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| Thanks for sharing! It's nice to have a good sample of Joe Simon original art to help identify other Simon art! |
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| This original artwork - from the Lewis Wayne Gallery - is attributed to Edd Ashe. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | August 1941 | Price: 0.10 USD; 0.15 CAD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: bi-monthly |
| Notes | Art previously tentatively attributed to Bob Powell, but Joe Simon's autobiography "My Life In Comics" states that he drew the covers, and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. agrees. |
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| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Spirit of '76 |
| Notes | Art previously tentatively attributed to Bob Powell, but Joe Simon's autobiography "My Life In Comics" states that he drew the covers, and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. agrees. |
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| Publisher advertisement | Contest (1 page) |
| Notes | Promo for a contest to win $25 if you name the features of Pocket Comics that you like. Printed on inside front cover. |
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| Synopsis | Satan makes the mistake of trying to sabotage Camp Porter in his mad campaign to undermine the U.S. program to defend democracy. |
| Content | Genre: Horror-suspense | Characters: Private Air Cadet Jim Brady; Lieutenant Patricia Randall (nurse); Satan (villain, introduction, mad dictator of the underworld); Adolf Hitler (villain); un-named members of Satan's gang (villains, introduction for all, many die) |
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| Synopsis | Jack comes upon an aged man burying someone and discovers that the man is Dr. Morgan, a scientist who invented the space cruiser and flew to Mars in 1901. Morgan slips Jack a drink, causing the young man to pass out. He is taken to the Heaviside layer by the scientist, where astro-pyro rays advanced the young man's evolutionary stage. He returns to Earth to battle criminals who are looting cities and murdering residents. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Red Blazer [Jack Dawson] (introduction, origin); Kagah (Martian, assistant to Dr. Morgan, death); Dr. Morgan (scientist, inventor of a space cruiser); Doc Breenan (villain) |
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| Synopsis | Gary is attending West Point, but his family tradition of serving in the military spurs him on to action before he graduates, and what better way than taking on Luftwaffe Captain Hoch, whose "Khaki Shirts" are planning to dynamite West Point. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Superhero | Characters: Spirit of '76 [Gary Blakely] (introduction and origin); Major Ralston (Gary's grandfather); Captain Blakely (Gary's father); Tubby (cadet friend of Gary's); Captain Hoch (villain); the Nazis (villains) |
| Notes | The original art for this story was with the Lewis Wayne Gallery, uncertain who has it currently (as of September 6, 2022). |
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| Comic Story | Origin of the Black Cat! (12 pages) |
| Synopsis | Bored with her pampered life as a Hollywood star -- and suspecting that her German director Garboil is a Nazi spy -- Linda Turner creates the masked identity of the Black Cat to foil Garboil's plans. Rick Horne, a reporter and Hollywood gossip columnist for the Los Angeles Globe, is also after Garboil. Black Cat and Rick meet, both thinking the other works for Garboil until they compare notes. They then reluctantly team up to stop Garboil and his thugs. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Black Cat [Linda Turner] (introduction and origin); Rick Horne (introduction); Garboil (villain, introduction) |
| Notes | Originally credited to Barbara Hall based on Trina Robbins' interview with Hall as given on the Comixscholars-L listserve on 30 April 2014. But on 21 July 2015, in an interview with CBR.com, Robbins stated: "I have to tell you that she [Hall] had told me that she drew the first "Black Cat," which it turns out she did not draw. Al Gabrielle drew it. So neither her daughter nor I know if she ever did draw "Black Cat." She was getting on when I interviewed her. She had always told her daughter that had drawn "Black Cat," but at this point, it remains a mystery." |
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| Synopsis | Dr. Salle and his companions discover a long lost tomb that contains the remains of General Amron, who was put into a hypnotic sleep by his father some 6000 years before. However, a notorious bandit named Norton kills all the explorers, reads Salle's notes, and revives the mummy using the Star Sirius, a pebble. Rising from his long sleep, the mummy, heeding the words of his father, becomes the Phantom Sphinx and avenges the wrongs that have been done. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Phantom Sphinx [General Amron] (introduction, origin); Dr. Salle (scientist, introduction); Nancy Taylor (American reporter); Red Norton (villain, bandit, death); Suliman the Terrible (villain, transformed into a camel) |
| Notes | Inks credit from penciled note on margin of original art of page 1. Images of original art can be viewed at Heritage Auctions website. www.HA.com |
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| Synopsis | Traveling to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on his first assignment, in the disguise of an American reporter, Agent 99 saves a young girl from the Nazis and tells her that he is in Yugoslavia to protect her from Gestapo agents. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; War | Characters: British Agent 99 [Alan Douglas, aka Hal Payne as an American reporter] (introduction, origin, former Hollywood star); General Douglas (flashback, Alan's father, death); Sultana Zaida; Chuck; Herr Karl Vern (villain); Fritz (villain); Heinrich (villain, Vern's chauffeur); the Nazis (villains) |
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| Comic Story | John Doyle Convicted of Murder (12 pages) |
| Synopsis | Sentenced to death for murder because of the actions of politicians protecting the real culprit, John Doyle escapes from prison to track down the murderer, and discovers that his girl friend has been kidnapped by criminals who believe she knows more about the actual murderer than she should. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Zebra [John Doyle] (introduction, origin); Mary Sewell (Doyle's girlfriend); Happy Mike (villain, political boss); Slug (villain) |
| Notes | Bill Black reports that Louis Cazeneuve also did inks on this story, although the Who's Who doesn't list Louis having worked on this strip. |
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| Featuring | Meet the Stars |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction |
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| Text Story | The Zebra's Murder Case (4 pages) |
| Credits | Script:? [as Ellery King] |
| Notes | Text story with illustrations. |
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| Content | Characters: Spin Hawkins (introduction) |
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| Notes | A promotional house advertisement for future pocket-sized titles from Harvey. None are never published.
Listed include Patriotic Pocket Comics (no such series published, perhaps a previous title meant for this series?); Digest Comics (no series ever published); Army Pocket Comics (also no such series ever published, perhaps would become Army and Navy Fun Parade (Harvey, 1942 Series)?); The Black Cat (a feature but not a series in 1941, as Harvey wouldn't publish a Black Cat series until 1946); Historic Comics (another series that was not published); and Cadet Blakley Spirit of '76 Battles Satan (never published as a series, just only a feature). |
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| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | The "Ditto" feature appears next in Speed Comics (Harvey, 1941 Series) #16 (January 1942). |
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| Featuring | Best Laughs of the Month |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Humor |
| Notes | Printed on inside back cover.
This is the only appearance of the "Best Laughs of the Month" feature. |
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| Notes | A promotional house advertisement for Spitfire Comics (Harvey, 1941 series). Printed on the 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 |
