[MarkWarner]

So last week's book Captain Hobby Comics #1 was I think rather a surprise success. I am finishing off my post at the moment!

I was interrupted in this enterprise by a message from a rather prestigious (to say the least) organization. They are mounting an exhibition next year (more to come about that) and they wanted help in tracking down a hi res scan of the cover for Fight Comics #39. I have put up a post already, but with a not inconsiderable amount of animal cunning, I thought why not make it this week's choice as well!

After doing a bit of digging I found out that Senorita Rio (the chick on the cover) is a rather interesting heroine, I am sure Crash, Narf et al will explain more to the dullards like me.

Fight Comics #39 can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14121, and we will concentrate on the main Senorita Rio story "The Case of the Guilty Clock".

Oh, I almost forget let's see if we can unearth a cool big scan of the cover! I am sure it will earn us a stack of "brownie points".

[crashryan]

Talk about guilty pleasures. That's Fiction House for me. I like Fiction House comics for their crazy energy, offbeat concepts, and occasional good artwork, but when pressed I have to admit they just aren't very good. Most of the blame falls on the scripts, which range from lousy to godawful.

It's the scripts that bother me most in our issue of Fight. I could be generous and call them "chaotic." "Incomprehensible" is a better fit. All the stories have a manic energy which is a lot of fun. More crazy situations are crammed into eight pages than most comics offer in twenty. "Shark Brodie" is the best example. Treacherous hot native babe and fugitive criminal mastermind and shanghaied by crooks and marooned and babe betrayed and cannibals attack and escaping human sacrifice and  a fight to regain the ship...(pant pant pant). With so much going on it's no surprise several of the stories (notably Shark Brodie and Hooks Devlin) run out of space and rush to a conclusion. Devlin's climactic boxing match is polished off in three panels!

Another problem is mismatch between script and art. As a writer you hope the artist will follow the script and draw what's necessary to make the action clear. This doesn't always happen. A well-meaning artist might draw a confusing picture or a lazy one might avoid drawing important stuff. That's why comics writers often hedge their bets by writing descriptive dialogue and captions to "cover" the action. Several of these stories badly need either better art or more explanatory text.

For example in "Tiger Girl" the warrior women attack (page 45) and toss bolos to strangle their victims. However we get only a vague look at the bolos in panels 1 and 2. When Tiger Girl is hit in panel 5 we have no idea why she's choking. Looking closely we see something wrapped around her neck. Is it a lariat like the one in the next panel? The caption refers cryptically to the womens' "queer weapons [taking] effect." Not until panel 3 of the next page does a caption finally identify the weapon.

"Senorita Rio" has the same problem. Take page 11. The idea is that the guard has a ring of keys which he drops when Rio strangles him. Unfortunately Lily Renee never shows us the keys, not even when the guard drops them in panel 6. After we read Rio's elliptical dialogue in panel 7, we notice what might be a key ring hastily sketched in the shadows by Rio's carefully-drawn legs.

So much for the technical gripes. Random notes: the magazine's credits read like a Classics Illustrated cast list. I guess the same shop served both publishers.

Exactly why does the mob of showgirls sexually assault Hooks Devlin? i guess it's supposed to be a joke (he's irresistible). And the "hero" solves the case by accidentally knocking a wall over on the bad guys? All this might have worked better if it had been drawn in a cartoony style.

Of course the ladies are carefully and amply drawn throughout. From Fiction House we wouldn't expect less.

[Morgus]

Senorita Rio looked like Katy Perry to me, and this was not a bad thing. You had most of the things that make life worth living: Nazis, seamed stockings, great legs, great rack, girls tied up. Fast action. Nice.
My reservations were with the eccentric placement of panels. Page 5 made me just sit back and say;"Whaaat?"
Page 6 was a little better, and they finally used an arrow on Page 8. My first glance at Page 11 made me think she had stabbed him with the spring. Didn't even notice the keys at the bottom. But the final explosion was sweet. Wished Se

[SuperScrounge]

Case of the Guilty Clock - Hmmm, okay, but nothing special.

Rip Carson - Now this was a fun one.

Hooks Devlin - Cute story.

Kayo Kirby - Ehhhhh, while it had some nice moments it kinda felt like a Joe Palooka knock-off.

Death Cut the Cards - Okay.

Shark Brodie - Eh, could have been better.

Tiger Girl - So did the editor just decide that the cheescake stories didn't need good writers?

[MarkWarner]

First impressions of this book are what a GREAT cover! But what is it like inside ...

Senorita Rio: This took a few pages of confusion on my part before I actually started to understand the main story. The art was great and I did rather like the line:

"Take her to the torture room! Start her on number six! Understand?"

I was looking forward to this and to be honest I was rather disappointed with the story line. I think I ought to have a read of at least one more of her adventures before I decide on the dusky Sernorita!

Rip Carson: I admire the cut of Rip Carson's jib and I thought it was a cool story. But I did also laugh at the Pythonesque line:

"Right, Sir Kenneth has practiced jumping ... he is temporarily under your command ..."

Hooks Devlin: Was also a bit confusing ... but I rather liked him, and who I guess is his erstwhile girlfriend Peaches. I'd certainly like to read some more of this!

Kayo Kirby: Was OK, a boxer with brains.

Shark Brodie: The spider was a great villain ... and I for one am not sure that he actually perished after being pushed overboard in what we have already been told is "dead flat calm" water.

Tiger Girl: Was OK, but just a generic jungle girl strip. 

Verdict: The whole book scores a moderate hit, but the Senorita Rio story was in my opinion the weakest.

[mopee167]

American painter Mel Ramos used the cover image of Senorita Rio from Fight Comics #39 as inspiration for one of his Pop-Art paintings:

http://www.meiselgallery.com/lkmg/imagesBACKS/ramos_back07.jpg

[narfstar]

Ah yes Fiction House. Pretty girls and really fast paced stories. I doubt they had many female readers. I found the story OK despite what many others mentioned.

[jimmm kelly]

I forget if it's my own surmising or something I read from someone else, but I think that Lili Renee scripted many of the stories she illustrated. Or maybe she was working from a plot outline and fleshed out the story herself.

One clue is that in her stories, the Nazis speak correct German not comic book German. Being born in Vienna, Renee's mother tongue was German. Renee's life story is quite fascinating in itself.

I'd like to think that some girls read Fiction House comics, given they had some strong female characters like Senorita Rio, Tiger Girl and Sheena--as well as female creators like Lili Renee.

Granted there's a lot of cheescake in these stories--though I find Sheena often poorly drawn in that respect--but I think girls would've looked past that and been entertained by these adventurous women. The men they keep company with seem very dull and stupid by comparison. Which most girls would see as true to life.

[paw broon]

The Senorita Rio story was not very well laid out and I was confused for the first few pages. Our page 7. panel 4, it looks like Alice in wonderland with the odd perspective -she's normal sized in a tiny room, or she's a giant in a normal sized room.  Certainly all action but I don't find it appealing.
In the Rip Carson story, McCrae is introduced as captain of the brave vessel, but in the next panel he's telling us his captain ordered him off the ship and it turns out he's actually a commando.  Perhaps it's my eyes but in some panels McCrae seems to have a 'tache but in our page 15 panel 1, he has a clean upper lip.  It all looks a bit careless to me.
As I dislike war stories, boxing stories and jungle stories, this comic is probably not for me.
So let's look at Hooks Devlin. Who's Jimmy? The rest is all very glamourous and a bit rushed.
Although The Spider is a good villain in the Shark Brodie story, the lady's language is so awful it put me off. Again, all a bit rushed.
The whole comic is fast and furious but it seems to me to be all mouth and trousers