Space Force Saturdays ATOM-AGE COMBAT "Sky Diver"

Though this 1950s Comic Usually Presented Future Atomic War Between Countries...

...it did present a couple of alien invasion tales during it's brief run!

Scripted by an unknown writer, penciled by Bob Brown and inked by Lew Gantz, this never-reprinted story from St John's Atom-Age Combat #5 (1952) was typical of the "Hell, we can handle any damn invaders!" attitude we Americans had back in the day!

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Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

Friday Fun / Baker Reading Room CANTEEN KATE vs The Comics Code Authority!

Besides Romance Comics and Scantily-Clad Heroines like Phantom Lady & Rulah... 

...pioneering Black comic book artist Matt Baker also did a military humor strip featuring (what else) a scantly-clad, beautiful WAC (Womens' Army Corps) officer assigned to run a canteen at a US military base not far from the front lines in Korea!

(She actually encountered North Koreans in a couple of tales)

The following, "Foxhole Floozie", appeared in St John's Fightin' Marines #7 (1952), where Kate's strip appeared in almost every issue from #2 to #12...while she also had her own comic book!

Straightforward, fun story with a little harmless cheesecake thrown in, illustrated by a master of the craft!

However...

When Charlton Comics bought out St John Publishing's inventory and began reprinting it, the brand-new Comics Code Authority literally got its' panties in a bunch, insisting on some ridiculous changes in the retelling of this tale in Charlton's Fightin' Marines #17 (1956)

Start with putting a bra/bathing suit top on Kate, and putting a boulder over her shapely legs in the opening panel and removing the story's title "Foxhole Floozie"!

Plus, throughout the tale, her tasteful shorts are replaced with mid-calf length Capri pants, and there's an olive-drab t-shirt under her uniform shirt, covering her cleavage!

One additional point...

Usually, when Charlton, Avon, and other publishers modified previously-published art to conform to the Comic Code's demands, they usually did it only to the black plate art, but, to save money, not to the existing cyan, magenta, and yellow plates!
Here, the reprint is totally-recolored!
Plus the retouching is so clean that it looks like the original artist, Matt Baker did it himself!
Did Charlton have the original art along with photostats and photo negatives, and asked Baker (who was doing freelance work for Charlton) do the reworking himself?
In truth, it's the sort of thing I'd expect editor Dick Giordano to do!

But, sadly, we'll never know the answer, since all involved parties are no longer on this mortal coil!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Space Hero Saturdays WHACK "Flush Jordan"

Yes, it's a Flash Gordon spoof...

..but it has a cultural reference readers under 50 won't recognize!

Ming the Merciless usually looks like this...

...so who's "Bing", the golf-playing guy in the Hawaiian shirt and porkpie hat?

He's Bing Crosby, singer, comedian, obsessive golfer, and (when this comic was published) a pop culture icon!

With that in mind, please read...

The guy at the end, whining about "Thanks for the Memory" is comedian Bob Hope...

...Bing's co-star/rival in the 1940s-50s "Road to..." movie series as well as a pop culture legend in his own right!

Note: Thanks for the Memory" was Hope's personal theme song, used primarily to close his radio show, live appearances, and TV specials!

This never-reprinted story from #2 of St John's MAD clone WHACK was illustrated by William Overgard for 3-D use, but the collapse of the 3-D comic market forced St John to publish it in regular color comic format!

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Sincerest Form of Parody
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CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST "Premiere"

Here's the first appearance of a comics legend (over 100 comic series with his name in the title)...

...who, at the time this came out, was already an animation mainstay!

Utilizing story elements from Casper's first cartoon (1945's Paramount NovelToon "The Friendly Ghost", written by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo) this opener written by Isadore Klien and likely illustrated by one of the cartoon series' animators appeared in St John's Casper the Friendly Ghost #1 (1949)

Interestingly, though Harvey Comics acquired the character rights from Paramount Pictures and continued the series after St John went out of business, they never reprinted the covers or stories of the five issues by St John!

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Casper the Friendly Ghost

60th Anniversary Special

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Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO "Money-Mad"

We've covered the Golden Age comic book adventures of the multi-media superstars HERE, HERE, and HERE...

...now we continue with Lou in a situation which all of us can sympathize with!

Though the scripter is unknown, the art for this tale from St John's Abbott & Costello Comics #8 (1949) is clearly by the team of Lily Renee and and her husband, Erik Peters.

It was reprinted once, in 1955, and hasn't been seen since!
We felt almost 75 years was too long a period to keep this from Lily Renee admirers, Abbott and Costello fans, comic book afficionados, and any combination of them!

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Abbott & Costello Story

Sixty Years of "Who's on First?"