Print

[crashryan]

Continuing wandering thru Wonderworld...

I have a soft spot for girl reporters--beginning with Hildy Johnson in Hawks' Front Page-- so I was pleased to meet Patty O'Day. She belongs to a subset of early comic book heroes who, though drawn realistically, have sidekicks who are drawn in a cartoony style. I'm not sure where they got that shtick. The sidekicks usually look like Roy Crane characters. Maybe the inspiration was Wash Tubbs. Though the entire strip was drawn in cartoon style, as time went on Captain Easy and the other characters (especially young women) were drawn a little more realistically.

Too often in girl reporter stories the male sidekick does all the physical stuff. This time it makes sense, though. Patty has to run the camera while Ham saves the passengers' lives. But, ah, the camera. That brings up my main gripe with the art. Did Clare Moe ever open a newspaper? Anyone in those days would have known what a movie camera looked like. I don't mean Moe needed to get the details right. His airplanes demonstrate that he wasn't big on reference. But what on earth is that giant lozenge-shaped contraption with two little eyes? And they are eyes. Note our page 26, panel 7. The contraption is checking Patty out. Whatever the thing is, it can fly, because on the last page Patty's footage shows an aerial view of the rescue.

Dr Fung drips with Eisnerism. The fight scenes on our pp. 32-33 could have come from a prewar Spirit story. That Dan has some skull! That appears to be a ball and chain he's beaned with. This seems to be part of a serial but I haven't gone back to check. I'm not sure why there was a ball of yarn on the floor of Loti Fen Kee's torture chamber, but let's hear it for the puddy tat who saves the day.

Powell supplies two very nice illos for the text feature. However most of the true stories sound far-fetched. Did any of this stuff really happen?

Tex Mason: The more I see of Munson Paddock the more I am awed by his facile brushwork. His drapery is a delight to behold. Paddock also had a pleasantly quirky imagination. Remember, he was the guy who came up with the outer space mailman. Here Paddock does a twist on the classic threatened-train trope by having the bad guys get drunk and screw up their boss's plan. Nice train drawings, by the way. Everything else is so good that I forgive Munson for showing Tex' face in only two panels. You have to read the text and/or study his outfit to know which cowpoke is our hero.

Quixote in Modern Times is a pleasant enough two-pager.

Will Eisner liked letter-number spy heroes. K-51 Spies at War covers no new ground but the script is efficient with a lit of action packed in. I do hate those 11-panel pages, though.

The only place I see George Tuska in Mob-Buster Robinson is panel 5 of our page 54. He was already honing his men-in-suits skills in preparation for Crime Does Not Pay. The script is another of those diagrammatic takes eliciting a big "Ho-hum" from this reviewer. As do the stamp and "Believe it or Else" fillers.

Klaus Nordling did more than one of these battling-gob features. I suppose they're aquatic spinoffs of What Price Glory. While I like Nordling's writing and art most of the time, these things bore me stiff. This particular story is even more aggravating because both the sailors look alike and I'm hanged if I can keep them straight from panel to panel.

Great choice for reading, K1ngcat! Now excuse me while I get some target practice with my Johnson Smith Television Rifle.

[Quirky Quokka]

Maybe it was "American Comic Book Chronicles" published by Two Morrows Publishing?  It has very long and detailed different volumes for (1) 1934-39, (2) 1940-44, (3) 1945-49, (4) 1950-59, (5) 1960-69, (6) 1970-79, ( 1980-89.  Different volumes were written by different people.  It is a great historical resource to follow the path of that industry.

The Nicky Wright book I read was just one volume - 'The Classic Era of American Comics' - It had one chapter on each genre (e.g., funny animals, superheroes, crime etc). Those Chronicles sound like they give a lot more detail. I haven't seen those ones, but thanks for the tip.

[K1ngcat]

Maybe it was "American Comic Book Chronicles" published by Two Morrows Publishing?  It has very long and detailed different volumes for (1) 1934-39, (2) 1940-44, (3) 1945-49, (4) 1950-59, (5) 1960-69, (6) 1970-79, ( 1980-89.  Different volumes were written by different people.  It is a great historical resource to follow the path of that industry.

The Nicky Wright book I read was just one volume - 'The Classic Era of American Comics' - It had one chapter on each genre (e.g., funny animals, superheroes, crime etc). Those Chronicles sound like they give a lot more detail. I haven't seen those ones, but thanks for the tip.

