Reading Room: BLACK OWL "Crime in Chinatown"

The next hero in our look at comic book Owls was the Black Owl...

...whose politically-incorrect (and potentially NSWF due to racial stereotypes) first appearance in Prize Comics #2 (1940) is our subject today!

This never-reprinted premiere tale was written by Robert Turner, penciled by Pete Riss and inked by Jack Binder, under the single nom-du-plume "Pete Nebird", which the team retained for their brief run on the series.
The Black Owl kept his "mystery-man" ensemble until Prize Comics #7, when the Simon & Kirby team took over the strip and performed the first of their reboots/revamps of existing series which included giving the hero an actual costume (as opposed to a mask and business suit)...

...enabling him to take over the cover slot for most of his remaining stories.
You can see the complete Simon & Kirby Black Owl collection in the recent hardcover Simon & Kirby SuperHeroes, so we're not going to present those stories here!
Next, the Black Owl passes the mantle to...the Black Owl II!

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Reading Room: BLUE BEETLE "Protection Insurance for Newsboys"

At last, the Blue Beetle hits his stride...

...as he finally appears in the armored costume that will (with minor variations) strike fear into the hearts of evildoers for the next decade or so!

This story from Fox's Mystery Men Comics #4 (1939) is credited to the the pen-name "Charles Nicholas", but was written by Will Eisner and illustrated by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, who later used the "Charles Nicholas" name for all his comic work until he retired.

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Reading Room: JET DREAM "Demon Dogfight"

OK, now we're presenting the final Jet Dream short story...

...as a public demonstration of prowess goes awry due to evil intent!

Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.

This new story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #22 (1968) backs up a reprinted U.N.C.L.E. tale, so most people (myself included) thought it was a reprint as well.
Good thing I took a look inside the book! ;-)
There's one more never-reprinted Jet Dream story to tell, but you won't find it here.
It will appear on our "sister" blog Heroines™ blog in daily installments on the week of August 13th, along with another long-unseen tale with an unusual history!

And, as of our next post, this blog's title is altering to Hero Histories™...although the feed and addy will remain the same.

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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: JET DREAM "Terror of Ting-a-Ling"

What happens when an innocent stumbles upon a heroine's secret hq?

Ask Johnny Kai, Ting-a-Ling's boyfriend, when he ends up in "No Man's Land"!

"Stray dog"?

Jet doesn't have a very high opinion of men in general, does she?

Story by Dave Wood, art by Joe Certa.

This new story from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #21 (1968) backs up a reprinted U.N.C.L.E. tale, so most people (myself included) thought it was a reprint as well.
Good thing I took a look inside the book! ;-)

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