DC COMIC #15: More Fun #10
DATE: May 1936
PUBLISHER: More Fun Inc.
CONTENTS: Cover by Vin Sullivan; “Are You Listening?” (text), illustrated by Vin Sullivan; “Sandra Of The Secret Service” by W.C. Brigham; “Spike Spalding” by Vin Sullivan; “Woozy Watts” by Russell Cole; “Jack Woods”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by W.C. Brigham; “Ivanhoe”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Raymond Perry; “Don Drake On The Planet Saro”, written by Ken Fitch, drawn by Creig Flessel; “Barry O’Neill And Fang Gow Of China” by Leo O’Mealia; “Mr. Divot”, maybe by Whitney Ellsworth; “Fun Mail” (text), illustrated by Peter Alvarado; “Buckskin Jim” by Tom Cooper; “Pelion And Ossa” by Al Stahl; “Imagine That”, pencilled by Henry Kiefer, inked by A.D. Kiefer; “2023 Super-Police”, written by Ken Fitch, drawn by Clem Gretter; “Midshipman Dewey” by Tom Cooper; “More Fun And Magic” (text) by The Wizard Of Biff; “Talk About Talkies” (text) by Mary Patrick; “Magic Crystal Of History”, drawn by Harlan David Haskins; “Fishy Frolics”, drawn by Creig Flessel; “Definition Of A Licking” (text) by Oliver Brault; “Books Books” (text) by Edith Brittin; “Do You Know?”, pencilled by Henry Kiefer, inked by A.D. Kiefer; “Doc Occult”, written by Jerry Siegel, drawn by Joe Shuster; “Along The Main Line” by Tom Cooper; “Slim Pickins” by Stan Randall; “Brad Hardy” by A. Leslie Ross; “It’s A Fact!”, maybe drawn by Paul Ferrer; “Chubby” by Hal Sherman; “Little Linda” by Whitney Ellsworth; “Henri Duval”, written by Jerry Siegel, drawn by Joe Shuster; “Treasure Island”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Sven Elven; “Ramblin’ Jim” by Stan Randall; “In The Wake Of The Wander” (Captain Grim story) by Tom Cooper; “Hubert”, written by J. Muselli, drawn by Bill Patrick; “Bob Merritt”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Leo O’Mealia; “G. Wiz” by Hal Sherman. Editor: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Associate editor: Vin Sullivan. Associate editor: Whitney Ellsworth.
CANON: Partial canon (Doctor Occult story).

SERIES/CREATOR NOTES: A couple of new recurring features: “Imagine That” by the Kiefers, and “It’s A Fact” by Paul Ferrer, whose only known credits are this feature’s few installments. A few recurring features end: Henri Duval, Chubby, and Treasure Island. All the creators have other gigs in this or New Comics. Slim Pickins and Ramblin’ Jim both end for now, but will each return once down the line; Stan Randall will move on to Comics Magazine Company and then Dell. Hal Sherman’s “G. Wiz”, which appeared once in New Comics, moves over here and will briefly recur. Harlan David Haskins draws his second and final “Magic Crystal Of History” before disappearing forever. Creig Flessel fills in for Clem Gretter on Don Drake. Wing Brady skips this issue. And a couple of regular creators throw in some one-offs.

Sandra Of The Secret Service: Sandra wanders by a swordfight and then gets abducted and ends up in a room full of men in hoods. I don’t know how I’m supposed to follow any of these recurring adventure strips in installments; I feel like I’d have to read a compilation to have any clue about what’s going on.

Spike Spalding: Pincus gets caught and imprisoned as a stowaway. No sign of Spike.

Woozy Watts: Homeboy has difficulty catching a butterfly.

Jack Woods: Jack tries to rescue Dolores and her father from Pancho Villa and his brigands, cliffhanging in a one-on-one confrontation between Jack and Villa on a mountain ledge.

Ivanhoe: Knights and monks.

Don Drake On The Planet Saro: Drake fights aliens who just look like Roman centurions or something. No fangs or tentacles or anything. Just boring-looking people-aliens.

