I guess I had better get started reviewing this fortnight's books. I haven't been looking forward to it, as I've never liked any of MLJ's superhero stories, in the slightest.
TopNotch Comics 15 [/b]
The Black Hood
This story had a lot of unbelievable things happen. First, a car sideswipes an old man, knocking him into a river. He almost drowns, but is saved by The Black Hood, who dives in after him and drags him out of the water. But, the man knows he will die very soon. I don't believe he will die very soon. He is now breathing, and talking. He cannot drown. If he is currently experiencing a heart attack, why don't we see the symptoms? If he has many abrasions and contusions why don't we see lots of blood pouring out, if he is in life danger? Why can't The Black Hood get him to a hospital to save his life? If the plot requires him to die on this page, why not show the reader that he really will die? Second error - handing someone a deed made out to you will not be of much good to the recipient in a court of law, if no relationship between the property and the new holder of someone else's deed claims to be the proper owner. The dying man should have asked The Black hood if he had a pen and after he located one, he could sign the deed over to The Black Hood.
If someone, who was dying, would hand me a deed to any property, I surely couldn't simply take it to the local land office, and claim that the owner willed that property to me verbally, without a witness. It would be my duty to inform the police of the man's death, and hand the deed to them to provide evidence of who the dead man is, and to be sure that the deed is delivered to his estate holder pending distribution of his assets to whoever is specified in his will or trust. And if none exists, then to his verified next of kin. If I tried to claim that property through physical possession of someone else's deed, I would be suspected of murder to appropriate the deed, until after his cause of death is thoroughly investigated. And if a murder is suspected, I would become a prime suspect.
Even if the writer HAD shown the old man sign his deed over to The Black Hood for temporarily saving his life, the man would need to survive long enough for the police, or the lady in the car, to witness that signing. And then, a court case at the behest of The Black Hood would need to have a handwriting expert testify that the handwriting on the deed was, indeed, the listed owner's own hand. Realistically, all that would take a few months. So, the early part of the story would proceed by fits and starts, and be choppy, full of short scenes separated by a lot of narratives. So, it is a problem, because it hurts the believability of the story, and, so, takes the reader out of living in the story, naturally.
I also wonder how the villain saw what he needed to see out of the shirt that covered his face. If his head were moving around inside the shirt, its outline would be noticed by onlookers. If it appears relatively smooth with the shirt, as a man's chest would, then whatever sat between the man's face and the shirt would have to have been fairly thick, but also have holes straight from the man's eyes all the way through the shirt. Those holes would be visible at relatively short distances, giving away that he is not a ghost. Also, he would only be able to see straight in front of him. He would have no peripheral vision, which he needed to avoid The Hood's movements. That was not taken into consideration by the artist.
The whole plot is too unbelievable to take seriously. And it wasn't drawn all that well. And it is a well-worn western plot of the hidden gold mine found by crooks, who need to scare everyone away while they illegally mine the gold. I also find the hero's using his timid character alter ego as a cover, while taking verbal abuse from his would-be desired ladyfriend, and his supposed rival is also a negative to any possible enjoyment by the reader. This story has absolutely NO redeeming features for me.
The Wizard & Roy The Super Boy
This was a much better story than the first. But the artwork was also weak. The "boy" looked more like a midget. The artist really did not have the skills to draw Human figures well, and to be consistent with their proportions. The story, on the other hand, had a good pace, and developed good levels of suspense at the proper times. It held my interest. Personally, I'd like it much better if there had been no superhero. There was no need in this plot, for the hero to have any super powers, nor to wear a costume. I also like the fact that there were no "real" witches nor magic or any supernatural events occurring.
Fran Frazer
Not a bad story. It held my interest. I don't believe that The German officer would have been fooled by The Italian doctor's trick, however. First of all, they were too careful with security to allow an outsider to switch their standard bullets to blank shells. And where would the doctor get them? And how could he access their weapons without their guards seeing him do it? And how would he have time to do all that? (e.g. having them ALL away from their weapons so long a time?). Also, I seem to remember blanks sounding very different from live bullets when shot. If a non-gun user like me can recognise that, how would the firing squad members, and the officer in charge, watching the execution, not notice that sound difference. And, it is also not realistic to believe that The German soldiers wouldn't look at the two victims' bodies up close, and kick them, to make sure they were dead, and fire their pistol to their heads if they saw movement after the kick. But, all of that does not ruin the story for me. Still, I think those problems could have been worked around, and the basic story line could have been saved, and worked better.
