To begin with, this is a strange cover. The longer you look at it the stranger it gets. Is this supposed to be a symbolic cover or a "real" scene? Rulah winks at us while dangling two Africans (12-inch pygmies or symbolic adults?) from ropes while sitting astride a log floating in mid-air. WTF?
The Rulah story is kind of a shambles, though it's refreshing that no one is the villain and things work out in the end. Odd that the queen of the tribe is white, but her husband is not. I presume Fox wanted to give readers sexy white chicks to ogle, but in doing so he created an inter-racial marriage! Not cool in 1947. The GCD credits suggest Matt Baker for the art. It could be, I suppose, but the secondary figures and the layouts don't seem like his. Maybe Baker drew only the women (I hear that happened sometimes) or the artist was simply imitating him. Whoever it was knew what the publisher wanted: when the fog closes in all that remains visible is Rulah's bosom. Maybe this is some kind of super power.
Fox artwork may often have been pathetic, but Fox scripts almost always were. The Blue Beetle story is stupid. Why does Sneer want to kill a bunch of random people in the first place? And what is this bit about importing villains to do his dirty work because he has spindly legs? Is this a negative body image thing? I do like Joan freeing BB by shooting his bonds. That is good shooting! And BB admits he screwed up, something few Golden Age heroes would do. The Golden Age Beetle's biggest problem is that his civilian identity is a cop on the beat. When a crime happens he always has to ditch his partner and run away to change. You'd think either (a) his partner would figure out his identity or (b) he'd be fired for constantly fleeing the scene of a crime.
The Phantom Lady story definitely looks like Baker, making me more sure that he didn't pencil the Rulah story. Typical PL silliness. How the heck is it that Dick doesn't recognize Sandra as the Phantom Lady? Does she vibrate her face molecules like the Golden Age Flash? Judging by the dialogue I think the tool locker on page 21 was supposed to be much smaller. In that case I'd happily take Dick's place. Panel 2 on page 22 caught my eye. Though it's a cop-out, having a central balloon with pinwheel tails pointing to floating heads is rather clever. I've never seen this stunt before.
The Jo-Jo story is a mess. The only good part is the apes. Dale Arden's petulant jealousy pales in comparison with Tanee's. The blonde doesn't even come on to Jo-Jo--and he shows no interest in her--yet Tanee knowingly sends the woman and her father to possible death. Then later she brings Jo-Jo an enormous fruit gummi and whines, "Are you still angry at me?" I found myself wondering how many arrows Jo-Jo had to carry to mark the escape route...and where he kept them. Does it bother anyone that Jo-Jo doesn't carry a knife? It magically appears when he needs it. I guess between panels he mumbles, "Raeppa ylneddus efink!"
I was so enchanted by the exquisite True Lovers' Bridal Set that I almost missed "Ladies of the Law." So female NYPD detectives carry six-shooters? How many people actually bought a wedding ring out of a comic book?
Wish I had one of those surplus flying helmets. I own one that my uncle wore during the War, but over the years, probably because I did nothing to preserve it, the thing shrank to child size and the leather split.
I'm probably having too much snarky fun at this comic's expense. It's not very good but it certainly is entertaining. But why is Rulah winking?
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Topic: Week 189 - All Top Comics #8 (Read 3183 times)
