Merry Christmas

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...

...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.

Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly.

(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)

Any suggestions?

Merry Christmas to All!

And Now, a Note from Santa Himself...

...from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

See you tomorrow with a long-unseen cover by a comics legend!

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Peril on Venus!"

Alien "space raider" Jagga had already encountered (and lost to) Earth's greatest defender, Captain Midnight...

...now the Sovereign of the Spaceways is about to encounter the Scoundrel of Space again!

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Writer Otto Binder and artist Leonard Frank continue the battle with Jagga (who's gone from Caucasian skin-tone to grey in his second appearance) in this tale from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #53 (1947).

He'll turn green (though not with envy) in later appearances!

Note that the then-current science of 1947 theorized Venus might, in fact, be habitable.
The idea that Atlanteans would've migrated there centuries earlier, when their continent sank beneath the waves, was unique.

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Captain Midnight Archives

Volume 2

Captain Midnight Saves the World!
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Frightening Friday Fun CALLING ALL KIDS "Pug and Curly Find Someone to Scare"

In comics, even anthropomorphic squirrels celebrate Halloween...

...as shown in this never-reprinted feature from Parents Magazine Press' Calling All Kids #13 (1947)!

Pug and Curly were an ongoing feature in Calling All Kids, appearing in 23 of the title's 26 issues.

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Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus

#1 Scary Tales and Scarier Tentacles

Reading Room AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES "Ghost Story"

Here's a never-reprinted 1950s tale...

... that's both about law enforcement and justice from beyond the grave!

You may note the Joe Maneely-illustrated cover doesn't really match the Bill Everett-rendered tale from Atlas' Amazing Detective Cases #13 (1952)

There are several possible reasons for that.

1) the cover and interior art were done at two different points in time, sometimes months apart!

2) The cover artist didn't have copies of the interior pages as visual reference, only plot descriptions from the editor!
3) the cover was done before the interior art as a "springboard" and the actual writer/artist(s) made changes when they were creating the story!
All three of these reasons could (and did) apply to Atlas Comics' books if the story's artist didn't do the cover...as was the case most of the time!

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Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped
A Crime Does Not Pay Primer

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "versus the Space Raider!"

Our intrepid aviator-turned-astronaut faces his first interplanetary foe...

...in this never-reprinted story from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #52 (1947)!

Oh, you can bet on it, Cap!

Scripted by noted pulp and comic author Otto Binder, and illustrated by Leonard Frank, this was the first of several encounters with Jagga, who seemed able to change his skin color in each tale, likely due to colorists not being given reference of the character's previous appearances!

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Captain Midnight Archives

Volume 2

Captain Midnight Saves the World!
(Which doesn't include this story!)

Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "Return to Mars"

We Have Already Seen...

...now that you're caught up, watch as, unarmed and with Adele by his side, Flick prepares for another journey.

Writer-penciler Don Rico's wild imagination goes full-speed, combining science fiction and fantasy elements with equal aplomb in this never-reprinted tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #2 (1940).

It's interesting to note the three-armed slavers introduced last time aren't native to Mars, as Flick thought...though no mention is made about whether the giants they control are Martians or not. 

Also, rather odd for a kids' story, is the fact that sexual attraction can be used to break the alien slavers' control!

Inker Claire Moe (who usually scripted, penciled and inked her own material for Fox, Centaur, and Novelty), helped out probably due to a tight deadline.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Friday Fun DOLL MAN QUARTERLY "Torchy"

Here's the premiere tale of one of the best-known "good girl art" comic strips of the Golden Age...

...which according to the Grand Comics Database, has (surprisingly) never been reprinted!

From this debut in Quality's Doll Man Quarterly #8 (1946) onward, writer/artist Bill Ward's Torchy kept gaining fans with each appearance, continuing in Doll Man until the book's cancellation as of #47 in 1953 as well as simultaneously branching out into Modern Comics from #53 (1946) to #102 (1950) and a six-issue run of her own self-named comic in 1949-50!
The strip established Ward, who had been doing work in every genre, solidly as a "good girl" artist, which he utilized when the comics business collapsed in the mid-1950s to get assignments from men's magazines.

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Torchy #0

(which, despite the misleading cover featuring a "modern" interpretaion of Torchy, features a strip by Bill Ward detailing how the Torchy series was created!)

Friday Fun HICKORY "Irrigation Irritation"

Let's have a look at how some creatives see twice-impeached/thrice indicted Don (the Con) Trump's "deplorables"...

...in this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Hickory #1 (1949)

Illustrated (and probably written) by Harry Sahle, this strip began in Hillman Comics' anthology All-Humor Comics, then spun-off into it's own, short-lived, title when All-Humor was cancelled.

In 1948-49, superheroes were all but kaput.

Comics were experimenting with every genre imaginable to see what would sell.

Li'l Abner was a major success in newspapers and had already spawned a radio series and feature film!

Strips like Looie Lazybones had long been a part of anthology titles, and series like Ozark Ike, and Babe had earned their own titles, though it was probably due more to their emphasis on the characters' involvement in sports than their rural origins.

Hickory the comic only lasted six issues.

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Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp

Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO "Biscuit Eater"

They were one of the top comedy acts in every existing media of the 1940s/50s including comic books...

...with simple but effective storylines, almost always leading up to a satisfying, entertaining conclusion!

This tale from St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #8 (1949) certainly wouldn't have been out of place on their 1950s TV series...if they had the budget to pull off either animal costuming or trained animals (which the low-budget series rarely did).
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Abbott & Costello Story
Sixty Years of "Who's on First?"