[Robb_K]

Good morning all,
I've chosen for us to review, for this fortnight, 3 books from MLJ/Archie Series, two of which are oddball releases that have questionable histories or connections to MLJ that are unknown; and the third is a favourite of mine, because its artist and writer, was, in my opinion, sort of a poor man's version of one of comic bookdom's greatest creators. 

The first book is "Black Swan Comics 1" -  an enigmatic, and so-called, MLJ "production", whose inner pages certainly were, originally produced by them; but in my estimation, this particular issue was NOT.  It is listed in Grand Comics Database (and thence, in CB+ and DCM, as well) together under the Archie Series/MLJ publisher publications.  But, I contend that its publisher, "Pershing Square Publishing Co. (of New York), was not related to MLJ, but rather, a "fly-by-night" publisher, with a set-up like Israel Waldman's I.W./Super Comics, who, like him, bought old comic book artwork printing plates, and commissioned artists merely to draw new front covers for them, with new series titles and character names, so the current copyright holders wouldn't notice them on the newsstands, and sue them for copyright infringement.  I do, however, find it difficult to imagine why old MLJ printing plates were available only a couple years after they were used on their original issuance. 

I hope some poster, or posters know the history of this book and will inform us of its true origin.  In any case, I look forward to a hearty discussion on it.  Unfortunately, there is no Pirate story inside.  The only story with anything that could be termed "swashbuckling" is the "Black Hood" story, that was thrown in from MLJ's "Top-Notch Laugh Comics 42, along with a bunch of stories from "Laugh Comix 46".


Black Swan 1 can be found here:  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22594

The second book is "Super Duck 42", drawn and written by ex-comic strip artist and writer, Al Fagaly.  To my mind, he, very early on in the career of his lead character, single-handedly, changed the motif of a funny animal Superhero series, into a comedy series with much of its inspiration learned from reading and enjoying Carl Barks' "Donald Duck" comic book series.  Super Duck became super strong, almost instantly, from a concoction of super vitamin pills he'd gulp down his gullet as fast as possible.  He started in MLJ's "Jolly Jingles" Comics, which ran 7 issues in 1943 and early 1944.  He got so popular, his own series was started in early 1944, and it continued until the end of 1960.  After only 7 issues of "Jolly Jingles", and only 5 of his new series, Super Duck was no longer "super" in Fagaly's drawn stories.  And he only used his vitamin pills to make himself strong in 3 more issues, only in 2-page text stories.  After that, he changed into a character much more like Barks' Donald Duck in his "domestic" 10-page stories (at least his volatile, hothead self, if not his caring parent self). He became "The Cock-eyed Wonder" - A cocky, egotistical blowhard, much less capable than he thinks.

Super Duck lived with his much younger brother, Fauntleroy, who was mischievous, and a thorn in his side, as Donald Duck's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie often were, in Barks' stories.  Fauntleroy, alone, and often together with his dopey friend, Ham Burger (a Disney's Goofy clone), would drive him to distraction, frustration, and sometimes, "The Funny farm".  They were so violent to each other that the editorship decided to change Fauntleroy to Super Duck's nephew.  Not only did most of Fagaly's stories use Super Duck's Donaldlike arrogance, overblown ego, and hot temper to match Barks' Donald's character traits to drive plots in that particular genre of Barks' Donald Duck stories, but his artwork had a strong element of Barks' 1940s and early 1950s highly animated style; his backgrounds were similar in realistic style and detail, and his background and secondary characters were very much in a similar style to that which Barks used.  In fact, Fagaly had the nerve (and maybe bad judgement) to give Super Duck a belligerent and impossible next door neighbour, just as Barks had given Donald one year before, and he even gave him the same name, "Jones".  And Fagaly went even further with his copycatting, giving Super Duck (affectionately called "Supe" by "Faunt" and Supe's girlfriend Uwanna) a very volatile, unpredictable, bi-polar, ladyfriend, who was quite similar to Donald's Daisy, at least in character, if not all that much in looks.  His plagiarism/copyright infringement and giving "Supe" looks that were much too similar to Donald's, didn't go unpunished, as Disney's lawyers' threats forced Fagaly to change Super Duck's design.  He had to have him wear shoes, had to square off his beak, and enlarge the Duck's head size to 2 times the size proportional to his body, in addition to making him cock-eyed.



Super Duck 42 can be found here:    https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22327

The third book is "Adventures of The Dover Boys 1", which is chopped up into many very small "chapters", of only a few pages each, seemingly reformatted from a daily comic strip.  It seems to me like a hybrid between "The Hardy Boys" and British Story Papers mysteries. I am curious to know if this is, indeed, a reformatted newspaper strip, and how MLJ got it.  There seems to have been only one issue, so it stands to reason that it sold very, VERY little.  Most publishers gave a series at the very least., two issues, simply because of time of exposure to the public necessary to be noticed by enough readers, many series started selling well only on their second issue.  I look forward to finding out what you all know about the history of this series.



