[Robb_K]

Is "The Brass Vulture" a Noir-style mystery, with a similar-style plot to "The Maltese Falcon"?

I think the idea of a bird statuette arises from the Falcon, but this is a real genre blender with a father and son explorer team, a hoarding hermit and his gun wielding ape offsider, and some treasure smuggling gangsters, set on a perilous jungle island. As a creator, Will Donald is creative and unpredictable in the elements he uses in his stories, which I enjoy as the story twists and turns - but it is a story, not a collection of disparate elements.

I wonder if Donald was a film noir and Humphry Bogart fan?   This sounds a little like he started with a blend of "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre", and added a few key elements to form a new story.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

[The Australian Panther]

If you look at Humphrey Bogart's hat and jacket in 'Treasure of Sierra Madre' - Indiana Jones!
The way under-appreciated writer, Frank Gruber wrote, 'The Etruscan Bull' a definite homage to the Maltese Falcon. Damn good book too!
Also, in the same vein, based on Chandler's novel "The High Window," The Brasher Doubloon (1947) is the second time this classic was brought to the screen.
, the Brasher Doubloon, in the same Vein inspired not one but two films.
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNJSGYeUivU

Time to Kill (1942) Lloyd Nolan, Heather Angel, Doris Merrick | Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNnrbl1gKss

enjoy!

[Downunder Dan]

This week, from a land downunder...

New - The Lone Wolf 5 from Keith Chatto, another western comic. Great art here, as Chatto's earlier style uses hatching to lend a more 3D effect than his later work

Expansion - Crimson Comet 53, a welcome return of both this hero after a long break since I had any to upload, and also under the hand of his creator, John Dixon. Two stories, one science fiction and the other a detective story. I was luck to find and buy some Aussie originals at less than the usual prices, and I'll be uploading these over the forthcoming months alongside my usual library sourced comics

[Downunder Dan]

This week -

NEW - Frogman 1 is a reprint of original Maurice Bramley stories that were published alongside reprints primarily from US comics by Hillman. These war stories aren't featuring ongoing characters, and so all stand alone.

ENHANCEMENT - Action Comic 17 is another book with a Len Lawson lead. Late last year, a Comic Book Plus reader in his 90s requested more of these stories, favourites from his youth, saying that the stories themselves did not do anyone any harm. I guess this marks me out as a bit of a softy, but I can't see a problem is responding to a request from an elderly man. This issue also contains an early story by Yaroslav Horak, which it would be a pity to not include.

[Downunder Dan]

This week:

NEW - The Bosun and Choclit Funnies #38

EXTENSION - Tim Valour 24 (second series)

[Downunder Dan]

This week...

NEW - The Purple People Eater

EXPANSION - Supreme Feature-Comic #4

A bit different this week. The Purple People Eater was discussed over six months ago, but I had issues with scanning the book. I recently acquired a coverless copy of the comic, which resolved the scanning problems (there's a difference between scanning something you own and something you don't), so I had to supplement the scan of my copy with scans of four cover pages that I'd made a long time ago to give us the whole thing.

The other is most recent scan I've made. I bumped it up the list because I rarely see a comic printed in New Zealand, and as there are two countries' comics on this area of the site, I figured it's good to increase the representation of the smaller one. And I thought a very old-fashioned type of comic by comparison to an off-the-wall surrealistic one would be a good mix.

See you in the comments!

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Dauntless 'magpie' Comics is another Frank Johnson anthology. This one shares a number of ongoing series with the Exciting 'magpie' Comics and appears to be published later.

EXTENSION - The Panther #45 this time featuring a foe called the Hawk Man (no relation to the DC Comics hero).

BONUS - Refuge! is a pamphlet supporting the settlement of European refugees in Australia, issued at the start of World War II. The graphics are believed to be the work of comic strip artist Keith Martin, who has yet to be featured here at Comic Book Plus

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Army #4, a war story anthology by Moira Bertram. I've been wanting add more from Moira, but this wasn't what I was expecting it to be.

EXPANSION - El Lobo, the Man from Nowhere #16

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Super Fun Comics, an anthology comic that includes a Dick Weston story, who appears in other comics.

EXPANSION - Death in the Desert, another comic featuring two lead stories of Red Steele and Shado McGraw.

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads...

NEW - Ben Barbary Bushranger Comics 3, which includes a rare storyline lead by a female protagonost, Vesta the Vesuvian.

EXPANSION - Yarmak 41, which features the jungle king in conflict with a costumed opponent, the Sky King. Read this for Stan Pitt goodness.

[Downunder Dan]

THis week's uploads:

NEW - The Hooded Rider #28 - another Len Lawson comic, this time featuring his second wild west gunfighter character.

EXPANSION - Crimson Comet 9 second series #17 - I suspect the only title I can upload here that is more satisfying to upload that Crimson Comet is Catman. But there are a lot more Crimson Comets!

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Brenda #25 which features an Australian comic broadly based on Brenda Starr. When the Australian government bans on foreign-produced comics and comic strips meant there were no new Brenda Starr material available, they changed the name of the comic and produced new comics.

