Monday Madness HICKORY "Dewey Drip and the Bar"

Here's a strip that'll appeal to the intellect (such as it is) of Don the Con's rural con "audience"!

This one-page filler, created, written and illustrated by John Devlin, appeared in most issues of Quality's Police Comics, beginning with #1 in 1940.

It also popped up in Crack Comics and Plastic Man whenever a one-pager was needed.

This short in Quality's Hickory Comics #1 (1949) was the strip's final appearance.

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Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp

Space Hero Saturdays BLACKHAWK "Battle on the Moon"

Since today is Veterans Day, let's look at the post-war adventures of a team of WWII vets...

...as these Commie-crushing Russkie-Smashers fight for freedom everywhere on Earth...and beyond!

BTW, note the Blackhawks don't walk around the airless vacuum on the Moon's surface in the story itself wearing just their leather uniforms with helmets!
(Nor does the leggy Russkie woman wear just her shorts!)

Though the writer of this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Modern Comics #99 (1950) is unknown, it's illustrated by penciller John Forte and inker Chuck Cuidera.
The "Dark Knights", as they're often referred to, went whole-heartedly after Russkie and Chinese Communists during the post-World War II days of their Quality Comics run.
But, when the characters continued at DC after Quality closed up shop, other opponents like mad scientists, aliens, and the occasional ex-Nazi, took center stage, along with newly-created super villains until the middle-aged aviators became superheroes/spies in the Swinging '60s as shown

 HERE!

(You truly have to see it to believe it!)

Trivia: John Forte is better-known to present-day comics readers as the primary artist on the first few years of The Legion of Super-Heroes' run in Adventure Comics, while Blackhawk co-creator Chuck Cuidera remained on the strip after DC took it over, almost to the very end of the Silver Age run!
Plus, Cuidera inked Dick Dillin (who penciled almost all the DC Blackhawk stories) on Dillin's Hawkman run after Blackhawk was cancelled!
And, in an ironic turn, that the Blackhawks adopted uniforms surprisingly-similar to the Russkies' outfits in this story when they entered a "scientific adventurer" phase in the early 1960s...

..yet nobody noticed!
(Of course it was over a decade later...)

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Blackhawk

by William Rotsler
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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 HICKORY "Reel Life"

With Ron DeSantis' war on Disney now costing Florida over a billion (with a B") dollars...

...in business development and taxes, let's look at how ReichWing rural Repugs like his followers see the media in this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Hickory #6 (1949)!

Illustrated (and probably written) by Harry Sahle, this comic series began in the 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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Atomic Kommie Comics

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Best of Li'l Abner

by Al Capp

Friday Fun CALLING ALL KIDS "Pug and Curly Find Someone to Scare"

Though not quite as weird as their book-mate Twinkle...

...anthropomorphic squirrels Pug and Curly were even more long-lived, running for the entire existence of Calling All Kids from #1 to 26!

This tale, BTW, was from the same book as last week's Twinkle story, Parent Magazine Press' Calling All Kids #13 (1947).

Friday Fun CALLING ALL KIDS "Twinkle...Helps on Halloween"

Here's a character you've likely never heard of....

...in a tale from Parents Magazine Press' Calling All Kids #13 (1947).

And, yes, he's an actual star, like our own Sun, except he's now manifesting as a humanoid with limited mystical abilities.

Just go with that...

Debuting in the second issue of Calling All Kids, Twinkle not only ran for the remainder of the book's existence, but was reprinted in the same publisher's Childrens' Digest and Humpty Dumpty Magazine in the 1950s and 60s!
Once the Halloween season is over, we'll re-present his "origin" story!
BTW, despite the indicia above saying Quality Comics was a subsidiary of Parents Magazine Press, it wasn't.
Quality was only the editorial content packager and printing agent for Parents' comic book line, nothing more.

Haunted House Reading Room TORCHY "Haunted House Party"

We end this week's Haunted House Reading Room-fest with one of the most popular...

..and politically-incorrect female characters of the Golden Age!

Torchy Todd wasn't quite a stereotypical blonde bombshell!
She did have a brain, and could extricate herself from most situations!
But her main attribute was how often she could end up in "cheesecake" poses, usually showing off her legs!
Created by noted good-girl writer/artist Bill Ward, Torchy had a long career during the Golden Age as a back-up strip in Quality's Modern Comics, Doll Man Quarterly, and her own 10-issue title!
Eventually, Ward moved away from the strip and others (including Gill Fox, who wrote and illustrated this never-reprinted tale from Modern Comics #98 [1950]) tried to fill his high-heeled shoes!

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Glamour Girls of Bill Ward

PG-13/NO Nudity