Barry O’Neill And Fang Gow Of China: Everybody’s fighting on a boat and I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ll bet I write that sentence again before this issue’s over.

Mr. Divot: A silent one-off from Whitney Ellsworth about a golfer who misses so many times that he digs a hole to China.

Buckskin Jim: Some Indians are nice and some are mean.

Pelion And Ossa: The duo get an airplane in the mail, and fly it, and crash it. The airplane definitely looks bigger than the crate it came in.

Imagine That: A renaming of the Kiefers’ previous feature, this is once again illustrated historical speculation that works best if you imagine a drunk Orson Welles slurring it before passing out.

2023 Super-Police: Bad guys capture good guys and then there’s a queen? Something like that?

Midshipman Dewey: Dewey escapes from his boat and then goes back to try to rescue the captain.

Magic Crystal Of History: Kids in an ancient city. Didn’t hold my attention.

Fishy Frolics: An illustration of a bunch of weird mermen.

Do You Know?: Illustrated facts about animals.

Doc Occult: With his first story arc over, Doctor Occult takes down the Methuselah killer, a weirdo who thinks that killing people with long-lived relatives will make him live longer too. Early super-villains were pretty dumb. Because Doctor Occult is drawn by Joe Shuster and looks heroic, I keep thinking he looks like Superman:

Along The Main Line: Couple of yutzes get tied up in a mine and dynamite goes off.

Slim Pickins: Slim argues with Pippo the monkey, Pippo says “icky bogg foogy”, they fight, Slim runs away, the monkey kisses Slim, and Slim gets money. I guess I’m on board. You had me at “icky bogg foogy”. By the way, this is hereby the only result on Google for “icky bogg foogy”.

Brad Hardy: Brad fights ape-men. I’m missing the second page!

It’s A Fact: Illustrated trivia facts.

Chubby: Chubby hangs out in front of an embarrassing sign and everybody laughs at him.

Little Linda: Linda is a prisoner of two bank robbers, but slyly manages to turn them against each other. The final panel would never, ever be published today:

Henri Duval: Henri gets into a swordfight with a bunch of guys who then capture him and bring him to jail. And that’s the last we ever see of Henri Duval, who I guess is still serving his time.

Treasure Island: John Silver hangs out.

Ramblin’ Jim: Jim tells the sob story of his life to a guy interviewing him for a newspaper for some reason.

Captain Grim: The captain gets captured by natives, which seems to happen in at least one story in every issue.

Hubert: Our hero waits on a long line.

Bob Merritt: Bob confronts and fights the guy who’s been impersonating Prospector Jake.

G. Wiz: Dude looks for ink.

I’ve found the serialized stories to be the biggest failings of this and New Comics. They’re too convoluted for me to follow, at least when I see them a page or two at a time like this. I wonder if Superman will suffer from the same problem in a couple of years.

CHARACTER NOTES: Doctor Occult now has the most appearances of any DC Universe character so far, tied with no one. The five installments of his series are the only stories in DC continuity, and he’s the only character who’s been in all of them.

seanhowe:

Stan Lee’s high school yearbook photo, 1939.
(Posted this a while back, but this is a cleaner reproduction.)

MARVEL COMIC #442: Tessie The Typist Comics #5
DATE: Winter 1945
PUBLISHER: 20th Century Comics Corp.
CONTENTS: Cover pencilled by Basil Wolverton. Editor: Vince Fago.
CANON: Non-canon.

SERIES NOTES: I take back what I said about a quarterly schedule; this oddly-scheduled series won’t return until September.

As usual, I couldn’t find a copy and don’t know what’s inside. Poor Tessie’s been lost to history forever. I wonder if any copies of this exist anywhere. I wonder if even one person on the planet knows what’s in this. I wonder if any living person has read it, even 60 years ago as a child.

