Monday, November 17, 2025

Russkie Smashers BOBBY BENSON'S B-BAR-B RIDERS "Lemonade Kid in 'Invisible Death!' "

Spurs Jackson wasn't the only present-day cowboy to fight Russkies...

...or Russkies in fake flying saucers!




Tex Mason and Harka were supporting characters in the Mutual Network's Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders radio show, which this comic series was based on!
Mason was the B-Bar-B Ranch foreman and Harka was one of the ranch hands.
However, the comic expanded the characters' roles making them undercover FBI special agents, which their employer, Bobby Benson, was unaware of!
Note: As you might expect, Bobby didn't recognize The Lemonade Kid as Tex when he ran into him whenever he was in costume!
This particular story from Magazine Enterprises' Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders #3 (1950) was illustrated by Bob Powell and likely written by Gardner Fox.
Powell had quite a bit of experience with flying saucers in 1950, illustrating them in a one-shot comic about a hotshot test pilot finding an alien ship in Vic Torry and His Flying Saucer, as well as a story featuring the pulp/radio character The Shadow encountering REAL aliens in flying saucers!

Monday, November 10, 2025

Nazi-Punchers HIT COMICS "Ghost of Flanders in 'SpyMaster Sheink Steals the Secret Scouting Plane!' "

He's the Comic Character James Gunn Rescued From Obscurity in the Recent Superman Movie...

...and he's doing what he did best, kicking Nazi asses on the Home Front!






And, that's it!

No "The End" or epilogue.
Another story began on the very next page in the comic!
That's just how things rolled in the Golden Age.
Written and illustrated by George Brenner using the "Wayne Reid" house pseudonym, this never-reprinted tale from Quality Comics' Hit Comics #19 (1942) is straightforward about the concept that spies and saboteurs didn't deserve the niceties of the Geneva Convention!
And, though they didn't show it, it's implied the stolen scoutcraft was recovered.
Ghost of Flanders Will Return!

Monday, November 3, 2025

Russkie Smashers SUB-MARINER "Unseen Scourge of the Sea"

Artist Bob Powell Illustrated Two Prince Namor Stories...

...during the 1950s revival of the Timely's Top Trio (Captain America, The Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner)!
However, despite having done several Subby stories during the Golden Age, Powell's renderings here lack something...
Figure out what's wrong with Bob Powell's version of Namor from Atlas' Mens' Adventures #27 (1954)?
He's totally-missing his ankle wings!
And his ears appear to have been "bobbed" from their usual elfen points!
Why?
I'm not sure.
There are rumors from the period of a potential live-action TV series, and doing both the ankle wings and the ears on a weekly basis (especially with a character who spends a lot of time in the water) was problematic considering the limited makeup SFX available at the time.
At any rate, only Powell's two stories from the period have this quirky "look"!