Sunday, October 2, 2011

Reading Room: PRIZE COMICS "Frankenstein vs the Prize Fighters"

Before the Justice Society!
Before the Avengers!
There were the Prize Fighters!
And who are these other paragons of justice (all of whom had their own strips in Prize Comics)?
"Well known"?
Most of them recently appeared in the Project SuperPowers series from Dynamite Comics, but beyond that...
Anyway, on with the action!
While the characters did appear in the next issue, it was in their individual strips, not in Frankenstein.
There is a mention of him being subdued by a group of heroes in the next issue's Frankenstein tale, but that's it.
This one-time team-up of the various characters, though historically-important, didn't even make the cover of the issue (Prize Comics #24).
Not even a blurb!
Note: We've covered a couple of the characters in separate entries including The Black Owl (both of them), The Green Lama, and The Monster of Frankenstein himself.
As to who Bulldog Denny is, we'll be explaining (and showing) who he is and how he came to be the Frankenstein Monster's nemesis in future entries during October.
For the record, the super-hero group never had an official name.
Several historical articles in print and on blogs gave the team the "Prize Fighters" moniker, and it seems like a good fit, so we're using it as well.
Frankenstein artist Dick Briefer did a good job trying to match several different art styles including the "bigfoot humor" look of the General & the Corporal strip.

Oddly enough, a cover from several issues (#20) earlier seemed to telegraph the events of this story four issues later...

...even though there was no reference in any of the stories in #20 to an attempt by a group of heroes to capture the Monster, he's clearly shown bound and helpless in the second car!

Of course, the concept of a group of heroes beating up on one misunderstood monster wouldn't catch on...
Art by Marie Severin & Sam Grainger
Art by Herb Trimpe
Art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky
 Uh...yeah...won't catch on...
More Monster of Frankenstein later this week...

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