Rating: 5
The Flash in“The Gambling Ship” and Hawkman in “Thought Terror” (Moldoff’s 1st Hawkman feature) are what makes this issue a 5 rating. The Flash terrorizes the bad guys into turning themselves in. Although playful in his appearance in dealing with crooked gambling ship proprietors, the Flash uses terrifying tactics to get them to submit to his will.
The full page house ad for Issue #4 puts the Flash amongst the ‘BIG SIX’ Headline Features. Superman, Batman, Sandman, the Spectre, and the Ultra-Man
The Hawkman draws inspiration from “Perseus and the Gorgan Medusa” to conquer the hypnotist – without having to use deadly force. . Moldoff’s use of panels in his layouts is what makes these early ‘40s stories golden. It is easy to see why he was a natural to have a long run with the strip.
Reading these early Hawkman stories reminds me of the Poverty Row movies of the period – The Devil Bat, and The Corpse Vanishes comes to mind.
George Zucco is another character actor from this period that transfers easily into comic book mad scientist roles:
These movies starring Bela Lugosi and George Zucco in some macabre role makes good uses of secret entrances, ghoulish assistance, and never misses an opportunity to seduce a young attractive woman to fall into their sway.
Cliff Cornwall in “The Stolen Message” by Fox\Moldoff serializes the counter espionage activity of Agent Cornwall. In this installment, a Panamanian industrialist tries to make an arms deal with Sofia (some mysterious fascist country) and then attempts to create an international incident to get Sofia to declare war against the USA.
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