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[MarkWarner]

Last week's book (True Animal Picture Stories #1) had some apparently crazy stories which it appears may in fact actually be true. However, I am pretty sure the same could not be said for this week's choice.

Below is a reading book suggestion I received (PLEASE PLEASE SEND MORE the list is almost empty!)

"I have a suggestion which I think will go down well with the crowd.  It is the first Spotlight Comics, a rather interesting book and a great Black Dwarf story"

That sounds good to me, so here is Spotlight Comics #1 https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=24259. And we will of course concentrate on the Black Dwarf story which is the first one.

[K1ngcat]

Terrific work by George Tuska on the cover.  His later stuff, which I remember so well from Marvel Comics' heyday, was never this realistic or detailed, a great start.

The Black Dwarf - so many questions!  How does Carstairs know Shorty Wilson is the Black Dwarf?  Or more to the point, how come the whole world doesn't know he's the Black Dwarf, since he fights crime without a mask?  And why, or how, does he also exist as Stubby Watson, alias the Blue Monk? His team of ex-cons and villains remind me a little of Doc Savage and/or The Shadow.  The plot's a bit over-involved, but I rather like Gus Ricca's simplistic art.  Everyone has such great dental work!

Prehistoric Pete: Genuinely amusing. "Ain't your bearskin good enough?" and the art's good enough too.

Plenty of Noise for a Penny: I have to admit I'm inclined to skip over stories like this and get back to the strips so I don't have a lot to compare it to.  But wow, those Nazis beached a U-boat? Surely that takes some doing?

Globe Trotter: Nice tidy artwork, good to see our hero protecting the rich white plantation owner's ivory hoard, that's why the elephant is an endangered species.  It all seems very stereotyped now, pith helmets, drunken natives running amuck, the "heathen devils!"  I guess the hyena's the thing that makes it different, but not different enough.

Barry Kuda: Shades of Aquaman!  Cute underwater Queen, though why she thinks Barry is a romantic name is beyond me.  How convenient for her that Barry and his best friend Algie can drop everything in their everyday lives and stay in the undersea kingdom for as long as she needs them.  How convenient that they don't drown.  How convenient that his surname's Kuda! And it's a continuing story - I'm almost tempted to read the next episode.

The Veiled Avenger: Golly - a secretary who's tough enough to slap a homicide detective in the face and get away with it.  And she seems to know instinctively where the least-known place in town is.  Handy with a whip, too - just as well her costume's demure, or there'd be a touch of the dominatrix in this wise-cracking heroine.  My main complaint is the weak artwork.

Oddities?  Pleasantly drawn, but quite bizarre.   Who wants to tame a skunk? (though I love the term "wood pussy!")  Since when is a porcupine a hedgehog?

Carnival:  Clara Bell? Doesn't Disney have a cow by that name?  Clumsy artwork, so-so story, but why is this listed under "Genre - Humour"?  It's full of animal-baiting and murders. In its favour, it's an unusual concept to set up a series of stories with no repeating characters, only linked by a generic setting. 

The Clue: As satisfying a mystery as one can work up and solve in a single page. I liked the art overlay though, nice touch.

Seargant Steele?  No relation to the Charlton hero, except in name. His most impressive power is the ability to "drive off" mosquitoes, I could have done with him the last time I went on holiday.  Typical tough-guy stuff, but well-presented.

Overall, in spite of the predictability, I quite enjoyed this comic, and I'm certainly tempted to read more of the Black Dwarf/Blue Monk. If called to rate it, I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

[EHowie60]

Loving the names of the Black Dwarf's crew: Arsenic, Nitro, Dippy, and The Human Fly! The expressive, varied faces on the characters reminds me of Eisner's The Spirit. Plot was a bit hard to follow. Lots of criminal elements working in just seven pages. Still, pretty enjoyable.