Adventures Of The Dover Boys 1 can be found here:   https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58451

[The Australian Panther]

Certainly a variety here. Looking forward to the dialogues.
The cover of 'Black Swan comics' has been burned into my retinas since I first saw it.     

[Robb_K]

Certainly a variety here. Looking forward to the dialogues.
The cover of 'Black Swan comics' has been burned into my retinas since I first saw it.   

I'd like to read a Classics Illustrated Version of Rafael Sabatini's "The Black Swan", which was the inspiration of The 1942 US film of that name, starring Tyrone Power One of my favourites.  Errol Flynn's "Captain Blood" (another of my favourite films) was also about The Black Swan's Pirate Captain (and friend of Henry Morgan.  Now that I am, for the most part, retired, I should probably just read the novel, itself.

[K1ngcat]

Black Swan Comics

The only thing that I really like about this comic is the cover. I wish there was a pirate story inside to relate it to, but as pointed out it's full of MLJ reprints from Top Notch Laugh Comics.

Anyone would think I'd be grateful to stop my top notch laughing long enough to enjoy some costumed crime fighting from The Black Hood, but you'd be barking up the wrong tree. For my money the BH is just a second-string Blue Beetle, and he started off as a cheap rip-off of the Green Hornet. I cannot begin to convey my astonishment at the Beetle's longevity, or how he survived the years of formulaic plots and mediocre artwork. The same applies to the Black Hood with his copycat cop secret identity and his predictable Irish Sergeant. Still, they each had a radio series, which evidently was once an universal guarantee of popularity.  I don't know the artist, there seems to be a signature, Clem, on page #1 but I can't identify him save to say he gets a decent Irv Novick vibe going when BH is in costume.  The story kind of tells itself, there's no actual mystery involved, but at least it's safe for kids to read, which is more than I can say for some of the ads in this issue.  Rollicking bedside fun? Oo-er, matron! 

Now it'll probably be no surprise to Robb that I find Funny Human comics about as exciting as Funny Animal comics. So The Twiddles and Dotty & Ditto, Hillbilly strip Pokey Oakey, supernatural strip Gloomy Gus, and the mild cheesecake of ditsy blonde Suzie leave me relatively unmoved.  But then comes the unexpected. I don't think I've ever seen a "humour" strip more bizarre than Stupidman & the 3 Monkeyteers. The internet has very little info on Ed Goggin, but it assures me that the Monkeyteers were based on the Three Stooges, which doesn't really come across here. It's not like any of it makes me laugh, but it gets top marks for oddity.

Altogether an incredible disappointment, I'm still left yearning for bloodthirsty tales of piracy on the high seas, featuring black hearted blackguards with a sharp cutlass and a cocked pistol, and maybe a wooden leg to boot. But a really interesting and unusual choice, all the same. Thanks for this one, Robb, Super Duck next! 

[crashryan]

there seems to be a signature, Clem, on page #1

I believe that's Clem Weisbecker, who went on to draw a lot of Archie stories as well as realistic stuff for Fawcett.

[SuperScrounge]

Black Swan Comics #1

I was wondering why they would call a comic Black Swan, but Robb's reference to a book and movie called The Black Swan answered that question. Wonder how many kids were disappointed thinking they were going to read about pirates?

Stravon Publishers ad
This does not look like the type of ad that usually ran in an Archie comic, so Robb's theory has a lot more weight behind it.

The Black Hood
Okay, story.

The Perfect Incinerator
Okay.

The Twiddles
Uh, yeah... kinda lame.

Dotty and Ditto
Funnier than the Twiddles, but that wasn't a high bar to cross.

Pokey Oakey
Deliver me from bad Li'l Abner knockoffs. There were a couple of fun inside gags though (page 2, panels 2, 3 & 6.)

Gloomy Gus
Okay, although I found myself wondering about a possible story where Gloomy Gus and Gabby bump into Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper and any other ghost characters out there. 

Suzie
Not that great, although typical of Archie 'comedy' of the 1940s.

Stupidman
Sounds like a good description of the script.

[The Australian Panther]

I'm in that kind of a mood so I thought I would do this review backwards, in order of books, that is.

Adventures Of The Dover Boys 1
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58451
When I first saw this cover, the layout made me think it was a British comic. but not so.

