Random Reads

Today's Saturday?

When did that happen? (Obviously, right after Friday, but...) I thought it was maybe Thursday when i noticed the day, and now i'm feeling all off-kilter.

While i'm sorting the confusion, let's just go random. We've got three stories this morning with only one major connecting thread - they're all from personal favorite artists whose work i enjoy and admire, listed in lazy alphabetic order: Gene Colan, Dick Briefer, and Jack Kirby.
(How is that Alphabetic order? It's Lazy Alphabetic order - they're listed in the order of the titles in which they appeared so that i don't have to rename or re-order the images. Lazy.)

There is one other connection - they're generally a bit different from what you might typically expect to see from the artists.

Okay - i'm off. (as we know)
I'm giving up on knowing when i am and heading off into Alyce's glass wonderland for another painting. Don't need to know time there.

page art by Dick Briefer, Gene Colan, and Jack Kirby from Amazing Detective Cases #9, Crime Does Not Pay #37, and Foxhole #3 (1945, 1951, 1955)

Thirsty ADventures

Last time we looked at some ADventures, it was for "R.C." and Quickie. As i mentioned then, back when i drank soda my preference was for RC or Pepsi. So, i guess this time we should look at "Pepsi" the Pepsi-Cola Cop, eh?

I was actually surprised when i went gathering strips for this feature. Out of well over 100 appearances, there seem to be only 5 actual strips being repeated over and over. On the plus side, that makes them rather easy to collect and display -

Where it gets oddly interesting is back at the beginning. There were three more adverts that ran only once each and were seemingly never repeated. As a purely guesswork answer as to why, i'd suspect it has something to do with the artist on that first trio of ads - the legendary Rube Goldberg! He was already a popular media presence, and his contract may have granted him more remuneration that Pepsi wanted to spend?

No real clue, but here are those first three from 1942 -

Now i'm thirsty...

page art by Rube Goldberg and Graham Hunter for many titles (1942-1947)

Posting Perkins' Past

Regular reader Eric (バーンズ　エリック) pointed out that Neptune Perkins only had one other Golden Age tale besides the one we ran a few days ago. It's an origin story tucked into Joe Kubert's Hawkman strip. 

That was going to nag at me and get in the way of Father Of The Inferior Five? and The Lighter Side Of Death Patrols, so let's dive right in and take a look at The Dweller In The Sea...

There. 

Now you've got the complete Golden Age Neptune Perkins. You'll have to jump ahead a few decades for Roy's Revivals to see more of the man.

page art by Joe Kubert from Flash Comics #66 (1945)

Back Viewing Black Venus

Before i drift too far away and lose sight of the shore, let's gander back at Black Venus once again. Last time i mentioned that the next tale in the series was drawn by Nina Albright, and two more came from the brush of Harvey Kurtzman. 

Let's look at those today, eh? Nina's story followed directly after where we left off...

Nina was followed by Harvey Kurtzman in the next issue...

...and then Harvey returned for her final tale in Contact Comics #11 -
 

Black Venus may not have been around long, but she did get some fairly impressive talent working on the strip during her short run. And at least she made it back home before the end.

page art by Nina Albright and Harvey Kurtzman for Contact Comics #s 5, 6, & 11 (1945)