...Intrigue Unbalances The Scales Of Justice...!

We continue plucking at dangling threads and topics left unmentioned over the last couple years of this blog. Toward the end of last year, we were talking about Munson Paddock's work on Mars Mason. Remember this guy...?

Okay - I guess that's a trick question since he isn't in his own title panel there. But it does convey a sense of the style, and these - three - posts cover the few tales he had, so you can go look. (Yes, i know it says Martin Nye. The 3rd link covers that.)

Mars Mason led to Rex Dexter Of Mars and was going to loop back to Paddock after the two collided to give us Tex Maxon. (Ayup, that's the sort of logic that governs the posts you see here.)

Here we find Paddock adopting the rugged Chuck Munson name to bring us a classic western series, in stark contrast to what we've seen before...

As mentioned in the first link above, the work we saw earlier was actually later. Mars Mason and Firetop were done after decades of tighter, more controlled work.

As we can see in these stories, he was capable of rendering detailed worlds with a solid reality as easily as his wild fantasy worlds. 

I must also admit, i'm left wondering who did the colours on the tale above? I have no clue if it was Munson's work or another artist. It might reproduce rather dark at times, but i do love the feel of it.

Let's do a couple more, eh?

By yon by... I noted above that Paddock was using the 'rugged' Chuck Munson name on these strips. That was not always the case. 

Tex Maxon debuted in 1939's issue #2 of Wonder Comics, which changed to Wonderworld Comics with #3. Up until issue #13 it was credited to Cecilia Munson. I wonder if it was his idea to change, or if his editor thought it needed a new pseudonym?

Uh...  yeah.
Time to mosey on along...

page art by Munson Paddock for Wonderworld Comics #s 20, 21, & 23 (1940, 1941)

Adventures In Interplanetary Mail

I mentioned previously that Munson Paddock's work can be found with quite a few different names attached to it. At the very least, besides Munson Paddock, he also used Joe E. Martin, Glen Ross, Martin Nye, Walter Frehm, Walter Frame, Lyle Ford, Leon Spuds, Chuck Munson, Cecilia Munson, Cecelia Munson, Pad Docke, Pad Doche, or simply Pad. Oddly, all of the variations upon his own name were house names that may have been used by other creators as well. (As are all the above names excepting the first two listed.)

Alas - we haven't the technology to access some other dimension in which issue #12 of Speed Comics was released. And so, this was the final episode of Mars Mason.

page art by Munson Paddock for Speed Comics #s 10 & 11 (1940)

Slapstick Firetop

"Have you had your dose of thrills and excitement lately?"

So opens the adventures of Firetop, one of Munson Paddock's more odd endeavors. Not to be confused with Firetop Fink who appeared 3 years prior in Simon & Kirby's Sandman (in Adventure Comics #86), this Firetop appeared in 1946 in the only issue of Slapstick Comics -

 As gloriously Odd as that cover is, it's only the beginning. Our 'hero' is so bad that the strip had to be named after the villain. (In case you were wondering why Firetop was burning the ropes supporting the safe in the image above - now you know)

Rather than try to describe it to you, here's the one and only appearance of Firetop -

Coming up - Back To Mars!

page art by Munson Paddock for Slapstick Comics #1 (1946)

Mars Needs More On Munson s

Munson Paddock, as we saw this morning, could deliver some beautifully odd work when he was in the mood. Perhaps not surprisingly, his oddities extended beyond his artwork. And it has led to some confusion over the years.

For an example, let's take a look at the rather blatantly named Eddie The Odd -

No - there are no further pages; that's where it ends.

The first thing to note is that he signed the work with a variation of his grandmother's name, Martha Cecilia Munson. (Yup - he beat both Bruce & Clark to it) Oddly enough, Cecilia/Cecelia Munson seems to have been adopted as a house name, so other artists may also have been signing their work with his grandmother's moniker.

He did this frequently enough that Cecilia Munson Paddock is listed as a separate creator in some databases, and others believe him to be female. But the government was fairly certain he was male, else they would not have issued him a draft card, eh?

Munson Leroy Paddock was born over 130 years ago, back at the beginning of 1886 (January 22nd). His first newspaper comic, Mr. Bluff, launched in October of 1907. Others included Angelic Angelina and Naughty Ned, his final strip. Of the three, i only recall having seen Angelic Angelina, and not many of those. The style was very clean with the fine line approach of the times - rather classical in look and feel. Nothing to really catch the eye, but well executed.
In addition to his strips, he was also a magazine illustrator during the early decades of the 20th century.

In 1936, this new comic books thing was getting its footing, and Munson was already there working for DC. His The Blood Pearls and Monastery Of The Blue God serials ran for the next two years in New Comics/New Adventure Comics (The title changed with issue #12).

Yes - Monastery Of The Blue God.
You didn't think that vikings were the first to worship Beebo, did you?

Over the next decade he drew a variety of tales, ranging from Cowboy Westerns to Yellow Peril Easterns. We'll be taking a look at some of them this week. But for now, it's time i let you return to the adventures of Mars Mason with episodes 2 & 3, continuing from where we left off this morning -

We lost Munson back in 1970 or 1971 - reports vary. But fear not, he'll still be with us next time...

page art by Munson Paddock for Amazing Mystery Funnies #2 and Speed Comics #s 8 & 9 (1939, 1940)