This story-line is such a cliche that I won't spend any time describing it as such.
So lets read it. 
Oh, yeah, great scan, Movielover!
These are the Dover Boys
Where was cousin, Ben Dover or uncle Han Dover ? - sorry couldn't help myself. 
Now, searching for 'Dover Boys' brings up this wonderful 1942 Cartoon.
directed by Chuck Jones.[1] The short was released on September 19, 1942. The cartoon is a parody of the Rover Boys, a popular juvenile fiction book series of the early 20th century.
The Dover Boys (1942)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0eBWDVAtw&ab_channel=CCCartoons
And in keeping with my theme, they are 'Tom, Dick and Larry'
And thank you Robb for unintentionally directing me to a Chuck Jones classic.

The artist, not credited anywhere here that I can see, is apparently Harry Lucey.   

The Peril of the Inca Treasure
The way the chapters end is like a radio serial, the perils are spoken not drawn.
The best thing about this is the art, every cliche you can think of is in the story.
So, no suspense at all.
I find myself wondering if this was an adaptation of one of the original books.
I also wonder if there was a Dover Boys radio serial, but  I can find no reference to that.
This comic was a wasted effort by the publisher.
Looking at the ads, this was a time of trying out new titles for the publisher.
cheers!       

[Robb_K]

Black Swan Comics #1

(1) I was wondering why they would call a comic Black Swan, but Robb's reference to a book and movie called The Black Swan answered that question. Wonder how many kids were disappointed thinking they were going to read about pirates?

Stravon Publishers ad
This does not look like the type of ad that usually ran in an Archie comic, so Robb's theory has a lot more weight behind it.

The Black Hood
Okay, story.

The Perfect Incinerator
Okay.

The Twiddles
Uh, yeah... kinda lame.

Dotty and Ditto
Funnier than the Twiddles, but that wasn't a high bar to cross.

Pokey Oakey
Deliver me from bad Li'l Abner knockoffs. There were a couple of fun inside gags though (page 2, panels 2, 3 & 6.)

(2) Gloomy Gus
Okay, although I found myself wondering about a possible story where Gloomy Gus and Gabby bump into Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper and any other ghost characters out there. 

Suzie
Not that great, although typical of Archie 'comedy' of the 1940s.

(3) Stupidman
Sounds like a good description of the script.

(1) The book an film about legendary Pirate Henry Morgan's turning coat on his pirate comrades and "reforming" from his outlaw ways, working for The British Crown, with only his best friend, Captain Blood, of The Black Swan, sticking with him in supporting him, were stories perfectly suited for Classic Comics, or Classics Illustrated to print.  As I like Pirate stories, and history (including historical novels), I think it's a shame they never used it.  In fact, it appears that NO comic book publisher issued a book titled "The Black Swan", that also included a printed story inside it matching that title.  So, it appears that the publisher of this book just commissioned the drawing of this front cover to hide the fact that the book's insides violated copyrights owned by MLJ.  As that is an illogical action, it seems more likely to me that a publisher started on a project of producing a pirate story and comic book that was cancelled during production.  The owner of the so-named "Pershing Square Publishing" firm probably bought the printing plate for the cover, but IF any plates were produced for its inside pages, they were not available to him.

(2) This seems to me to be an interesting idea for a series.  But, I've read most, if not all of them, and they are all very slapstick and silly, and offer little to think about, and have little entertainment value, other than the artwork remindful of slapstick animated short cartoons.  The comedy should have included some heavy Human issues related to death knitted together with heavy irony (e.g. Black Comedy) - related to issues regarding death, and also people's place in this short existence.

(3) This artwork by Goggins is very primitive, and ugly, too.  It looks like a 7-year old drew it.  And the writing and plotlines are even worse.  As we say in Zuid Holland........"Volslagen Onzin (e.g. drek)!"  It really amazes me that so many of the early Golden Age artists and storywriters were so inept at a craft at which they purported to be, at least competent.  I would have loved, when I was starting out (during the 1970s), to have a chance for many jobs every time I was looking for work in a market that had much more demand (jobs) for creators than competent creators to fill them.

[K1ngcat]

Super Duck

First off, Robb, thanks for all your background info on Super Duck, I was always perplexed as to why he was called the cockeyed wonder. And fascinating to hear of Al Fagaly's interactions with Disney over copyright.

You know my position on Funny Animals, but this one genuinely raised a titter or two from yours truly. I'm not a gigantic fan of Fagaly's art style, but he does know how to tell a story, and I loved some of the inventive names. Sam Quenton and Carrie de Coffin raised a smile, and Uwanna Duck is just teetering on the edge of a risque double entendre if you're old enough to know what one of those is.    . I was a bit thrown by the story featuring the Davo-bed, was that a trade name like Hoover and Biro? Anyway, all that aside I rather enjoyed Fagaly's tales, the inclusion of Cubby the Bear only serves to show how much better Super Duck is, however plagiarised he might have been.

