Monday, October 3, 2022

Russkie-Smashers GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Conclusion

Why does Mayoral candidate Wilkes Sherman hire a criminal to bomb the home of nuclear scientist Professor Baldwin?
When the police track down the bomber, an assassin kills him before he can talk.
The Green Hornet, who followed the police to the bomber, trails the murderer back to Sherman, and discovers the politician is actually a Commie spy!
In addition, he learns Professor Baldwin is a former Communist now working for the US, and the Russkies want him brought back behind the Iron Curtain!
When The Green Hornet enters the meeting, the assassin tries to shoot him, but the Hornet KOs the killer with his gas gun.
The Hornet then makes a deal to grab the professor and turn him over to Sherman for $5,000. (It was 1953, remember?)
As a free bonus to Sherman, he'll "get rid" of the unconscious murderer (whom he turns over to the police along with the murder weapon.)

Curiously, the Green Hornet radio show ended in 1952...but this issue of Dell's Four Color Comics (#496) was published in...wait for it...1953!
Note: The second-to-last page of the tale is black-and-white rather than four-color because it appeared on the inside back cover (Both the front and back inside covers were black and white to save money).
The final page of the story was the comic's back cover...in four-color, of course!
The radio episode the comic story is derived from aired 10/17/52 during the final season of the show.
It's available, digitally-remastered, on the Radio Spirits cd collection Green Hornet: Endpoint (which features the final episodes of the show, yet uses the cover of the Hornet's first comic book as it's cover), which you can order below.
And, you can listen to a un-restored version of the episode...

(Click on the title to open player in a new window)
The Green Hornet and Kato didn't appear again in comics until early 1967, when the first issue of their Gold Key series, based on the tv show starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was published.
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(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)

Monday, September 26, 2022

Russkie-Smashers GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Part 1

"He Hunts the Biggest of All Game: Public Enemies Even the G-Men Cannot Reach!"
"With his faithful valet, Kato, Britt Reid, daring young publisher of the Daily Sentinel, matches wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking his life so that criminals and enemy spies may feel the weight of the law by the sting of...The Green Hornet!"
How will the Hornet do that?
Be Here Next Monday for the Conclusion!
This tale, adapted by writer Paul S Newman from one of the last Green Hornet radio episodes and illustrated by Frank Thorne, appeared in Dell's Four Color Comics #496 (1953), a book that featured one-off appearances of various characters to test their sales potential.
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(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)

Monday, September 19, 2022

Russkie-Smashers SPACE ADVENTURES "Introducing Captain Atom"

Though an accident gave him his super-powers...
...his first assignment (of many) was to stop a Russkie atomic missile being used in a false-flag operation to blame America!
Captain Atom has enjoyed the longest career of any Charlton character, still going strong today as a guest star in various DC titles as well as a new mini-series every few years!
(Note: The Charlton version of the Fox Blue Beetle didn't come along until 1964, and the new Ditko version first appeared in 1967!)
Despite the blue/silver coloring on the interiors of his premiere in Space Adventures #33 (1960), Captain Atom was shown on the cover in his orange/yellow garb.
Also, his trademark hair-color change from red to white when he "powers up"  isn't shown.

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Action Hero Archives
Captain Atom
Volume 1

Monday, September 12, 2022

Russkie-Smashers SPURS JACKSON AND HIS SPACE VIGILANTES "Battle the Red Menace Beyond the Moon"

Blackhawk and his crew weren't the only ones to discover Russkies on the Moon!
A bunch of average all-American cowboys who were zipping around space in flying saucers (as shown HERE) also found them!
This seldom-reprinted (once in b/w in 1992) tale from Charlton's Space Western Comics #43 (1953) was written by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Stan Campbell.
Considering how poorly the Russkies are doing in Ukraine, it's doubtful they ever could've mounted an attempt at lunar conquest!

Monday, September 5, 2022

Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Battle on the Moon"

From a lone Black Cobra to a flock of Blackhawks...
...there's no end to the lineup of Commie-crushing Russkie-Smashers who will fight for freedom anywhere on Earth...or beyond!
Though the writer of this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Modern Comics #99 (1950) is unknown, it's illustrated by penciller John Forte and inker Chuck Cuidera.
The "Dark Knights", as they're often referred to, went whole-heartedly after Russkie and Chinese Communists during the post-World War II days of their Quality Comics run.
But, when the characters were continued by DC after Quality closed up shop, their other opponents, mad scientists, aliens, and the occasional ex-Nazi, took center stage, along with newly-created super villains until the middle-aged aviators became superheroes/spies in the Swinging '60s as shown
 HERE!
But, Quality's two books featuring the "Ace Aviators", Modern Comics and Blackhawk have more than enough Russkie-Smashing stories to keep this feature going for months to come, so they'll be popping up again...
Trivia: John Forte is better-known to present-day comics readers as the primary artist on the first few years of The Legion of Super-Heroes' run in Adventure Comics, while Blackhawk co-creator Chuck Cuidera remained on the strip after DC took it over, almost to the very end of the Silver Age run!
Plus, Cuidera inked Dick Dillin (who penciled almost all the DC Blackhawk stories) on Dillin's Hawkman run after Blackhawk was cancelled!
And, in an ironic turn, that the Blackhawks adopted uniforms surprisingly-similar to the Russkies' outfits in this story when they entered a "scientific adventurer" phase in the early 1960s...
..yet nobody noticed!
(Of course it was over a decade later...)
Next week, another Russkie Smasher takes center stage!