NOTES - JUNE 2025

Letters to the Editor: 

I rag on Novelty Press and their horrible and possibly fictional readership every chance I get, but I think I need to start presenting the letters they print in their comics so that I have some evidence to back up my grumbling. Here's Clarence Pool of Seattle Washington advocating for the nice sensible adventures of an Army Air Force cadet who manages to foil a Fifth Column plot ever week over the exploits of a magic robot. (Target Comics v1 011, 1940)

Skeletons with Jobs: 

Driver is a job, certainly. Onto the pile! (The Funnies 047, 1940) 

Honours: 

Mickey Kelly, sidekick to swashbuckling newsreel cameraman Speed Martin, gets a medal from the French Army for foiling a spy. (The Funnies 048, 1940)

Two issues later Mickey Riley (they forgot that he already had a last name, it seems) is decorated by the British for saving Gibraltar from the Axis. (The Funnies 050, 1940)

Heroes Going to Costume Parties as Themselves: 

Brenda Banks attends the Grand Costume Ball as Lady Luck, in an attempt to save a life. (The Spirit Section, "The Cinderella Murder Case", 28 July, 1940)

Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects: 

Sure, the Spirit has just confessed to a murder he did not commit for complicated reasons, but forgive me if I don't agree with Mayor Aldrich here that that means that Commissioner Dolan has free license to shoot him in the back. (The Spirit "Eldas Thayer", 21 July, 1940)