Not sure what’s supposed to be happening on the cover. Tessie’s perfume knocked Skidsy out? Is that good or bad? Skidsy looks enamored. Does he like the smell of the perfume so much that he lost his balance? Did Tessie intend that? She looks happy. Does she not know what’s going on behind her? Is it some sort of special perfume that knocks people out and makes them laugh? Is Tessie a secret agent? Is Tessie standing on something, or are her legs just three times the size of her torso? We’ll probably never know, or really care that much.

MARVEL COMIC #135: Terry-Toons Comics #4
DATE: January 1943
PUBLISHER: Timely Comics Inc.
CONTENTS: Cover; “Gandy”; “Terrytoon Varieties!” (activity page); “Oscar”; “Terrytoon Varieties!” (activity page); “Dinky”; “Terrytoon Varieties!” (activity page); “Frenchy”; “Wacky Willy”; “Toughie Gets The Bird” (text story); “Terrytoons Varieties!” (activity page); “Nutty Tales”; “Terrytoons Varieties!” (activity page); “Andy Wolf And Bertie Mouse”. Editorial and art director: Stan Lee. Associate: Bill King. Technical advisor: Mel Barry. Designing technicians: Vince Fago, George Klein, Ernie Hart. Animation and layout supervisors: Mike Sekowsky, Ed Winiarski, Jim Mooney. Special effects: Gary Kay, M. Aquaviva, David Gantz. Story and script specialists: Stan Lee, Joe Calcagno, Ernie Huntley. Consulting associate: Robert Solomon.
CANON: Non-canon.

Once again, I’ve tracked down a scan of a comic I posted about previously but couldn’t find. It’s nice to fill in gaps like this, but it makes me feel like I’m never going to make any progress. By the time I get around to this again, there’ll be a Krazy Komics omnibus and I’ll be screwed. Anyway:

Gandy tries to fix or build a car for a race, then finally races, and wins because he poured cream soda into the tank? It’s confusing. Oscar the pig thwarts a couple of gangsters. Dinky stars in a weird Christmas story in which he constantly annoys Santa’s gnome (which is an elf, but called a gnome). Frenchy plays in a football game and is useless. E. Claude Pennygrabber tries to cheat the Ginch out of money, but everything backfires. Andy Wolf chases Bertie Mouse into a haunted house, where a ghost fucks with both of them.

I’ve included the credits from the inside front cover, with their goofy titles. You can tell who the writers and artists are, but I don’t know who worked on which story.

Look! It’s the opposite of Rorschach! I don’t know.

DC COMIC #14: New Comics #4
DATE: March/April 1936
PUBLISHER: National Allied Newspaper Syndicate, Inc.
CONTENTS: Cover by Vin Sullivan; “Many Thanks” (text article) by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson; “Inch” by Deanie Patrick; “Sir Loin Of Beef” by Robert Leffingwell; “The Vikings”, maybe written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Alex Anthony Blum; “Capt. Spiniker” by Tom Cooper; “G. Wiz”, written by Harold Pierson, drawn by Hal Sherman; “Chubby”, written by Harold Pierson, drawn by Hal Sherman; “A Tale Of Two Cities” by Merna Gamble; “Ramblin’ Jim” by Stan Randall; “17-20 On The Black” by Tom Cooper; “Ol’ Oz Bopp” by Russell Cole; “Great Guns” (text story) by E.R. Anthony; “It’s Magic” by Andrini The Great; “Chikko Chakko” by Ellis Edwards; “Jungle Boy” by Pingston; “Slim And Tex” by A. Leslie Ross; “Sara Lou Sunshine” by Emma C. McKean; “Captain Jim Of The Texas Rangers” by Bill Allison; “Just Suppose”, written by A.D. Kiefer, drawn by Henry Kiefer; “Stratosphere Special” by Serene Summerfield; “Andy Handy” by Leo O’Mealia; “King Arthur” by Rafael Astarita; “Needles” by Al Stahl; “Maginnis Of The Mounties” by J.C. Leonard; “Bugville” by Dick Ryan; “Laughing At Life” by Vin Sullivan; “The Book Shelf” (text article) by Carson Smith; “Worth-While Films To Watch For” (text article) by I.W. Magovern; “The Radio Dialer” (text article) by A.R. Lane; “Puzzle Page” (activity page); “Cartoon Corner” (activity page); “What Do You Think?” (text article); “Goofo The Great” by Russell Cole; “The Strange Adventures Of Mr. Weed” by Sheldon Mayer; “Castaway Island” by Tom Cooper; “Sagebrush ‘N’ Cactus” by Robert Leffingwell; “Our Kids” by Harry Lewis; “Captain Quick” by Sven Elven; “The Drew Mystery” (Dale Daring story) by Dick Ryan; “J. Worthington Blimp, Esq.” by Sheldon Mayer; “Federal Men”, written by Jerry Siegel, drawn by Joe Shuster; “It’s A Dern Lie” by Robert Leffingwell. Editor: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Associate editor: Vin Sullivan. Associate editor: Whitney Ellsworth.
CANON: Non-canon.

