05 October 2017

Then Came Five...

...
The 5th issue of Army & Navy Comics arrived on the stands with no warning on the cover of what was contained within...


Leafing through, it might seem the same as the previous four issues...





...and Private Rook returned for what is, as far as i know, his final appearance...


Of course, Private Rook's adventures were both insane and degradingly mocking of the wartime enemy, as usual...


There were a few joke pages and the obligatory text feature, but tucked in the middle were six pages of Odd (especially for a book aimed at members of the Armed Services) that would take over the title on the following month, and for most of the next four years:

(Yes, that's The Shadow. No, that's not Bird Person.
I'm going to pretend that's Kent Nelson, sans helmet, hanging next to Mandrake*...)

And then things got weirder...

all pages from Army & Navy Comics #5 (1942)



*(I think that's actually SuperMagician, not Mandrake, but he looks so close...
more importantly "That's Not Bird Person" is actually DOC SAVAGE! (Really))

3 comments:

  1. Technically, I believe that Doc Savage's short-lived but very odd super-hero persona was known as "The Invincible". I'd love to see the Street & Smith comic book material reprinted, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen. sigh...

    -Mindbender

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  2. I'm going to run at least one here soon.
    That take on the Man of Bronze is just WAY too Odd to pass by without noting.

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  3. Oops - forgot half my answer.
    From what i can see on a quick scan through early issues, they called him Doc Savage, The Invincible when he got the magic ruby in #5, and again in #6, but then dropped it after that point.
    I could just be missing it since i have sat down to read through yet, but it seems to have been an idea that didn't stick.

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