Golden Age Goodness: Action Comics #42

    This week's installment finds us still in the Golden Age with another DC book, Action Comics #42.  It is November 1941, and while there is plenty of competition, DC is the preeminent publisher, with the most quality titles.

    Action Comics #42 leads off of course, with Superman, in "City in the Stratosphere".  Influential citizens from all over Metropolis are disappearing, and while Sgt. Casey blames a kidnapping ring, Clark Kent isn't so sure.  What a fun romp this was.  Clark investigates clues that point to Casey being right, but the evidence literally blows up around him.  It all comes back to Luthor with a plan that is both ludicrous and fantastic.  From a city in the clouds with a death ray and a machine that allows him to hypnotize Superman via hypnosis, he kidnaps the men and convinces them to stay under the ruse that he is an alien explorer.  What he hopes to get from this is never revealed, nor does Seigel bother trying to explain how he escaped being blown to bits in his last appearance.  It is prototypical Golden Age Superman with gangsters and mad science.  The art is credited to Shuster, but he already using ghosts at this point.  Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics credits the pencils to Lee Nowack.  Nowack does a good job of aping Shuster's iconic faces, but the linework is cleaner, less crude.
     Two important firsts in the next story: "The Origin of Vigilante" gives us Greg Sanders, the troubadour of the prairie who fights crime as Vigilante written by Mort Weisinger.  It isn't Mort's first work for DC, he started writing for them two month's ago with the debut of his speedster creation, Johnny Quick, and last entry's the Tarantula, however, this is his first work in Action, and while it isn't on the character he would steward for the next 2 decades, I feel it is worth calling out.  In the story, a gangster is blackmails a coroner into faking his execution and must be brought to justice "posthumously" by Vigilante.  I've always liked the Vigilante as a cowboy in the modern era of the 40's and 50's.  While he seems antiquated now, he was actually quite timely in the eras of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and the Lone Ranger.  The are by Mort Meskin, while not as dynamic in panel layout, reminds me a lot of the work of Joe Simon of the era.
     In "The Ship Spies", the Black Pirate barely escapes an ambush after taking on a stowaway to attempts to betray the crew.  The Black Pirate is difficult to cover as it is normally short, 6 pages, and a serial with very tight continuity.  This one is an exception, but the plot is rather normal focusing on John Valor escaping from his locked room and not the ensuing ship battle, and Sheldon Mordoff, still channeling Alex Raymond like he does in Hawkman delivers very taut and tense work.  This Black Pirate's last appearance in Action for now, moving to Sensation comics in its premiere issue.
    No strip has gone through more changes then Tex Thompson, aka Mr, America.  Originally a mystery tale, the story quickly changed to an adventure strip with Tex meeting Bob Daly travelling the globe, becoming a spy/crime strip when they got to America, then becoming a mystery-man strip with Tex taking on the identity of the whip wielding  Mr. Anerica, which made Bob somewhat redundant.  Ken Fitch and Bernard Bailey attempt to tackle the problem in 'A Modern Flying Carpet' which sees Bob adopt the identity of Fat Man in a costume similar to Red Tornado's (substitute a lamp shade for pot for the mask and a blanket for curtains for the cape) and becoming the humorous sidekick similar to the role that Doiby Dickles fulfills for Green Lantern.  Also in this story, Tex invents a way to make his cape act as a flying carpet and uses it to defeat the Queen Bee, a female mob boss who uses the sexism of the time and people's underestimating her to her advantage.  The story tries to a do a little too much in a 8 pager, and I'm not sold on Fat Man.  Bob has been competent hand-to-hand combatant, so I don't want him to become a boob.  Bernard Bailey's art is a it of an acquired taste with very elongated faces.  One of the pioneers of the late 30's, a cleaner style is starting to emerge as the norm, and Bailey's art suffers in comparison. 
    Congo Bill gets to the bottom of the jinx that is hampering a film crew in 'The Jungle Film'.  With the departure of Black Pirate, Congo Bill and Three Aces become the only non-mystery men features in the book.Its to Fred Ray's credit that Congo Bill looks and feels fresh.  There are several jungle strips, but they almost all are the Ape Man stereotype, not the hunter.
    Last,, but not least, is Zatara in the 'Man Who Could Control Minds', in which Zatara must defeat a gangster who accidentally is given the power of mind control.  The Tigress is here as well as an accomplice of the gangster, but her main purpose is to flirt with Zatara.  A highlight of the Zatara strip is the artwork by Joseph Sulman.  While the faces are rather simple, he seems to relish illustrating Zatara's spells.  There is a great deal of whimsy to them as a safe grows hands to shove back a thief and car assumes a face and begins to act like a bucking broncho.

