[crashryan]

Since no one said nay, I'm offering a selection for the Reading Group. I wanted to avoid the temptation to just pick stuff I like, so I consulted my good friend Al Gorithim and chose by lot one of this week's Random 12 (not endorsed by Rick Random).

The winner was Prize Comics v. 5 n. 1, aka #49, from 1945. Looks interesting...some early work by future big names, a mix of straight and cartoony features, and an opportunity to become a movie star!

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=28517&b=i

[The Australian Panther]

Dibs!
Is that cover really John Giunta? Some Serious eyecandy there!
And a Charles Voight I haven't spotted before!
That first Page doesn't waste any time introducing you to the character. BOOM! BOOM!
Voight's comic work at first could strike you as sloppy, but its no such thing.
On page 2 there are just 5 chracters but they are all distinct characters and there is something communicated with the faces in every panel. And its a set-up for the first panel on the next page.
A 'Bit of Business' as we say in the theatre.
Now he has our attention we get the scheme set up, buts it unclear, as the blurb states in the last panel,
'We wish someone would let us in on this brainstorm' If we are still reading, he's hooked us!
I've never seen this plot before. And the story is more comedy than drama. Which was Voight's style.   
Voight worked out a distinct drawing style while doing his Newspaper strip Betty. I think he never changed it for comic book work because he was content with it. 'Betty' was all about minutely observed behaviour and characters, some of which are grotesques. That's why his work in comics is unusual and stands out. I always get the feeling that he never took comic books too seriously. But his stuff is clearly on another level from the rest of this book.
Nice Dick Briefer FRANKENSTEIN and an early Howie Post. The rest of the book is pretty forgettable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A._Voight 

Thank you  CrashRyan!

[Andrew999]

My views are much the same as Panther.

Nice looking girl on the cover who doesn

[Captain Audio]

"I

[Robb_K]

The "Boom Boom Brannigan" story had an interesting plot, despite being unbelievable that Fish could pull off his scheme.  The artwork was good.  Yes, it has somewhat of a "poor man's Will Eisner look. The ending with the crooks' boxer having been made into a dancing star by the effeminate choreographer was unexpected.  Clearly, the story was meant to be a light-hearted comedy all the way.

Frankenstein was a silly, but somewhat entertaining story.  The artwork wasn't terrible, but was fairly sparse. 

The Howie Post Little Indian "story" was decently drawn.  It was typical animation-style physical gag-driven.  Not funny in the slightest. 

The Prince Ra story was somewhat interesting.  But, it didn't make much sense.  Why is an ancient immortal Egyptian living in USA and fighting with The US Army Air Corps versus The Germans in WWII?  And you know very well that The US Army is NOT going to allow pilots to use their own, non regulation planes!  I guess The Prince's was serviced by ancient magic.  I, too, thought the attempt at putting Germans speaking English with a "German accent" was a terrible failure.  That's NOT how Germans sound trying to speak English.  I guess the writer had never heard a German speak English or German.  Better to write a very simple German sentence in German language in the first German's balloon (one which even an American kid can understand its gist) add an asterisk to it; and then, define it at the bottom of the page as follows: "German characters' speech translated to English for the benefit of the reader."

I really wanted to find out Prince Ra's relationship to USA, and something about his back story.  How and why did he become immortal?  Is he a celebrity in USA? - Or is he only known in The Army?  They accepted this quirky guy who has a "bird-plane" because he's one helluva(n) air ace,  and the outcome of the war is still in doubt. 

Maybe there's no back information about Prince Ra because he's had his own series in "Prize Comics"? Or, he's, at least, a recurring character?

In any case, this kind of "tossed-in-setup" would NEVER fly with my editors.  We have to write stories as if every reader is a new reader, and has never read a story with our characters before.  So, if we introduce a new character, we have to weave in information about his past the connects to our story, fairly early in the story, OR in special cases, the IFC would have to be used as an "information page" for introducing the new character.

But, maybe Prize was using this as a  "teaser", to test market the possibility of starting a series of Prince Ra having a regular monthly story in Prize Comics, based on readers letters to the editor asking for The Prince's "origin story"?  Can anyone tell me if this character had already been used a lot before this issue?