Keith Kornell West Pointer
This story is based on a situation that is much too difficult to believe. As far as I understand, The American German (Heritage) Bund was an organisation of US citizens of German extraction and heritage who was founded for the benefit of its members (people of German heritage). Before The US entered World War II, they wanted The US to stay out of that war, and thus, avoid fighting their old home country. They were against how terribly The US citizens of German extraction were treated during World War I. They knew The US was normally an ally of Britain and France, and was helping Britain fight The Germans while The US was still nominally "neutral". It is just not believable that they would recruit US citizens of non-German descent. Hutchinson is an English name. This story would have worked better IF the US soldier, who was unfairly treated for allegedly starting the fight with the German POW, would have been of German heritage, and had joined The US Army reluctantly at the request of his immigrant father, who kissed the ground when arriving, and wanted to prove his family was made up of "real Americans". And, it would also need the German Bund recruiting officer to have observed him being mistreated by being falsely accused, and then not backed up by his officer, and heard his name called out, and it is a German name, rather than "Hutch".
It is also hard to believe that someone who was lukewarm about joining The Bund, and not party to the plan of some of their higher-ups to help sabotage The US military and domestic war effort in USA, to make it easier for the expected coming of a German invasion, would risk being court marshalled, and kicked out of The Army for Bad Conduct, and lose any possibility of pension and any benefits, and risk a prison term, to steal guns and give them to The German Bund. The emotion just isn't in that character to make all this believable. We would need a few added pages to show his hatred for his father's controlling his life, and for his father's beloved USA, to make it believable. This goes back to my pet peeve about all these so-called "stories" (which are really only vignettes) being too short in number of panels and pages to construct a decently paced and completely developed plot.
And then, in the end, after "Hutch" is caught, having stolen US Army guns, and ammunition, and given it to an organisation seen to have members antagonistic to their country's interests, and fomenting plots to sabotage their country's war efforts, they let the offender off with a slight slap on the wrist, implying that he did nothing wrong. That, too is unbelievable. That was The US Military DURING A WAR!!! That was an offence that could easily have been (and often was) punishable by DEATH! In real life, he'd AT THE VERY LEAST, would have gotten a dishonourable discharge from The Army and probably have served a prison sentence of some length.
The Firefly
This story was interesting in that the old witch, Atira, seemed to be one of the perpetrators of the scam to fleece gold from the families of the drowned boys; but in the end we find out that the criminal was her son, alone, without her help. I think it is a little bit hard to believe that she fell for her son's trick. The story had good pacing, and was developed enough, despite its short length. It held my interest all the way through. I'm not sure why The Firefly is called that name, or why he needs to wear tights and a kind of uniform. And his tiny goggles really don't obscure much of his face, at all. So they don't hide his identity. I was glad he does not seem to have any super power. So, why not just dress like a normal person?
The St. Louis Kid
Very, VERY interesting and entertaining story!!! The future father-In-Law of "The Kid" (boxer) borrow The Kid's gift for his fiancee, speeds through a hick town and is thrown in jail, and The Kid is forced to fight an exhibition fight against the crooked judge's gigantic monster fighter from south America, in a frame-up. After knocking the "ringer" out, The Kid is thrown in the Jail, too (on trumped-up charges). The South American rips off the jail cell's door, frees the 2 prisoners, and we see a new sidekick character added to the strip for future episodes. Clever, and unexpected. Best story by far.
Wings Johnson of The Air Patrol
This was a semi-realistic World War II spy story. Wings is an RAF pilot, who, with his comic sidekick, Henry Higgins, as co-pilot, were to deliver a new bomber to its deployment spot. Higgins gets injured, and immediately after, the spy(German intelligence officer) pretends to be a British intelligence officer, commandeering the plane, and taking Higgins' place. I assume he was testing the situation of flying over London and turning off the planes' engines and lights to see if that would allow the German Luftwaffe planes to fly over London and drop their bombs without being detected by the ground defence forces' anti-aircraft gunners. Luckily, Higgins accidentally helps Wings capture the spy, which, of course, allows Wings to keep the plane from crashing. Its a bit fanciful, but very short. and so, being filled with suspense and action, held my interest all the way through.
