| Additional Information |
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| Publication | October 1942 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
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| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Adventure |
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| Synopsis | Bim's wife and mother-in-law leave him when he won't get rid of the baby he found on the doorstep. |
| Content | Genre: Drama | Characters: Andrew Gump; Min Gump; Uncle Bim Gump [Benjamin Gump]; Millie Gump; Hortense De Stross; Little Napolean (a baby) |
| Notes | On inside front cover in black, white and red. |
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| Content | Genre: Adventure; Aviation | Characters: Smilin' Jack [Jack Martin]; Fat Stuff; Downwind Jaxon; Mrs. Andrews; Woo-Woo Bali; Mary Smith; Mummy Smith (introduction) |
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| Synopsis | Connie and Big Stoop spend their reward money. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Big Stoop; Reginald Smythe-Heatherstone; Miss Mokin; Weazel [M. Belette] (villain); Baron De Plexus (villain) |
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| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Chief Murphy; Smitty; Victor Mason (first appearance; death); Bummy Mason (first appearance; villain) |
| Notes | Copr., 1942, by R. S. Callender |
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| Comic Story | Episode 43: A New Home (8 pages) |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: The Hurricane Kids [Alan Burnham; Dave Burnham] |
| Notes | DU BOIS IDENTIFIERS.
LANGUAGE/DIDACTICISM:
• ditty-box ("a receptacle for odds and ends, especially one used by sailors or fishermen" - Oxford Languages.)
• compsognathus ("Compsognathus is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species Compsognathus longipes could grow to around the size of a turkey." - Wikipedia.)
ANIMALS:
Trout.
Compsognathus.
Marmot.
ENGINEERING PROJECT:
"We can build a tree house."
NATURE:
"If we have landed on an island, we'll soon come to the end of this river."
Copr., 1942, by R. S. Callender |
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| Content | Genre: War | Characters: Don Winslow; Red Pennington; Betty Shipman; Mr. Shipman; Mrs. Shipman; Captain X (villain) |
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| Comic Story | Yep, Nina, I've got to cork her" (4 pages) |
| Content | Genre: Drama | Characters: Skeezix Wallet; Nina Clock; Tops; Jerry; Gootch; Whimpy |
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| Comic Story | The Sea Gull Gang! (6 pages) |
| Content | Genre: Crime | Characters: Chief John Winston; Harry (death); Joe; The Sea Gull Gang (villains); Pug Miller (villain); Fagan (villain) |
| Notes | Copr., 1942, by Phillips H. Lord, Inc. |
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| Text Story | Mosquito Boat Raid (2 pages) |
| Synopsis | While setting the blue foxes out to forage for themselves on Tubal Island, Dean spots enemy Jap vessels. He alerts Lt. Birch back at the dock, who radios for support. Upon his offer, and with his dad's permission, Dean guides the mosquito boat through a secret pass. They engage the enemy until the Navy cruiser arrives and sinks them. Dean is emotional that he has briefly been one with with his country's real fighting men, accepted by them, sharing their victory. |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Characters: Dean Haslam (a teenage American boy); five dozen blue foxes; Mom (referenced); a swarm of Japanese soldiers on the beach; Lieutenant Birch (U.S. Navy, mosquito boat skipper); Mr. Hardy (Dean Haslam's father); mosquito boat crewmen; Japanese seamen in the water (survivors of their sunk destroyer); Wilson (mosquito boat crewman killed by Jap bullets) |
| Notes | Du Bois writer and Ely artist identifications by David Porta, November 2021.
Du Bois identifiers:
The first Du Bois identifier is that The Five Ws (who what when where why) are established in the first two paragraphs, five sentences.
Then, there's a cornucopia of nautical terminology from former Coast Guard seaman Du Bois (who also wrote three "Don Winslow U.S. Navy" novels, and "The Hurricane Kids on the Lost Islands" novel). Whenever Du Bois wrote a story that could use nautical terminology, he used it.
Likewise, abundant references to nature and natural features (there among the islands) appear in the story; it's another Du Bois identifier.
Animals usually play a significant role in a Du Bois story. Here, blue fox farming is a crucial plot point. "With the wind behind him, he spared a glance at the five dozen blue foxes that cowered in the crates up forward." Dean Haslam's taking the foxes out to a uninhibited Tubal Island is how he happens to spot the Jap vessels.
Compare the appearance of the blue foxes here to another Du Bois WWII story set in the Aleutian Islands, "Attu Caverns," The Fighting Yanks 6 page comic story in Red Ryder Comics #19 (May June 1944) on-sale 1944-04-14, in which a blue fox points the way. It follows the Little Beaver text story written by Du Bois.
It may be noted here that it was apparently editor Oskar Lebeck's policy, in assembling a comic, that a Du Bois text story was immediately followed by a Du Bois comics story, (if Lebeck had assigned Du Bois a text story and a comics story for the issue, which he usually did).
In this case, an episode of the Du Bois "Cyclone" strip follows on the feet of this Du Bois text story.
An unusual story element here tallies with Du Bois's own personal life:
Without explanation as to the differences in their last names, Mr. Hardy is introduced in the narrative as Dean Haslam's father.
On her Amazon author page, Du Bois's daughter, Miriam DuBois Babcock, writes of Du Bois (her second step-father), "In 1937 my mother married Gaylord DuBois (1899-1993), who immediately adopted me." |
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| Content | Genre: Western-frontier | Characters: Cyclone; Midge; Calico (a horse); Cal Grant (first appearance); Scarface Gowdy (first appearance; villain) |
| Notes | Copr., 1942, by R. S. Callender. |
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| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Smokey Stover; Chief Cash U. Nutt; Spooky (a cat) |
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| Comic Story | What in blazes do you think Chief Cash U. Nutt and Smokey are up to now" (1 page) |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Smokey Stover; Chief Cash U. Nutt; Spooky (a cat) |
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| Comic Story | The Return of Robin Hood [Episode 2] (6 pages) |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Historical | Characters: Robin Hood; Sir Harry Gamwell |
| Notes | Gaylord Du Bois script credit for Return of Robin Hood [episode 2] as per page 786, "Catalog of Copyright Entries 1942 Pamphlets, Leaflets, Etc. New Series Vol 39 Pt. 1."
This second episode of the feature's ongoing story was illustrated by Jon Small, Art spotters on the GCD Main list agree (May 2011). (Corollary to that: Jon Small is credited in Popular Comics #79 as artist for first episode or chapter of this story which appeared in that previous issue.) |
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| Publisher advertisement | 12 Big Issues of Popular Comics Now Only $1.00 (1 page) |
| Featuring | Popular Comics |
| Notes | On inside back cover in black, white and red. |
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| Advertisement | Choose Your Prize! Get it the American Way (1 page) |
| Featuring | American Specialty Co. |
| Notes | Back cover. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
