The Polar Vortex reminded me of an early Doc Savage novel...
...which was condensed into the shortest comics adaptation I've ever seen of a novel!
Two notes:
1) the flying man on the cover is Ajax the Sun Man, who had his own strip in the book.
(Ajax is not in the Doc Savage tale.)
2) the story may be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the 1940s.
The first few issues of the 1940s Doc Savage Comics condensed and adapted Doc pulp novels.
This issue (#3 from 1941) took the 1933 pulp tale "Polar Treasure" and fit it into only eight pages!
Both writer and artist of the adaptation and cover are unknown.
Lester Dent wrote the original novel under the "Kenneth Robeson" house pen-name.
Trivia: both the original and paperback editions of the novel are #4 in their respective series.
(After the first novel, "Man of Bronze", Bantam Books reprinted the stories out of order, going with what they felt were the most exciting tales first.)
Paperback art by Jim Aviati or Lou Feck. Pulp art by Walter M Baumhofer
Bookmark us (if you haven't already) since we have a lot of cool never-reprinted material coming up this year!
Since the videos on the original 2010 post were deleted from YouTube...
...we're re-presenting this incredibly-popular post with updated links!
It's Christmastime, so let's go with the most-demanded Green Hornet vids of all...
When Titans Clash :
BatmanvsThe Green Hornet!
A decade before Superman vs Spider-Man, this was the first inter-company superhero crossover. The Hornet and Kato had already cameoed on Batman, in the episode "The Spell of Tut", where they appeared in a window during a Bat-Climb.
Celebrities ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Edward G. Robinson popped up for brief appearances during these sequences. Even characters from other ABC series like Lurch (Ted Cassidy) from the Addams Family and Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) from Hogan's Heroes showed up!
Curiously, the visiting duo are regarded as heroes, not villains, and Britt introduces Kato by name.
(Metafiction aficionados have been driven nuts by these interludes, trying to fit them into their respective universes...)
And, as we've pointed out before, both Batman and The Green Hornet featured their characters watching each others' show on tv!
All that was basically ignored when it was decided that, to boost Green Hornet's decent (but not Batman-level) ratings, GH and K would appear as "Visiting Heroes" on Batman.
For whatever reason, none of the established Batman villains were used. (And The Green Hornet had no costumed or even ongoing opponents.)
Instead, a new baddie, Colonel Gumm, played by Roger C. Carmel*, was introduced, along with a plotline involving counterfeit stamps which drew The Hornet and Kato to Gotham.
The motif of GH and K being perceived as villains was utilized, resulting in the Dynamic Duo being as eager to capture them as to jail the corny counterfeiter!
In addition, it's shown that the two heroes' millionaire alter-egos, Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid, have known each other since childhood, and constantly competed over almost everything, including women!
So, it was inevitable the two costumed frat-boys would square-off in the climax...
On-set photo of Van Williams and Adam West during the climactic fight scene
Unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off. The Green Hornet's ratings didn't improve, and the show was cancelled.
(Note: the show's ratings were good enough to make them eligible for renewal, but, since the producers didn't want to implement network-demanded budget cuts, the network axed the series anyway. Batman, OTOH, continued, with a reduced budget and cut from being twice-weekly to weekly, for another year, before being cancelled.)
Without further adieu, here is the legendary two-parter; "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction"...
*Roger C. Carmel played numerous flamboyant villains on everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Hawaii Five-0 to Transformers to Star Trek, where he portrayed Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd on both the classic and animated series!
He's also the answer to the trivia question; "Who's the only actor to play a villain opposite Batman, Captain Kirk, and The Green Hornet?"
In
the 1940s, superheroes were the primary genre in both comic books and
pulp magazines.
The skies and streets of pop fiction were filled with
people in capes, cowls, leotards, or some combination thereof.
And, of course, a superhero had to have a super-power or gimmick that would set him (or her) apart from the crowd.
Which leads us to our feature character today...
