06 May 2020

Follow-Up Follies

Just like the title says, today we're doing some follow-ups on previous posts. Maybe even grab at a dangling thread or two in passing. The first of which goes back to The Spider Widow from Frank Borth.

When we were looking at her, i said we'd come back to see when Spider Widow met Spider-Man. You might not have waited as long as some of those mentioned upcoming posts, but it's been more than plenty long enough...



Oh, come on! You knew it wasn't that Spider-Man since Pete didn't get bit for another couple decades. 

Let's jump to more recent posts now with the second Un-Comic featuring Captain Marvel And The Lieutenants Of Safety. As teased last time, in this one we face the dangers of Climbing!


Our second second is the next strip in the series featuring the original Hank And Lank, by Frank Thomas, in which the Sooper Sweeps decide to join the Army...


One more Hank And Lank, Sooper Sweeps strip remains.

Bonus Sorta Follow-Up:
Here's a strip that got squeezed out by time and circumstance when we looked at Champ Comics. The writer and artist are unknown -


Proof that a child could do a better job than what we have now?

(BTW - If you notice any tags missing from this post, it's because blogger limits the total number of characters to 200, but flat refuses to tell you how many you're currently using so it's nigh impossible to correct without just randomly throwing some out. I really wish they had somebody who uses the system doing the design work. Especially since they always ignore any feedback, questions, or suggestions.)


page art by Frank Borth, C.C. Beck, Frank Thomas and ??? from Feature Comics #66, Champ Comics #23, Camp Comics #2, and Captain Marvel And The Lieutenants Of Safety #2 (1942, 1943, 1950)

05 May 2020

Cleaning Up With Hank And Lank

Last week we saw one of the most unusual superhero characters of all time, The Eye, from Frank Thomas.
As you may recall, yesterday we were on our way to visit Camp Comics when we got distracted en route. 
Once we did finally arrive at Camp, much to our delight did we find another very odd superhero creation from Mr. Thomas. Meet Hank And Lank -


Hank and Lank not only appeared in all three issues of Camp Comics, they appeared in about 3 dozen more comics in short (0.5-1 page) tales. Only, they weren't themselves any more after the original trilogy. 

Not even when Harvey Kurtzman was drawing them.

BTW - there are plenty of reasons for us to dig deeper into those three issues, like Dave Berg... 


...not just more Hank and Lank.

page art by Frank Thomas from Camp Comics #1 (1942)

04 May 2020

Lost On The Way To Camp

Well, i was headed on over to Camp Comics, which we saw in the recent quiz, to take a look inside.

Didn't make it. 

I got a little lost on the way and wound up at Champ Comics instead. As it turned out, there was a bit of overlap in theme between the two books. Champ featured military strips like Daffy Drafty from Art Helfant...


...and "K.P." Jones by Arthur Beeman...
 
 
The book also featured characters fighting World War II, either overseas or on the home front, like the Liberty Lads and the Twinkle Twins, as well as a few superhero types including the Human Meteor, Doctor Miracle, and the eponymous Champ.

And then there were strange ones that dwelt in the fringes, like Slim Jim and the Force. (Sorry Jedi-wannabes - we're talking Military Force, not 'religious mumbo jumbo' and most certainly not sillychlorian content.)
 


They even had one of those boy genius strips, Billy Brains, by someone we more often see over on the 1940s Funny Animalphabet*, Victor Pazmiño -


For a cool little find, we've got an odd character from Frank Borth - Moppo The Marionette -
 

Yes, even Borth wasn't immune to the cultural depredations of the time. (And you can be sure the same holds true for today's creators when viewed from the future)

The final half dozen issues of Champ Comics had another feature of particular interest to us - a strip from Ed Wheelan, the creator of Minute Movies, a parody adventure series featuring the great detective Padlock Homes and Watzis -
 

All in all, i wonder if perhaps i should get lost more often?

page art by Frank Borth, Ed Wheelan, Victor Pazmiño, Art Helfant, Arthur Beeman, Armstrong, and ??? from Champ Comics #s 19, 22, 23, & 25 (1942, 1943)

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*(Yes, i do plan to update again, when the ol' peripatetic mind can be herded back that way again)