I wanted to check out this title after watching the Spy Smasher 12 chapter movie serial on Prime (you can also view it on Tubi with commercials). It hadn’t registered to me that this volume would have so many origin stories in it. And now, I’m inflicting my opinions on any person unfortunate enough to read this post.
Captain Marvel – The origin story seems straightforward enough, even though it seems to have had a few tweaks here and there through the years. I liked it, but the dependence upon magic for the origin reminded me of why the origins of Marvel Comics characters would have had more appeal in the early 1960s. Radiation and radioactivity seemed more plausible than pure magic (although more than a decade later, the origin story of Moon Knight bears a certain resemblance to the origin of Captain Marvel, particularly how it was depicted in the movie serial) as a factor for supernatural origins. Oh, sure! There were always mad inventors with secret chemical agents and special equipment (antecedents of Iron Man?) and even (forming a precedent for The Mighty Thor) gods and scions of the gods who walked the earth in the era of these comics. So, even though I’ve complained about too many origin stories (especially when they get revisionist takes to “update” or make the character politically correct, it’s refreshing to see a good, classic origin story.
Ibis – Did I say that origin stories relied too much on magic? Well, this one would have been a key example, but I love the fact that the inherent power of this ancient being was tied to his “sekhem” (not exactly, but close) scepter and, after all of the incredulous miracles he performed, he could still be weakened by an unexpected turn of events.
Golden Arrow – When this started out with the pseudo-scientific origin, I thought it was headed for a mad inventor story with all kinds of crazy arrows like the early DC Green Arrow or, to a significantly lesser degree, The Arrow of Centaur Publishing (also available on the site). Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the elements of a hybrid hero much like Davy Crockett (who “killed him a bear when he was only three” –grin) and Robin Hood. Except for the fact that there is no secret identity and his horse, White Wind, is (of course) white, there was even a bit of a Zorro feel to the confrontation scene.
Spy Smasher – This series looks like great fun. I noticed even when watching the old movie serial that it requires a lot of effort in terms of “suspended disbelief” but the movie’s introduction of a twin brother betrothed to Corby’s daughter and the special plane belonging to The Mask’s crew instead of Spy Smasher were nice touches over this original story. Is it just me or did the illustration of Spy Smasher’s “Gyrosub” look (in both palette and shape) a bit too much like the amphibious plane of The Mask’s henchmen? At least, it seems so in the two bottom panels of p. 37 of the scan—not so much later. And speaking of art styles, I love the bad guy in the tuxedo bit better than the uniform in the serial. It feels so right for the period and the way a super-spy would have to be able to penetrate the upper echelons of power without being noticed. (Gee, (wicked grin) wonder why there were so many spy stories in the mid-20th century—even before James Bond and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.—that’s “United Network Control for Law and Enforcement” to those of you who don’t remember. Nothing like a World War and a Cold War to bring out the worst in bad guys, is there?)
Scoop Smith – This reminds me that there were courageous reporters long before Woodward and Bernstein (the journalistic icons of my era). James Kirk? Really? I had to chuckle at the coincidence of a character’s name so close to the familiar one of my era. The gas chamber riff on California’s former death penalty was interesting, but didn’t really go anywhere after the initial threat. I chuckled at the “coinci-wrench” as well!
Lance O’Casey --- This story seemed cinematic enough to turn into a film for me. Oh, sure, it was full of coincidences (aren’t they all?), but it had all of the potential for lavish, richly textured sets suggesting exotic locales. Plus, little old “grew up with the Comics Code” me was surprised to see the cleavage and cheesecake (which would have been perfect in a Tarzan or Jungle Jim scenario) on page 54 of the scan. That was an interesting touch since it seems to me that the background in the frames on p. 54 of the scan were more minimalist that some of the detailed touches on the preceding pages. I particularly loved the action scene (even though the background was pure color with no detail, no flourishes) in the two panels at the top of the scan’s page 56. And what’s that interesting typographical (well, technically, “lettering”) error in the bottom left-hand panel? “Juicide?” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t latent anti-Semiticism there, so not being Jewish myself, it struck me as funny. I liked the story, the setting, and the character, though.
Dan Dare – I felt like I had read stories with Dan Dare before, but then realized I was confusing him with the British comic about the “Pilot of the Future” who was a character in a Commodore 64 computer game. This Dan Dare is a private investigator. I noticed that Greg Duncan is credited with pencils for both this story and the Scoop Smith story, but it seems like the faces are much more distinguishable and interesting in this story than in the previous one. And, oh, did I mention that while the artist may not have been as interested in Carol’s face in the bottom left panel of scanned page 60 as he was in the cheesecake of her fastening her stockings, but I found her expression (particularly the eyebrows) in the bottom right panel to more than make up for it. And, the profile of “Portuguese Pete” in the same panel brings me back to the observation about interesting faces. As for the story, it tested my disbelief when Dare originally ignored the smuggling problem to “focus” on the murder mystery instead, but that happens to me sometimes. Still, I like the “schtick” of vacation plans being constantly ruined by telegrams that looks like it will be a running joke (I’ll know more when I read more issues).
And thank you, indeed, Mr. Larsen, for the scan. And, if perhaps, you are the creator of The Savage Dragon, thank you double or triple. I didn’t follow the whole run, but when it first came out, I bought it religiously for about 13 issues. I’m going to drag some of them out and re-read them later this week.
Link to the book:
Whiz Comics 002