Yank & Doodle (Starring The Black Owl) was lousy!  I've never liked Batman and Robin-style teams, anyway.  This guy has 2 Robins tagging along with him.  And NONE of them are introduced.  We never know who, or what "The Black Owl" is!  This story makes little sense.  Why would a small village doctor and his daughter believe a salesman with many thousands of dollars worth of top-line jewelry would be driving through the countryside alone. with the jewelry loose, inside a briefcase, rather than encased in display cases, and the case having a foolproof lock system.  They could have only have opened it if he had left it unlocked, or if the key had been attached (which is unsafe).  Clearly, he is NOT a jewelry salesman.  They should have been suspicious that he might be a burglar or a fence.  While he was unconscious, they should have looked through his pockets for his wallet and ID, and then notified the police, in case there had been a jewelry store burglary or robbery recently.  The continuous bumps to the gang leader's head, changing him back and forth from crook to honest amnesiac is way too hard to believe.  As an ex-hockey player, who has had a severe concussion with recurring symptoms, I find the events in this story too unbelievable. Maybe I'd believe ONE reversal, but, with more time between.  And then having the young woman want to stick with the "honest amnesiac" version of him after knowing his real identity as a hardened criminal, and having only known him for parts of two days, is way too much to believe.

I'd have been fired if I turned in a story like this.  And, the story wouldn't have been accepted.  As I would be getting tossed out the publishing office door, the story editor would come running out waving a 5 Euro bill saying, "I'll give you 5 Euros for your story, - so we can use it for an example of 'how NOT to write a story'!  It has examples of just about ALL the mistakes a comic book story writer can make!"

[SuperScrounge]

Nice cover.

Boom Boom Brannigan - Lot of thought coming up with those names. So Brannigan is a boxer, crimefighter and a teacher? Does he sleep? Cute story.

Frankenstein - Amusing.

Strange Facts Scrapbook - Another swipe by Leo Bachle. Sadly I am not surprised. Edmund Good did most of this page in Dime Comics #9.

Little Chief Big Shot - Cute.

Have to go, will finish reading later.

[SuperScrounge]

A Man From Berlin - Okay.

Prince Ra - Different. I thought the steaks solution was a little too ridiculous, but it was certainly different.

Bag The Axis - Okay for what it was.

The Forgotten Memories - So the cure for criminal behavior is to hit them over the head until they lose their memories???  Overly simplistic, but otherwise okay.

[SuperScrounge]

The Prince Ra story was somewhat interesting.  But, it didn't make much sense.

I'm a superhero fan, but that's kinda par for the course. 

Why is an ancient immortal Egyptian living in USA and fighting with The US Army Air Corps versus The Germans in WWII?

Because the Nazis were just that bad.  Looking back at the story I don't see any reference to him being in the US Army Air Corps. He seems to be an independent pilot fighting on the Allied side.

Maybe there's no back information about Prince Ra because he's had his own series in "Prize Comics"? Or, he's, at least, a recurring character?

According to the Grand Comics Database (comics.org) Prince Ra first appeared in issue 48 and ran until issue 51. A long and storied run.

In any case, this kind of "tossed-in-setup" would NEVER fly with my editors.  We have to write stories as if every reader is a new reader, and has never read a story with our characters before.

Not a bad approach, but there's still the question of how much information is too much and how much is not enough. It would seem with superheroes a little bit of mystery is a feature, not a bug. A lot of Golden Age heroes appeared without explanation. Batman and Green Arrow are two long-lasting heroes who didn't get origins until they proved to be popular.

Personally I've grown to dislike beginning a hero's series with an origin. Most superhero stories are static. The hero doesn't undergo any dramatic change from the start of the story to the end (other characters in the story might, but rarely the hero). Origin stories, by necessity, are dramatic. The hero is dramatically different at the end than at the beginning. So going from a dramatic introduction to a static series can be a bit of a let-down.

We never know who, or what "The Black Owl" is!

And this wasn't even the original Black Owl. When the series began the Black Owl was a different character (and not connected to the separate Yank & Doodle series) who later retired and handed the identity over to another guy, who just happened to be Yank & Doodle's dad, leading to the two series being combined.

[Robb_K]

Reading that episode of "Yank & Doodle", I couldn't even tell who was Yank, and who was Doodle".  Did the story even mention who was who?  Am I a terribly unobservant reader?

I dislike Superhero stories at age 73 for the same exact reason I hated them at age 3!

[lyons]

Superb art by Charles Voight - with a dime luring cover.  Boom Boom Brannigan is an entertaining story similar to the detail and quality found in Joe Palooka tales.  Prize often featured great artwork and stories, and the goofy and humorous interpretation of Dr. Frankenstein's famous monster is no exception.  A good read.  Thanks crash.

