Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK: THE ARROW "Smashing the Protection Racket"

No, he's not the guy currently on the CW...

...since that character is based on Green Arrow, who was given that colorful name to avoid confusion with this guy, comics' first archer superhero, as detailed HERE!

Ironically, the CW superhero visually-resembles this character more than DC's Green Arrow,  whose back-story has been Smallville-ized for the tv series.

This tale was written and illustrated by Paul Gustavson, who also created another archer hero who predated Green Arrow...Quality's Alias the Spider!

And, as pointed out by reader DarkMark, this never-reprinted tale appeared in Centaur's Funny Pages V4 #1 (1940).
I had listed another appearance, also written and illustrated by Gustavson.
(This is what happens when you drink the last of the holiday eggnog and then keyboard a blog entry...)

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Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK: GRIMM "Haunting of Castle Tuber"

The concept of a man battling supernatural threats with unique weapons isn't new...

...but, when that man is a "Grimm", well that idea's just 75 or so years old!

Funny, I thought it was vampires that didn't cast reflections in mirrors, not zombies!

And that "I never drink...wine." line is straight out of Bram Stoker's Dracula!
(Happy 165th, Bram...)

This story initially-appeared in Harvey's War Victory Adventures #3 (1943-44) and, less than a year later, reappeared in Elliot's Bomber Comics #1 (1944), where the series ran for the four-issue duration of the title's publication.

The "Don Weaver" credit is probably a pseudonym since it doesn't appear anywhere else in comics besides on this series.
While it's a fascinating coincidence, I doubt the producers of the TV series Grimm even know about this incarnation of the concept.
Interestingly, Grimm bears marked similarities both to Zero: Ghost Detective, and the first appearance of Fero: Planet Detective, both of whom preceded Grimm.
And, as of his next appearance, Grimm switched from being a "Ghost Spotter" to operating as a "Ghost Doctor"!
(And, yes, he makes "haunted house calls"...
Geez, it's like I'm talking to a bunch of 12-year olds...)

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Reading Room: CAPTAIN MARVEL "The Bat"

In the 1960s, including a "bat man" in your comic was a guarantee of high sales...

...even if he was a villain!

You'll note that the cover for the never-reprinted Captain Marvel #3 (1966) has a slightly different color scheme for The Bat's costume that mimicked Batman's design even more closely...

DC Comics' (then National Periodical Publications) lawyers noticed it too, and quickly filed suit for copyright and trademark infringement!
When The Bat reappeared in the very next issue two months later, he was both re-named "The Ray", and recolored!

Note: DC had acquired the rights to Quality Comics' Golden Age characters in the 1950s, including The Ray, but had not utilized most of them either in new stories or reprints as they had with Plastic Man and Blackhawk, so they couldn't go after MF Publications for trademark infringement.
(As it turned out, they also let the copyrights lapse, so almost all the Quality Comics heroes are now  Public Domain!)
Written and inked by Carl Hubbell, penciled by Leon Francho.
Though the story mentions an earlier encounter between The Bat..er, The Ray...and Captain Marvel, it's never been shown either in flashback or as a standalone tale!
We'll be presenting more of the FIRST Silver Age Captain Marvel's never-reprinted adventures, so bookmark us!

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Reading Room: THE OWL "Carter Escapes"

WHOOOOO Knows What Evil Lurks...?

Nope, it ain't The Shadow...but our hero does cast a shadow...with glowing eyes, in this installment of our look at owl-themed heroes in comics!

The Owl's premiere appearance in Dell's CrackaJack Comics #25 (1940) by an unknown writer  and artist doesn't give an origin, and features both a costume and gimmick (the shadow with glowing eyes) that will never appear again!

(Note: the strip is copyrighted to "R S Callendar" who apparently was a packager working with Dell.

His name appears on all the material in CrackaJack, Popular, Super, and other Dell titles that wasn't derived from newspaper strips or other licensed sources like Red Ryder and John Carter of Mars.)

As of the next issue, new ongoing artist Frank Thomas radically-redesigned everything from the characters' appearances to The Owl's costume and gimmicks.

You'll see that tale later this week!

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Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES! The Owl

With the Court of Owls currently bedeviling The Batman...

...we'll be looking at previous heroes to use the motif of an owl.

This character from Centaur Publications' Funny Pages V4N1 (1940) was the first costumed Owl.

Written and illustrated by Martin Filchock, he appeared only a couple of months after the first appearance of The BatMan in Detective Comics #27 (1939), and shows a number of similarities to the initial version of the Caped Crusader.
As it turns out, 1940 was a good year for owls as two more heroes (and one heroine) would show up within six months to claim the name.
We'll be looking at them next week...

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Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK "Green Giant"

This is a "lost" tale I've been waiting a long time to see...

...ever since I held a "slabbed" copy of Green Giant Comics #1 (1940) in my hands and wondered what was inside!

When I did a profile of the character,  I emphasized that the info about the story was second-hand, as I had not actually read the tale!

Well, we can now read the one (and only) adventure of the Green Giant...

OK, several things cleared up, including...

His last name is Brentwood with no first name given!

The costume controls his growth (much like the Silver-Age Atom), not pills, gas, or a serum (like Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket/whoever Hank Pym is this week).

Elements of the costume are different. (Bare legs and no gloves in the story)

And one big mystery is presented...

He's a stockbroker?

How the hell did he become the Green Giant and end up with that size-changing garb?
Did he acquire controlling stock in a laboratory?
We'll never know the answers...

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