Entry #13

Entry #13
Issue #6
Rating: 5

Joan Williams character is established here. Technically, she couldn't be called a forties feminist. She still leans on the support of a man too much for that label.

Jay doesn’t feel it necessary to keep his identity a secret.

The 1940 Olympics trials is a good story line for the Flash to catch crooked organizers. Due to the outbreak of WWII, the Olympics were cancelled. They were scheduled to be held in Finland from July 20th – August 4th. An ad at the back of this issue places the street date of this issue at mid-April.

Here is an unrelated youtube tribute to Jesse Owens


The Hawkman story completes the 2 part try-out of the rescue of Ione Craig. Craig, a government agent, transforms into a helpless waif in need of a hero. Feedback for this story line must have convince the editorial staff that they need to move in the direction of creating the Hawkgirl. The artwork is so great that Moldoff used it as inspiration for the cover on issue #19.

The King once again squares off with his nemesis the Witch. It works, I like it. Cliff Cornwall features another team up of Fox\Mordoff for a spy thriller. The story is loose and not as tight as the Hawkman stories that these two are best known for.

Ed Whellan’s A Flash “Picture Novelette” is able to translate his audience’s juvenile anxiety of atomic energy into a satirical space-comedy. This story foreshadows the anxiety I felt as late as the 1980s with Ronald Reagan’s tough talk on first strike nuclear weapons. It’s easy to laugh about it now, but Ed Whellan was going deep into the mass psychosis play book with this story.