Golden-Age Goodness: Star-Spangled Comics #1

     October 1941 and the popularity of super-heroes in comics continues to rise.  Many of the most popular heroes had made their debut the previous two years, but there were several to still come:  Sargon the Sorcerer, Dr. Mid-Nite, Starman, Plastic Man, Phantom Lady, and Captain America have all been introduced earlier in the year.  DC Comics added a new title to their stable this month, the first new anthology since World's Best/World's Finest in April of that year, and unlike that title, this one contained new features.

     Star-Spangled Comics #1 was head-lined by the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy who were featured on the cover.  In the leaf story, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy take down a group of saboteurs attacking American defense factories.  Neither the Star-Spangled Kid or Stripesy have powers.  The hook lies in it being an inverted Batman type strip with the kid being the main hero and the adult being the sidekick,  I was really stricken by how ahead of its time this felt.  The strip, by Jerry Seigel and Hal Morris, had a humor and light-heartedness that is missing from a lot of Siegel's other work around this time, and the art by Hal Morris looked like a cross between Dick Sprang and Jerry Robinson, especially with the exaggerated grin and chin that  is given to Stripesy.  Siegel does humor, but its typically more biting and cynical.
    The second strip was about an aviator, Captain X, who similar to Captain Desmo wears a super-hero style mask and colored costume, is an American reporter with a special plane, invisible and fast.  He stops a Nazi plot to dam the English Channel so their troops can cross.  I'll continue to read it if it continues on.  The art is a little loose and not very stylized. 
     After Captain X is an arachnid themed hero with the ability to climb walls and a weapon that can be used to swing around and ensnare criminals.  I'm not speaking of Peter Parker, but John Law, the Tarantula.  John Law is a crime author who with his special boots and web gun, captures gang boss, Ace Deuce.  It was a fun, fast-paced strip.  I only know of the Tarantula from All-Star Squadron.  Right now, he is very similar to the Sandman, who will later adopt a purple and yellow outfit very similar to the Tarantula.  It will be interesting to see how the strip adapts if it is still around at that time.  I skipped Armstrong of the Army, as I tend to only read the super-hero strips or those belonging to characters who made it into Who's Who.
    Finally, the book closes with a second Star-Spangled Kid strip, which is unusual for an anthology of this time.  Characters will appear in multiple titles, but unless they headline their own quarterly, not twice in the same issue.  In the this installment, they defeat a rampaging robot, the creation of Dr. Weerd, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type mad scientist.  This was much like the first installment, light-hearted and breezy with large set pieces.  Here it is the robot.  All-in-all a good addition to the DC line-up.  The Star-Spangled Kid never stood out for me in the few appearances I've read from the 70's All Star Comics run, but here, in his natural environment, I can see the appeal.

Fear and the Modern Mafia...60's Marvel style

    The highlight for this week was Daredevil #6.  A new villain, Mr. Fear, enlists the Eel and Ox on a crime spree, but are thwarted by the Man Without Fear, Daredevil.  I really liked this issue, for a couple of reasons.  First, it introduced a new villain to the Daredevil's rogue's gallery, Mr. Fear.  I think Mr. Fear is a good introduction to DD's rogue's gallery for a couple of reasons:  a villain who causes fear is a good counterpoint for  hero who's tagline is 'The Man Without Fear', and while it could be claimed he's a variation on the Scarecrow, a villain whose power is delivered through a gas is actually a powerful foe for a hero who relies on smell and hearing to replace sight.  On a few podcasts its been noted that in the beginning Daredevil didn't have a strong villain line-up, and that's true especially in comparison with some his contemporaries:  six villains in and Daredevil has only 3 had 3 villains of note -- The Owl, The Purple Man, and now, Mr. Fear (no, the Matador does not count).  Wally Wood continues to deliver strong, consistent art, and rather than putting Karen Page in danger as has been the case with the past two issues, Stan makes good use of Foggy being the supporting character in danger.  The issue only had two niggles for me:  Daredevil basically beats the 'Fellowship of Fear' by luck and a couple of contrivances:  I could by an exhaust fan in the workroom where the wax figures or made, but not in the showroom.   The second is that some of the wax figures that appear in the wax museum really shouldn't be there.  Diablo, for example.  The FF encountered him in the Balkans and left him imprisoned.  How would Drago know what he looked like to make a waxwork?  As you can see I'm grasping for criticisms, which makes me happy.  I've been a little tough on the Daredevil issues so far in some correspondence with some of my friends on Facebook, so I'm glad to be able to spotlight one in a positive light.