Thanks Robb & QQ, I'll look into both if I can find them. 

[K1ngcat]

Continuing wandering thru Wonderworld...

I have a soft spot for girl reporters--beginning with Hildy Johnson in Hawks' Front Page-- so I was pleased to meet Patty O'Day. She belongs to a subset of early comic book heroes who, though drawn realistically, have sidekicks who are drawn in a cartoony style. I'm not sure where they got that shtick. The sidekicks usually look like Roy Crane characters. Maybe the inspiration was Wash Tubbs. Though the entire strip was drawn in cartoon style, as time went on Captain Easy and the other characters (especially young women) were drawn a little more realistically.

Dr Fung drips with Eisnerism.

Tex Mason: The more I see of Munson Paddock the more I am awed by his facile brushwork. His drapery is a delight to behold. Paddock also had a pleasantly quirky imagination. Remember, he was the guy who came up with the outer space mailman.

Klaus Nordling did more than one of these battling-gob features. I suppose they're aquatic spinoffs of What Price Glory. While I like Nordling's writing and art most of the time, these things bore me stiff.

There's one of our daily Spirits where Ebony and one of his colleagues are vying for the attentions of the same girl. The two guys are drawn as the usual stereotyped big-lip "coons" but the object of their desire is a perfectly normal, and quite pretty, young black girl. I think this sort of stuff happens a lot in comics of that era, though god knows why!

The whole darn issue drips with Eisnerism IMHO. If he wasn't plotting or doing layouts I suspect half the features wouldn't exist. Only Shorty, Patty and Tex sit outside of his influence.

And yes, I don't get the appeal(?) of the "battling gob" features. Nordling did lots of great stuff in other genres, with way better art, which I enjoy a whole lot more!

Thanks for your review, I know you're busy elsewhere. Glad you found stuff to enjoy.
All the best
K1ngcat

[SuperScrounge]

Top Notch Comics 1

The Wizard
Ah, those dirty Jatsonians! I guess we must have wiped their country off the face of the Earth as we never hear about them these days.  These fake stand-in countries in pre-war comics amuse me. On the one hand mentioning a real country that your country is not officially at war with could be seen as a provocation. On the other hand the disguise is flimsier than wearing a pair of glasses and expecting no one to figure it out. 

As for the Wizard himself... zzz... Too darn super. Of course he's going to stop the bad guys with his super-genius, mental powers, and possible super-strength. How could he not?

Laughing at Life
Cute.

Scott Rand
Weren't sacrifices on pyramids more of an Aztec thing than Egyptian?

I wonder if any archeologists ever found those bullet-ridden Egyptian bodies? 

An... interesting story. Dr. Meade and Scott don't seem too interested in studying the past and solving historical mysteries, they just seem to be time tourists looking for adventure and not really caring if their actions might change time or not.

SporTopics
Interesting, most of these bio fillers tend to talk about the subjects history, but this was more of a snapshot of a recent and upcoming fight for Joe Louis and his potential retirement.

Rex Swift
Wow... that was bad.

Jungle Town Show Boat
If it's hot enough to melt the safe wouldn't it burn up the papers inside?

Air Patrol
Parts of this felt like I had read it before. I wonder if one of the Bell Features writers "borrowed" from this story?

Murder Rap
The writer can't decide if a thug's name is Ganz or Gans.

Bit of a complicated plot for a short story. Maybe if it had been written for mystery magazine and been longer it might have worked better, but even for a double-length comic text story it felt like there was too much going on to breathe.

It's Really A Fact!
Okay.

Lucky Coyne
How much time did the scriptwriter have to write this in? Feels like a rush job, a number of typos, even Lucky is referred to as Red at one point. Nobody proofread this story.

Lonesome Luke
Um... it exists... for some reason.

The Mystic
Another rush job.

The West Pointer
Eh. I think they spent more writing his backstory than the actual story.

Impy
Simple, but at least it's amusing.

Speaking of Sports
Okay.

Manhunters!
Okay.

Pokey Forgets to Remember
I'd like to forget this.  Okay, not really. Just not very memorable.