SERIES/CREATOR NOTES: Lots of changes here: new recurring features, one-time features, creators coming and going, etc. I’m going to address it as it comes instead of writing one big monster paragraph, but I’ll point out two big creator departures: Sheldon Mayer (who will take his features with him to The Comics Magazine) and Robert Leffingwell (whose features will continue on without him). Leffingwell will take over the Little Joe newspaper strip, eventually appearing in reprints at Dell. Mayer, after his brief stay at Comics Magazine Company, will spend a few years at Dell and then return to become an editor for National, famously rescuing Superman from the slush pile. Also: Ray And Gail skips this issue, and Chikko Chakko will take a two-issue hiatus after this.

Inch: Yet another generic mischievous kid goes around and steals cats to start a weird business. Despite the apparent vote of confidence of the leadoff spot, Inch will never appear again, and I don’t know who Deanie Patrick is.

Sir Loin Of Beef: A kid kills a duck with a rock. Nothing is funny. Robert Leffingwell’s last Sir Loin story.

The Vikings: Kol, the king, gets killed in a fight, and his son Ivar becomes the new king. Plus: fighting. New artist Alex Anthony Blum takes over with this issue.

Capt. Spiniker: Captain Sternpipe hangs out being an old insulting prick until he discovers that his boat is heading someplace that has women.

G. Wiz: Some guy wanders around asking everybody to guess his age. We will not see this feature again; Hal Sherman will appear elsewhere.

Chubby: Borrowed from More Fun for one time only, this Hal Sherman strip is about kids swimming, while one kid screams “gosh blanged this knot!” in every single panel, in progressively larger letters.

A Tale Of Two Cities: Yet another illustrated novel feature, this one by Merna Gamble, making her one of the earliest female comic book creators. Decent, old-timey art, but these illustrated novels are never fun.

Ramblin’ Jim: In another one-time loaner from More Fun, Jim meets a reporter who buys him an ice cream soda. So many of these stories are so uneventful. Eleven panels of unnecessary setup for one panel with a mediocre gag that didn’t really need context.

17-20 On The Black: Jim Gale gets caught on a boat, and his friend Kim pronounces words wrong because comics are racist.

Ol’ Oz Bopp: One of two new recurring features from Russell Cole (also doing Woozy Watts in More Fun). Some grouchy old guy tracks down a quintuplets exhibit because he thinks that’s a bad thing for some reason, and the quintuplets turn out to be puppies.

Chikko Chakko: Chikko builds a house for a chicken and then plays checkers on a guy’s shirt. Chikko is dumb.

Jungle Boy: In this one-time-only Tarzan knockoff by someone known only as Pingston, a kid in a jungle fights a lion.

Slim And Tex: In this new recurring feature from A. Leslie Ross (who just took over Brad Hardy in More Fun), a pair of cowboys argue over who gets to ask a girl to a dance. Kind of hilarious.

Sara Lou Sunshine: In her final appearance, Sara helps a cat and gives her old dress to a younger girl. Emma C. McKean, the first female comic book creator, will go on to draw Looney Tunes comics for Dell in the ’40s.

