MEDIA IN COMICS 010

Is the media in comics any good, do you think? Do super-heroes get to watch good movies?

Movies:

Arizona Nights is a Western being produced by King Studios when a climactic gunfight scene is used as cover for a real-life murder. Detective Sergeant Carey clears up the mystery (it was the cameraman) but we never learn if the footage of a man dying in real life was used for the added verisimilitude. (More Fun Comics 052, 1940)

Call of the North, a Mounted Police picture by Pioneer Films, is not marred by murder, but if the Quality Universe IMDb userbase is on the ball the trivia section for the movie includes the fact that several of the mountie actors were used as backup by RCMP Sergeant Reynolds in the apprehension of a kidnapper. (Feature Comics 037, 1940)

Dread Castle has a place in comic book history as the film that drove Basil Karlo over the edge and into the persona of Clayface, as he saw the attempt to remake a movie that he saw as one of his greatest roles as an insult to him personally. Both Dread Castles are medieval films about a murderous hunchback called the Terror - not a terribly exciting prospect without the excitement of all the real-life murder that went on during production of the second one. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

The other Basil Karlo role that we learn about in his initial appearance is the one that he takes his criminal moniker and appearance from, a movie seemingly also called Clayface. (Detective Comics v1 040, 1940)

Music:

Is "Star Dust" Clark Kent's favourite song as he claims it is while big-dogging this club maître d'? I sure hope so. No idea what kind of song it is, but you can slow dance to it. (Superman Comics v1 007, 1940)

Newspaper Columns:

"Town Talk" is the kind of snotty gossip column that inspired a thousand murder mystery plots. In this case, columnist Walt Willard turns up dead and Steel Sterling has to comb through the wealth of suspects to figure out whodunnit. (Jackpot Comics 004, 1941)

"Around the Town with Joe E. Brown" is your standard gossip column-as-exposition-vector, though why the writer has the same name as an old-time film comedian is unknown to me. (Special Edition Comics 001, 1940)

Paul Pryer, writer of the imaginatively-titled "Paul Pryer's Column" is one of those comic book celebrities who I am certain is based on a real person, but whether it's just someone like Walt Winchell or there's a Paul Prowler out there just waiting for me to learn about him is up to chance. (All-Star Comics 003, 1940) 

Meanwhile: "Society," the most pragmatically-named society column of all time. (Batman Comics v1 001, 1940)

We don't get to actually see "Tom Peeping's Column" in this Minute Movies strip, but I like to imagine that it features a cheeky little cartoon of the writer with big binoculars at the top. (Flash Comics 004, 1940)

Newsreels:

I don't know enough about newsreels to know if they normally had titles, but the Ace Films company is trying to capitalize on their beautiful camerawoman "Dot Daring," aka Beautia Sivana and so chooses to call this one Flirting with Death. (Whiz Comics 010, 1940)

MEDIA IN COMICS 009

I hope you like media from comics, because I certainly do and I am going to keep doing these.

Comics:

Bullied bootblack Timothy Smith just wants to buy a comic book with his last nickel and he has a whole selection of Fox Features titles to choose from, but what draws his eye is a book called The Land of Magic, a comic so fantastical and majestical that he wishes himself away to live inside its pages the next time he gets beaten up. (Green Mask v1 007, 1941)

We never actually see the Colossal Guy comic book, but this Colossal Guy superfan is evidence enough that he is a character with get-up and go. Enough to inspire Captain Bruce Blackburn to invent his alter ego of the Destroying Demon, in fact. (Feature Comics 039, 1940)

"Ripley's Believe it or Not" had enough cultural caché in its time that there are innumerable plays on it in comics, just as there were imitators in real life. These mostly differ by how successful a play on the name they have: "Don't You Doubt It," as consulted by Eve Colby as part of one of Spy Smasher's cases, is about average. (Whiz Comics 005, 1940)

Magazines:

I have a lot of affection for the concept behind Jim Dolan, two-fisted magazine editor, who solves crimes and then writes about them for Daring Detective Magazine. The magazine itself is fine. (Slam-Bang Comics 001, 1940)

Movies:

We never learn more about The Big Snatch other than that it is a mystery thriller. The big joke here is of course that the star of the film is comics creator Joe Devlin. (Smash Comics 014, 1940)

Likewise, we never learn much about the Western Hearts of the Range other than the fact that it starred the blowhard Sheriff O'Toole. (All-American Comics 021, 1940)

Melody of 1941 here is likely a play on Broadway Melody of 1940 and as such a musical, and stars a couple of classic mixed-up name actors in Tyrone Taylor (Tyrone Power/ Robert Taylor) and Myrna Rogers (Myrna Loy/ Ginger Rogers). (Detective Comics v1 046 1940)

We have no information at all about Old Bill. It has a pretty big premiere for a movie with such a drab name, so it must have something going for it. (Action Comics v1 028, 1940)

Oriental Horror is the name of the hit movie that made Barry Moore's name just before he quit acting, moved back to Center City to become a police scientist and adopted the identity of the Scarlet Seal based on the yellowface character he played in the movie. I would venture a guess that the film is not considered an enduring classic in the present day DC Universe. (Smash Comics 016, 1940)

She Made Him Love Her! is the name of a romantic movie attended by Sisty and Dinky, aka the daughter of the future Red Tornado and the brother of teen cartoonist Scribbly, aka the future Cyclone Kids, after the former falls in undying love with the latter. And to be fair to her the duo are canonicall later married, so this is a proven tactic. Eventually.

