Reading Room: THE OWL "Attack of the Diabolical BirdMen" Conclusion

Before we begin tonight's episode of The Owl, a musical interlude...

Written by Jerry Siegel, illustrated by Tom Gill

If you haven't fled screaming in agony from your iPad, laptop or desktop, we'll continue...

We Have Already Seen...

The criminal gang calling itself the Birds of Prey is stopped during an attempt to hijack an armored car by The Owl and Owl-Girl.

The next day, The Owl, in his secret identity of Detective Nick Terry, saves the Chief of Police from a murder attempt by a trained blackbird with poison claws.

Meanwhile, enraged by an editorial mocking them by newspaperwoman Laura Holt, aka Owl-Girl, the evil avians lay a trap for the girl reporter...

Along with DC's simultaneous attempt to turn the military-themed Blackhawks into superheroes, this was probably the worst "updating" attempt of the Silver Age.

Scripted by Jerry Siegel, and illustrated by Tom Gill, this never-reprinted adventure from Gold Key's The Owl #1 (1967) was the first of only two issues of the Golden Age hero's short-lived revival.

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Reading Room: THE OWL "Attack of the Diabolical BirdMen"

In 1967, if you couldn't do Batman, do the next best thing...

...and up the "camp" quotient to the MAX!

Actually, dear reader, you'll have to wait until...

Tomorrow!

Same Owl-Time!

Same Owl-Blog!

 (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Scripted by Jerry Siegel, and illustrated by Tom Gill, this tale from The Owl's premiere issue in 1967 is a perfect example of a viable concept gone horribly wrong.
Siegel had been doing similarly-bad pseudo-campy work for Archie's Mighty Comics imprint (including their revival of The Shadow from #4 to #8), with mediocre art by Paul Reinman.
But taking Lone Ranger artist Tom Gill, and making him do a pseudo-Bob Kane/Sheldon Moldoff pastiche instead of his usual clean storytelling was truly the last straw.
This revival of a Golden Age character would last only two issues!

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Holy Cowled Crusader! It's the THWOCK! ZAM! BOFF! Adventures of The Owl!

Tomorrow we conclude our look at comic book Owls with...

...the high-camp adventures of the only non-DC/Marvel/Archie Golden Age comic character to be revived in the Silver Age!*

In 1967, with the pop-culture success of Marvel Comics and the Batman tv series, superheroes were in vogue again!
Curiously, while Marvel and DC revived their Golden Age characters in reprints and new stories, and Archie did new tales about the classic characters, other publishers chose to do new characters instead...with one exception!
Gold Key now owned the 1940s Dell super-heroes, and though they did do a few new super-hero characters like Dr Solar, the only Golden Age character they revived was the one in their library most similar to Batman.
Guess who?
And because they felt it should be as much like the tv Batman as possible, Gold Key had writer Jerry Siegel (yes, the co-creator of Superman) and Lone Ranger artist Tom Gill camp it up beyond belief!
You'll see the results tomorrow and Friday.

*Doc Savage and G-8 were pulp heroes who had gained new popularity thru paperback reprints.

Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Mandrake, The Phantom, Brick Bradford, et al, were newspaper strips that published from the 1930s onward without a break.

The Green Hornet and The Shadow were originally radio shows.
And The Blue Beetle was a rather unique case, being a Golden Age hero at Fox who continued with new adventures at Charlton into the Silver Age before being rebooted in 1964 and then replaced in 1966 by a totally-new character when the reworked hero was killed off!

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Reading Room: THE OWL "Food Market Racketeers"

Continuing our look at heroic Owls in comic books...

The Owl's second appearance, while keeping the story elements, completely reworked the strip's visuals, as seen in this never-reprinted tale from CrackaJack Funnies #26

The revamp included a new costume, which The Owl would keep for the rest of his days (with minor color variations), and primary characters who now look more like individuals, especially Nick Terry with his broken nose, a rare condition for a lead character who's supposed to be refined and educated!
(Usually supporting or comic-relief characters had a broken nose.)

Though the Owl's Golden Age adventures ended in 1943, he was the only Dell superhero to return during the great superhero revival of the Silver Age (but not in a Dell comic)!

You'll see that tale next week!

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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: BLACK OWL "Man Who Couldn't Remember to Forget"

Realizing it would be best if The Black Owl was still believed to be fighting crime...

...Army recruit Doug Danville aka Black Owl, passed his costume and equipment to Walt Walters, father of patriotic teen superheroes, Yank & Doodle whom Danville had teamed up with on several occasions, most notably Prize Comics #24, when they, Green Lama, and several other characters, took on the Monster of Frankenstein!

While the writer of this tale from Prize Comics V4#3 aka #39 (1944) is unknown, the artist is Maurice Del Bourgo, a journeyman with credits in every genre at almost every company during the Golden Age.

Once their dad became a superhero, the kids became his sidekicks, but remained Yank & Doodle, instead of renaming themselves something avian to match the Black Owl's motif!
(Luckily, their color schemes matched!)
Curiously, the boys didn't realize their father was the Black Owl, despite the fact they had worked with the original!
The Black Owl was framed for murder and jailed in Prize Comics #45, and when their father didn't return home, the duo finally figured out their dad's secret identity.
When Walt was shot and wounded in Prize Comics #64, he retired from active crimefighting, serving as a non-costumed assistant to Yank & Doodle until their series is cancelled several months later.
Note: we never learned what became of Doug Danville after he entered the Army...

 Next...Enter The Owl!

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