Some Cavemen Are More Cavemen Than Others

Before we get back to Tragg & Lorn (and we will get back to them), let's stop in to check out a rather different caveman. From the pencil of Joe Beck (often aided & abetted by Otto Eppers) comes the world of Prehistoric Pete. 

Pete first appeared in Spotlight Comics back in 1944. Spotlight only lasted three issues, but it didn't take Pete down with it. He also appeared in an issue of Punch Comics, and enough issues of Red Seal Comics to bring him up to an even dozen stories.

Today, let's take a look at those first three tales from Spotlight -

Get the feeling that perhaps this was where Dogpatch might eventually evolve?

page art by Joe Beck and Otto Eppers from Spotlight Comics #s 1-3 (1944, 1945)

Getting Trippy With Tippy

While our fake president breaks down into full mad-dog desperation mode in his efforts to drag the USA back to pre-Revolutionary legal standards (ref. Boston Massacre and why people decided 'unitary' tyrants had to go, and why our constitution made it illegal for tyrants to use Federal Troops for Civilian law enforcement (until more recent tyrant wanna-bes effectively added "unless ordered to" to the Posse Comitatus act)), i feel like we could use a break.

So, just a quickie little bit of out-there oddness for today from Coo Coo Comics #16 with artwork from Jim Tyer -

Don't forget where you parked your brain. Lord knows, i'll be wandering for hours looking for mine...

page art by Jim Tyer from Coo Coo Comics #16 (1945)

Was Volto's Secret Identity Euell Gibbons?

Well, frell - i seem to have missed another day or two while off in my head. Again.

Mind the gap.

For a quickie to get things rolling today, let's go for another ADventure - this time with Volto From Mars. ADventures, as you may or may not recall, are what we call those old comic advertisements that were done in comic strip format.

So - what do might a hero named Volto be advertising? Batteries? Electronic Build Kits? Breakfast Cereal?

Um, yeah...   that last one.
I don't follow the logic here, but since there may not have been any involved, let's just move right along. 

So then, what were Volto's electric powers to earn that name?
Magnetism? Kinda/sorta but without the ferrous requirements? He's got repulsion and attraction powers - Always in that order; first the left hand repels then the right hand attracts, then we eat breakfast.

Let's take a look -

Yeah, more than a tad repetitive and bland.
So, maybe they did put a bit of thought into product representation?
(Sorry all you fans of the stuff)

page art by ??? from Adventure Comics, Coo Coo Comics, More Fun Comics, Whiz Comics, and lots and lots of other comics (1944-1946)

Blond Abner's Chief Problem

Finally!
On the third attempt this morning, Blogger deigned to allow me to add images to the post. We may proceed...


I mentioned that we'd be cruising past Blond Abner and Starving Abner on our way to Ringer Abner, but  we really need to stomp on the brakes here as we hit Blond Abner.

Eustis or Eustace Hayseed, depending on the point in the run, had a most unusual, and rather discomfiting, sidekick early on. Perhaps we got some greater detail on him along the way; if so it's fallen through one of the holes in my mind. In the first episode, the only explanatory reference is in the first sentence - "...his newly acquired friend, Chief Blackfeet..."

The Chief is named and speaks like a stereotypical "Injun" which is perhaps not too surprising for a strip about a backwater hayseed. But his appearance is that of a rudely caricatured African headhunter style native of the times. And he speaks like a British blue blood, when not "Ugh"ing and "You betchum"ing. In all, he's the very definition of Cringe-worthy.

Eustis continues to embrace the cringe, as highlighted in the next tale by his righteous anger at someone beating a woman - who is not his wife...

Hayseed appeared in a couple dozen issues of three different titles, primarily the first 21 issues of Joker Comics. Along the way his look varied, he switched from blond to redhead, and he dumped the Chief in favor of a girl named Choo-Choo. 

Eventually, they gave up trying to hide his Abner origins and just went with it...
 

Eustace had a real self-image problem, too.

page art by Gar Dean, Kosti Ruohomaa, and ??? from Joker Comics #s 1 & 2 and Gay Comics #21 (1942, 1945)

Somewhere Between Blackhawks And Boy Commandoes...

We've been looking at Pat Parker's evolution from War Nurse to Adventurer to Superhero to ... ? 

When we left off, the 'artist' promised us that Pat was headed off somewhere new next time. And indeed, not just a new front of the war, but also a new role - Girl Commando...

And now Pat was no longer a solo act - she had a team to back her up. From this point on, the series was The Girl Commandos. They ran for about a score of issues, dissolving after the war... 

(Yes, this is unfortunately how our Friends & Allies were depicted.)

(Finally! we start seeing Jill Elgin's signature on the strip)

Note that last caption - "Not so long ago..."

The war was over, and rather than follow the often tread route of retooling the Girls to fight crime, they allowed the Commandos to retire and enjoy civilian life in peacetime.

Not a bad run. With the exception of #38, Pat appeared in every issue of Speed Comics from #13 to #42, outlasting the war she fought by several months.

page art by Jill Elgin from Speed Comics #s 23-37, & 39-42 (1942-1946)