Ditko's Daring Love!

The debut issue of Daring Love from Gillmor Magazines (a brand under the Stanley Morse operation) hit the stands sometime in the summer of 1953. The cover by Bernard Bailey is a nifty enough item, two healthy people hanging out in the hayloft mere moments from amorous activity probably sold a few copies. But that's not what makes this comic book important. What makes this comic book a humdinger is that it features Steve Ditko's first published comic book work.

Now to be clear, "Paper Romance" was not his first assigned job, but due to circumstances of the somewhat haphazard nature of comic book publishing those pre-code days, this story hit the stands before his first story, a horror yarn that didn't get published until later in a book dated 1954, As it turns out there's little remarkable about this story, and when you read it, I'm pretty sure you're going to guess how it ends. But give it a try at this link. You won't see many romance stories from Steve Ditko. 

Unless you count those fetish pieces he did in conjunction with his longtime studio partner Eric Stanton. Love is a many splendored thing indeed. 

Rip Off

Favorite Heroes Countdown #18 - The Spectre!

The Spectre is one of the few comic book characters who is truly scary. Created by Superman's daddy Jerry Siegel and artist Bernard Bailey in the Golden Age, a time when "heroes" were free to kill and maim in the name of "justice", the Spectre is an angry ghost who takes on crime with a literal vengeance.

Though steps were taken soon after his creation in the pages of More Fun Comics to soften him and make him fit for company of other heroes such as in the pages of All-Star with the budding Justice Society, the Spectre has always been mostly apart.

I knew of the character from his Silver Age series in which Neal Adams kicked up a storm with his amazingly realistic take on the comic book universe, a style well suited to the quasi-horror of the Spectre. I liked it, it was not like any other hero I'd seen and later when the Spectre was...ahem...revived in the pages of Adventure Comics by the talents of writer Michael Fleisher and artist Jim Aparo, the Spectre became a rock-solid favorite. The comic was scary and gruesome and weirdly fascinating. It was one of the great runs of the Bronze Age.

Rip Off

Gil's Man - Agent Under The Sea!

Tower Comics was a bombastic little addition to the glory we celebrate as the Silver Age of Comics. They produced some very handsome and slick books under the THUNDER Agents banner and a few spin-offs there from like NoMan and Dynamo. Alongside the THUNDER Agents was another title which weirdly seemed not to be connected into the same world which Wally Wood and his associates developed, a book titled UNDERSEA Agent. This was yet another spy-like organization like THUNDER but localized in the oceans of the world. The hero of this series was the appropriately named Davy Jones and his sidekick Skooby. These two in the hands of artists like Bernard Bailey and Paul Reinman saved the world from some assorted threats.

Then came the man named Kane, Gil Kane to be exact. Gil Kane was an artist eager to break out of the comic book ghetto and was looking everywhere for opportunities after years turning out competent work for DC on Green Lantern and The Atom and such. When he got his mitts on UNDERSEA Agent the glory that would be Kane was evident.  An IDW collection from a few years ago gathers together Kane's UNDERSEA Agent stories for us all to enjoy, it's slender but fun, fun, fun.

Kane stepped into the series with the third issue (which sported a Mike Sekowsky cover) drawing a script written by Steve Skeates. It was a humdinger, having Davy and Skooby battling a megalomaniac who wanted to control the world's oceans. Exciting pages in a tried and true story. Read it here.

Then in the next issue, number five the thing blew up. Skooby falls under the influence of a potion which transforms him into a giant monster and runs amok. Davy is able to save the day of course after much ado, but you already knew that. To find out for yourself check this link out.

I was much impressed by Kane's monster in this one, a giant beast to hold its own with his finest creations such as the Abomination (Hulk) and Gog (Spider-Man). But I was much reminded of another giant scaly monster, Superman's best buddie Jimmy Olsen.

Gil Kane drew the next issue's lead story written by Gardner Fox in which Davy and Skooby battle aliens bent on conquering the Earth despite their lack of affinity to its salty oceans. They come well armed  though as evidenced by the mighty robot featured on the cover. My favorite detail in this story featuring Skooby is when the latter literally searches Davy Jones' locker, (his actual locker) and finds a secret which moves the story.  For more see this link again.

While the last issue featured a Wally Wood cover and not a Kane one, it nonetheless gave the swan song for the series as in another Fox and Kane offering,  Davy gets jolted with a pill which increases his density making it possible for him to descend to crazy depths. He does just that ending up in a hidden world named Anto which is brimming with delightful technology and lovely females, one in particular named Elysse. It's a tragic tale  of heartbreak, but as we know these doughty heroes soldier on.

(Unused Gil Kane cover for UNDERSEA Agent #4)

That wrapped the series and soon enough after Tower Comics would fall as well, a fondly remembered but failing entry into that fertile time. Gil Kane would move on to loftier ambitions, some of which I'll be mentioning later.

Rip Off

Adventures Inside Earth!

Bruno Premiani

Bernard Bailey

Bernard Bailey

Joe Kubert

Mort Meskin

Lee Elias

Lee Elias

Lee Elias
Is there any prospect that DC will be reprinting these vintage sci-fi adventures of Cave Carson and his brave comrades anytime soon? I'd love to buy a volume full of these very particular journeys into the mysterious realms beneath the planet we live upon. DC has done a few slim Showcase reprints (Eclipso, Bat Lash) and this series seems a very likely candidate. The current move to reprint the Showcase run is laudable, but it will be quite a while before they get around to these stories. And that won't help for the stories in The Brave and the Bold.

With talents like Bruno Premiani, France Herron, Lee Elias, Bob Haney, Jack Miller, Joe Kubert, Bernard Bailey on hand there's all sorts of great reasons to get these stories back into the hands of readers, this reader in particular.

Rip Off

Ghastly Origins!

I'm currently enjoying The Spectre's Silver Age adventures, but to be honest the first time I really "got" the character was when I stumbled across this reprint of his Golden Age origin story from More Fun Comics #54 and #55.

I didn't get Secret Origins regularly, so it must've been the startlingly good Nick Cardy cover art which attracted me. I simply love this cover! The potent narrative in those three distinct panels drives home the essential core of what makes The Spectre tick. He's dead and returned and seems bent on kicking criminal butt. Look at that glare on his pallid mug as he rises out of the water. Ouch! And check out how Cardy uses the implied motions of the water to add to the sense of momentum when the Spectre emerges from his watery tomb.
 

The original covers for these stories are pretty dang effective in their own right. The Bernard Bailey artwork here is spare but offers up a truly creepy and cadaverous rendition of the "Discarnate Detective" as Gardner Fox dubbed him. Those blasts of energy framing his craggy face really makes these covers pop just enough.This feature being in "More Fun Comics" is a bit of hoot for sure.

Rip Off