Reading Room BUCCANEERS "Black Roger and the FireDrake"

Let's rejoin comics' premier Muslim fighter...

...as he once more faces them along the Barbary Coast!

Sadly, the writer and artist for this kool tale from Quality's Buccaneers #23 (1950) are unknown, but their imagination in using anachronistic elements like the "FireDrake" certainly livens up the story with fantastic, but not totally-implausable elements.

Reading Room BUCCANEERS "Black Roger: Beware Treachery, Black Roger!!"

Remember the days when Muslims in comics looked like her?

There're no hijabs here, bunkie!

It's typical Arabian fantasy common to 1930s-50s movies!

This never-reprinted tale from Quality's Buccaneers #22 (1950) follows the tropes established in the Technicolor fantasy films of the period including Arabian Nights, Kismet, and Thief of Bagdad, along with the (at the time) still-popular pirate flicks which ran the gamut from big-budget "A" pics to movie serials.
Despite that, the era of pirate-themed comics like Mutiny, Piracy, Buccaneers, Captain Kidd, etc, was short-lived, beginning and ending in less than three years.
Both the writer and artist of this tale (and the entire Black Roger series) are lost to the mists of time.

Reading Room BUCCANEERS "Black Roger: Power of Lightning!"

Let's return to one of the first Muslim (or Moslem, as they were known then) fighters...

...with a story featuring the least-Muslim pirate you'll ever see!

This tale from Quality's Buccaneers #21 (1950) explains this particular group of pirates, including the scantly-clad Kahena, are from the Eastern city of Khob, so their Asian, rather than Arabic, appearance is, for a change, explained.
When superheroes' popularity waned at the end of World War II, comics looked for other genres to fill the gap.

Taking their cue from movie box office sales, several publishers either premiered new books featuring swashbuckling scoundrels or converted ongoing titles from superheroes to pirates.

While most of the strips were pretty blatant copies of various Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power pirate characters, this strip recombined elements of Captain Blood (Educated professional wrongly-convicted) and Zorro (masked avenger) along with our hero concentrating on a particular class of pirate...Moslems along the Barbary Coast of Africa!

Regrettably, both writer and artist(s) are unknown.

Black Roger appeared in every issue of Buccaneers during its' 9-issue run, never once making the cover (That was reserved for an Errol Flynn/Sea Hawk clone named "Captain Daring".

But you'll be seeing them all on this blog over the next few months.

Watch for them!

Reading Room BUCCANEERS "Black Roger: Straight to the Heart of the Enemy Stronghold!"

Let's return to one of the first Muslim (or Moslem, as they were known then) fighters...

...as he takes on a pirate who, well read for yourself...

You'll note that, in this tale from Quality's Buccaneers #20 (1950) Jaril and his crew look Asian, yet report to an Arabic-looking caliph.
Plus he admits he's not a "true" Moslem.
When superheroes' popularity waned at the end of World War II, comics looked for other genres to fill the gap.

Taking their cue from movie box office sales, several publishers either premiered new books featuring swashbuckling scoundrels or converted ongoing titles from superheroes to pirates.

While most of the strips were pretty blatant copies of various Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power pirate characters, this strip recombined elements of Captain Blood (Educated professional wrongly-convicted) and Zorro (masked avenger) along with our hero concentrating on a particular class of pirate...Moslems along the Barbary Coast of Africa!

Regrettably, both writer and artist(s) are unknown.

Black Roger appeared in every issue of Buccaneers during its'  9-issue run, never once making the cover (That was reserved for an Errol Flynn/Sea Hawk clone named "Captain Daring".

But you'll be seeing them all on this blog over the next few months.

Watch for them!

Reading Room BUCCANEERS "Black Roger: Who He Is and How He Came to Be"

While most movie/comic/pulp pirates battled along the Spanish Main...

...this freebooter set sail for the Barbary Coast!

When superheroes' popularity waned at the end of World War II, comics looked for other genres to fill the gap.

Taking their cue from movie box office sales, several publishers either premiered new books featuring swashbuckling scoundrels or converted ongoing titles from superheroes to pirates.

(In fact, Black Roger's premiere tale is from Quality's Buccaneers #19 (1950), which was the first issue under that title.

It had previously been Kid Eternity!)

While most of the strips were pretty blatant copies of various Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power pirate characters, this strip recombined elements of Captain Blood (Educated professional wrongly-convicted) and Zorro (masked avenger) along with our hero concentrating on a particular class of pirate...Moslem Arabs along the Barbary Coast of Africa!

Oddly, the particular group he battles this time out seem more Asian than Arab, a matter that's corrected in future stories.

Regrettably, both writer and artist(s) are unknown.

Black Roger appeared in every issue of Buccaneers during its'  9-issue run, never once making the cover (That was resereved for an Errol Flynn/Sea Hawk clone named "Captain Daring".

But you'll be seeing them all on this blog over the next few months.

Watch for them!