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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Friday Fun MARGIE COMICS "Elusive Valentine!"

Here's a never-reprinted Valentine's Day treat...

...from almost 80 years ago years ago, featuring a teen humor character from the company that later became Marvel Comics!

Until the mid 1970s when Archie Comics became the sole "teen humor" publisher, every company had several titles with wacky teenage protagonists.
Margie, created/written/illustrated by Morris Weiss was typical of the genre...

• Irresponsible, impulsive teen (of either gender)!
• Usually-clueless object of affection!
• Constantly-irritated parents!
• An annoying younger sibling (usually of the opposite gender to the protagonist)!
• Various eccentric friends!

Initially a backup strip that floated to whatever humor comic needed a 5-6 page filler, she finally got her own title by taking over Timely's Comedy Comics in 1946 as of #35 and holding on to it until #50 in 1950, when the book became Reno Browne: Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
Margie went back to being a floating backup strip for another year before disappearing completely, never to be seen again!
This particular tale (one of the few comic tales I could find with "Valentine's Day" in the title that didn't deal with the famous gang-war massacre!) is from Timely's Margie Comics #37 (1946).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Fun YAK YAK "Romance vs Realism"

Last Friday, we presented the first part of this series about "fiction vs realism"...

...now here's the second, and sadly, final part of the series!

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

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Art of Jack Davis
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Monday Madness CALVIN: Marvel's FORGOTTEN Black Headliner!

The Black Panther was not the first Black Marvel character to get a cover-featured series!

He wasn't even the second!

He was the third!

First was Luke Cage, who received his own title...

...and was the star of his own Netflix series!

Note: Though the series ended, three of the stars have gone on to headline other shows...

Simone Missick (Misty Knight) on All Rise, Mike Colter (Luke Cage) on Evil and Rosario Dawson (Clare Temple/Night Nurse) on Ahsoka!

(BTW, Luke Cage is now available on Disney+!)

The second character was...

WHO???

Several months before Prince T'Challa took over a reprint book, Jungle Action, and began a memorable series that served as part of the plot of the billion-dollar blockbuster movie...

...this character took over another reprint book and began a series that nobody remembers!

But you can read every never-reprinted tale featuring Calvin and his buddies by clicking HERE!

What makes the strip even more fascinating, beyond the vaudeville-level humor, is the identity of the writer-artist behind it!

"Kevin Banks" was not a pseudonym for an already-established creative, but an editorial staffer at Marvel in the early 1970s who received his "big break" with this strip!
Trivia: Kevin was the first (and so far, only) Marvel creator to have a head shot illustration on an on-going series!

Even ever-amazing comics researcher Nick Caputo could find little about the mysterious Mr Banks, as seen HERE.
What did Banks did after working at Marvel?
Did he work in advertising?
Become an art instructor?
Switch careers and become an accountant or fireman?
To date, we don't know!

Do YOU???

Friday Fun YAK YAK "Drama vs Realism"

I'm struck by the disparity of info presented by con and lib media...

...so to keep my spirits up, I decided to run this never-reprinted piece showing the stark difference between how each side portrays a given situation.

I leave it to the reader to decide which (drama or reality) is which (con or lib)...

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

The next (and final issue) had another Drama vs Realism piece.

You'll see that next Friday!

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Art of Jack Davis

Reading Room THIS MAGAZINE IS CRAZY "What Would Happen if Women Laid Eggs?"

As Egg Prices Leap to All-Time Highs, We Dare to Ask...

...utilizing this more-than-slightly misogynistic comic feature from one of the numerous MAD magazine clones published in the 1950s!

This never-reprinted feature from Charlton's short-lived MAD magazine clone This Magazine is Crazy V4N6 (1958) embodies the misogynist mindset that existed in the mainstream until the late 1960s and has recently-experienced a resurgence among Reich-wing/MAGATs!

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Friday Fun HILLBILLY COMICS "Man Who Hated the Moon!"

 Here's a tale of a guy like the good ol' boys who support the disgraced, impeached (yet re-elected) President...

...from a short-lived 1950s title telling their stories!

Yep, these are the people Don da Con and other Republicans play to while decrying the "educated elites".

"Bubbleville', according to Repug Mike Huckabee, represents the big cities of New York, Washington and Hollywood where the educated (but not smart) people live.

"Bubbaville", I guess, is everywhere else in the good ol' USA.

And that's where the "real people" are.

The ones who are smart...without all that fancy book-learnin'. 
The ones we city-folk call "deplorables"!

Written and illustrated by the highly-underrated Art Gates, this never-reprinted piece from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #1 (1955) shows the "wisdom" the Cheeto Benito's audience is famous for!

Frigid Friday Fun ARRGH! "Beauty and the Bigfoot!"

As the Deep Freeze continues...

Art by Marie Severin and Alfredo Alcala

...lets look at a half-century old, never-reprinted tale about someone who actually enjoys this sort of weather!

Written by Don Glut, penciled by Mike Sekowsky, and inked by Mike Vosburg, this story about the legendary Sasquatch appeared in Marvel's Arrgh! #3 (1974) as a new surge of interest in the creature swept America.
Most older pop culture fans remember that a Sasquatch/Bigfoot appeared several times on both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (including a two-part crossover), played initially by pro wrestler/actor Andre the Giant, and later by Ted (Lurch) Cassidy!
This particular Bigfoot was an alien-created cyborg in a plotline that combined the twin 1970s fads of Bigfoot and Chariots of the Gods!

It was also one of three "enemy" figures released (as "Bionic Bigfoot: the Sasquatch Beast") in Kenner's Six Million Dollasr Man/Bionic Woman action figure series! (The others were a Fembot and Maskatron/Mr X!