EXPANSION - Devil Doone #30 - this one's a bit short as there was a DC-owned reprint included, but there are still two Devil Doone stories to enjoy

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Silver Jacket vol.3 no.23 - an example of an Australian story paper, with limited comics inclusion

EXPANSION - Super Yank Comics 8 - A new-old Catman story, from Lloyd Piper in this dual feature title, though the Phantom story couldn't be included due to it being owned by a highly protective publisher

BONUS - The Four Bears - I occasionally upload a children's story created by a known comics creator and published by a comics publisher (so far, all have been from Frank Johnson). The 'bears' are koalas, and there's a dingo as the bad guy

[Robb_K]

This week's uploads:

NEW - Silver Jacket vol.3 no.23 - an example of an Australian story paper, with limited comics inclusion

EXPANSION - Super Yank Comics 8 - A new-old Catman story, from Lloyd Piper in this dual feature title, though the Phantom story couldn't be included due to it being owned by a highly protective publisher

BONUS - The Four Bears - I occasionally upload a children's story created by a known comics creator and published by a comics publisher (so far, all have been from Frank Johnson). The 'bears' are koalas, and there's a dingo as the bad guy

Looking forward to them. 

[crashryan]

Hey, Dan! I was looking through a bunch of Mexican comics scans and was surprised to find an old friend:





He appeared in a magazine entitled Clasicos de Terror, issue 51, December, 1977. The publisher was Ediciones Latinoamericanas. Despite its title (Terror Classics) the mag is a grab bag with a Warren Eerie reprint, a detective story, an s-f story, and two cartoon kid shorts. How our pal "Diablo" got there I've no idea.

(Click on images to see them full-size.)

[Downunder Dan]

Thanks for this. You may be aware that Australian heroes the Phantom Ranger, the Shadow and Sir Falcon have been published in translation in Brazil (as Cavaleiro Fantasma, do Sombra and Aguia Negra), with new stories being created in Portuguese. It seems likely that the link here is the Phantom: Frew, who originally published these three characters, holds the licence to republish and create Phantom stories, and (from what I can tell) the Brazilian company is also licenced to publish the Phantom, providing a channel for communications.

While Frew isn't involved with Devil Doone at all, KG Murray used to reprint DC, American Comic Group and Charlton publications (and probably more, I'm going from memory) in Australia. Perhaps this provided some opportunity to discuss reprinting some Australian content in Mexico.

Can't find much about Classicos del Terror online, so not sure if this is a one-off Devil Doone story in Spanish or if there was a series of such stories.

[The Australian Panther]

Dan,

from our Spanish section.
Aguila Negra Completo
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26411
El Caballero Fantasma 1
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29091

I've seen examples of the Brazillian Frew Heroes, and they were pretty faithful to the originals.
These don't appear to be them.
But our Spanish section deserves more attention -  some very interesting work there
This one looks good tho.
La Sombra Justiciera [The Righteous Shadow]
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83293

cheers!

. 

[Downunder Dan]

On the matter of foreign reprints of Devil Doone, Kevin Patrick (an Australian comics historian, who works as a librarian in the US these days) says he has seen listings of Devil Doone being reprinted in French and Spanish, and also seen his stories reprinted in American magazines from the 60s. His comment: 'He certainly got around back in the day!'

[paw broon]

Quite a few masked men appeared in other countries. Superargo comics based on Italian and Italian/Spanish movies were published in Brazil.
South American countries had a big comic book industry. Lots of superhero comics in Brazil and Argentina, many that English speaking fans haven't discovered.
Capitan Jupiter in Chile and other countries. So many.
Zorro comics seem everywhere. but there seem to be different Zorros, depending on creators and countries.

[Downunder Dan]

On the 'Diablo' Doone story, the original English language version has been identified - it's 'Pirates of the River' from 'Devil' Doone #39. By pure coincidence, I have recently purchased this issue on eBay, so this will be scanned and uploaded here in the future. (It's a 100-page comic, so it may not be for a little while.)

[Downunder Dan]

This week's uploads...

NEW - Wizard 'magpie' Comics - where you can get another Ben Bowyang chapter of 'The Mystery of Wombat Gully', plus another story of Jo and her Magic Cape by Moira Bertram, and a space adventure from Noel Cook (among others!)

EXPANSION - Tex Morton's Wild West Comic vol.3 #9

[crashryan]

Regarding Devil Doone, I recently came across--and misplaced--a French pocket comic with a story featuring someone named Devil Doone. The only resemblance I saw with the Aussie Doone was the hero's mustache. The character and the entire story was drawn in the Spanish shop style. It was set in the present. *EDITED TO ADD:* Spoke too soon. It was "Brigade Speciale" #1. The artist is Josep Gual. The Pimpf Wiki entry says Doone appeared in the first three issues of BS.

[Robb_K]

Great!  Thanks Dan, for this new Magpie upload.  I'll be glad to continue the Ben Bowyang story.