I really rather enjoyed this one. Will wonders never cease? 

On to the Dover Boys...

[crashryan]

K1ngcat, I was also confused by the term "davo-bed." It was tough tracking the word down, but it seems to have been a term for a "Davenport."

"The word davenport actually describes a specific type of sofa, made by the manufacturing company A. H. Davenport and Company. Davenports...could be converted into a bed."

I'm guessing that "davo-bed" was invented to avoid naming the trade mark. Trade mark holders weren't as anal about intellectual property back then, but they still wanted to keep their name from becoming generic like aspirin and escalator. It didn't work: the source I quoted above, from a furniture seller's website, goes on to say, "Today the word davenport is often used to describe any sleeper-sofa, regardless of the manufacturing company."

[SuperScrounge]

Super Duck #42

Once Upon A Crime
And that crime? Clumsy comedy.

Love's Labor Lost
This is a comedy comic, right? Maybe this story should have been titled Laff's Labor Lost?

A Feather in Your Bonnet
Not very funny, but the solution was novel. If Uncle Grizzly was a collector of feather dusters why do all the feather dusters look alike? Logically they should have different color feathers, handles of various lengths, etc.

It's a Bums Deal
Ugh. This isn't even humor-like product.

The Pick of the Crop
...

Fleer Dubble Bubble ad
Finally a well-written story in this book!

He Goes From Bed to Worse
I'll give this one a gimme. It wasn't great, but it seems like the best one in the book.

Oh, man, this was not a funny book. I think the cover was the funniest joke.

[EHowie60]

Black Swan Comics
Oh boy! A pirate comic. Pirate comics are an interesting breed. Certainly pirates were popular at the time, but pirate comics always seem to take a backseat to Westerns and- oh. It's not a pirate comic? It's a hodgepodge of secondhand material with an unrelated cover? Well darn... Let's give it a read anyhow!

Oh I see from the comments that I've been here before. You can always trust pirates to get my attention!

I said it before and I'll say it again. The inside front cover ad is a jaw dropper. Guess they weren't paying too much attention to what ads got put where.

The Black Hood (man of mystery)
You know, I don't think I've before seen a costumed hero mention how he doesn't take bribes. You saying Batman's on the take, Mr. Hood? And here is our hero, a clean cut policeman, and his reporter girlfriend. A dead man's fingers on a knife...good thing this isn't a horror book. But the mystery, such as it is, is all but solved in a page. Decent artwork though, nice faces and figures.

Flipping ahead...Dotty and Ditto! 1945, when a man could make his fortune in asbestos! I gotta say I am learning some interesting facts about horse riding at least. The art is kinda cute, I like Tommy's long nose, pointy chinned face.

Huh, Pokey Oakey actually makes a joke about Gloomy Gus, another feature in the comic! Unusual for a comic of this era to have the features all planned out for the same book like that.

Speaking of Gloomy Gus, he's got a unique premise at least. A ghost searching for a corpse to possess! That one was pretty fun.

Don't have much to say bout the other features in this book. It's strange that they ran one dramatic feature and filled the rest of the book with comedy.  Overall an ok read, with a couple really fun bits.

[Morgus]

I’ve always had a soft spot for Archie’s ‘off brand’ stuff. As a kid it seemed to me to be almost illegal, like discovering The Fleischser Brothers did GULLIVERS TRAVELS instead of Disney. How long has this been going on?
For BLACK SWAN, I would love to find out that the folks at Archie discovered the rip off in progress but could not back out due to contracts already in place. So somebody was told to find a cover for ’the pirated comic book’ and didn’t understand.The Black Hood story is alright, and I agree with King’ that there is a lot of Blue Beetle to see here. Who knows? Maybe someone found the other stuff funny. Could happen.
The ads were the best thing here. And yeah, I would want to see the inside of BOTH PLEASURE PRIMER and HOW TO GET ALONG WITH GIRLS...if only out of morbid curiosity.

SUPER DUCK is okay as a funny animal thing, but I’d stop reading about half way through the stories or just skim past,  I can see why the Disney lawyers got antsy about it. What I wish was that they had worked with the idea more and came up with something approaching Super Goof. THAT would have been worth while. The ads again were better than the comic itself. ‘Crash, you’re usually good at this; anybody know anything about the ‘powerful electric motor’? And wow-we, Junior membership into the NRA! Okay, everybody on three ‘You’ll shoot your eye out!”
But selling diamonds in a comic??? Go ahead.. Tell her where you picked it out...

I’m with Panther when he first thought that The Dover Boys was a British comic. Nice read, though, and a very good transfer, which gave me the idea that The Boys have a fan base.Usually the more popular the feature, the more care is taken into restoration.

