Friday Fun / Baker Reading Room MGM's LASSIE "Down to the Sea"

As a dog owner, I say, there's nothing more fun than a playful dog!

Especially one who can do almost anything, except administer CPR!

Note: the b/w page is the comic's inside back cover, which was usually b/w or two-color.
The last page is the comic's back cover!

After the last movie in the original series came out in 1951, the comic continued, with Lassie linked to new humans, including photographer Rocky Langford and his girlfriend Gerry Lawrence on their trip to South America!

Penciled by Matt Baker and inked by long-time artistic partner Ray Osrin (who inked, among other Baker stories, It Rhymes with Lust), this tale from Dell's MGM's Lassie #20 (1955) is from the first issue of Matt's three-issue tenure as the feature's primary artist.

The writer is unknown.

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Matt Baker

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Baker Reading Room: VOODAH "Monster Fish"

One of the first Lords of the Jungle was Black...

...and illustrated by a Black artist, specifically the legendary Matt Baker!

Illustrated by Matt Baker (who most fans know was one of the premiere Good Girl artists of the '40s-'50s, but don't know was one of the few African-American comic artists of the era), the idea of a non-White jungle hero seems obvious today, but was extremely-daring in the 1940s!

In fact, it was so daring that Voodah slowly became paler over the next few issues, eventually becoming just another White guy bossing the locals around!

Compare Voodah here with his first appearance in the previous issue of McCombs' Crown Comics HERE!

BTW, the "Clarence Ramon" credit at top is a house pseudonym.

Baker is the artist.

The writer is unknown.

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Jackie Robinson Comics Covers

With Spring Training for Baseball Season in Full Swing...

...here's a bunch of serious collectibles!
Not baseball cards, but baseball comics!

These are the covers of the never-reprinted series that ran from 1949 to 1952 about the exploits of legendary player Jackie Robinson!

Not only was he Rookie of the Year, National League MVP, National League Batting Champion, two-time National League Base-Stealing Champion, a six-time All-Star, and a Baseball Hall of Famer (as if that wasn't enough)...

...he was also the man who made history in 1947 as the first Black player in the major leagues!

He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 through 1956 before retiring due to the effects of diabetes on his performance.

 

During that period, this series from Fawcett Comics came out each summer and fall from 1949 through 1952.
Besides being sold in newsstands and candy stores, it was also sold at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn where the Dodgers played home games.
Trivia: Babe Ruth was the only baseball player to have a longer-running comic than Robinson, but his mag, Babe Ruth Sports Comics was an anthology covering numerous sports with Babe himself appearing in only one story per issue for 11 issues!

There was a 1950 movie about Jackie, The Jackie Robinson Story, where he played himself (as an adult)!
In 2013, Chadwick (Black Panther) Boseman superbly-portrayed Jackie in the movie 42: the Jackie Robinson Story!

To this day, Jackie Robinson is remembered as one of the greatest players in baseball history!

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42: The Jackie Robinson Story

(BioPic starring Chadwick [Black Panther] Boseman)

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Space Hero Saturdays OUTER SPACE "Blueprint for Survival"

Sometimes a Space Hero is just an ordinary guy...

...or someone extraordinary pretending to be ordinary!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Outer Space #21 (1959) follows the standard convention of movie/TV sci-fi of the era with friendly aliens who look perfectly human, but dress better (or at least more futuristically than us!
Written by Joe Gill, penciled by Matt Baker, inked by Vince Colletta.

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Baker Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Fall Guy"

Despite Being Published in a Comic Called Outer Space... 

...this is a totally Earth-bound story, until...

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

Written by Joe Gill, pencilled by Matt Baker, and inked by Vince Colletta, thie never-reprinted story from Charlton's Outer Space #24 (1959) takes the whole "fraternity hazing" mindset, and tosses it in the trash where it belongs!

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Baker Reading Room CROWN COMICS Voodah in "Justice of the Jungle!"

When you hear the phrase "Lord of the Jungle", you visualize Tarzan or Thun'da...

...or some other White guy.

But, during the Golden Age of Comics, one such jungle lord was Black!

Debuting in Golfing/McCombs' anthology Crown Comics #3 (1945), Voodah was the first Black hero in comic books.

Illustrated by Matt Baker (who most fans know was one of the premiere Good Girl artists of the '40s-'50s, but don't know that he was one of the few African-American comic artists of the era), the idea of a non-White jungle hero seems obvious today, but was extremely-daring in the 1940s!
In fact, it was so daring that Voodah became paler, eventually becoming just another White guy bossing the locals around!
But, before he went White, Voodah had some kool adventures, including battling a dinosaur single-handed!

You'll see a couple more of them before the end of the month!

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Monday Madness OUT OF THIS WORLD "Xondu the Eternal"

A never-reprinted 1950s sci-fi tale by legendary Black artist Matt Baker...

..with a Twilight Zone-style twist ending!

OK, it's more a "Third from the Sun" than "To Serve Man" ending, but still, it's fairly effective!

(And kudos to those who didn't have to click on the links to understand what I was talking about!)

Penciled by Matt Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #15 (1959) unfortunately suffers from both Colletta's rushed inking and the poor printing Charlton was notorious for.

(Unlike other comics companies, Charlton had their own printing press, which had been designed for packaging...including breakfast cereal boxes...not newsprint!)

The writer is unknown, but many believe it to be Joe Gill, who was rapidly making a name for himself with an impressive, and varied, body of work.
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He's also our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!

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Matt Baker

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