[Kracalactaka]

It has been awhile. Without Further Ado let's sample Tom Mix Comics #8, Published By Ralston-Purina in 1942.



The book can be found here:

https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=3318

[The Australian Panther]

Happy to start this. I

[SuperScrounge]

Might want to edit your link Krac, it took me to the Tom Mix section, not the specific comic.

[Kracalactaka]

close enough, there are only two books there anyway.  Reading both gets you extra credit and a sticker on your book report!

[SuperScrounge]

The Mystery of Submarine Z-3 - Hmmm... Bill Allison hypes the book, Fred Meagher draws it, and in the story we have two extras called Allison and Meagher.  Fun story.

The Fumble Family - i.e. recycled jokes from The Uncovered Wagon.  Okay, not exactly, but if if you've read the Gulf Funny Weeklys you can definitely see the similarities. Olaf and Sven could be brothers.

George Washington - Okay.

Jane of Dream Castle - So basically a knock off of Little Nemo? Otherwise okay.

Stubby - Okay.

Li'l Injun - Eh.

The Ride For Life! - Not bad.

[Captain Audio]

Some might say that cover is racist but I guarantee you that if a Tiger was pouncing on me like that I'd have exactly the same facial expression.

[bowers]

 Oh, my- where to start on this one? Count me as one who considers the cover racist. I grew up in the early '50s and grew up with minorities being used as comic relief in all entertainment media. It was just the norm. Accepting that doesn't mean excusing it. Hopefully, we're better people now.

The Tom Mix submarine story showed Tom changing his genre, no doubt to become more relevant to the war effort. Not a bad little action story, especially for a giveaway. Still not sure why they made Wash dress in that ridiculous costume. I'm a bit surprised to see Mix portrayed as a war hero. Sent to fight in the Philippine Insurrection, he either deserted or went A.W.O.L. depending on the source consulted. He supposedly was never charged or discharged- go figure. His second story was just some good old rip-roaring western fun!

I really enjoyed Jane of the Dream Castle. A Nemo knockoff? Yes, but good. Also reminded me of the Danny in Wonderland feature in earlier Pep comics.

The other comic features were good and the feature pages and ads all held my interest.

Ralston also did another Straight Shooter giveaway in 1982, w/art by Alex Toth. Quite nicely done.

Product giveaway comics are a favorite of mine- great choice, Krac! Two thumbs up from me. Cheers, Bowers

[The Australian Panther]

Bearing in mind Mix's dubious military history, they pushed the envelope when they changed the title of the giveaway to TOM MIX COMMANDOS COMICS.Tom joined the pulp war effort by forming the Cowboy Commandos to help Uncle Sam win freedom on the printed page much like Captain America and others. But seeing Tom in a helmet and khakis lost its western appeal and it became just another war comic. (Implication: It didn't sell. Kids do have some discernment after all!) This version of the comic only lasted three issues, ending with #12 in November

[Kracalactaka]

Well this book never "sold" anyway you had to mail away for it with boxtops from Ralston food products

And Tom was Dead one Month after they published the 1st Book in this series so Ralston was just trying to Milk his name as long as they could.

[Morgus]

This would have made me the happiest kid in the neighbourhood if I had sent away and got this in the mail. For once, the interior art was just as good as the cover. Nice selection of stories and activities for the kids. Great Meagher art on the Mix stories. I was surprised by the assurances on the inside page that this wasn't a 'trashy horror'. I thought that whole moral panic was a decade in the future!!

Bowers, I grew up thinking Mantan Moreland was one of the funniest guys around, thanks to his re-runs of stuff like KING OF THE ZOMBIES on Saturday morning. And yeah, the whole presentation Wash rubbed me the wrong way, and mostly because it wasn't funny. Rochester on the Jack Benny show is still funny. This was just being nasty. You're right. There was no reason to put him into that gear. He could have just as easily wore a suit and fez and came off as a foreign doctor or something. But, hey, it was what it was.

'Panther, you're right. The Biro art was a cut above his usual. I almost wanted to go back and check it out to see if I was reading the right story! Jane of Dream Castle deserved a better fate, nice work and might even have developed it's own voice.

Thanks for posting, Krac!

[crashryan]

This book was a fun read. I've never paid much attention to Tom Mix comics of any sort. The odd thing about this one is that the publishers seem to be trying to do a full-scale reboot of the hero. They not only put him in a non-western setting, but they show him on the cover in a beard and a safari suit!

The racism here is pretty egregious. I'll know, I know: characteristic of the times, etc. etc. Still, on a Golden Age Sidekick Sensitivity Scale of 1 to 10 with Ebony as 5, the portrayal of Wash gets a minus 11.

The highlight of the book is Fred Meagher's artwork. He hasn't the big reputation of other GA illustrators, perhaps because he stuck mostly to westerns. Too bad--he always delivers solidly drawn, exciting panels with good detail and few shortcuts. He letters well, too. The submarine story is nice, but the western tale is even better because Meagher gets to show off his skill at drawing horses.

