3 Day Matinee - Meet Manny

I mentioned yesterday that the first 9 issues of Clue Comics were a bit different than later issues. Today's Matinee main feature is another strip from those early issues - introducing Stupid Manny:

Manny was on of the Boy King's co-stars in Clue Comics. He might seem a bit out of place with 'serious' heroes like Nightmare & Sleepy, Zippo (a Blitz On Wheels!), Jackie Law & The Boy Rangers, Micro-Face, and Twilight. But that's okay - Manny doesn't mind.

But first, our ongoing serial - the classic newspaper comic strip, Twin Earths, from Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams.

Previously on Twin Earths: Terra is a human inhabited world of advanced technology orbiting our sun in a hidden position opposite Earth. Vana, a covert agent of Terra undercover on Earth has broken away from her homeworld after her partner was killed by her commanders. Now allied with the FBI, she and agent Garry Verth bait a trap for the assassins stalking her...

Twin Earths - Chapter 8:

Our main feature, Stupid Manny, comes to us from artist Tony Dipreta. Tony is mostly known these days for his long runs on Joe Palooka and Rex Morgan, MD. Back in the early days of comics, he was more known for his comedy strips for Quality, Hillman and Timely. Stupid Manny was a regular feature in that early run of Clue, appearing in every issue and doubling his page count along the way.
Since he started with only four pages per book, here're the first three of his adventures, including his 'origin story' -

Manny was kind of an odd one...

Tomorrow - The Return Of The King...

pages from Twin Earths (1952) and Clue Comics #s 1-3 (1943)

3 Day Weekend Matinee - Enter The Giant

For the lead feature on today's matinee, we travel back to 1943. Nearly a quarter century before Daisaku Kusama/Johnny Sokko commanded his Giant Robot, more than half a century before Hogarth Hughes teamed up with his Iron Giant, another young lad had his own giant warrior automaton for his adventures. We've got his 14 page debut strip from the first issue of Clue Comics. (Those first 9 issues were a bit odd.)

Before we get to that, of course, we've got our ongoing serial - Oskar Lebeck & Alden McWilliams' classic Twin Earths.

Previously on Twin Earths: Vana, a defector from Terra - the human inhabited planet in an orbital position opposite Sol from the Earth - has allied herself with the United States government. Having survived assassination attempts by her former planet, romance blossoms between Vana and her FBI liason, Agent Garry Verth while she educates him on the history of her planet. Two centuries prior, a terrible plague devestated their world, and killed off the vast majority of the planet's male population...

Twin Earths - Chapter Seven:

 While Steve Martin (the comedian/singer, not the Raymond Burr character from the US version of the original Godzilla) may champion Tut for the title, there's another contender for Boy King who gets the vote around here. (Sorry, old boy - not just shoes are cruel)

Meet David, the Boy King of Swisslakia. (What? Did you think that inventing countries in comics did not go back to the beginnings of the medium? But, don't fret - we get a map.)
Written by Charles Biro & Bob Wood, with artwork from Alan Mandel and Dan Barry, here's his introductory tale -

Do you think that maybe the Boy King might be a tad on the violent side in dealing with his enemies?
Take a gander at the blurb on the cover of the next issue:

"We Warn You! The BOY KING Will KILL CRIME!"

You might be right.

Meanwhile - Micro-Face?
Is he related to Taser-Face?
Or perhaps to Dick Tracy's Little Face?

Seriously - Micro-Face?

I guess we'll find out tomorrow...

page art from Twin Earths and Clue Comics #1 (1943, 1952)

Sunday Double-Down Triple-Feature Matinee

Welcome back to our weekend matinee.
We continue yesterday's matinee features, but we're doubling the amount - two chapters/episodes for each.

First up, our serial, of course - Oskar Lebeck and Alden McWilliams' classic newspaper strip - Twin Earths.

Previously on Twin Earths: Vana, a defector from Terra, the advanced human populated world opposite the sun from Earth, is now a target of her former government. Allied with the FBI, she volunteers to bait a trap for the Terran agents. While the trap is set, she tells FBI agent Garry Verth some of her world's history, including the failure of their space program using technology similar to Earth's rocket science...

Twin Earths - Chapter 5:

Twin Earths - Chapter 6:

 

Yesterday in Danny Dreams, we left Danny trapped in his world of prehistoric dreams.
Today, parts 2 & 3, concluding the tale. Mort Meskin steps in for pencils on the first strip, with Joe Kubert returning for the conclusion. Inks by both on both, it seems -

Our third feature, Mitzi Of The Movies from the loving brush of Matt Baker, is definitely embracing the Odd today, at least in the second half. I commented yesterday that Mitzi "...only appeared in those four stories ... sort of."
Today, the explanation for that remark.

First, Mitzi's fourth and final story in the terminating issue of Movie Comics -

Five years later, Mitzi pulled a Schrödinger's Return - simultaneously both there and not there.
In Cowboy Romance #10, they used Matt Baker's artwork for Mitzi In Holllywood, but Tiger Lily'd* all new dialogue to create a different story -

Y'know - even if i didn't already prefer the original story, that "Don't - Neigh! Neigh!" pun exclamation would have won me over for the voting.

page art from Twin Earths, Tor #s 4 & 5, Movie Comics #4, and Cowgirl Romances #10 (1947, 1952, 1954)

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*(What's Up,... not the Person, Town or Flower)