Captain Jim Of The Texas Rangers: Captain Jim, formerly Captain Bill, looks for some missing kids. Bill Allison leaves after this issue, heading over to Comics Magazine Company.

Just Suppose: Junk about Aztecs and Andrew Jackson. This feature always feels like they made it in under a minute. Just Suppose will move over to More Fun, but Henry Kiefer will also stick around in this title.

Stratosphere Special: This new recurring feature from new creator Serene Summerfield is a Jules Verne-esque illustration of what looks like an old-timey spaceship. Kinda cool. Not sure why it’s here, though.

Andy Handy: In this new recurring feature from Leo O’Mealia (who draws Barry O’Neill and Bob Merritt in More Fun), our protagonist tries to open a bottle. Two pages of this. Can’t open the bottle.

King Arthur: Poorly-drawn knights hang out.

Needles: Needles skis, and is bad at it, and returns with a parachute.

Maginnis Of The Mounties: A new recurring feature about Maginnis, a Mountie who goes undercover to catch fur thieves. Someone named J.C. Leonard drew this first installment, but will not return and has no other credits.

Bugville: One of two new recurring features from newcomer Dick Ryan, who will go on to do lots of stuff. This doesn’t feel like a story or an illustration; it’s almost more like a series of doodles in a sketchbook. It’s a two-page spread showing little vignettes of bugs in Bugville.



Laughing At Life: A one-shot story by Vin Sullivan about a Hollywood director who acts like a prick.

Goofo The Great: In Russell Cole’s second new recurring feature, a dickhead magician breaks a bunch of eggs in a hat and makes a guy wear it.

The Strange Adventures Of Mr. Weed: The whole first page is just a recap. Then in the second page, our protagonists compete to impress a woman. Sheldon Mayer will bring this feature with him over to The Comics Magazine, and continue it there.

Castaway Island: I don’t know, castaways on an island. I can’t keep track of what’s going on.

Sagebrush ‘N’ Cactus: Our heroes dream about gold and don’t do much. Robert Leffingwell’s last Sagebrush ‘N’ Cactus story.

Our Kids: A one-shot by Harry Lewis, who did Bobby And Scotty in More Fun and will return with that a little later. A new kid in town acts like a prick and alienates the other kids. I still really like Harry Lewis’s art; it has a slightly macabre quality, as if you can see the steps from here to Tim Burton.



Captain Quick: Boring pirates in frilly outfits. All of these people look too fancy to be pirates. Sven Elven takes over as creator with this issue.

The Drew Mystery: Dick Ryan’s other new recurring feature, Dale Daring, is about a lady detective, who ends up getting captured and tied up and waiting for a man to come rescue her, because it’s 1936.

J. Worthington Blimp, Esq.: Blimp falls in love with a girl from a hamburger stand, who falls in love with his friend. Poor guy. Sheldon Mayer will take this feature with him to The Comics Magazine.

Federal Men: Steve Carson goes diving to stop a bunch of crooks who want to sink the president’s yacht.

It’s A Dern Lie: Some guy uses his own frozen beads of sweat as bullets to kill a bear. So many of these sound cooler than they actually are. Again, this is Robert Leffingwell’s last time out.

For all the changes in this issue, nothing feels like progress. Just an unstable mix of junk.

