Sweetheart Diary - Nurses In Love!

Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love featured some utterly fantastic covers by the late great Dick Giordano. The debut cover above is gorgeous.

This Charlton comic was originally titled Sweetheart Diary, and Cynthia Doyle appeared in the "final issue" of that mag before the rebranding. This cover was by the journeyman duo of Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia.

The series ended after nine issues, but all of them promised not only heart-rending drama, but some fair bit of action to boot. Below is a recreation of the sixty-ninth issue by Giordano himself.

To read the story behind this striking cover check out this link.

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Sunday Of Stone - Turok Volume One!

Much to surprise of many at the time I'd suspect, Turok Son of Stone published first by Dell Comics and later by Gold Key when Dell and Western Printing went their separate ways, lasted from 1956 until 1981, when Gold Key itself gave way to the strains of meager newsstand sales. In those many years Turok and his able ally Andar struggled for survival in the "Lost Valley" a remote territory beneath the Earth's surface (sort of) which was teeming with creatures from bygone eras. But of those creatures which included man, it was the sundry and exceedingly dangerous dinosaurs which dominated the fight to live both in the valley and on the comics racks. Kids love dinosaurs and Turok delivered big old ferocious dinosaurs on a regular basis. 

The story begins when two Pre-Columbian Native Americans from the Mandan tribe are travelling far from their traditional territory and find themselves inside the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. They explore the caves ever more deeply until they are lost and then suddenly find themselves in a world not of darkness but of light, a lost valley of sorts in which thrive all sorts of creatures from prehistory. Turok is the older of the two with Andar responding to him as something of a big brother. At the time as depicted by Rex Maxon the two are not that seemingly different in age, though of course that will change. Apparently, this series began as a version of a character named "Young Hawk" intended for the back pages of the Lone Ranger comic. But creator Gaylord DuBois saw more in the concept and so we get this story in Four Color #596 from 1954. It turns out there is something innately fascinating about two primitive men facing off a world full of even-more monsters. Robert Susor is credited with the debut cover art.  

One of the key discoveries made by Turok and Andar are poisonous plants which when prepared and applied to their arrows make them sufficiently deadly to fend off the giant dinosaurs which roam the valley. The two take up with a primitive tribe of cavemen and become somewhat revered by the tribe for the improvements in life that they bring. In this second story published nearly a year after the debut in Four Color, Turok and Andar find a second valley, this one mostly occupied by mammals of great power such as a deadly panther that stalks them relentlessly. They become even more friendly with the cave tribe. Bob Correa takes up the interior art chores but the dramatic cover is uncredited. 

In the third installment, which becomes Turok Son of Stone #3 (the Four Color issues becoming defacto #1 and #2) our two lost heroes help the cave tribe to find a safer place to live apart from the dinosaurs (called "Hoppers") and other threats such as sabre-toothed cats. The find an island and make some small boats to reach it but find threats under the water are extremely dangerous as well. They do eventually get the tribe across the dangerous waters in canoes Later Turok and Andar check out yet another cavern in an attempt to escape the valley and find yet a third hidden land. They team up with a caveman named Lanok who followed them, and the trio try to survive. Bob Correa is still drawing the DuBois scripts with assist from Jack Abel on inks on one tale. 

In the fourth issue of Turok Son of Stone in this first volume the trio finds the trio of Turok, Andar, and Lanok still are living among the "Hoppers" when they discover a land bridge which may let them escape the valley. But they have to give up plans to save Lanok from a massive herd of rampaging bison, and the bridge is destroyed. Later as they make their way back to the tribe, they are hunted relentlessly by a Smilodon better known as a sabre-tooth tiger. They barely survive. The art is again by Bob Correa with some help on one story by Bob Celardo. 

