know, Jaguar Boy did not return.







Below is an ad for one of my personal favorite series from this period--Howie Post's JIMMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK. He was in MORE FUN COMICS and later WORLD'S FINEST. Wish DC would do a paperback reprint of all the Jimminy stories. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Adventure Comics # 114, March, 1947


Reversed for the splash panel, this fun Superboy cover goes to a clever story about a  spelling contest.








LITTLE ARTHUR? Not the same as the later SUGAR & SPIKE character, this is a single page filler by Phil Berube, one of the great sports cartoonists, Berube started doing filler like this in 1945 and continued until about 1950.


"Quagga?" Man, they're really pushing this, aren't they?






After some stylish 2/3 splashes for he three above series, we return to the big wasted space GA logo for this one.



At least it has another weird villain--this one a sharp-nosed, bird-based criminal. It's beginning to look like the GREEN ARROW scripters are recycling old BATMAN stories in more ways than one. 



Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Adventure Comics # 113, February, 1947

   

A lovely holiday cover shows that this February-dated issue was actually on-sale in December. 
 The SUPERBOY Christmas story below was previously posted in its entirety last year on our Rondo-nominated FOUR COLOR SHADOWS blog and you can read it here. 

Aquaman vs Merman,a  fictional movie undersea hero who in at least one close-up vaguely resembles Timely's rival Sub-Mariner!


With BATMAN strips running in DETECTIVE, BATMAN and WORLD'S FINEST, Robin got his chance here with the start of a long-running solo series in STAR-SPANGLED COMICS. Well...it was supposed to be solo. After a while, even though the mostly Jim Mooney-drawn strip still kept the same title, Batman's appearances became more and more frequent. 



Peter Porkchops would later be co-opted by Roy Thomas as one of his odder Golden Age revivals, this one in CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW, co-created with Scott Shaw! Peter became the superhero, Pig Iron.



 I'm sorry, what? Green Arrow and Speedy go up against a villain referred to as "The Clown Prince of Crime,"he has a white face, a pointed nose and a pointed chin, wild, oddly colored hair, and he's called...The Bull's Eye. Seriously??!! Does the Joker know about this fellow?