     I can't be so charitable to Avengers #13.  In this issue, Maggia head Count Nefaria comes to the states and frames the Avengers for treason.  On the one-hand this is something of a nice change of pace for the Avengers:  they've basically had three stories: Find/Fight the Hulk (#1-3, 5), fight the Masters of Evil (#6-7, 9), and time travelers (#8, 10-11).  I wanted to highlight it for two reasons:  it is many ways a DC Silver Age story from a plot/character perspective and its really hampered by the Comics Code.
     Why does it feel like a DC story?  The focus on organized crime.  Organized crime and thugs have appeared in Marvel comics before, but they are normally a rarity unless fodder or a quick action piece for a page.  Most of the Marvel stable of heroes have a quickly growing roster of super villains in the mold of the Silver Age Flash with the few diversions into alien menaces.  Contrast that with DC where mainstays like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were still tangling with gangsters and normal criminals 6-8 issues out of every 12.  The weaker antagonists forces Captain America in the spotlight again.  The heavy hitters get camera-time when confronted by the heavy artillery of the US Army, but the bulk of the pages making up the assault on Castle Nefaria go to Cap.
    However, this could have been a stronger story I think, if not for the Comic Code.  Stan and Heck try to paint Nefaria as a menacing mastermind, but it completely fails.  A subordinate whose crime was foiled by the Avengers has the equivalent of a hologramatic Skype call with Nefaria and his punishment for failure is basically being hung up on.  Its obvious that he should have been shot and killed, but they couldn't convey that.  The climax is hampered in the same manner.  The Wasp is seriously injured by being shot during the fight.  However, we have to be told this  We aren't shown the fight because we can't see them actually shoot her, and they don't even show her injured after the fact.  My assumption is this is because of the Comic Code's rules about realistic violence and gunplay at the time.  It's an okay story, but the lack of menace, threat, and consequences being shown really hurt it.

Current Favorites: Vader Down

     How do you pull-off a cross-over with a small line of Star Wars comics?  I'd be hard-pressed to think of how it could be done better than it was with Vader Down, running in Vader Down #1, Darth Vader #13-15 and Star Wars #13-15.  Before you read any further than this, this post may contain small SPOILERS.

    The basic premise is brilliant.  Vader tracks down Luke to what should be a deserted planet and comes out of hyperspace into the midst of three Rebel squadrons on a refueling run.  In order to prevent him from slaughtering everyone, Luke rams his X-Wing into Vader's Tie Fighter and the two crash on the planet's surface.  Luke radios the Rebellion for help, and Leia commits every resource she can summon to the planet to hunt and kill the murderer of Alderran, for Vader is alone and down. 
    First, I love this story for essentially being an old-school cross-over.  Outside of the one-shot starting it, it is a story interwoven between two titles, not a unwieldy 13 series cross-over.  Secondly, Gillen and Aaron do a great job of giving everyone believable motivations that carry-over from their previous stories: Luke is here trying to learn more about the Jedi, Vader is here hunting look, Leia comes to hunt Vader with a very single-minded obsession, Han just wants to save his friend and get out, while Aphra is desperate to prove to Vader that this wasn't a trap.  The two never forget who is the lead, and Vader here is awe-inspriring.  With his actions here, it is easy to see why one such as him would not be impressed by a toy like the Death Star.  They story has action, comedy thanks to the antics of Triple Zero and BT-1, and most impressively tension.  This is a story set in a larger canon where we know what the future holds and there were still a few moments in the story when I was worried about the main characters.  There is one cliff-hanger in particular where an obsessed Leia goes out on her own to kill Vader, and he comes upon her from behind, and while I know the character lives for at least another 30+ years thanks to The Force Awakens, I still had a quick thought of "Oh, no, Leia!".  Forget Robin War, Secret War, or Civil War.  The can't miss cross-over event of the 2015/early 2016 is Vader Down.