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[MarkWarner]

Last week's book Fight Comics #39 seems to have been a bit of a damp squib, with most of the reading group going AWOL! I have to admit, although I thought the art was cool, I was disappointed and confused with the story.

So we move swiftly on to my next couple of confessions ...  I am not quite sure exactly what genre this week's book is. I am guessing humorous / superhero. I knew that this has been on the reading book list for sometime, but I have just noticed that it is on twice! So, apologies for taking so long to both the people who suggested the book!

The Bouncer #10 can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=20864, and we will concentrate on the first story "Adventure of the Uneasy Graveyard".

[Morgus]

I remember this one from the card set ODD BALL COMICS by Scott Shaw. Always wondered who had The Bouncer as their favorite pin up, guess I'll never know. Perspective was all over the map, but that started to be interesting after a few pages with cars looking like they were driving up the side of cliffs and everybody defying gravity and all. The art made it above average sometimes, especially in profiles. But; BILL FAULKNER??? And another character that actually looked like William Faulkner, complete with trademark hat?? Whoa, part of me wanted to think it was an inside joke, but WHO WOULD GET IT?? But it was still weird...

[SuperScrounge]

The Uneasy Graveyard

[narfstar]

The Bouncer is just one of those weird characters that I have to love. The story was also weird and likeable.

[paw broon]

This is a completely new one on me.  Thanks Mark.  A superhero whose secret i/d is a statue!  Well, that's a first, and a last, I think.  Silly enough to be fun and 2 super powered heroes for the price of one.  I'd have to say that I thought it more reminiscent of a Substitute Heroes thingy than WW.  Certainly, on our page 12, panel 1, that's Stone Boy doing his stuff.
I enjoyed the first Bouncer enough to read the second one and, apart from the figure work being all over the place, the story was good fun.  Again I'm reminded of another character who plagued a superhero - Mr. Mxyzptlk, or perhaps, Bat-Mite. 
What narfstar said,
"The Bouncer is just one of those weird characters that I have to love. The story was also weird and likeable."

[mr_goldenage]

Since I did a comp on the Bouncer earlier in the year...I've read them all. The weirdness remains and the art stays in the same style....somewhat better in later issues but that is not saying much. This was a later period Fox book (near the end of Fox's first run) but still a good read. The back-ups were typical of Fox books in general but some were noteworthy.

I love weird and unusual characters and this certainly qualifies in my book. So a hit for me.

Richard Boucher AkA Mr_Goldenage

[SuperScrounge]

I'd have to say that I thought it more reminiscent of a Substitute Heroes thingy than WW.

Never read a Robert Kanigher written Wonder Woman story? 

Yeah, he did the Bouncer years before he got Wonder Woman, but there are a number of similarities to what he would later do in WW stories, including WW drilling through objects with her body.

[crashryan]

I didn't know Kanigher created The Bouncer.

Everything has already been said about the effeminate appearance of the Bouncer on this cover. However I must point out The Big B's bizarre anatomy. Follow that manly form through in your mind. The guy has no torso and no hips! All he's got are arms and legs. Heaven knows what the waist of his dress is cinched around.

The first story is no worse than the average Golden Age story. The usual poor Fox spelling. So-so art. Look, we get two supermen for the price of one. And one is an artist with stereotype wimp attributes: beret, glasses, tiny mustache. Kudos to Kanigher for making a wimpy artist into a superhero. Not sure why Anteas needs The Bouncer, though. He does pretty well by himself, as long as he's touching the ground, which is most of the time. Having real kids co-star in a comic story just muddies the water, though it gives a couple of kids bragging rights with the gang at home. Assuming these two represent real kids. Remember, this is the publisher that launched a marketing blitz for a non-existent soft drink.

One Round Hogan...boxing heroes sure were a big deal in Golden Age comics. Hogan's manager is a selfish jerk! He actually sells Hogan out before he has that "quick change of heart." They wasted no time ending this story, did they?

The Joy Family: No complaints about the cartooning but the story is a sloppy mess.

Rocket Kelly: So who is Rocket Kelly? The WWII fighter pilot of the first story or the space traveler of the second? The planes are nice in the first story. The second story rambles like delirious vagrant.  There's enough crammed into in these six pages to make six lousy full-length stories.

Loop O'Day: Bleah.

The Gold Bug: Mr Mxyzptlk in gold. And another sudden story ending. Exactly how much power does Anteas have? He fears being squashed by the bus but later helps juggle three cars.

Here 'n There: Another dud.

Minit Mystery: We're supposed to be mystified by this?

I'll grant that The Bouncer is odd enough to be interesting, but most of the book remains at the bottom of the barrel.

[MarkWarner]

I must confess that after reading the main Bouncer feature I am rather confused. I certainly enjoyed the story, but what genre is it? I go for "proto pesky kids" as we have baddies dressed as ghosts in order to grab a gold mine from an old timer.

I liked the way that they wrote in a couple of readers into the story, not that they did too much.

One Round Hogan: A standard comic book boxing story which was OK,  But, Joe Palooka is in different division (see what I did there).

Joy Family: Did not give me much joy ... just another bout of bemusement.

The 2 Rocket Kelly stories must be contenders for the most words used in comic book story. Jeeez ... we read comics 'cos we don't read too well!!

Loop O'Day: In which I learned the phrase "Zooming Zeus"

The Bouncer: After reading "A New Kind of Adversary!" I'd love to be Adam Anteas who has his own personal superhero, especially handy with a full on villain like Gold Bug around.

Here 'N There: "The subway guard rearranges that closet" was the only one I found even remotely funny!

Verdict: A rambling shambolic hit! I think mainly as the Bouncer is a very strange sort of superhero. His "alter ego" is actually someone else. Clumsily written by me, but if you read the stories hopefully you'll know what I mean!

[mopee167]

BILL FAULKNER??? And another character that actually looked like William Faulkner, complete with trademark hat?? Whoa, part of me wanted to think it was an inside joke, but WHO WOULD GET IT?? But it was still weird...

Speaking of William Faulkner... (We were speaking of William Faulkner, weren't we?)
Wasn't he selling text stories to comic books, c1946-1947? I suspect those credited as by
William Cuthbert are by him. Cuthbert is his middle name.

http://www.comics.org/writer/name/cuthbert/sort/chrono/

[paw broon]

Hey,SuperScrounge, I have read many of those Kanigher WW stories, although it was a long, long time ago and I didn't know he wrote them
As I have a lot of scans from that era, I'll dig them out and have a look, but I still think that panel looks like a pre-Stone Boy, Stone Boy trick - solid as a rock, dropping like a stone.  And I think the name, "The Bouncer", and seeing the speccy bloke bouncing about reminded me of Bouncing Boy.  Hence LSH/Subs.
Morgus, mopee, I didn't know what was going on with the mention of William Faulkner, so I looked him up, now I know who you're talking about.  Excuse my ignorance.

[crashryan]

The possibility that The Bouncer story has a guest shot by William Faulkner reinforces my suspicion that the kids' names are fake. Not that it's such a big deal. It saves Victor Fox time and money and the suckers--that is, readers--who sent in their names would just assume somebody else won the prize.

[SuperScrounge]

It's not that I can't see the similarity to the Legion characters, but I knew of Kanigher's involvement before reading so I tended to mentally compare the Bouncer with the WW stories while reading.