The 3 comics were an interesting read, Robb. Thanks.

[Robb_K]

Super Duck

First off, Robb, thanks for all your background info on Super Duck, I was always perplexed as to why he was called the cockeyed wonder. And fascinating to hear of Al Fagaly's interactions with Disney over copyright.

(1) You know my position on Funny Animals, but this one genuinely raised a titter or two from yours truly. I'm not a gigantic fan of Fagaly's art style, but he does know how to tell a story, and I loved some of the inventive names. Sam Quenton and Carrie de Coffin raised a smile, and Uwanna Duck is just teetering on the edge of a risque double entendre if you're old enough to know what one of those is.    . I was a bit thrown by the story featuring (2) the Davo-bed, was that a trade name like Hoover and Biro? Anyway, all that aside (3) I rather enjoyed Fagaly's tales, the inclusion of Cubby the Bear only serves to show how much better Super Duck is, however plagiarised he might have been.

I really rather enjoyed this one. Will wonders never cease? 

On to the Dover Boys...

(1)Glad you could get at least a little entertainment from a "Funny Animal" comic, and that you appreciate Al Fagaly's work to some degree.  It's interesting that you favour his story construction and gimmick-type of comedy over his artwork, whereas Crash Ryan and Morgus don't like his storywriting and feel that his artwork is his redeeming feature.  Personally, I realise that his best stories are direct copies of whole Barks stories, or patchworks of a few Barks' scenarios sewn together to try to form a story. And what I like best about his work is his artwork, driven mainly by his heavily animated style (copied from Barks' early 1940s style (in turn, taken from his own late 1930s/beginning of '40s Donald Duck short film storyboard style), and his thin-lined, heavily detailed inking style (also very similar to Barks').  Most of Fagaly's work could be perfectly adapted to Donald Duck short cartoons.

(2) Yes.  As pointed out by other posters, above, Davo-bed refers to Davenport's convertible-style sofas ability to be converted into a reasonably comfortable piece of furniture that could be used for sleeping the night.  And yes, Davenport and Chesterfield were furniture companies whose particular sofa/couch styles became generic names for those individual couch styles, and eventually, for people far-removed from knowledge about those 2 companies' products, became the generic name for ANY sofa/couch.  Both were used for sofas of their types in Central and Western Canada during the 1940s through '60s, as far as I remember.

(3) Yes, "Cubby Bear" by MLJ's main "Funny Animal" artist, prolific (but not-very good artist), Red Holmdale, is really, in The Monty Python sense, "dreadfully dull and boring", and the artwork, to me, itself, is awful (in the bad sense).  It was thrown into this series' books only to qualify for The US Postal Service's 2nd Class postage race.  I agree that it's stories were extremely simple, and aimed at tiny tots (to be read to them by their parents, while Fagaly's "Super Duck" was aimed at older children (mostly boys) of ages 7-14.

[SuperScrounge]

Speaking of Gloomy Gus, he's got a unique premise at least. A ghost searching for a corpse to possess!

Probably "borrowed" from Here Comes Mr. Jordan, a stage play turned into a movie in 1941 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033712/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_here%2520c, (and much later remade as Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait).

[crashryan]

Black Swan Comics #1 and only

I can't add anything to what everyone's already said about the cover. It's a great pirate cover and the best part of the book. Problem is, a quick flip through the book on the newsstand would show a kid he wouldn't get what he expected. In the comic rack days I always flipped through a comic before buying it to whet my appetite. Drugstore owners usually didn't object as long as you didn't spend all day reading and didn't leave the comics in a mess. Of course they expected you to buy at least a couple of comics. I would probably have left this one on the stand. Anyway, on to the book as it is rather than as it should have been.

The Pleasure Primer ad reminds us that in 1945 publishers could still count on a lot of sales to GI's who  were presumably over 18. It's not entirely crazy that Archie would run such an ad. Most retailers selling to kids probably had no idea which ads ran in their comics unless an irate parent complained.

The book itself is another production of Walter S. Keating. I've been able to find nothing about this guy beyond a listing of the books he edited. They are How to Write Love Letters, How to Get Along With Girls, An Omnibus of Pleasure AKA The Pleasure Primer, and what seems to be his most popular title, From Freud to Kinsey: a Survey of Contemporary Sex Studies. The last had at least four title variations. One source also listed How to Get Along With Boys, which I haven't seen advertised. I presume it's aimed at girls, not other boys.