DC COMIC #13: More Fun #9
DATE: March/April 1936
PUBLISHER: More Fun, Inc.
CONTENTS: Cover by Vin Sullivan; “Hello Again!” (text article) by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson; “Sandra Of The Secret Service” by W.C. Brigham; “Along The Main Line” by Tom Cooper; “Spike Spalding” by Vin Sullivan; “In The Wake Of The Wander” (Captain Grim story) by Tom Cooper; “Bobby And Scotty” by Harry Lewis; “Woozy Watts” by Russell Cole; “Barry O’Neill And Fang Gow Of China” by Leo O’Mealia; “Don Drake On The Planet Saro” by Ken Fitch and Clem Gretter; “Henri Duval”, written by Jerry Siegel, drawn by Joe Shuster; “Fun Mail” (text article), illustrated by Ken Bald; “Jack Woods”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by W.C. Brigham; “Slim Pickins” by Stan Randall; “Treasure Island”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Sven Elven; “Pelion And Ossa” by Al Stahl; “Buckskin Jim” by Tom Cooper; “Treasure Hunt Contest” (text article); “Talk About Talkies” (text article) by Mary Partrick; “Acorn Antics” by Creig Flessel; “King High” (text story) by Vin Sullivan; “Write A Letter And Win $5.00” (text article); “Bob Merritt And His Flying Pals”, written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, drawn by Leo O’Mealia; “The Professor” by E.F. Koscik; “Wing Brady” by Henry Kiefer; “Brad Hardy” by A. Leslie Ross; “Books Books” (text article) by Edith Brittin; “Chubby” by Harold Sherman; “Little Linda” by Whitney Ellsworth; “Magic Crystal Of History” by Harlan David Haskins; “Midshipman Dewey” by Tom Cooper; “Hubert”, written by J. Muselli, drawn by Bill Patrick; “Rusty” by Harold Sherman; “2023 Super-Police”, written by Ken Fitch, drawn by Clem Gretter; “Doctor Occult”, written by Jerry Siegel, drawn by Joe Shuster. Editor: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Associate editor: Vin Sullivan. Associate editor: Whitney Ellsworth.
CANON: Partial canon (Dr. Occult story).

SERIES NOTES: Lots of changes, the biggest of which is format: with this issue, More Fun finally switches to what is now the standard comic book size. With Bill Cook and John Mahon gone, Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth have been promoted to associate editors. The publisher’s official name is now More Fun Inc. instead of More Fun Magazine Inc. And More Fun will switch to something resembling a bimonthly schedule for a bit.

CREATOR NOTES: Lots of new artists, all of whom are making their comic book debuts. A. Leslie Ross takes over as the regular artist for Brad Hardy, and Harlan David Haskins takes over Magic Crystal Of History. Creig Flessel, who will have a long Golden Age career, contributes an illustration and will become a series regular. Russell Cole debuts Woozy Watts, a new recurring feature. Harry Lewis contributes Bobby And Scotty, which will appear again in about a year. Harold Sherman contributes Rusty and Chubby, the latter of which will return next issue. As for departures: The Professor ends, and E.F. Koscik has a few more scattered comic credits, mostly for Centaur. Henry Kiefer will leave Wing Brady, but will stay in More Fun with a new feature. Ivanhoe and Rambler Jim both take the issue off.

Sandra Of The Secret Service: Sandra is forced to impersonate a missing princess. I’m not sure why.

Along The Main Line: A good guy is forced at gunpoint by a bad guy to send some letter that will wreck a train.

Spike Spalding: Spike makes his friend Pincus spy on some bad guys to figure out where their boat is going. Every one of these early comics is really bad about catching the reader up on where the story is left off. I feel like I’d have to read a collected edition to have the slightest clue what’s going on.

In The Wake Of The Wander: Captain Grim watches natives on an island capture and kill a guy. Still no clue what’s going on in anything.

Bobby And Scotty: Standard hijinks, but I really like Harry Lewis’s art! He reminds me of something— can’t put my finger on it. Something about how the heads seem too big.



Woozy Watts: A bumbling oaf character who tries to promote a restaurant but runs afoul of the cops. (Due to a misprint, Bobby And Scotty and Woozy Watts both run their second pages early in the issue and their first pages later in the issue.)

Barry O’Neill And Fang Gow Of China: Barry, now sharing top billing with Fang Gow, tries to escape a boat.

Don Drake On The Planet Saro: Don fights weird alien creatures on a boat. Everybody’s on boats.

Henri Duval: I don’t know, Henri escapes from bad guys. No boats, just horses.

Here’s trivia: the “Fun Mail” page, which quotes and replies to fan mail, has a reader illustration from 14-year-old fan Ken Bald. In only about six or seven years, Bald would be a professional comic book artist, working regularly for Timely. This is his first published illustration.

