White Black Venus

So far, so cooperative... so we're back with with that teased peek at a lady under the covers of Contact Comics. The lady in question is Black Venus - a woman ahead of her time.

How ahead of her time? Her lover got Fridged (I was going to link to the Urban Dictionary, but those people are too stupid to spell the word frigid) a half century before Kyle Rayner's...

The following issue, L.B. Cole took over on the artwork. Let's take a look, shall we? 

Oh - if you're confused about her seeming closeness, dancing with another man the issue after the death above... that's her job. Mary LaRoche, Black Venus' secret identity, is a USO Dancehall Hostess. That's how she can operate in a theatre of war.

Those were the only two Black Venus stories illustrated by Cole. But the next story was drawn by Nina Albright, and two of the remaining 5 were from Harvey Kurtzman!

Oh, yeah - we'll be back.

story art by L.B. Cole from Contact Comics #s 3 & 4 (1944)

Making Contact With L.B. Cole

Y'know - i left one of the big ones off the list of contractually obligated brooding - Old Geezer. 

Here's the kind of brood i get to enjoy - I'm now the oldest surviving member of my family line. This past Xmas brought confirmation the the rest don't care to hear from me. Not that we've had bad relations - just no relations in general. But they're republicans, so they may just assume i was chasing after Dad's money or something.

Fortunately for me, that whole Family Is Everything concept was something rather alien to my life experience, so not too big a deal. I'm far more concerned with my larger family of Humanity, and whether or not we'll survive early adolescence. (Obviously the species won't be maturing out of that phase any time soon)

So, let's drag the ol' brain out of the cave shadows and put it to work, eh? 

L.B. Cole is another of those old creators whom i thought we had looked at previously. Nope - just a bit over on the 1940s Funny Animalphabet, and not much of that. So let's start with Contact Comics. The only title published by Aviation Press, it ran for 12 issues in 1944 & '45, and Cole did some lovely work for the covers -

While i like the leap forward in Aviation for that final issue, it's kind of hard to picture someone yelling "Contact!" and a hard prop spin starting up a rocket engine, no?

Okay. I'm going to give the brain a break, and hopefully i'll drag it back later today with a peek at a lady under the covers.

cover art by L.B. Cole for Contact Comics #s 1-12 (1944, 1945)