I Would Have Expected Johnny Dark

Okay, okay...
You can have a real post today, too.

As you may recall, when we were looking at the line-up in Daredevil Comics, we saw Pat Patriot's first splash. Not this guy, who came out the same year (1941)...

...we're talking Pat Patriot, America's Joan Of Arc! Here's her first tale which accompanied that introductory page (repeated here for convenience)...

Hmm... 
We need an Odd Bit - they've been running light lately. 
How about this one...

Both Pat Patriot characters were created & written by Bob Wood (with Charles Biro on America's Joan Of Arc - the two using "Chuck" Woodro as a combination name) Wood is also the artist on the one-pager. To my knowledge, after deciding to use the name for the latter strip, the former character never appeared again.

Patricia's first adventure was noticed by TPTB, leading to a second...

Despite the seeming physical toll taken by her adventures, Pat was soon engaging in all sorts of excitement...

...even donning underwater Iron Man armor to battle a big octopus in the first story confirmed to be drawn by Frank Borth...

It would be decades before we saw such a spectacle again...

...or maybe not...

identified page art by Frank Borth and Bob Wood from Daredevil Comics #s 2, 3, 5, & 7 and Silver Streak #10, screen cap from Giant Woman Vs. Big Octopus (1941, 1942, 2011)

3 Says 2 Was 1

While we're in the neighborhood, why don't we peek inside Daredevil Comics #2, in which Real American #1 debuted.

Issue #2 was really issue #1 in most respects. The first issue of the series was Daredevil Battles Hitler and was more of a stand-alone special than part of the ongoing series. 

Now that we once again face the possibility of World War for the sake of a madman's ego, maybe we'll go back to that issue soon. Meanwhile...

"The Greatest Name In Comics" they proclaimed upon the cover. There were a lot of those back in the '30s & '40s - Greatest Name In Comics, Greatest Comics, All-Great Comics, even just All-Good Comics, etc.,. I suppose one of these days we should start fact-checking some of those claims.

Meanwhile, Daredevil Comics did feature some top talent including, of course, Charles Biro on Daredevil himself -

The Whirlwind had Dick Wood writing and featured Bernard Klein artwork - 

Dash Dillon with art from Edd Ashe -

And, semi-related to Real American #1, we had the Pioneer by Bob Wood (not to be confused with Dick Wood, working on the same book) and J. Gahr -

We're a little less certain on "America's Joan Of Arc" - "Chuck" Woodro was Charles Biro and Bob Wood writing together, but the artwork might be from Frank Borth or Reed Crandall, a couple of familiar names around here. But, it might be from someone else - we simply don't know - 

Bob Wood both writes and draws the tales of the "World's Worst Villain" - The Claw. No, the title doesn't mean he's the worst at his job as villain. Though it might refer to his maxed out Yellow Peril factor -

These days George Roussos is perhaps best remembered for his inking work on things like Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four pages. So it's amusing to me that he used to go by the name "Inky," as when he was drawing Nightro, with Dick Wood scripting. 

Let's take a look at Nightro's origin -

You know, when someone is getting conked on the head or suffering physical trauma, Roussos really makes 'em look like they're feeling it. (For those of you keeping track at home, Dr. Midnight debuted four months earlier in All-American Comics #25.)

For many, the biggest star of the book wasn't any of these folks, nor even Dick Briefer with his work on Real American #1. It was Jerry Robinson writing and drawing the WW2 adventures of London -

Unfortunately, with a name like London it's exceedingly difficult to know for sure how many tales he had or how long he was around. Certainly at least 10 tales running from Daredevil Comics #s 2-11. Beyond that...? 

Happy hunting.

page art by Charles Biro, Bernard Klein, Edd Ashe, J. Gahr, George Roussos, and Jerry Robinson from Daredevil Comics #2 (1941)

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)