| Comments |
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| Is this story here the earliest ever Joe Kubert art? |
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| This is another issue where the GCD attribution of art for the cover and the Catman story to Charles M. Quinlan seems WAY off. Compare them to the Deacon story in this issue, which is typical Quinlan with heavy ink-lines. The cover is actually very good, but it's not Quinlan. I wonder if it might be Kubert, who drew the Volton story in this issue. |
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| Agreed, Dwilt (though it's the Little Leaders story, not The Deacon, with Quinlan art). Quinlan drew solid figures and inked precisely. The artists of this and the preceding Cat-Man story ink sketchily and their figures just aren't as well-drawn.
Speaking of the Little Leaders, I was surprised to see Kitten mowing down the Nazis with a pistol. Golden Age "kid commando" characters used guns but it's unusual for superhero kid sidekicks. |
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| Knocked-out by the opening frame of Little Leaders – in fact, Quinlan’s art is distinctive all through the story – something eerie and unsettling about it. Good to see Katy (Kitten) in a lead role – she’s growing on me as a character. |
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| Goof time! Check out the last panel on our page 60. The caption was actually an instruction to the artist which got lettered by mistake: "A wave of bombers is seen flying out of the clouds toward the reader." |
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| Couple of things.
The writers here don't seem to worry at all about details. In 'Spymasters Doom' where were Catman and Kit hiding their costumes before they were locked in the room?
in 'little leaders' {Template for Teen Titans?] where did Kitten get the gun from? She's not wearing much and didn't have it on the previous pages. To me the most interesting question is, If you were Catman would you have given Kitten a gun?
But full marks to the writer that, in a story with two males and a female, Kitten takes the lead role and rescues Mickey.
'Voltron' is so unlike Kubert that if you said this was his first work ever, I would believe. Its as if he was trying to imitate Lou Fine. And not succeeding.
The best art here is the two stories by Allen Ulmer. He works here in the standard 9 panel format, but he just can't stay confined to that and keeps breaking out all over the place.
Whoever did the 'Mastermind M'Ginty' story is excellent too. Looks like Jack Cole. Story is very silly tho.
This book feels like a tryout for creators who went on to better things. |
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| To give the writer credit, Kitten is carrying the gun wrapped up in a bundle ("Poor Sarah! If she knew I had a gun in this package, she'd faint!") We can assume she brought it to camp in her luggage. In the final judgement, though, it did't make sense then for a twelve-year-old to go to summer camp packing heat. (Nowadays? That's another story.) I'm glad the writer decided to disarm Kitten in future stories.
By the way, this Little Leaders story makes a lot more sense if you read the one in #9 first. This is the second half of a two-parter run out of order. The other (first) half explains how the kids got to know each other and who Butch is. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | March 1942 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
| Notes | First cover where Cat-Man is not hyphenated. |
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| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Cat Man [David Merrywether]; Volton |
| Notes | First cover where Cat-Man is not hyphenated. |
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| Credits | Script:? (promo copy) | Letters: typeset |
| Notes | Inside front cover. House ad, all in text, for Captain Aero Comics. |
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| Comic Story | The Spymaster's Doom! (9 pages) |
| Synopsis | Cat-Man and Kitten foil an attempt to steal plans for a new silent aircraft engine. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Cat-Man [David Merrywether]; Kitten [Katy Conn]; William Wade (called Mr. Watts at the end of the story); Piggy (villain); Dwarfy (villain); Schiller (villain); Baron (villain); Tigress Foster-Mother |
| Notes | Cat Man's name sometimes has a hyphen, sometimes not.