The book and auction sites are full of copies of these masterpieces. Only one of them, a bookseller called "For My Sir--Unique, Classic, Vintage," thought to include pictures of inside pages. Yes! You, too, can sample the legendary Pleasure Primer along with its unimpressive illustrations by Alton Pickens. The table of contents shows what you'd expect: a collection of excerpts from works by Balzac, Rabelais, Omar Khayyam, Twain, etc. Most are "bawdy." The rest seem to deal with drinking. Here's the link. Click on the pictures to enliven them.

https://formysir.com/product/bkpleasure01/#iLightbox

A most interesting piece of this puzzle is the Stravon Publishing Company, which appears to have published all of Keating's collections. I found a piece of a self-published memoir from 2006 entitled Turning Points: A Memoir of My Life 1933-1944 by one Rose M. Green. I haven't read the entire thing and I never will. It came from one of those sites that shows only part of the text and you have to sign up to see the rest. I found this snippet:

Al Segal was definitely a great boon to the Green family. A Marxist scholar at heart, he reminded me of Arthur Osman, except that he chose to become a businessman and had already developed not one, but two successful mail-order companies . The first one sold two-way stretch back-supports for defense workers who stood on their feet all day. He whimsically named it Ward Green after the pioneer mail-order company, Montgomery Ward, and the love of his life, Sylvia Green. The other, Stravon Publishing Company, sold a line of easy-to-read paperbacks for the men and women in service. Both businesses did so well , some industry pundit dubbed him "The Boy Wonder of Direct Mail."

A Marxist scholar not above a little bit of capitalism. Segal seemed to have moved in bohemian circles. It's conceivable that Walter S. Keating was a fellow free thinker who cobbled books together for a little quick cash. As near as I can tell Stravon was active between 1942 and sometime in the early 1950s. I wonder if Segal the scholar named the company by combining Stratford-on-Avon.

The Black Hood

I could kick myself for never noticing that The Black Hood is a Blue Beetle ripoff. Of course he is. This is a generic Golden Age story, very basic and lacking in interest. I admit it's nice that this time the butler didn't do it; instead the butler was done. I hate dumb Irish cop sidekicks.

The Twiddles

I had Bill Woggon mixed up with his older brother Elmer. Elmer created the newspaper strip Big Chief Wahoo, later known as Steve Roper. Though Bill ghosted the strip briefly after Elmer stopped drawing it, his main claim to fame is Katy Keene. Bill was creating Katy about the same time as he did this tiresome he-she. At first glance it looks like a Blondie knock-off, but abusive, self-centered Mrs Twiddle has more in common with Maggie in Bringing Up Father. The story is diagrammatic and utterly predictable.

Woggon's second feature, Dotty and Ditto, fares better than his first. The brief lecture on equine anatomy seems out of place but the characters and incidents are genial enough. The parrot Ditto contributes nothing to the story. One big surprise: I don't remember ever having seen a bare human butt in a Golden Age comic before. I couldn't help noticing that Dottie isn't shy about flashing her own (clothed) booty in several panels. From the last panel it's clear the feature is a serial. A quick search turned up D&D stories in Top Notch Laugh and Pep. I didn't expend the effort to find the original appearance of this episode.

Pokey Oakey

Not the worst Li'l Abner clone. Don Dean sneaks some of his fellow artists' names into the backgrounds and name-checks Gloomy Gus. I got a smile out of the closing gag.

[Comments to be continued]

[Robb_K]

Black Swan Comics #1 and only

The Pleasure Primer ad reminds us that in 1945 publishers could still count on a lot of sales to GI's who  were presumably over 18. (1) It's not entirely crazy that Archie would run such an ad. Most retailers selling to kids probably had no idea which ads ran in their comics unless an irate parent complained.

Woggon's second feature, Dotty and Ditto, fares better than his first. The brief lecture on equine anatomy seems out of place but the characters and incidents are genial enough. The parrot Ditto contributes nothing to the story. One big surprise: I don't remember ever having seen a bare human butt in a Golden Age comic before. I couldn't help noticing that Dottie isn't shy about flashing her own (clothed) booty in several panels. From the last panel it's clear the feature is a serial. A quick search turned up D&D stories in Top Notch Laugh and Pep. (2) I didn't expend the effort to find the original appearance of this episode.

[Comments to be continued] 

(1) I just can't believe this book was an MLJ publication.  ALL the other MLJ-related issues have a thick indicia, much longer (5X+) than the two liner in this book.  And they ALL contain both a different editorial and publishing office address, and includes copyright dates, and dates related to laws covering their publishing operations.  And they ALL mention MLJ as the publisher or parent company, or Close-Up, Inc. (for their women's/girls'-related magazines and comic books.  Black Swan is the ONLY series that doesn't have dates, or mention of the laws required to be printed in the indicia (both indications that they were a one-shot, fly-by-night operation, which didn't care about meeting legal publishing requirements, and didn't follow copyright laws.  I also find it interesting and ironic that this book has a "Pirate-themed" front cover, totally unrelated to its "pirated" inside pages.  It seems likely to me that that "the pirating theme" is not a coincidence.  It could be an ironic slap-in-the-face towards MLJ, made possible by the artwork for that front cover also being available from the printing plate for its artwork being available from the same printing plant or warehouse going-out-of-business sale where this publisher obtained the MLJ art.  Possibly this was the same source where Green Publishing obtained its early 1940s MLJ material printing plates, which it printed in its Liberty Comics series?  Green Publishing's addresses(including cities) and publisher names don't match Black Swan's.  So, I think they were unrelated. 

