Saturday, June 29, 2013

Entry #30

Issue #21
September 1941
Rating: 5

 photo 524e7c2e-41ef-492c-be65-52e3b189215e_zps74f28b21.jpg  photo flash21a_zpsf9eddaa5.png
Johnny Thunder adopts Peachy Pet. A 12 year old girl that will be his side-kick for many years to come in the strip.
 photo flash21b_zps9c5ca55f.png
Once again, the King vs. the Witch formula is in full swing. The Whip has left the wild west for the more sophisticated locale of New York to battle big city racketeers.
 photo flash21c_zps9f904667.png  photo flash21d_zps79095d89.png  photo flash21e_zpse441795b.png  photo flash21f_zps3886fc8c.png The Hawkman cover\story is a science fiction classic with much violence. Compared to the themes of the other strips, the Hawkman stands alone in his solitude of embattlement of the truly weird.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Scarlet Mermaid the proto Black Canary

In Flash Comics #19 the King meets for the only time the Scarlet Mermaid. This six pager must have been an influence on Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino when they first introduced the Black Canary in Flash Comics #86.  photo 30250e47-a33e-47ea-af4e-2988d151d3bc_zps8d875d58.jpg  photo 7e43b3e6-2000-4daa-8ff1-51ee0741789a_zpsab8e8bff.jpg  photo 7aea39c7-ea15-430c-b648-6fd8edd95efb_zps2e3dfddc.jpg  photo 2ca4936d-f864-45fb-a3c3-8f20b19e84c1_zps48965fd4.jpg  photo c2b02553-6c14-4862-b2c7-40db1f578192_zps084dee0d.jpg  photo 5bf272be-2e06-48b5-bd12-fe9c07ff7132_zps6ea611a3.jpg

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Entry #28

Issue #19
July 1941
Rating: 5

 photo 382f1c2a-b79d-477c-ae21-1db3cad33929_zpsa9c499f2.jpg
 photo b982f073-5049-4b5c-82fd-a64cfbe8a1ea_zps0cab9892.jpg  photo 65b90ff2-b9b8-49ac-bb15-8fbf4cf4e1eb_zps256503a1.jpg After 1 1/2 years of Flash appearing in comics crooks still didn't know the Flash -- chumps!  photo flash10098_zps3f45105d.jpg The Hawkman unleashes on the Hood.

There was a time back in the seventies, I became free to ride my bike uptown every Monday after school with $1.05 in my pocket to buy 3 new comic books. It is that freedom that I am connecting with in my present day experience reading these old comics. It is a freedom that is independent of teachers, parents, homework, wife, kids, work. Within the four color process on two dimensional paper is a world beyond the material that is very much real.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Entry #27

Issue #18
June 1941
Rating: 5

 photo Picture11_zpsa789f739.jpg The Flash story uses the Three Stoogies gags to full effect.

 photo Picture12_zpsf10352cc.jpg  photo Fash18_zps71e7d1ad.png
What appears as an editorial decision to change ‘German’ to ‘Some Foreign’ troops is evident in the Les Watts Story. Also interesting is how the boy’s trip to the Caribbean for a treasure hunt on an island inadvertently discovers the treasure island is inhabited by foreign troops. This fantastic story most likely was dreamed up by the real life fortification under construction at Treasure Island in the SF bay in defense of a foreign invasion. April 1, 1941: Navy took over Treasure Island for use as a military base.

What is lost to the present generation reader of the Johnny Thunder stories, until now, is how one of the running themes within the series is how Johnny can’t hold a job. This must have resonated with a youth culture coming of age in the tail end of the Great Depression.

 photo Picture13_zps069c9072.jpg Another entertaining 'Minute Movie' strip.  photo Picture14_zpsa37cc3dc.jpg Once again,themes are well represented. Crusader of good during the day (Flash), silly playfulness with family (Johnny Thunder), crafty and master of disguise by way of internet avators (King Standish), navigator of dark mysteries (Hawkman).