[crashryan]

I've made many delightful discoveries on CB+ and one of them is Charles Voight. I knew Voight only from his 1920s ad work. Somehow I've never gotten more than a glimpse of his famous newspaper strip, Betty. So seeing his work in comic books is a treat. "Boom Boom Brannigan" is a fun series. The stories are played with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The premise is silly but fun, and the payoff--Canvasback turning from pug into Broadway hoofer--is a hoot. I appreciate that Voight set this up earlier in the story. Comics writers aren't always that attentive. Question: whose idea was it to name Boom Boom's supporting character "Character?"

I'm assuming Voight wrote his own scripts. All his comic book features have the same offbeat sensibility. And his artwork? Dated, certainly, in 1945, rooted in the work of the pen masters of the early 20th century. But beautiful! His posing is magnificent. No one, even the background characters, just stands there. Equally fine are the expressions, particularly those of the Runyonesque thugs and muggs.

The rest of the book doesn't come up to the lead feature. For some reason I've never warmed up to Dick Briefer's Frankenstein. I know Briefer has a big following, but to me his art looks sloppy rather than individualistic. The story is so-so.

I couldn't find anything online about Pete, the wealthy penguin. I did find a Pete that would have made this page in the late 1960s: the penguin mascot of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. He even learned to skate!

The pacing of "Little Chief Big Shot" is awkward, but the art's not bad and some of the gags are funny. Interesting how Howie Post's style evolved over the years.

For the magic trick to work (once) you can't let the subject examine the box. If it was me, this would strike me as suspicious.

"Prince Ra" is a strange mishmash. What odd "superpowers." Eternal life and the power to "bestow blessings." And the "eternal" bit seems to come with an asterisk, since Ra says that he can be injured. No wonder all he does is fly his plane. I'll accept the claim that Infantino drew this only because I don't know his earliest work. He sure didn't put any effort into drawing believable airplanes.

Even with an inker, there's no mistaking Pete Gattuso's wide-mouthed artwork. The story is a mess, too. I found myself thinking of The Court Jester, where Danny Kaye is hypnotized to change from milquetoast to swashbuckler and back every time someone (including he himself) snaps his fingers. At least poor Dude gets to end up in his good-guy form. As Robb noted, it's hard telling who is who. Someone (Doodle?) calls the Black Owl by name and he names himself once. That's it. I presume the adult is Yank and the kid is Doodle. All three are interchangeable, anyway.

Now, can someone explain the last panel? "Harvest" with a smiling Earth holding a basket (of farm produce, I think). The label seems to read "Peace and Harmony Among All People(?)" A fine sentiment, but what's it doing at the end of a Black Owl story?

And by the way, that cover is poster-worthy. It's one of the nicest drawings I've seen from John Giunta.

[Johnny L. Wilson]

Thanks, Crash!

I'm late to the party again, but still enjoying your selections. Perhaps, the final panel in the Yank and Doodle "team up" with the Black Owl was supposed to indicate a holiday theme--maybe Thanksgiving in the U.S.?

You're right about the Boom Boom Brannigan story. The art was better than that in the rest of the book and the story was silly, but entertaining (like a plot from an old Superman television show, even though it wasn't).

I also agree with your comments on Briefer's art on Frankenstein. My first thought was Al Capp and his Li'l Abner newspaper strip. I liked the "magic always has its price" premise and how that Frankenstein proved more heroic in his "natural" state.

In the early 20th century, there were children's books about Penguin Pete and his girlfriend Polly, but I don't see any kind of film or circus tie-in such as I initially expected when I saw the feature.

The best I can say about "Little Chief Big Shot" is that I thought it was interesting when the panel's art was turned on its side to represent defying gravity. That gag could have been a storyboard from a Road Runner cartoon with that kind of payoff.

As for Prince Ra, I think he meant "immortal" as opposed to "eternal." Prince Ra has a beginning. The truth is that I didn't get the gimmick. Were there really enough steaks to weigh the plane down enough to slow it? Okay, it's magic, but it seems like a strange manifestation.

Yes, that splash panel for the Yank and Doodle story looked amazingly like a young Danny Kaye caricature.

And one certainly caught the wartime vibe with that one-pager on recycling paper for the war effort.

Thanks again for uploading interesting curiosities.