The stories are fair enough. However when you think about it there isn't much point in Tom and his friends donning disguises. Goliath is immediately hostile to them anyway, and quickly recognizes Mix after he sees a trail of bubbles(??).

"The Fumble Family" is a real surprise. This is the first Charles Biro artwork I've seen that I really like. It's quite well cartooned...Biro should have stuck to cartoony stuff and skipped the realism.

I very much enjoy "Jane at Dream Castle." Amusing story and excellent art by August Froelich, another underappreciated artist. The filler features are so-so. Thank God Wash's magic tricks aren't described in dialect! One question: the back cover seems to be a half-sized page. Was the bottom part torn off on the original comic, or was the scan cropped?

All in all I'd say J. Neuhardt of Lewisville, Ohio, got his money's worth from this comic.

[Kracalactaka]

The back was printed sideways, I pasted in a better quality Image than what the book came with though, but left the rest of the back cover as is.

[Captain Audio]

Tom Mix returned late from his honeymoon, which resulted in the AWOL charge. The charge was dropped as these often were if extenuating circumstances could be proven.
IIRC his unit was never deployed to a war zone.

[Kracalactaka]

Well seems like a mixed, but mostly positive reaction.

and guess what? I have three more issues to scan

[SuperScrounge]

Krac, did you send in coupons for those three extra issues? 

Crash, IIRC Meagher was the second artist to work on Gulf Weeklies' Wings Wayfair series, so if you haven't seen those you should probably check them out.

[POWPUCK]

Wash would be odious comic relief even if he wasn't a racist caricature(which he categorically is). I think buffoonish sidekicks only exist to add levity, but the writers dare not derive humor from the protagonist's foibles, and considering Mr. Mix is apparently a real person it's not entirely unjustified on the writer's part. Still, did he need to be so naive and obsequious?

Mix seems the John Wayne type, which I really don't care for.

Also, there's the repeated use of apostrophes in the possessive "its."

[Kracalactaka]

Much of the group seems to have a hard time setting aside their modern sensibilities.

Personally I find Ebony from The Spirit much more egregiously offensive than Wash.

You are hard pressed to find 1940's comic books that are not racially offensive to modern sensibilities.

ref the punctuation,     It is a comic book, not literature...

[POWPUCK]

I deliberately put racial sensibilities aside if that wasn't clear; Wash would still be terrible even he were white -- and in that case coercing him into a Hollywood-style "savage cannibal" garb would at least be daftly incongruous, albeit still mean-spirited and unfunny.

Idiot sidekicks are a lazy crutch to make the lead protagonist look good by contrast, for any number of reasons, none that necessarily reflect well on them. Although that's hardly mystifying considering this is a vanity comic, but I daresay if Mr. Mix was secure in his masculinity, he'd allow himself to be the butt of a few demeaning jokes, if indeed such jokes are called for in the first place.  At least then the humor--such that it is--wouldn't be at the expense of a pitiable fool.

Also, it is racist.

[bowers]

Krac, I agree that Ebony was also depicted offensively. However, in my opinion, he was also often the only one in that entire cast of characters that actually used his brain. Again, a good choice and looking forward to more.
Cheers, Bowers

[lyons]

The cover is a reflection of 1940's America.  The Jim Crow laws of enforced segregation in Southern States had permeated every aspect of society, and when America entered WW2, blacks were assigned to segregated divisions and given combat support roles only.  Segregation in the armed forces remained official policy until 1948.  For the general public, the Tom Mix cover was not racist - it was racial truth illustrated.
Not bad for a give-away comic.  Enjoyed the stories and art.  Good choice.         

[POWPUCK]

Being a reflection of the times does not excuse anything that's intrinsically wrong. Racism isn't wrong because it's out of fashion; it's wrong because it is always wrong. It's not like bell bottom jeans, which society declared pass

[Captain Audio]

Well as I said if a Tiger were to pounce on me I'd have exactly that expression on my face, just before I climbed to the highest tree limb I could and shrieked and jabbered incoherently while throwing handfuls of feces at it.

I've looked into the glass eyes of the Ghost and the Darkness at the field Museum. Big Cats are not to be taken lightly.

[POWPUCK]

Were I just to judge it on the cover alone, sure, maybe.

Look: I'm going to cut to the chase here. I'm not demanding this comic be taken down or censored. It's not even worth my effort to give it a one-star rating. If y'all enjoy it in spite(?) of its indefensible bits, then more power to you.

But all the apologia surrounding it is xxxxxxxx. Recognize it for what it is and move on.

[Kracalactaka]

Powpuck,

please refrain from cursing, just saying "bull" by itself would have been sufficient. 

I think it is time to close out this book anyway. So as you say let's move on.

[lyons]

Powpuck, The book is a time capsule from 1940's America.  It espouses 1940's American culture and opinion. Deal with it.