[The Australian Panther]

Well Scrounge, don't know what happened just then but I typed a whole review, was checking it, a message popped up that another message had just been posted, and there was your review and mine disappeared.
So now I have to redo the whole thing.
I will come back to this and stick to the relevant points only.
Back now!
Top Notch Comics 01 (1 of 29)
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22232
The Pearl Harbour Peril - The Wizard.
Two points.
One/  as depicted here the Wizard is a privileged WASP and most recent hero in a line of them stretching from the War of Independence.
His superpower is 'brain power' No, actually its brain power, money and networking.
He invented what is termed a universal solvent but the catch with that is - What do you keep it in?   
He is a combination one man Doc Savage and Verne's Robur the conqueror. [The Car]
What is brain power/ High IQ? There are people who have a high Mensa score who have accomplished nothing much. So, for it to be a real thing there must be something more.
2/ Clearly, the 'Jatsonian government' is meant to be understood as Japanese, look at the uniforms on page 13 and the fact that all the faces are hidden.
Very interesting that a story published in 1939 prophesies an attack on a naval base in Pearl Harbour by 'the Jatsonian government'.           
Jungle Town Show boat is unusual in that we are reading a comic about an audience watching a show on stage. I would have been tempted to break the forth wall!
Lucky Coyne - The bat and the ball.
Lucky Coyne was a character who had legs - love the name - and was around for quite a while.
Lucky Coyne
(aka “Kensington Slade,” “Jinx Jordan” and “Rocky Stone”)
Created by the Harry “A” Chesler Feature Syndicate
https://thrillingdetective.com/2019/02/22/lucky-coyne/
He would be another candidate for a compilation on CB+
There is a list of his stories on that webpage.
The Ice Cream Cone
From the 'Additional Information'

features Impy from the LITTLE NEMO strip. Bob McCay was the son of Winsor McCay. Another feature that usually appears in Chesler comics.

I thought I recognized that character.
Here is Kevin Burton Smith [Thrilling Detective] on the Harry “A” Chesler syndicate. And this pretty much sums up this book too,

Lucky Coyne was a product of the Harry “A” Chesler syndicate, a sprawling publishing empire and comic book sweatshop studio not exactly known for consistency. Magazine and story titles were changed or recycled, numbering was a joke and art and script credits were more a theory than anything. The syndicate also leased out characters and reprints to numerous other comic publishers, including Centaur, MLJ, Rucker, St.John, and Bell Features Syndicate, all of whom took a whack at Lucky, which explains the lack of any sort of continuity, up to and including his name itself. One story alone, “The Mystery of the Evil Eye,” which originally appeared in Dynamic Comics #1, was subsequently reprinted by Strange Terrors #1, Crime Reporter #2, and Authentic Police Cases #8, and the Lucky stories were redrawn and re-lettered, with Lucky becoming, in various stories, Kensington Slade, Jinx Jordan or Rocky Stone.

In fact, because so many of the stories were untitled, and the publishers were the syndicate and the various publishers were so cavalier about keeping track of things, it’s difficult to say even how many stories Lucky even appeared in, or how many times his stories were regurgitated.

Like I said, no respect. 

And that's what the publishers showed the whole book.
Cheers! 
 
     



 

[SuperScrounge]

Huh. That's weird, Panther. I wonder what caused the glitch. Sorry you have to retype your review.

[Quirky Quokka]

Top Notch Comics 1

The Wizard
Ah, those dirty Jatsonians! I guess we must have wiped their country off the face of the Earth as we never hear about them these days.  These fake stand-in countries in pre-war comics amuse me. On the one hand mentioning a real country that your country is not officially at war with could be seen as a provocation. On the other hand the disguise is flimsier than wearing a pair of glasses and expecting no one to figure it out. 

Yes I've read some comics from before the US joined the war, and there are some very Japanese-looking characters that come from other places. Also lots of fictitious South American countries. Though I've got some Superman war-time comics that actually have Hitler as one of the characters. Also Silver Age Iron Man comics that have Brezhnev as a character. I guess they had to be careful in the pre-war days, but it's pretty obvious who they mean. I read somewhere that due to the number of Jewish-Americans in the comic industry at that time, some comic book stories, like those involving Superman, were actually warning of the dangers before the war. Interesting to read in terms of time and context.

[The Australian Panther]

I read somewhere that due to the number of Jewish-Americans in the comic industry at that time, some comic book stories, like those involving Superman, were actually warning of the dangers before the war. Interesting to read in terms of time and context.

Nope, not Superman.
Here is the real story - which every comic fan needs to know.
The History Behind Captain America Punching Hitler
https://www.cbr.com/the-history-behind-captain-america-punching-hitler/
It was an act on the part of Simon and Kirby [ Jacob Kurtzberg] that took real Chutzpah!