The penultimate issue in this volume and the fifth installment of Turok's adventures is maybe the most hair-raising yet as the island haven turns into a deadly volcano and the boys and the cave tribe are barely able to escape the ferocity of the explosions and the lava and the panicked creatures. When they have resettled the cave folk, Turok and Andar go to look for escape and find that the local witch doctor jealous of their influence on the tribe follows them to find out the secret of their poison which allows them to stave off the attacks of the "Hoppers" and other deadly beasts. His scheme fails with fatal results and Turok and Andar find yet another small valley which might offer some respite from the beasts. The art this time is again by the team of Correa and Celardo. 

The sixth and final issue of Turok in this volume features another story by DuBois and more art by Bob Correa This time Turok and Andar protect the cave people from the threat of a deadly giant ape and later protect the secret of their possible escape from the valley from an untrustworthy fellow named Acomac while reuniting a small mammoth with its parent. These two Turok tales are followed by the debut of a new feature titled "Lotor" about a raccoon family trying to survive in this lost land of dinosaurs. As it turns out the wily racoons do quite well. The art for this story might be the work of Vince Alascia. There have been several text pieces in the comics, some dealing with Native Americans coming of age, but most detailing prehistoric critters like the Mastodon, the Smilodon and even early man himself. Once again sadly the cover art is uncredited. 

These early tales begin in 1954 and end in the early months of 1957, nearly three years of Turok adventures. The series seems to have found a footing and a dedicated audience. This audience will change over time of course, but there will be enough dedicated Turok readers to keep the series going for well over a score of years. More to come next week. 

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The Fightin' 5 Reports #11

Fightin' Five Volume 2 #38 is dated July 1966. The issue was edited by Pat Masulli and written by Joe Gill. The art as usual was by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache. The cover was was done by Rocke Mastroserio.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"The Plans of S.A.T.A.N." begin with an introduction to the organization S.A.T.A.N. (the meaning of the letters is never revealed but I think of them as Sabotage, Arson, and Terrorism According to Nico) and its leader, a former WWII double agent named Nico. The story begins when the Fightin' 5 defeat, they think, a Communist plot for smuggling but find themselves ambushed by Nico (dressed in a devilish costume and using a trident with electric rays) and agents of S.A.T.A.N. They are not killed but given a warning to stay out future dealings with the terrorist gang. When they recover Hank and the rest immediately begin tracking the terrorists and describe how Nico was both effective as an agent for the Allies and the Nazis.  Nico explains his plan to his men and sends bombers to the Riviera aboard secret submarines and on motorcycles. These explosions draw the Fightin'5 to Monaco while Nico and his men use a fake subway train to infiltrate the New York Stock Exchange where they force the employees to give them access to the wealth there. Their escape is masked by the use of the fake subway car which is confronted by the military while the gang use a helicopter disguised as a tour ride to leave town. The Fightin' 5 realize they've been decoyed.

"American Ingenuity" is a one-page text piece which talks about how U.S. troops in Vietnam have to use their wits to fight effectively, specifically the use of metal soles in shoes to avoid spikes and the use of hatchets to better wage hand-to-hand warfare in the dense jungles.

"Planned Disaster" begins with the Fightin' 5 being blown up by one more charge in Monaco. They recover, regroup and try to anticipate Nico's next move. The demonic leader reveals to his men a triple-prong attack against Venice, Berlin, and Marseilles. Knowing Nico's flair for the dramatic, Hank plays a hunch he will truly attack the canals of Venice and the team heads there aboard their jet bomber. Using his submarines and a small army of sharks Nico prepares to loot Venice. First a tanker spills fuel into the water of the canals and then it lit afire.

"City in Flames" sees the Fightin' 5 in scuba gear descending into the canals of Venice to confront Nico and finding mines and sharks. They fight their way through and confront the S.A.T.A.N. forces who are busy looting the various museums of the area. Nico tries to stun the team again with his pitchfork, but they are prepared and fake him out by only pretending to fall prey to it. When he and his men have left Hank and the other members regroup and counter attack eventually defeating Nico's forces. Nico himself leaps into the canals to escape but is surrounded by sharks. His fate is unknown as the story ends.

"Man to Man" is a three-page story written by Joe Gill and drawn by Montes and Bache which shows how United States troops must alter their tactics to be effective in Vietnam by adopting a more individualized and stealthy approach to warfare.