Bob Phantom
Another tights-wearing would-be superhero, like The Firefly and The Black Hood in this book, no super power was shown. It is a very basic story of two burglars who stole diamonds and hid them to return and get the later. The less bright of the 2 was killed (maybe by his partner-so he could keep ALL the loot?). Phantom's alter ego, Walt Whitney, newspaper reporter, only used his credentials to get access to the crime scene. But, in this story, he obtained his new secretary, assistant, understudy, who, typically, became beautiful, simply by removing her spectacles, and letting down her hair. Conveniently, because of the story's short page allowance, she had resided on the same floor (next door) in one of the crook's apartment building, and so was the perfect way to integrate the other story track of Whitney getting his assistant into the limited page and panel space. Whitney and Jinx Friday (soon-to-be Girl Friday) solve the case, and get ready to move on to their next case.
Kardak The Mystic Magician
Kardak, apparently through hypnosis, shows a tempermental, selfish, nasty movie star his potential terrible future from staying selfish and cruelly uncaring for the fates of others. It is a good way to show Kardak's powers. Of course, the man changes his ways after that trauma, and all is good with The World. It is a bit "preachy", but being so short, and direct to the point, it is not offensive to the reader, and entertaining enough. The artwork is weak, as it was in every story in this book.
Shield/Wizard Comics #1
The Shield - G-Man Extraordinary
This story tells and shows the origin of The Shield. The story, although short, is complete, full of action, well-paced and directly to the point. I'm not a fan of superhero stories. But this held my interest the whole way, and the story didn't seem silly, or too illogical to me that most of the superhero stories I have read have seemed to me. Interesting to see J. Edgar Hoover portrayed as a sympathetic character after knowing what was revealed about him after his death.
Chapter 2 (Incident at Ingot's Steel Plant)
Maybe I commented on the lack of silliness or purposeful campiness too soon. The steel magnate named Ingot, in the 2nd chapter, is a bit too much for me to accept. Also, The Shield giving all the credit to his G-Man "supervisor", JU Ju (who was unconscious most of the time The Shield did his heroic deeds, just to keep his identity secret is hard to take, as well as the normal superhero super strength. there is really no suspense, because we know he will always succeed, and there is no real mortal danger for him.
Chapter 3 (The Zefke Murder Case)
Of course, in dramatic fashion, The Shield stops a racing train at full speed, with his bare hands and arm strength, just as its cowcatcher is about to touch the body of the first victim, tied to the track. He could have used his super speed and leaping ability to jump far ahead of that, to avoid any possibility of the train touching their bodies. But that would have taken away the last smidgen of any possible suspense. Of course, all readers over 4 years old knew that an innocent victim couldn't be shown to be killed in a 1940s American comic book. I suppose soldier deaths could be implied in a military comic book of that time. But even then, I doubt that the actual expiration of the person couldn't be seen in a panel. Perhaps some villains could be seen to fall off a cliff, and we assume that they were killed when they landed, or by heart attack while on the way down, but we cannot WATCH that happen; and it can't happen to an innocent person in a superhero comic story.
The Shield destroys parts of the railroad tracks, and a water tower to apprehend the gang members, who will give testimony that will put the gang leader, and others who participated actively in the murders, in prison for life, or executed in the electric chair. I hope that the assets of those gang members will be taken away to pay for repair of those properties (both public and private).
Chapter 4 - The Vampire Murders (Text Story)
I had the opposite reaction to this story. I was hoping that there was a depraved Human villain, who used the vampire disguise as a way to commit his heinous crimes of vengeance, hoping that it would lead suspicion away from him. But, I should have realised that describing such an elaborate hoax in any understandable way would not be possible in 2 pages worth of text. But simply saying it was a "real" vampire, as defined by the medieval folktales is not very entertaining to me.
The Wizard - (Story of The First Wizard - Blaine Whitney)
The author explains the origin of the first Wizard to fight for USA - an historical novel, with him helping the colonists fight the US Revolutionary War against The British. He weaves the story of this superbrained and super physically-powered colonist into the actual historical events to show that they might not have occurred without his help. His talent for being able to look into the future has him inventing future inventions to use to his advantage against villains who are enemies of his country. It was a bit entertaining. And the artwork is decent. But the superpowers driving the story is not my cup of tea.
The 2nd and 3rd chapters are just more of the same finishing up the war to the point where USA gains its
independence.
Overall assessment:
The Shield had much better artwork than the Top Notch Comic. Both books had a few reasonably good stories and a few weak ones as well. The Shield/Wizard Comic was, to my taste, the better of the two, overall. But neither are books I would want to read more, or collect. But, as superhero stories go, The Shield is one of the more plausible origin stories, or I should rather state, one of the least ridiculous, superhero stories I've read.
Author
Topic: Reading Group # 248 TopNotch Comios 15 + Hangman comics 2 (Read 2134 times)