[K1ngcat]

Top Notch Comics 1

The Wizard
Ah, those dirty Jatsonians! I guess we must have wiped their country off the face of the Earth as we never hear about them these days.  These fake stand-in countries in pre-war comics amuse me. On the one hand mentioning a real country that your country is not officially at war with could be seen as a provocation. On the other hand the disguise is flimsier than wearing a pair of glasses and expecting no one to figure it out. 

As for the Wizard himself... zzz... Too darn super. Of course he's going to stop the bad guys with his super-genius, mental powers, and possible super-strength. How could he not?

Scott Rand
An... interesting story. Dr. Meade and Scott don't seem too interested in studying the past and solving historical mysteries, they just seem to be time tourists looking for adventure and not really caring if their actions might change time or not.

Lucky Coyne
How much time did the scriptwriter have to write this in? Feels like a rush job, a number of typos, even Lucky is referred to as Red at one point. Nobody proofread this stor

SS, it may be that mentioning a country that your country wasn't at war with might seem like provocation but only if the other country is reading your country's comics. And using glasses as a diguise? Isn't that the premise Superman was based on?? He seems to have got away with it for a while!

The Wizard is, as you say, too darn super. There's nothing he can't do, except design his own plane. Cars and Subs yes, light aircraft no. And he comes from a long line of super-patriots, yet he puts on a cape to go swimming? He does look kinda like Tony Stark though...

I'm a bit surprised that Scott Rand's Viking pal responded to Latin. Is that actually likely? I spent five years studying Latin and I don't respond to much of it now. It's a very convenient that they find a place where time doesn't pass, as English is probably even harder to learn than Latin. I wish I'd known about that place where time doesn't pass, it could've come in handy when I was younger.

I didn't realise that Lucky Coyne spent all his time masquerading as Bat Yardley, he never flipped his lucky coin once. But at least he was lucky enough not to die in that drive by shooting. Oh well, things changed when Harry Chesler was in charge...

Thanks for your comments, I'm glad you found at least some of Top Notch okay
All the best
K1ngcat

[K1ngcat]

Top Notch Comics 01 (1 of 29)
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22232
The Pearl Harbour Peril - The Wizard.

One/  as depicted here the Wizard is a privileged WASP and most recent hero in a line of them stretching from the War of Independence.
His superpower is 'brain power' No, actually its brain power, money and networking.
He invented what is termed a universal solvent but the catch with that is - What do you keep it in?   
He is a combination one man Doc Savage and Verne's Robur the conqueror.

Okay Panther,  I know that the Wizard is a privileged WASP,  but surely so are Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark and they continue to be fairly popular. Money and networking are still useful in the fight against crime and disguised Japanese. Admittedly the long line of patriotic forbears gets a bit sickening though. I think Doc Savage could probably wipe the floor with him!

Thanks for all the fascinating info on Lucky Coyne though. Didn't realise he'd been recycled so many times. I wouldn't worry too much about the disappearing posts, I get that a lot but I usually put it down to my combining gin with prescription painkillers late at night!

Thanks for your input
All the best
K1ngcat

[The Australian Panther]

Okay Panther,  I know that the Wizard is a privileged WASP,  but surely so are Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark and they continue to be fairly popular. Money and networking are still useful in the fight against crime and disguised Japanese.

Kingcat, I wasn't intending to make value judgements, just outlining the obvious.
Oh, of course money and networking are highly important for superheroes, as well as for the rest of us in real life.
Bruce Wayne, for example, currently has a very extensive network of friends, associates and colleagues.
Three + Robins, 3 Batgirls, one functioning also as Oracle, (the Superhero communication network), relationships with more than one commissioner of police, family connections with the Al Ghul's, the JLA, the Outsiders, 'the big three' - It goes on and on!
But that early origin of the Wizard was the full cliche of a Pulp 'Brainiac'  hero of the time. It read like the writer threw everything in but the kitchen sink! That's what I was trying to point out.
Also, in having to re -write that review I neglected to write that the similarity of the styles leads me to believe that all the 'Dramatic' stories in that book were written by the same person.
cheers! 

[Quirky Quokka]

I read somewhere that due to the number of Jewish-Americans in the comic industry at that time, some comic book stories, like those involving Superman, were actually warning of the dangers before the war. Interesting to read in terms of time and context.