(2) Black Swan's Dotty and Ditto (as well as ALL its other comedy features) were originally published in "Laugh Comix 46", while "The Black Hood" was originally printed in "Top Notch Laugh Comics 42", as
I mentioned in my introduction post for this thread.

[crashryan]

For those who are interested--meaning probably no one--I found a 1944 painting by Alton Pickens, who illustrated The Pleasure Primer. Some work by Pickens appeared in a Museum of Modern Art show, "Painting of the Forties." Personally I find his stuff...unpleasant.

[K1ngcat]

For those who are interested--meaning probably no one--I found a 1944 painting by Alton Pickens, who illustrated The Pleasure Primer. Some work by Pickens appeared in a Museum of Modern Art show, "Painting of the Forties." Personally I find his stuff...unpleasant.

Yikes!  I'll second that!
Thanks for also finding Clem Weisbecker and the Davo-bed, all information gratefully received.

All the best
K1ngcat

[The Australian Panther]

Personally I find his stuff...unpleasant. 

Well, I've seen much worse.
But I definitely wouldn't want it hanging on my wall. Which is my ultimate barometer.   

[Morgus]

Unpleasant is a good starting point, 'Crash. That is OUT THERE.  And no, Panther it would not make my wall either. It's funny, your link took me to another book being sold by the same site, an edition of The Decameron that had a lot nicer art. And The Decameron took place during the Black Death!
Gotta to go wash it away with some Wally Wood or Carl Barks or Toth. Eww.

[Quirky Quokka]

Black Swan

Unlike some of you, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up and found it wasn't a pirate comic, though the contents were a bit mixed.

The Black Hood

I enjoyed this one. I'll have to start using 'Dagnabbit!' Great word. Some inconsistencies in the art. At one point, Kip and Babs note that Kelimar's eye looked like glass, but when I flicked back to have a look, both eyes seemed exactly the same. But it was a good enough story.

The Twiddles

This seemed a bit like a poor man's 'Dagwood and Blondie'. Talbert's clothes are even drawn in a style like Dagwood, but maybe that was common in that era. The intro narration sounded almost like a radio broadcast. You could see the joke coming a mile away. Not my cup of tea, but it probably raised a smile.

Dotty and Ditto

Scanville would have been quite a catch being an asbestos heir, especially an asbestos heir who wanted to kick his 6th wife with his spurs. And then he flashes his derriere to little Dotty. Interesting comment about water not being rationed yet. I guess wartime rationing was in place for other things. But darn tootin', Dotty and Ditto are mighty cute.

Suzie

Between the old 'walk like this' gag, the grunt and groan department, and the good girl art, it reminded me of Benny Hill (cue the musical romp). The art was good though. And maybe all those beauty treatments aren't good for people anyway.

I wasn't crazy about the other stories, but I guess they would have been funny at the time and people needed a laugh with the war still going.

The Ads

As others have noted, there were certainly interesting (?) ads. I guess if you bought the Commander abdominal squisher, the 'How to Get Along with Girls' book, and the 'Pleasure Primer' you'd be all set for the 'gay evening's entertainment' promised. Oh my!!!!!!!!!  Definitely not aimed at the kiddies.

An eclectic collection, Robb. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Black Swan

Unlike some of you, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up and found it wasn't a pirate comic, though the contents were a bit mixed.

The Black Hood

I enjoyed this one. I'll have to start using 'Dagnabbit!' Great word. Some inconsistencies in the art. At one point, Kip and Babs note that Kelimar's eye looked like glass, but when I flicked back to have a look, both eyes seemed exactly the same. But it was a good enough story.

The Twiddles
(1) This seemed a bit like a poor man's 'Dagwood and Blondie'. Talbert's clothes are even drawn in a style like Dagwood, but maybe that was common in that era. The intro narration sounded almost like a radio broadcast. You could see the joke coming a mile away. Not my cup of tea, but it probably raised a smile.

Dotty and Ditto

Scanville would have been quite a catch being an asbestos heir, especially an asbestos heir who wanted to kick his 6th wife with his spurs. And then he flashes his derriere to little Dotty.(2) Interesting comment about water not being rationed yet. I guess wartime rationing was in place for other things. But darn tootin', Dotty and Ditto are mighty cute.