Script credit by Craig Delich, per Charles Quinlan Sr. |
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| Synopsis | The Deacon helps a friend falsely accused and convicted of murder. |
| Featuring | The Deacon |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Detective-mystery | Characters: Deacon; Mickey; boys in group home; Judge; Jack Fletcher; Slug Kanin (villain); Slug's thugs |
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| Synopsis | Rag-Man and Tiny go to a house with a stranger not knowing he is killer who has recently escaped from an asylum. |
| Content | Genre: Detective-mystery; Superhero | Characters: Rag-Man; Tiny; Benny (villain, dies); Annie Cole (dies); Dr. Binge (Benny's brother, dies); two policemen |
| Notes | Who's Who of American Comics Books 1929-1999 indicates that Herman and Schrotter used the pseudonym "Gus Herman" on joint work. Presumably one pencilled and the other inked. |
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| Comic Story | Friday 13 (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | German spies try to steal an American battleship. |
| Featuring | Black Friday |
| Content | Genre: Crime; Detective-mystery | Characters: Black Friday [Lee Ansley]; Von Sterber (villain); government guards (dies); Colonel Runavan; Sterber's crew; Sterber's pilot |
| Notes | Logo for the feature calls it just "Friday". |
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| Text Story | Frank Fairplay's Victory (3 pages) |
| Synopsis | As punishment Frank and his friends are forbidden from attending the local carnival after the Dean catches them wrestling in their rooms. |
| Featuring | Frank Fairplay |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Frank Fairplay; Will Maitland; Tom Patton; Mr. Morris; Buff Branner |
| Notes | It is possible that this story is a reprint of, or at least based on, stories in British magazine's from the late 1800s. Frank Fairplay was a character that appeared in a number of issues of Boy's Standard (1875-1892) in stories entitled Frank Fairplay's Schooldays. |
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| Publisher advertisement | Here They Are! (1 page) |
| Synopsis | Cat-Man; Volton; Hood; The Deacon; Mickey; The Pied Piper; Rag-Man; Mastermind M'Ginty |
| Credits | Script:? (promo copy) |
| Notes | House ad for Cat-Man Comics. |
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| Synopsis | When enemy planes are reported off-shore, Empire City must be blacked out. Taking advantage of the darkness, gangsters attempt to rob the city bank. Volton senses the use of electricity, and arrives at the bank to thwart the thieves. When the raid is over, it is discovered that the lights won't turn back on. Volton investigates the power plant, and discovers more of the gangsters there. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Volton (first appearance); gang of thugs; police captain |
| Notes | First appearance of Volton. This is not the same Volton that previously appeared in Worth Carnahan's Cyclone Comics.
This is Joe Kubert's first known professional work. |
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| Comic Story | The Green Vampire (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Mr. Ford is attacked and killed by the Green Vampire, which draws the attention of the Pied Piper and leads him to the Ford mansion to await the return of this evil being and prevent him from also killing Ford's daughter. |
| Featuring | The Pied Piper |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Pied Piper [Steve Prentice]; Mr. Ford (death); Helen Ford (Ford's daughter); The Green Vampire (villain, death) |
| Notes | The Piper gains powers from his magic flute.
Art credits by Craig Delich. |
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| Comic Story | Brainstorm Coming (5 pages) |
| Synopsis | M’Ginty convinces the governor of a prison to let him try to rehabilitate the prisoners. |
| Featuring | Mastermind M'Ginty |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Mastermind M'Ginty; Warden; Honeysuckle Dearborn; Governor |
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| Publisher advertisement | Read (1 page) |
| Featuring | Captain Aero |
| Credits | Script:? (promo copy) |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Captain Aero; Banshee of the Red Hills |
| Notes | House ad promoting the latest issue of Captain Aero. |
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| Synopsis | Kitten and Mickey go on summer camp at the same time and together foil a plot by Nazis. |
| Featuring | Little Leaders |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Mickey; Kitten [Katy Conn]; David Merrywether; Deacon; Butch; Sarah; Professor; Nazi soldiers |
| Notes | Little Leaders are Kitten and Mickey, the Deacon's sidekick.
This is the second part of a 2 part story. The first part appears in the next issue (#9 on cover or V2#14 in indicia, Apr 1942), the two parts were published out of order. |
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| Featuring | Silent Sims |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Silent Sims |
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| Synopsis | The Hood is captured by the Japanese. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Hood; Japanese Commander; Japanese soldiers and sailors; Emperor Hirohito |
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| Publisher advertisement | Cash Prizes! (1 page) |
| Credits | Script:? (promo copy) |
| Content | Characters: an unnamed elf |
| Notes | Contest ad. |
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| Publisher advertisement | Absolutely Free! (1 page) |
| Credits | Script:? (ad copy) | Pencils:? (illustrations) | Inks:? (illustrations) | Letters: typeset |
| Notes | Inside back cover.
Holyoke ad for a Comicscope and Wings of America. |
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| Publisher advertisement | Most Amazing Sight You Ever Saw! (1 page) |
| Credits | Script:? (ad copy) | Pencils:? (illustrations) | Inks:? (illustrations) |
| Notes | Back cover.
A Holyoke ad for a Radiumscope. |
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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 |
