Entry #45

Issue #35
Rating: 5

Part 1
This is a full out War Issue!
The Flash and Joan dedicate a two-page dream to the Axis.
This is the only reference in Flash Comics of the war by the Flash!
The Ghost Patrol wonder into a concentration camp and faces the original soup nazi.

WWII Aug\Sept 1942

In the six months between August 1942 and February 1943, the United States and its Pacific Allies fought a brutally hard air-sea-land campaign against the Japanese for possession of the previously-obscure island of Guadalcanal.

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943.

Entry #44

Issue #34
Rating: 5

This issue is fun to read. Good quality stories. DC has yet to fully engage the Nazis and Nips yet -- but it is heating up. The Whip intercepts a Japanese transport headed for Los Angles with a cargo of mice infected with typhus. How many accents are used in the Ghost Patrol page?

Entry #43

Issue #33
Rating: 5

In many ways, the early stages of WWII (1942) provided rich content and imagination for comics. If you feel like I think all the issues in the series are worthy of a 5 rating, I do not. As we will see, quality of material will decline for a couple years – the Atom strip typifies the drop off in quality.
Returning to this issue, the Flash story is an early proto-SA set-up of an evil villain using his advance technology to cast Keystone City into darkness. The Shade, by manipulating the light, terrorizes the city.
The importance of this issue is that Mr. Fox utilizes the first of many devises over the coming decades of a villian that commands the very element to aid him in his crime spree. The GA Shade has the ability to eliminate dust from the atmosphere. By doing so, darkness falls. Because Jay's training is in Chemistry, he figures out that by kicking some dirt up into the air will restore the light. The story is typical for this era. Plenty of laughs mixed in with the action.
The Ghost Patrol land in Africa to fight a dirty rotten nazi rat.
The Hawkman story revels a rare fact that he can carry a vial of liquid Nth Metal in his utility belt. This story reads similar to the early Batman stories in Detective Comics written by Gardner Fox.
Full page ad for Wonder Woman 1.

Entry #42

Issue #32
Rating: 5

Not an easy issue to find.
If the cover had a WWII theme, this would be a classic issue through out.

Gardner Fox gets self-reflective in this issue as he creates a writer that dreams up a script where the bad guys come to life and do his bidding. The surreal moment comes when the creation, the Flash, meets his creator on equal terms before battling the writer’s imaginary bad guys. Fox sense for balancing comedy with action is at its finest in this issue.

This issue also goes to war in a big way. Johnny Thunder joins the Navy. The Ghost Patrol battle Hitler. Even the Whip and the King have encounters with subversive Nazis. The Hawkman story features the first time he and the Hawkgirl are captured and put in a gilded cage by a villain named, the Coin.

Once again, I am drawn to the ‘King’ story. I can not think of another golden age anti-hero character that is as ambivalent about the Law as the King.

‘Keep’em Flying’ issue – The Flash story asks kids to buy U. S. Savings Bonds rather than saying the ‘Keep’em Flying’ slogan.

Entry #41

Issue #31
Rating: 5


Shelly Moldoff is the first to create a Hawkman vs. Dragon cover – in this case a Sea Orm. A theme that inspired Joe Kubert for the Silver Age revival.

The Hawkman story is the feature story of this issue. Gardner Fox takes 3D realism to the limit when he created the mysteries Sea Orm. 22 years later, he wouldn’t have any difficulty forgoing the realism in favor of the pure fantastic.

Keep’em Flying Issue – except for the Whip and Minute Movies

Entry#40

Issue #30
Rating: 5


The Flash story is a variation on the mad-scientist invention theme with better development from the previous issue. The Flash is exposed to a ray that has a similar effect to being possessed by wikipedia.

The Ghost Patrol meets Hitler for the first time as they do their duty in preventing the Nazis from invading England.
The ‘Minute Movie’ strip is one of the best of the series.
This issue features the first time a character mixes nursery rhyme characters into the story. The Hawkman and Hawkgirl enter a world of mind altered characters that drive the idle rich late night partiers crazy.

‘Keep’em Flying’ issue – The editing of this phrase into each story is starting to become sparser. – No King, Minute Movie.