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™thought highly-enough of Sky Wizard that we added him to the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ lineup without hesitation!
Why?
1) He's "the Master of Space"! Catchy, eh?
2) He's a scientific genius! (Funky weaponry and modes of transport a speciality!)
3) He can't make up his mind about what costume to wear!
He wore a different
costume in each of his four cover appearances!
No fashion victim he!
(And you thought Marvel'sJanet Van Dyne-Pym and Henry Pym had bulging
wardrobes!)
4) He appeared in Miracle Comics! ("...and if it's a good comic, it's a Miracle! Thank you! We'll be here thru Sunday! Try the veal...")
With a name like that, you know we had to find a spot for him, and his book, in our kitchy lineup!
So,
if you're looking for a unique, Golden-Age superhero-oriented gift
(shirt, mug, blank sketchbook) for your pop-culture craving sweetie, you
can't go wrong with a Sky Wizard gift under the tree (or maybe above it)!
...freelance "problem solver" Moro Frost aka The Scorpion, is engaged by the wife of missing financier Jules Reinhardt, who dabbles in the occult.
The Scorpion finds Reinhardt...murdered!
Frost learns that the dead millionare was once smuggler Max Cervantes,
who "disappeared" after plastic surgery...becoming the respectable
Reinhardt!
But who ordered the death of Cervantes/Reinhart..and why?
The answer to both those questions is Buddy Lyle, a crooked nightclub owner owed a fortune in gambling debts by the dead mllionare...who hadn't paid up!
Lyle used the powers of a voodoo mambo to kill Reinhardt, then killed her, but not before she cast a curse on him.
Though Lyle had the numbers for Reinhart's foreign bank accounts, only the dead man's wife could draw funds from them.
Lyle's men kidnap Bishop, The Scopion's aide, impersonating Mrs Reinhart, and are about to board a plane for Panama when the Scorpion strikes and kills Lyle's aides and pilot.
The criminal is about to force The Scorpion to pilot the airplane or he'll kill his far-from-helpless hostage...
The Scorpion was the creation of Howard Chaykin, a young writer-artist who was already a recognized talent in the comics industry.
Unfortunately, while he was (and is) good, he was also slow, and the deadline for this issue crept up on him.
To
get the issue out on time, a group of friends including Mike Kaluta,
Walt Simonson, Ed Davis, and Berni Wrightson jumped in doing whatever
needed to be done, so the book is a fascinating amalgam of styles.
The next issue solved the deadline problem by replacing Chaykin and his version of The Scorpion with a present-day costumed super-hero who was more Spider-Man than anything else. That Scorpion disappeared after his one issue.
Chaykin would revive the character at Marvel with modified garb and a new name; Dominic Fortune, who continues occasionally-appearing in both present-day and flashback tales. The Scorpion (in any form) wasn't included in the recent short-lived revival of the Atlas/Seaboard characters.
BTW, here's another, never-used cover for #2 by Howard Chaykin...
Unused cover from Scorpion #2 (1975) by Howard Chakin finally used as cover for Comic Book Marketplace #77 (2011).
...freelance "problem solver" Moro Frost aka The Scorpion, is engaged by the wife of missing financier Jules Reinhardt, who dabbles in the occult.
The Scorpion finds Reinhardt...murdered!
And Frost learns that the dead millionare was once smuggler Max Cervantes, who "disappeared" after plastic surgery...becoming the respectable Reinhardt!
The Scorpion was the creation of Howard Chaykin, a young writer-artist who was already a recognized talent in the comics industry.
Unfortunately, while he was (and is) good, he was also slow, and the deadline for this issue crept up on him.
To
get the book out on time, a group of friends including Mike Kaluta,
Walt Simonson, Ed Davis, and Berni Wrightson jumped in doing whatever
needed to be done, so the issue is a fascinating amalgam of styles.
, this was the first inter-company superhero crossover.
to Hawaii Five-0
to Transformers
to Star Trek
, where he portrayed Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd on both the classic and animated
series!
