Monday, September 5, 2011

Reading Room: JET DREAM "Super-Tiger of Targan"

It's Labor Day, but there's no rest for our favorite femme fatale...
..as she goes on the hunt in this short story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #9 (1966)!
Ah, the Swinging Sixties, when a story like this actually seemed plausible...
Though the story by Dick Wood is silly, it's made quite palatable by the Mike Sekowsky/Mike Peppe artwork.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Fat Connoisseur"

It's Phantom Lady versus Fat Man...
...in a pop art tale about fine art and aficionados from Phantom Lady #18!
Doesn't it figure that it takes an artist to see the obvious; that Sandra Knight is Phantom Lady?
The usual team of writer Ruth Roche (probably) and artist Matt Baker (definitively) provide the titillating tale!
featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Reading Room: SCARLET PHANTOM "Curse of Gold"

Here's the never-reprinted origin of a hero you've never heard of...
...in a story with a title that has no relation to the actual plot!
And that's it!
The Scarlet Phantom never appeared after this tale in All-New Short Story Comics #2 in 1943!
Heck, he never even got a logo!
I guess, having avenged his father's death, Jack Winstead went back to full-time reporting.
The art, BTW, is one of the first examples of work by a very young Joe Kubert, apparently channeling Lou Fine.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Ghosts, Galleons and Gold"

Long before the Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into cinemas...
 ...the busty bombshell known as Phantom Lady faced specters on ships for treasure!
I really was waiting for someone to say "I'd have gotten away with it if not for that meddling Phantom Lady!"
A little of everything in this tale from Phantom Lady #18, including some serious "headlights" on pages 4-5, courtesy of legendary illustrator Matt Baker with a wacky script probably by Ruth Roche.
featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Reading Room: CLAWFANG THE BARBARIAN

After Crom the Barbarian, came ClawFang the Barbarian!
(weird how most barbarians have a "hard C" name...Conan, Crom, ClawFang, Claw, Kull, Kothar, Kyrik, etc.)
We'll never know, since this was ClawFang's only published adventure!
A cool mix of sf/fantasy genres written and laid-out by Wally Wood with pencils and inks by Al Williamson, appearing in Unearthly Spectaculars #2, part of a short-lived line of action/adventure comics produced by Harvey Comics in the mid-1960s.
Oddly, while there were numerous "jungle hero/heroine" strips and books with sci-fi/fantasy elements, Clawfang was only the second actual barbarian strip in comics history, after Crom.
Five years later, Marvel would launch Conan the Barbarian, and suddenly, an entire new genre bloomed in comics with almost every publisher launching at least one barbarian-themed comic.
But Crom and ClawFang were there first!