The Ads

As others have noted, there were certainly interesting (?) ads. I guess if you bought the Commander abdominal squisher, the 'How to Get Along with Girls' book, and the 'Pleasure Primer' you'd be all set for the 'gay evening's entertainment' promised. Oh my!!!!!!!!!  Definitely not aimed at the kiddies.

An eclectic collection, Robb. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Cheers
QQ 

(1) Yes, it was meant to be a copy of "Blondie & Dagwood".  The mid through late '40s seemed to me to be the golden Age of copycatting" in the comic book industry.

(2) The WWII rationing in USA wasn't near as severe or strict in USA as it was in The UK, but to the affluent Americans, it seemed mighty severe.  In Canada it was so severe for comic book readers, because it took away all our regular colour US comics.  But, at least it gave us our own, "Canadian Whites", and "Nelvana of The Northern Lights".  Water rationing is a normal situation the last 5 years in California and other parts of The US Southwest.

This book's comedy features portion was a reprint of MLJ's "Laugh Comix 46" (The first of the "Laugh" series), with "The Black Hood" added from its previous designation, "Top-Notch Laugh" (#42 ).  The late early '40s, middle '40s, and mid-to-late '40s was a time of transition in the comic book industry, with a movement from almost total domination of the Superhero genre, to a branching out into inclusion of a few other specialisation genres, including Comedy, Romance, Westerns, and Funny Animals.  During the period of late 1942-1946, MLJ's all action-based Superhero/Mystery Men "Top-Notch Comics" morphed gradually, but finally completely, to the all comedy "Laugh Comics" by dropping "The Black Hood, and adding "Suzie" and "Wilbur"; first changing to "Top-Notch Laugh" with Issue 28, in mid 1942, keeping only its former lead feature, "The Black Hood", "The Lost Legion", and "Kardak The Mystic Magician", and adding a bevy of Comedy features.  Then, in late 1944, with Issue #46, it changed to all comedy, "Laugh Comix", finally dropping "The Black Hood", who had moved on, several months before, to MLJ's "Jackpot Comics", and then on to "Pep Comics".  After the "Laugh Comix" 3-Issue phase, it changed to its final form , by dropping several of its Vaudevillian, slapstick features, and becoming mostly a teen comedy series, more similar to "Archie".

[EHowie60]

Super Duck 42
I've heard of Super Duck, via the "Stupid Comics" feature on the website Mr. Kitty, here:
https://www.misterkitty.net/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics136.html
Uwana looks very different in the earlier issues!
Let's see...
Once Upon a Crime: Super Duck is very keen on getting Buster in trouble. Is there some backstory here? Why the hate?

Cubby the bear: Is calling a bear "Cubby" like calling a human "Sonny"? I like his little suit, it's cute. The final joke...not so much. Which part did the writer come up with first? How the heck did he land on "feather dusters into fake war bonnets"?

Super Duck ends up homeless in the next story? These are getting weirder and weirder and the jokes are landing less and less. Good thing there's no continuity between stories.

The Pick of the Crop: I was expecting the old "fake monster to make the owner sell" gag, but no, there's a six armed dog man. Well, props for subverting my expectations at least.

Overall, this one was a bit disappointing. Not a lot that grabbed my attention, aside from that monster!

[K1ngcat]

Adventures of the Dover Boys

My, what a busy and informative cover, seems like half the plot's on there already!  Fortunately the art manages to carry it off, but sadly GCD give no art credits. The Panther tells us it's Harry Lucey, and it's similar to his work on Sam Hill, a couple of years later, also for MLJ.

The Dover boys are suitably adventurous in a wholesome way, Silas and his son are sufficiently mean-spirited, and all Uncle Bill wants to do is enrich himself by stealing from dead cultures. Sadly he doesn't play his cards close enough to his chest and he's soon being stabbed in the back in more ways than one. The idea of presenting everything in chapters works kinda like a movie serial that leaves you with a cliff-hanger every week, though it can't make the tale any less cliché-ridden as the white man tricks the superstitious natives with an everyday object from the "civilised" world.

In all fairness it's not any worse than other stories of its type, though in this version the "savages" decide to sacrifice the white-skinned woman rather than worship her as a goddess. I'd have gone for the latter, but the boys need an opportunity to show their all-round red-blooded good-guy heroism, and the young Croombs has to show his detestable self-centred cowardice, so we can all be comforted to see the American dream is working. 

Thanks for posting this, Robb, I quite enjoyed it, for all my complaints. A pity that there weren't enough adventure-lovers to keep it going a bit longer.

All the best
K1ngcat