Prehistoric Pete was ok. One thing that surprised me when I started reading Golden Age books was the near universality of humor backup stories in mixed bag adventure/hero comics. When did that end? With the explosion of single-character hero comics in the Silver Age?

Globe Trotter: wow. White guy saves other white guy's ivory stores from the plottings of a third white guy, who gets the simple natives drunk to use them as his minions. The local authorities are white too! Late colonialist mindset all around...ah well, I've come to expect that from Golden Age comics set in Africa.

Barry Kuda: how is Merma the only person in the undersea kingdom who's not a Fishman? Really, really straightforward story. I was hoping maybe for once the pretty deposed queen would turn out to be a villain. Maybe I'm too used to Silver Age Marvel comics where twists are more commonplace. Also is she Queen Merma of Merma? Art on this one feels...flat to me.

The Veiled Avenger: Even for a pre-code comic, ice pick murder seems pretty brutal. The art is a bit weird, The Veiled Avenger seems to contort herself oddly a couple times.

Carnival: Whoa, that close up of Neeley's face feels so out of place compared to the rest of the art. Heck, it doesn't look like Neeley's appearance earlier either. The chin and hair are completely different.

Sergeant Steele: So I guess Senor Gross was a Nazi? Maybe? It's not clear, which is odd for this sort of comic. Usually if a Nazi is getting punched in a comic the writers make his affiliation very clear.

A decent comic overall. This early Golden Age style doesn't always work for me, but that's a personal opinion.

[Morgus]

great cover and story...the plot was one damned thing after another, so pretty good. Loved the light and shadow and noir elements in the art. It would have been the pride of my collection if I had found this one as a kid. Veiled Avenger was the kind of story that probably gave Dr Wertham a seizure back in the day.

[SuperScrounge]

The Black Dwarf - Bit of a mess in storytelling, 40 gazillion characters all popping out of the woodwork and little to no explanation of how they might relate to it. Also a big deal is made that Carstairs knows that Shorty is the Black Dwarf, but Carstairs is killed without revealing how he knew, although my money is on the fact that the Black Dwarf doesn't wear a mask to hide his ID.

Prehistoric Pete - Eh.

Plenty of Noise For a Penny - Not bad.

"Globe" Trotter - Oh, how times change. Here the guy with the ivory ISN'T the villain. ;-)

Barry Kuda - With a name like that I would have expected a more intentionally goofy story.

The Veiled Avenger - Simple, but I liked this one.

Oddities - Okay, but the porcupine one sounds close to the old myth about porcupines throwing their spines.

Carnival - This is practically a superhero genre story. That devil costume looked pretty supervillainy, he just needed to give it a name to make him a true supervillain and if Clara & Lee had costumed identities this could have been a straight superhero story.

The Clue - Okay, but Captain Harvey certainly didn't do a thorough search if he missed that clue.

Sergeant Steele - Okay, but nothing special.

[paw broon]

This is great.  Fans of weird, odd, masked mystery men (even though he isn't masked, so more of a costumed crime fighter?) must have loved this.  I did.  Actually, I've read a few Black Dwarf stories and thoroughly enjoyed them.  It's a GA comic and the inconsistencies of that era are all there.  Why wouldn't anyone know that BD and Shorty are one and the same?  Does it really matter?  Man hates crime. Dons costume.  Packs 2 big automatics.  Good guys win - bad guys lose.  What's not to enjoy in this frantic story.
Plenty of noise - well, if All Fun Comic was lacking in humour, this story was no better imo.  Less said, the better.
Globe Trotter - one of Del Boy's kin?  With a costume this could have been one of the jungle masked men stories - Phantom, Amok, El Espiritu de la Selva etc.
Veiled Avenger.  An early story, in fact, one of the few stories (4, I think), with this masked mystery woman.  The art on later stories is a bit better but I enjoyed this one despite that. She doesn't have the pleated skirt in this one and that would have improved the experience for me.  Kidnapping, ice pick murder, masked heroine with whip.  How did they get away with it?
Barracuda - sorry, Barry Kuda or whatever. What a load of old cobblers.  Oxide indeed!  Must have been a bit difficult fighting with swords under all that water. 
Carnival was, to all intents and purposes, a costumed hero v. costumed villain story.  A lot of action that kept me reading.
Sergeant Steele - not for me.  That type of wronged man story just does nothing for me.