Nope, not Superman.
Here is the real story - which every comic fan needs to know.
The History Behind Captain America Punching Hitler
https://www.cbr.com/the-history-behind-captain-america-punching-hitler/
It was an act on the part of Simon and Kirby [ Jacob Kurtzberg] that took real Chutzpah!

Thanks for that. I've read the article. I have a few volumes of Superman's early years and there was at least one that featured Hitler, but it must have been later.

[Captain Audio]

https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/stock-market
Thanks for that. I've read the article. I have a few volumes of Superman's early years and there was at least one that featured Hitler, but it must have been later.

There a site with some NAZI propaganda articles that has a critque of a Superman comic in which Supe kidnaps Hitler, Musolini and Tojo and carries them to the Hague to face war crimes charges.
The author of the piece went into a snit over the German soldiers in the story speaking High German AKA Yiddish.

I had a reprint of a very early Superman story in which as Clark Kent he had gone to war as a volunteer in some un named 30's war (perhaps the Spanish Civil War or the Gran Chaco War) and acting as a sniper he had used his ultra keen eyesight to aid in killing a number of enemy troops. Later when he realized he himself was invulnerable to bullets and armed soldiers posed no threat to him he had a crisis of conscience and vowed never to take another human life no matter what the circumstances.
Ever read that one?

[Quirky Quokka]

https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/stock-market
Thanks for that. I've read the article. I have a few volumes of Superman's early years and there was at least one that featured Hitler, but it must have been later.

There a site with some NAZI propaganda articles that has a critque of a Superman comic in which Supe kidnaps Hitler, Musolini and Tojo and carries them to the Hague to face war crimes charges.
The author of the piece went into a snit over the German soldiers in the story speaking High German AKA Yiddish.

I had a reprint of a very early Superman story in which as Clark Kent he had gone to war as a volunteer in some un named 30's war (perhaps the Spanish Civil War or the Gran Chaco War) and acting as a sniper he had used his ultra keen eyesight to aid in killing a number of enemy troops. Later when he realized he himself was invulnerable to bullets and armed soldiers posed no threat to him he had a crisis of conscience and vowed never to take another human life no matter what the circumstances.
Ever read that one?

I don't think I've read that one. But I have the book 'Superman: The War Years 1938-1945' by Roy Thomas and there's a 1938 one in there where he goes to the fictitious country of San Monte to stop a war. I've just had a quick look and I don't think it's the one you mean though. That same volume also has a 1940 two-page Superman comic commissioned by Look Magazine in which Superman takes Hitler and Stalin to Geneva where the League of Nations declares them guilty of war crimes. The book was a recent acquisition and I haven't quite finished it. Makes for interesting reading.

[Captain Audio]

Superman takes Hitler and Stalin to Geneva where the League of Nations declares them guilty of war crimes

Right, the League of Nations rather than the Hague.

There are a lot of issues of popular comics that are very hard to track down. One I remember being hard to find was the issue where Batman was revealed to wear a bullet proof vest under his costume during a fight with tommygun armed crooks in an airship. Far as I know that was the only issue in which he was positively shown to wear body armor. Though during that time frame the illustrators always drew him with an outsized chest compared to his limbs and head.
Flexible body armor of that era was made of specially woven silk about one inch thick. It could stop pistol bullets of fairly low velocity like the .45 ACP or .38 Special but not rifle bullets or higher velocity pistol bullets like the 9MM Luger or 7.63 Mauser. Natural silk can be nearly as tough as Kevlar.
The woven silk armor was also used in WW1 as a machinegunners cape that stopped most grenade ans shell fragments. A Cape of this sort was used by a character developed by Ron L Hubbard , a warlord in an alternate history where WW1 had never truly ended in Europe.

I'm suprised more mortal super heros didn't wear some sort of armor, considering Captain America's uniform had built in armor. Tony Stark carried it to extremes.

[K1ngcat]

Okay Panther,  I know that the Wizard is a privileged WASP,  but surely so are Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark and they continue to be fairly popular. Money and networking are still useful in the fight against crime and disguised Japanese.

