15 August 2019

Things Ought To Start Popping Any Minute Now!

Let's continue with our look at Flip Falcon In The Fourth Dimension. While the writer is yet unknown, the previous stories we saw were all drawn by Don Rico. The other artists on the strip are mysteries like the author. But, let's see what they looked like without Don, eh?

This first one seems a bit of a precursor to silver age Batman and Atom tales...


It is fairly amazing how many heroes had scientist friends with time travel quests for them. That one, from back in 1940, seems to be one of the earliest of those tales.

Of course, Flip travels not through just space & time, but the realms in between...



In the following issue Don Rico returned...

page art by unknown from Fantastic Comics #s 11-13 (1940)

14 August 2019

We Give Bad Guys The Boot - In Super Hero Suits

Man. It's one of those days.

Woke up feeling like i'm in the wrong universe...


Well...  At least they're not dolls...


How many sides were on that damn bed?

Now, if you'll excuse me... I've got a corn dog craving that needs to be destroyed...



screens from the wrong world? (Legends Of Tomorrow and Guardians Of The Galaxy)

13 August 2019

Generic Post #1

Standard introductory sentence for Generic Comic Book - Type: Super-Hero Action-Adventure. Published in 1984 by Generic Publisher #2, Generic Comic Book #1 was written and drawn by uncredited generic creators. 


(Note that this was back when generic products first started showing up in supermarkets with similar plain white labels)

Typical semi-obscure revelation as to the writer - Steve Skeates confessed just over a decade ago.



Generic Comic Book (GCB) starred a man. Our hero is an average joe working in a boring office job who one day has a strange encounter with radiation, as had so many before him...



Our hero tries to go about his normal daily life...



...and soon...



That night, he heads out on his first patrol...



His new powers allow him to easily deal with the thugs on the street, but then - his first supervillain shows up...



Left bruised and battered by the encounter, he tries to shake it off and lose himself in his daily routine...



...later, on his way home for the day..



...and that night, he returns to action and finds the thugs he'd beaten previously now serving the villain who took him down...



And so the generic origin of our generic hero comes to a generic end.

page art by generic artists for Generic Comic Book #1 (1984)

12 August 2019

And So Flip Goes Spinning Through Space To Face The Great Unknown!

"Will Flip be forced to mate with the Insect Queen of Mercury?"

When we ended the previous post with that question, you had to know we weren't going to leave it unanswered, right? Let us return to Fantastic Comics for the final two episodes of Don Rico's initial run on Flip Falcon In The Fourth Dimension for the answer -



It's unknown who took over the art chores on Flip. Don returned for a few issues the following year. And he brought Lucifer back with him...

page art by Don Rico from Fantastic Comics #s 7 & 8 (1940)