The issue is reprinted in Fightin'5 Volume 4 #49 dated December, 1982, the final regular issue of the run. The text page is missing and the "Man to Man" is replaced by "The Enemy", a WWII story about PFC Billy Trent learning to deal with the greatest enemy a soldier has to battle, even in the Pacific Theater, fear. The art for this story is in my estimation by the "Nicholas Alascia" team. Note how the devilish face of Nico has been removed from this version of the cover.

A version of the cover was used on 1998's The Power of Five from ACG.

And the lead story appeared in 2000's Heroes Ink #1 from ACG.

This is the second straight Fightin' 5 adventure which as the team battling enemies in jaunty jumpsuits. Unfortunately like most old-fashioned artists, Mones and Bache are much better at drawing actual people in realistic clothes than in super-suits. This tendency makes Nico and his henchmen look like what they are, men in costumes which often look somewhat silly. Modern artists often have the reverse problem, less able to draw realistic clothes than costumes.

The series came to a final end after its 1981 revival, sadly before all of the Fightin' 5 stories could be reprinted. We'll take a look at the last several. As always, more to come.

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Nurse In Love!

Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love featured some utterly fantastic covers by the late great Dick Giordano. The debut cover above is gorgeous.

This Charlton comic was originally titled Sweetheart Diary, and Cynthia Doyle appeared in the "final issue" of that mag before the rebranding. This cover was by the journeyman duo of Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia.

The series ended after nine issues, but all of them promised not only heart-rending drama, but some fair bit of action to boot. Below is a recreation of the sixty-ninth issue by Giordano himself.

To read the story behind this striking cover check out this link.

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A Western Round-up!

While shopping in my new favorite bookstore, Half-Price Books, I came across Golden Age Western Comics. It's a sturdy hardback from a publisher named Powerhouse Press. The cover is arresting in one way since those faux-bullet holes are actually holes in the front cover. This die-cut approach has been done on comics many a time before, but worked well in this particular instance I thought.

The book is collection of vintage 1950's western stories from an array of now defunct publishers like Avon, Fawcett,  Magazine Enterprises, and American Comics Group. But most of the stuff here comes from comics published by Derby's own Charlton Comics. The forward by Christopher Irving talks about the publishers, focusing properly on Charlton and repeating a lot of things most fans know already. Steve Ditko's name even gets a shout out despite the fact he has not story within a thousand miles of this collection. The editor Steven Brower gives us a few more details on the stories which populate this volume, but not enough for my tastes.

The stories are perfectly representative of the era, which means they vary in quality quite a bit. None are really bad, but many are tepid, produced by pros getting a paycheck and delivering work on a tight schedule. Some rise above this general standard, specifically those by Dick Giordano and Vince Alasica. They draw no fewer than three of the stories here and all are quite capably done. Doubtless these stories were written by Joe Gill but no record of that is given.

There are brave lawmen (Texas Tim Ranger), bold explorers (Daniel Boone and Kit Carson), lovely gun-toting dames (Annie Oakley and Buffalo Belle), familiar movie idols (Lash Larue and Tom Mix), and even a hefty batch of noble savages (Magic Arrow, Little Eagle, Young Falcon, Flying Eagle and Chief Black Hawk). It's a nice sampling of what was available in the comics of the day when westerns sold well and often.

The highlight of the collection for me though was a Masked Raider story by Mike Sekowsky which closes the collection. It's a great example of his supple art from this era and a pretty dang good story too.

I didn't pay full price for this book, nor would I advise anyone to do so. But if you find it heavily discounted like I did, I'd take a chance. There's some fun to be had.

Also on hand was a very pretty volume of more modern western tales from Graphic Classics. These books offer a wide variety of stories and art styles and are not for everyone. But I found myself hooked by this one because it offered up some very handsome artwork.

Riders of the Purple Sage is adapted with lovely artwork by Cynthia Martin who also supplied the cover. Zane Grey's vintage story seems to have been well treated in this colorful version. There are stories by Bret Harte, Willa Cather and even Robert E. Howard. Sadly I didn't much care for the art on the Howard story "Knife River Prodigal", not my style, but it was a pretty dandy story none the less.