Kingcat, I wasn't intending to make value judgements, just outlining the obvious.
Oh, of course money and networking are highly important for superheroes, as well as for the rest of us in real life.
Bruce Wayne, for example, currently has a very extensive network of friends, associates and colleagues.
Three + Robins, 3 Batgirls, one functioning also as Oracle, (the Superhero communication network), relationships with more than one commissioner of police, family connections with the Al Ghul's, the JLA, the Outsiders, 'the big three' - It goes on and on!
But that early origin of the Wizard was the full cliche of a Pulp 'Brainiac'  hero of the time. It read like the writer threw everything in but the kitchen sink! That's what I was trying to point out.
Also, in having to re -write that review I neglected to write that the similarity of the styles leads me to believe that all the 'Dramatic' stories in that book were written by the same person.
cheers!

Sorry Panther, wasn't trying to make value judgements, just an observation. The rich and idle often seem to turn to crime fighting, perhaps to salve their consciences at being so goddamn rich and idle.  We see relatively few poor crime fighters, perhaps you'd consider Spiderman as an example? I have yet to see a homeless person gain super powers though I'm not entirely up to date with the modern comic scene. There are as far as I know no facially disfigured superheroes, and sure as shit there ain't no fat ones! Anyway, no harm intended, the Wizard is as you say, incredibly clichéd and there's no tension in the tale because he wins at everything all the time.

Appreciate your input
All the best
K1ngcat

[paw broon]

Ragman might qualify as poor. Fatman, The Human Flying Saucer.  The Blimp - Inferior 5. Cap Marvel Jr.
Thunderbolt Jaxon.  Leopard From Lime St.
You're right K1ngcat.

[Robb_K]

Sorry Panther, wasn't trying to make value judgements, just an observation. The rich and idle often seem to turn to crime fighting, perhaps to salve their consciences at being so goddamn rich and idle.  We see relatively few poor crime fighters, perhaps you'd consider Spiderman as an example? I have yet to see a homeless person gain super powers though I'm not entirely up to date with the modern comic scene. There are as far as I know no facially disfigured superheroes, and sure as shit there ain't no fat ones! Anyway, no harm intended, the Wizard is as you say, incredibly clichéd and there's no tension in the tale because he wins at everything all the time.

Appreciate your input
All the best
K1ngcat       

Wasn't ACG's "Herbie" a fat superhero? He was disgustingly obese, but became very strong and could perform athletic and otherwise super feats.

And Quality's "Blimpy", had been an obese, Bhudda-style, stone statue, who came to life, and was made very strong, and was given the power of "shape shifting", and used it to capture criminals and other wrongdoers, might also be considered a "superhero".  He could turn back to stone, instantly, just as villains were about to hit him.

[Quirky Quokka]

I read somewhere that due to the number of Jewish-Americans in the comic industry at that time, some comic book stories, like those involving Superman, were actually warning of the dangers before the war. Interesting to read in terms of time and context.

Nope, not Superman.
Here is the real story - which every comic fan needs to know.
The History Behind Captain America Punching Hitler
https://www.cbr.com/the-history-behind-captain-america-punching-hitler/
It was an act on the part of Simon and Kirby [ Jacob Kurtzberg] that took real Chutzpah!

Just a PS to my last comment. I still remember reading something about Jewish writers and illustrators at the time, but can't find it now. It may have been in a library book I read. There may have been different motivations behind the wartime stories that different companies put out.

But I did find something regards the timeline. I borrowed a book from the library called 'Marvel Year by Year: A Visual History' and it's the 2022 edition. According to that, the cover with Captain America punching Hitler was March 1941. Superman was fighting Nazis before that. I have the book "Superman: The War Years 1938-1945" by Roy Thomas. One of the stories included is a two-page story in which Superman takes Hitler and Stalin to Geneva to appear before the League of Nations (that I mentioned in another post) and that's dated February 1940, so more than a year before Captain America took them on.

Thanks for the link you sent. It's interesting to see these stories against the backdrop of the times. I also like the Silver Age Iron Man stories set during the Cold War. Lots of food for thought.

[Quirky Quokka]

I'm suprised more mortal super heros didn't wear some sort of armor, considering Captain America's uniform had built in armor. Tony Stark carried it to extremes.

I have a volume of the first Iron Man comics from 1963-1964, and I love it. Lots of interesting stories around the Cold War. He had three pretty rapid changes in costume (from heavy grey iron, to gold, to the lightweight gold and red), but definitely a step above in terms of body armour.

[The Australian Panther]

There are as far as I know no facially disfigured superheroes,

Ironjaw? As far as i know there were two Iron Jaws, the golden  age one, I think, is a villain and I think the British one is a hero. Please correct me.
There have been several occasions when TwoFace has operated as a hero. And how about Metamorpho?

and sure as shit there ain't no fat ones!