Jack Woods: Jack tries to save a woman from bandits.

Slim Pickins: Slim spends two pages trying to get away from a giant ape that says “oogy foogy” and “icky blick”.

Treasure Island: More boat stuff. You live in a comic book in 1936, they just give you a boat.

Pelion And Ossa: The pair hitches a sled to the back of a car, and a cop stops them, but the cop accidentally rides the sled and gets in trouble, and Pelion and Ossa are like “yo fuck that guy”.

Buckskin Jim: Jim fights a lion and hitches a ride on a boat.

Bob Merritt And His Flying Pals: Most of this is spent showing a message travels. Complete filler. Also Prospector Jake escapes.

The Professor: The Professor heads to Africa on another boat, which has scoundrels hidden on board. The story is not continued next issue, the Professor never appears again, and I guess the scoundrels won.

Wing Brady: Wing rescues people in the desert. Henry Kiefer’s art sucks.

Brad Hardy: Brad gets attacked by an ape god, apparently.

Chubby: A fat kid enrages a grumpy old man.

Little Linda: Linda gets kidnapped by gangsters. Made me want to read Little Orphan Annie to check out the good version of this.

Magic Crystal Of History: Illustrated history with captions, but the captions are run-on sentences that carry over from one panel to the next. A caption will just cut off mid-sentence. I’ve never seen anything else like it. Harlan David Haskins might have been the first person in history to completely fuck up the comic book medium.

Midshipman Dewey: A boat. It’s been captured by pirates. Dewey escapes.

Hubert: Hubert, a clueless old man in a fancy hat and suit, puts a bunch of magnets in his pocket and gets his ass stuck to a construction site.

Rusty: Some guy crashes a car and then another guy teaches him a lesson about how you don’t need working brakes in a car to stop it because animals can stop just fine without brakes.

2023 Super-Police: A couple of guys escape from a cave or something. I don’t know what’s going on.

Doctor Occult: Doctor Occult and the Amsters escape from the Vampire Master before he burns to death, ending Doctor Occult’s first serialized story and the DC Universe’s first supervillain.

MARVEL COMIC #441: Sub-Mariner Comics #18
DATE: Winter 1945
PUBLISHER: Manvis Publications Inc.
CONTENTS: Cover by Alex Schomburg; “The Fantasy Of Hate!” (Sub-Mariner story), drawn by Allen Simon; “They Lived Long Long Ago”; “The Ghost Ship” (Sub-Mariner story), drawn by Allen Simon; “Ambush” (text story); “The Water Front Phantom” (Sub-Mariner story), drawn by Allen Simon; “Shadow Of The Noose” (Angel story), drawn by Allen Bellman. Editor: Stan Lee.
CANON: Partial canon (Sub-Mariner stories, Angel story).

SERIES/CREATOR NOTES: An increased page count (I’m guessing due to the end of wartime paper rationing) means each issue will now contain three Sub-Mariner stories instead of just two. This issue also has a two-page filler piece about dinosaurs. Gustav Schrotter sits this issue out, and Timely regular Allen Bellman draws the Angel and will stay on the series.

The Sub-Mariner catches a killer whose method is mailing people masks with poison on them, which seems like more trouble than it’s worth. He couldn’t just put poison on anything and mailed it, yeah? But he made these custom masks of his victims. Weird. Then he solves a convoluted murder plot on a boat (the killer’s name is Allen Rosnim, an anagram for Allen R. Simon). Then he solves an even more convoluted murder plot— seriously, read “The Water Front Phantom” and try to make sense of it without keeping notes. Meanwhile, the Angel solves a convoluted murder plot involving courtroom shenanigans and a villain called the Noose. All this and illustrated brontosaurus facts too!

I like how out of sync Betty’s words and her face are.

Marvel’s superhero comics are really spinning their wheels at this point. I don’t know who’s writing them (Stan?), but whoever it is would rather be doing anything else.