[neil meikle]

Love the cover, it's so pulp isn't it? It's a pity George Tuska didn't draw some of the stories too.
    The Black Dwarf-Yes the story is a bit cluttered but it's quite pulpy too quite a good read. To answer one of Kingcats questions, when St John reprinted some of the Chesler stories they changed the name of the character to The Blue Monk. Why I don't know, perhaps it was an early attempt at political correctness, I don't think you could use the original name nowadays. One more question we perhaps ought to ask is that while Shorty Wilson isn't a tall man, he isn't a dwarf either so why does he call himself The Black Dwarf in the first place?
    Prehistoric Pete-Mildly amusing filler.
    Globe Trotter-Never mind a good guy, the ivory hunter is if anything portrayed as a respectable citizen and an innocent victim. You couldn't do this one now.
    Barry Kuda- I still can't get over that silly name and Queen Merma must be the only person on the face of the planet who thinks it sounds romantic. Also for a queen she seems to be doing quite a bit of work herself. Why didn't she send one of her supporters to rescue Barry and Algie? On the other hand she's prettier than they are and that helps sell the book.
   The Veiled Avenger-How does a secretary get to be an expert detective, hand to hand combatant, whip welder and crack shot? Practice of course. Yes Morgus, she did cause Doctor Wertham a bit of grief. Indeed, the blood draining panel from her final adventure in Red Seal Comics #16 was used as an illustration in Seduction Of The Innocent.
   Oddities-Information that I don't think will benefit me a great deal.
   Carnival-Another way of looking at SuperScrounges observation is that superhero outfits were originally based on the ones circus acrobats wore, so perhaps superhero stories get a bit circusey at times.
   Sergeant Steele- Routine tough guy army story.

[crashryan]

I enjoyed this one, mostly on the strength of The Black Dwarf.

Beautiful cover from George Tuska during his Lou Fine-influenced days. It alone is worth the price of the comic.

The Black Dwarf: Despite a chaotic script this one is a great read. It has a strong pulp-magazine feel, what with the Dwarf's quirky crew of specialists. It beats me how the Dwarf can maintain a civilian identity. A mask would help, though his stature might still be a giveaway. Too bad George Tuska didn't get to draw the story. I really dislike Paul Gattuso's artwork. I'm not sure why. Certainly there were many Golden Age artists who drew worse than he did. Something about his Gumby-limbed, nutcracker-mouthed characters rubs me the wrong way. But the feature is interesting and I will to seek out more episodes.

Prehistoric Pete offers a smile or two but the script lurches abruptly from one idea to another. The art is serviceable. Funny that Eva has Ella Cinders eyes.

"Globe" Trotter abounds with the old jungle story stereotypes. It bugs me that the Wiwari are spooked by a hyena's laugh. The story suggests hyenas are native to the area, so they should know what the sound is. Odd how ivory, that familiar jungle-story MacGuffin, was usually treated as if it just sprang into existence by itself. Though authors acknowledged ivory came from elephants' tusks, they avoided mentioning that the tusks were ripped out of dead elephants. Sort of like how MacDonald's never mentions that they obtain their hamburger meat by killing cows. Decent artwork.

I'll grant Barry Kuda (what a romantic name!) his life-giving oxide, but I can't accept that Merma is the only humanoid in a world of fish people. She mentions having "friends" but the Emerald City looks awfully empty. The artwork is fun despite the Flash Gordon swipes. Barry's pal Algie comes and goes without contributing much to the story. His name fits the story nicely (Algie/Algae).