Sorry Blues Man, as Paw has pointed out, there are several. Bouncing Boy [LSH] is another example.
Also there are several weight-challenged sidekicks.
Woozy Winks and Kid Eternity's mentor/sidekick come to mind .

  I have yet to see a homeless person gain super powers though I'm not entirely up to date with the modern comic scene.

  The Turtles? Living in a sewer? 
In the Golden Age, surely Billy Batson qualifies, he was a street kid at the beginning was he not? As was Freddy?  Scott Free and Big Barda at the beginning of their careers, are stateless refugees technically, As is J'on J'onz. 
And what about Kirby's DC street kid gangs? We never see parents or homes in those books.
Now I think about it, after his Dad died, who took care of Matt Murdock and got him through college?
Even when he started his legal practice, Bruce Wayne he was not! 
Which brings up a subject dear to my heart, to whit, the absence of parents, and more often than not, family,  and the prevalence of orphans in the back-stories of Superheroes. Particularly in the Golden Age. 
Off we go on another tangent! I love it! Ain't we got fun!   
 

[crashryan]

Wasn't ACG's "Herbie" a fat superhero? He was disgustingly obese, but became very strong and could perform athletic and otherwise super feats.

Plus adult women swooned over Herbie. Some serious wish fulfillment on Richard Hughes' part. The triumph of the underdog was a central theme of a vast number of Hughes' stories. You gotta figure it grew from some aspect of his personality.

[crashryan]

Top Notch time!

The Wizard annoyed the heck out of me! The guy can do anything. I got the strong impression that in person he'd be a condescending jerk. But he saves Pearl Harbor, so let him be. The story wastes a lot of space on the Whitney family tree, some of which is confusing...if his father was killed in WWI, how did ol' Blane get here? Maybe that was his uncle or something. Anyway, after the pedigree and life history, there's room only for a laundry list of stuff The Wiz does to foil the Jatsonian plot. The corker is when he figures out exactly what the plot is and where the bomb is by standing for one panel stroking his chin. Does he have psychic powers along with everything else? At least Edd Ashe's drawings are a cut above typical 1939 comic book art.

Scott Rand has a certain charm. It moves at a ridiculous pace and our time travellers crash through history like bulls in a china shop. No Bradbury effect here. Menaced by Romans? Pull out a tommy gun and mow 'em down! I'm not sure exactly what they plan to do with their time car. In this episode they seem just to be out looking for a fight. I did appreciate that our heroes had to teach their new sidekicks English. This remains a rarity in time-travel comics to this very day. Jack Binder's art is still rough, but he got better. One thing that tripped me up was Otto's habit of putting all the captions on the bottom of the panel, even if it made sense to read them first.

Swift of the Secret Service, according to the GCD, was drawn by Charles Biro. He wasn't much of an artist but this is better than a lot of his work. The captions are really messed up in this story. One two-part caption even skips a panel between halves. Several misspellings further mar the text. And the story ends abruptly. Come to think of it, so did the time car story. I guess everyone was still figuring out how to tell comic book stories.

Jungle Town Show Boat is plain weird. It reads like a newspaper strip from the 1910s. The art is equally old-fashioned.

Air Patrol is notable for its really nice Irv Novick art job. Until the final panel I thought Von Schiller was in the last German plane. Guess not.

I usually bypass text stories but I skimmed Murder Rap. It was practically one long fight scene. Tough pulp magazine stuff. Is this Lucky Coyne's debut? If so he forgot to flip a coin.

It's Really a Fact! Or is it? Did Charles "Zimmy" Zimmerman perform those diving and swimming feats without legs???

Lucky Coyne is back, this time as a G-man. Only we don't know the story's about him because it's really about Bat Yardley. This reads like the second half of a serial, but this is the first issue of Top Notch, so I assume the writer was following the pulp author's trick of starting his story in the middle. Still no coin, though.

Lonesome Luke: Well, at least the verse scans.

(To be concluded)

[Quirky Quokka]

It's Really a Fact! Or is it? Did Charles "Zimmy" Zimmerman perform those diving and swimming feats without legs???

Mmmm, that got me thinking, so I looked him up. Found this link: https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/charles-zimmy-the-human-fish-zibelman-at-the-harlem-hospital-1937/