In The Company Of Ditko

I noted last that i had been getting sidetracked a bit by the folks with whom Steve Ditko was co-working back in the period i was mining (the mid-50s). A good way to lead into that might be through a few of the stories drawn by others for which Ditko drew the covers.

For example, here's Steve Ditko's cover for This Magazine Is Haunted #16 -

...and for the story, we've got Shelly Moldoff...

On Space Adventures #11, we get a Ditko cover...

...for a story drawn by Joe Shuster and Dick Giordano!

And on rare occasion, we get it the other way around. On Daring Love #1 we get a cover from Bernard Bailey...

...for a tale drawn by Ditko...

Appropriate to the types of tales we've been looking at, it's time for an odd Twist Ending!

That's not Joe Shuster at all.
<Dramatic Fanfare>

According to One Who Generally Knows (Martin O'Hearn), that's actually Bill Molno ghosting for Joe. Here is Martin's article Joe Shuster's Charlton Ghost on his site, Who Created The Comic Books?.

Damn. Even when we get credits, we still don't know who did it.

page art by Steve Ditko, Sheldon Moldoff, and Bill Molno for Daring Love #1, Space Adventures #11, and This Magazine Is Haunted #16 (1953, 1954)

Moon Girl Bonus Bit 1

So...

I wrote up this morning's post and put it in the queue last night.
This morning Happy Houligans #1 and Animal Fables #7 arrived.

Those two statements might seem unrelated, but there is a direct connection.
EC was pretty proud of this new character they created with Moon Girl. In their advertisements, they referred to "This Amazing New Magazine Destined To Make Comic History!"

They thought they had something here, and they wanted to make sure it got seen. And so, her first tale also appeared in Animal Fables and Happy Houligans. (And International Crime Patrol #6? I haven't found that issue as yet, so i don't know if it's a new tale or another presentation of her origin story.)

This is particularly nice for us. You see, i'd only been able to work with library microfiche copies of some of those early Moon Girl issues, including the first. So now we have a better quality page to work with than that which we used for the original post.

That being the case, let's take a better look at that first story. Here is the 8 page tale in its entirety, as it appeared in Happy Houligans #1:

Moon Girl by Bill Woolfolk and Sheldon Moldoff from Happy Houligans #1 (1947)

Moon Girl Bonus Bit 0

A few extra bits on Moon Girl to follow this morning's post.

Shelly Moldoff's introduction, from Moon Girl #6-

...and the original art for it, if you like that sort of thing-

Here's the art for one of issue #8's splash pages that we saw previously-

...and, just for Kid - because of the blog timing - here's an advertisement that links our posts:

Moon Girl and Dandy together!
(Sorry, folks - that makes so little sense, i know)

Mooning for the Girl

Hm...

I've needed a feature title for a while now - what to call those great old characters that i'd purely enjoy seeing revived in modern times. Maybe a nice movie or three. Of course, my Odd brain tends towards totally obscure titles, like perhaps The Buck Board. Treated as a bulletin board upon which to post these characters, that name references Frank Buck, the big game hunter who popularized the phrase "Bring 'em Back Alive" as a nod to the hunt for these old characters to revive.
Sure, a feature title like that could work - but it's not very intuitive, is it?

So, for now, the notion percolates and we go without until something tasty bubbles to the top. (Who knows? Maybe it'll happen in the next 12 hours or so, and i'll modify this post before  you see it!)

Meanwhile (70 years ago)...
As astute readers might already suspect, today's feature is one such character. Two, if you count her sidekick. Ladies, Gentlemen, and Other Determinations - may i present, fresh from 1947, the amazing Moon Girl (and the Prince). (The real Moon Girl, not some Janie-come-lately using the name)

Comic History Footnote:* Moon Girl is sporting the high heel sandals look here, a year before Wonder Woman adopted the look. Was this where WW's team got the idea?**

Though filled with potential, Moon Girl lasted only 8 issues in her own title. One issue of Moon Girl and The Prince...

...five issues of Moon Girl...

...and two issues of Moon Girl Fights Crime!:

Moon Girl was well ahead of the cultural curve, not only holding her own title in the '40s, but with a male sidekick to rescue for turnabout-

Hey! Look at that.
She even beat Captain America, actually managing to rescue her sidekick from the rocket.
The "Lady" above, Satana, was arch-nemesis to Moon Girl, with her debut in the first issue:

Interestingly, Satana's first appearance was the only time Prince Mengu got top billing.
The typical issue contained 3 stories, so there's about two dozen Moon Girl tales (including an appearance in International Crime Patrol #6). She faced a wide variety of often impressive foes in those tales...

Perhaps, by this point, you are wondering about our hero's origin/back story, hm? Fortunately, the first story covered that for us:

It likely comes as no surprise that the Queen informs the Princess that she is the "direct descendant of the daughter of King Kaidu! It is decreed that the man who takes you for his wife must first prove his superior strength."
"No man can do that!"
But is that true? After all, Prince Mengu is "a true son of Hercules". But while wearing the moonstone, her power is increased and she defeats the Prince in all his trials. But, as he leaves, she regrets having defeated him, finding that in winning, she has lost what she desired...

...and so began their epic adventures.

Moon Girl was initially scripted by Bill Woolfolk with art by Sheldon Moldoff and covers by Johnny Craig. Gardner Fox joined the team on issue #2, writing half the stories, and by #3 he was the primary author on the book. Shelly Moldoff took over the covers and, oddly enough, Johnny Craig stepped inside to do a story or two.

But, alas - it seems Moon Girl was too ahead of the cultural curve. Issue #9, the title changed once again...

Yeah, Feldstein's got a neat signature, but i'd have preferred more Moon Girl.

Roy Thomas was a fan, too. After Crisis On Infinite Earths he wanted to use Moon Girl to replace Wonder Woman in the restructured Justice Society. But the rights weren't secured and he wound up using Miss America instead.***

I'd wager a revived version of Moon Girl and The Prince, done well, would find a lot of fans in today's market and could kick some serious movie butt.

all pages from Moon Girl #s 1-9 (1948-9)

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*(Sometimes those bad puns just cannot be resisted)
**(Thanks to Luke Blanchard over at Captain Comics for pointing out the timeline)
***( Thanks, also, to Phillip Portelli for offering that info tidbit over at the Captain's forum)