The absolute highlight though of this volume is a new Hopalong Cassidy story by Dan Spiegle. Spiegle was the artist on many if not most of Hopalong's earliest adventures and his lush and comfortable artwork sets a very high bar in this collection. Spiegle is totally at home in the genre and offers up a story which would not have looked out of place in any standard collection. Spiegle gets some accolades, but is still not sufficiently appreciated to my mind. His artwork continues to impress and always has.

If you can find it cheap, I'd say this volume is worth the discounted price for Spiegle's work alone. I give this one a limited recommendation.

Be careful out there you owlhoots!

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Special War Series!

Pat Masulli and Rocke Mastroserio

Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia

Rocke Mastroserio

Frank McLaughlin
Charlton's Special War Series lasted a mere four issues. Beginning in the summer of 1965, the four issues of the series came out monthly, each offering up a different title and blend of war action. "D-Day", "Attack", "War and Attack" were the titles. All of these became series for Charlton. But it's the fourth and last issue which is of course special interest here because it features the debut of Frank McLaughlin's Judomaster.

Special War Series seems to have been a showcase-style book for potential war comics. If so, it's the only one I'm familiar with. Have a safe and careful Veteran's Day. They've made it possible.

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Destination Moon!

Destination Moon was something of an epic 1950 sci-fi flick justly famous for its authentic feel and sense of overall reality within a concept which at the time was pure speculation and anticipation.


The movie, an ode of sorts to venture capitalism in space, was written in part by Robert Heinlein, and featured the artwork of Chesley Bonestell. Fawcett published a concise and effective adaptation of the movie in 1950 scripted by Otto Binder featuring artwork by Dick Rockwell and Sam Burlockoff. To read it check out this link, then this one, and finally this one. But then Fawcett's assets were taken over by Charlton after their demise, and this property was reprinted many times.


First in 1956 in an issue of Space Adventures under the new and far less dramatic title of "First Trip to the Moon". They use the splash page as the cover this time.


Then again a few years later in 1958 in later issue of Space Adventures, this time titled on the cover "Space Trip to the Moon". This issue sports an interesting Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia cover.


After the collapse of Charlton Comics, Richard Broughton bought many of its assets, including those the Derby Publisher had gotten long ago from Fawcett and began his brand ACG/Avalon which reprinted the story first in 1997. The splash page is back in service as the cover art.


A few years later in 1999 it was reprinted yet again.


A whole other adaptation of the story was created in 1950 by DC Comics for the debut issue of Strange Adventures, this one featuring scripting by Gardner Fox and some tasty Curt Swan and John Fishcetti artwork. It hit the stands at almost the same time as the Fawcett version, if not a wee bit sooner. Check it out at this link.


At that same link you can also read this whole other third adaptation, a prose version for the debut issue of Captain Science. (Thanks to BrittReid, a friend of this blog, who operates Secret Sanctum of Captain Video for all the great material; it made life easy one-stop shopping when I decided to research this subject a few days ago.)

This tale has told and retold, sold and resold many times thanks to clever marketing and the glory of public domain.

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The Longest War!

Sam Glanzman
Rocke Mastroserio & Vince Alascia

Flag raising at Iwo Jima photo by Joe Rosenthal
Memorial Day is a time to reflect and pay homage to all those who have passed, and especially those who have laid down their lives in service to the country.

It regrettably has become a time when we take a few days to examine the nation's response to the aftercare of those who have been wounded both physically and mentally in the military and we find always that the nation, the government elected to represent the people, has yet once again fallen woefully behind in meeting the burgeoning needs of these men and women.

Afghanistan has become America's longest war, and given the grave and enduring nature of the wounds the soldiers still carry, it will remain a war we need to wage long after the conflict itself at long last ends. Caring for the fallen is really the longest war we fight. We as a nation must fight that war more forcefully and with much greater resources.

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