The Veiled Avenger is a tough cookie. Her costume reminds me of Lady Luck but she's a lot more physical. She calls one of the crooks "ferret face," Major Frank Burns' old nickname. I'm glad the artist soft-pedals the cigarette-in-the-kid's eye scene. That one's a bit much.

Oddities: "Wood pussy?"

Carnival: not bad, though the surprise villain is obvious from the start. Nice costume Neely comes up with. Favorite line: "The crowd reeks with merriment."

Sergeant Steele is a mess. In panel three of the second page the dialogue suggests the guy in the blue suit (who is really Senor Gross) is supposed to be Ross, the new recruit. When Gross is named in panel four he's wearing a striped suit. The man who hits Steele in panel five wears a solid blue suit. It gives the strong impression that Gross and the man in the blue suit are different people. Staging a fixed boxing match seems like an over-elaborate way of getting Steele taken off the case. It would have helped to identify the blonde Marine who finds the note as Ross. Sloppy.

The ad for a "Free 150x Microscope" in a nice example of obfuscation. I gather that you buy the book for $1.98 plus postage C.O.D. (postage paid if you send the money first) and the microscope is sent with it. The ad copy seems deliberately confusing. It can't be much of a microscope if it and the book retail for two bucks. I wonder if anyone has seen this book with its big, picture-crowded pages.

[K1ngcat]

Thanks to Neil for the explanation on the Black Dwarf/Blue Monk.  I admit that the name Black Dwarf might not sound very PC these days but after all it's a valid astronomical term for what's left when a white dwarf star burns off all of its heat, but retains its mass.  I see that Marvel recently had a character by that name, part of a supervillain team organised by Thanos.

And yes crash, that's what I thought, but Dictionary.com validates "wood pussy" as a (somewhat archaic) American term for the skunk, as in: "While at a friend's house in the Catskills last August a wood pussy came up behind the kitchen and dug in the garbage-heap."  Totally agree about that George Tuska cover though - when did he stop drawing like that? (and why?)

[narfstar]

Chesler is one of my favorite GA companies. They have an energy in most of their books including this one. I have been a fan of Black Dwarf since finding an IW/Super reprint many years ago. Black Dwarf was one of the first compilations an attestation to his popularity.

[MarkWarner]

Sorry I am late with my homework, Miss, but I lost my USB key with it on and have only just found it again!

My initial thought about this book was what a really cool cover, but that it also looked rather odd. Then I figured out why. The guy firing the gun is all caped up (if that is a word) like a superhero. Or at the very least he looks like a man with belt full of gadgets. So a gun seems a rather mundane weapon. Surely, he can't be the Black Dwarf?? He looks normal height and is blonde. .

Ah

[crashryan]

Actually, Mark, men's swimsuits in the 1930s thru the early 40s had shoulder straps like these. The suit covered the man boobs and featured a scoop neck like a "wife beater" undershirt. Some styles were cut to the waist on the sides, and had side straps to hold everything together:. Not so different from the women's suits, in fact. That said, the dewy-eyed glances Barry and Algie are giving each other do make it seem that finding a princess wouldn't be high on their lists.

[MarkWarner]

LOL ... Agreed ... but trunks seemed to have been acceptable attire especially in the movies. Press photograph of Cary Grant and his best friend Randolph Scott back in 1935.

BTW see what I did there Grant/Scott - Barry/Algie?

[John Kerry]

Those bathing suits actually might make sense given that in some places men had to wear shirts in pubic parks. I know that was the case up to at least the 1950s in Toronto, Canada.

[MarkWarner]

Strange they insisted

"that in some places men had to wear shirts in pubic parks."

I'll close the door on my way out ...

[John Kerry]

Ooops. Forgot the 'l' key isn't working when I typed that word. Should be public (on-screen keyboard works fine, just takes longer).

[MarkWarner]

Your "l" not working just goes to show that the old saying "someone's pain is someone's gain" is right as it made me laugh