The movie itself might be loosely based on the film They Knew What They Wanted, or I might be grasping at straws. (All-American Comics 012, 1940)

MEDIA IN COMICS 008

We're not out of the extremely crusty scan woods yet, but the media of comics must be recorded, folks. Hang in there.

Books:

When Diamond Jack defeats his early foe the Witch and transforms her book of magic into 1000 Ways to Cook Spinach, there is one big unanswered question: did this spinach cookbook already exist or did his ring magically compile 1000 recipes on its own? (Slam-Bang Comics 001, 1940)

Early Batman foe the Wolf, meanwhile, got his start after suffering a head trauma and fixating on the crime thriller he was reading, titled The Crime Master. (Batman Comics v1 002, 1940)

Human Knowledge, a book compiled by the sinister Professor Universe that contains "every fact known to man" is used by Slaughter Slade to imbue his assistant Dr Allirog with the mind of a human genius. (Special Edition Comics 001, 1940)

Usually when you hear about a reclusive scholar writing a book about how "sinister persons or forces plan to deliberately stave off the return of national prosperity" you're in for some paranoid fascist rantings, but in this case it's the early 40s, so the sinister forces discussed in Prosperity's Foe *are* the fascists. (Superman Comics 004, 1940)

Wretched Marine character Strut Warren attempts to peddle a book called The Jolly Homemakers' Manual around Bali in an attempt to win a prize, a typically tiresome adventure for the character. (Fight Comics 016, 1941)

When a mysterious virus called the Purple Plague starts ravaging Metropolis, Clark Kent and his pal Professor Henry Travers his the library to research a historical instance of the same disease, in a book also called The Purple Plague. It turns out that the Ultra Humanite had also checked out the same book and that it had given him the idea to unleash the modern plague in imitation of the original. (Action Comics v1 019, 1939)

Movies:

Air Circus is a airplane stunt-heavy film that is plagued by accidents while filming until pilot Gary Hawkes gets involved and exposes the scheming director's plot to scuttle the production and then turn a quick buck by buying up the incomplete footage. (More Fun Comics 039, 1939)

Its the same old story: a film called The General's Daughter shoots some scenes at the Army installation where Skip Schuyler works, there's a series of incidents and then Skip has to save the day. Not too sure what the movie is supposed to be about. (Adventure Comics 043, 1939)

It may be the crustiest and crunchiest lowest quality scan here, but Public Enemy #13 is a pretty fun name for a movie and I think that that makes up for it, at least a little. (More Fun Comics 040, 1939)

Newspaper Columns:

"Around the Avenue" is one of those old-school society gossip columns that they used to have in papers, and while Rennie McCavoy here is playing into Wesley Dodds' hands by writing him up as a wild party dude/ potential victim for the story's villain, it's hard to respect the journalistic effort involved in seeing a guy being quietly drunk at a nightclub and pouncing on him like this. (Adventure Comics 044, 1939)

CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 001

Among the many things that I have found interesting enough to keep track of over the years is just how many times super-heroes get wounded while going about their business. What does a shoulder look like after it's been shot a dozen times, for example? If I had been really on the ball I would have also been noting every time someone was knocked out with a blow to the head as well, but we can't all be perfect.

Full catalogue here, such as it is. 

the Angel:

The Angel chars his own hands at least a bit while escaping from some ropes. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 008, 1940) 

The Angel is wounded and probably shot while escaping from an ambush by the Cat's Paw's men (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 019, 1941)

Batman:

Batman is shot in the left shoulder during an altercation with the Wolf's men. (Batman Comics v1 002, 1940)

Shot in the right shoulder by a fleeing crook. (Batman Comics v1 004, 1940)

While attacking a criminal hideout in a berserker rage, Batman is shot twice in the right shoulder and has a bullet glance off his ribs. (Batman Comics v1 005, 1941)

Pirate Hook Morgan slashes Batman across the chest and hooks him in the left shoulder. (Detective Comics v1 054, 1941)

Black Condor: 

Black Condor is shot in the back by the Sapphire King's men. (Crack Comics 005, 1940)

Blackhawk:

Blackhawk's arm is non-specifically injured after an attack on Blackhawk Island. (Military Comics 001, 1941)

the Deacon:

The Deacon is shot in the right arm by the cops. (Cat-Man Comics 001, 1941) 

Robin:

Robin is beaten nearly to death by some gangsters (triggering Batman's berserker attack above). (Batman Comics v1 005, 1941)