Print

[The Australian Panther]

Challenger Comics 3
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=62009
Cover- He needs to wrap the thumb inside the fist, or he will hurt himself.
What was it with Yellow Trench coats back then? And why are they called Trench coats? I know I can look it up, but maybe one of you wise people can help!
Splash Page.
I have no truck with Racism, but I also dislike contemptible human behavior compared to animal behavior.
I don't hold with human beings who commit atrocities being called 'Animals' or 'Dogs'. A Tiger is a dangerous animal, and that's it, it doesn't discriminate in any way.
Also, Racism and Racial prejudice aren't limited to fascists. I do realize that the context is WWII and the concurrent fascist movements.

  The Challenger
Yes. The big American industrialists, back in the 1930s and 1940s, didn't need to pay outsiders to foment racial hatred among the union members.  Caucasian racists hatred and related actions against African American workers both in union affairs and outside, probably already stirred up enough rifts in union solidarity for their purposes.   

 
There were and still are men [and women] in power who think like that. [Divide and conquer is the name of the game] All tyrants and dictators play the same game and, unfortunately large populations, on both sides can easily be manipulated that way.  We are seeing this right now, played out across the world.
This is a Canadian publication but it seems concerned with a US scenario.     
Prejudice
A redemption story, nice detail, deals with the Japanese/American prejudice.
Will to Win
Nice, but I'm not sure why this story is in this book.   
The Golem
An Archetypical story. Visually far above anything else in this book.
Joe was seriously creative from day one. Also, his heart and mind were likely very much involved in his work for this book.
Milly Mischief
Put a smile on my face.

Thank you Robb once again!

QQ should be here tomorrow with some surprises.
Cheers! 
   

 

[crashryan]

And why are they called Trench coats?

From World War I. An officer's coat that was often worn in the trenches.

[Robb_K]

Jewish War Heroes 1
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=27391

A timely post. Glad we have these posts on CB+.
As an aside, this guy is Australia's [and one of the world's] greatest Jewish War Hero.
(1) General Sir John Monash
The film this refers to hasn't been made, maybe under current circumstances never will.
https://www.onyamagazine.com/arts-culture/film/the-life-of-one-of-australias-most-revered-war-time-generals-is-set-to-hit-the-big-screen/

  Born in Victoria to immigrant Jewish parents of Prussian origin, Monash grew up in humble surrounds. He worked hard at school becoming school dux at the age of 16 and later graduating from Melbourne University with undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in law, the arts and engineering. He joined the Militia (Army Reserves) in 1884. Despite being a Jew in an age of discrimination, of German heritage in a war with Germany, and an amateur soldier from the Dominions, his rise continued as the military acknowledged and embraced his leadership, capabilities and insight. 

 

But I digress.
These kinds of potted biographies are just as interesting for what they leave out, as what they leave in.
Yank Levy. (2)"Battled through WWI in Palestine and Mesopotamia" -But in which army? (3) Didn't think Canada was involved in these theatres, so did he, like many colonials travel to Britain and join up?
The book doesn't discriminate, includes Russian, British, Canadian and American Jewish Heroes.
Great Stuff, thanks Robb for bringing it to our attention again.   

(1) Thanks for the link to the story of General Sir John Monash.  I'd never heard of him before, but he should have been (and probably was) included in some war hero comic book (maybe published in Australia or The UK). He has an interesting story with a tremendous amount of accomplishment (against the odds - due to prejudice during those times).  Jewish soldiers, like all minority soldiers, who faced discrimination, generally fought harder than the average soldier, desperate to prove their loyalty and worth to their respective countries, and to eventually win respect and fair treatment for their peoples.  That was true of Yank Levy, about whom I will comment below, answering your questions.

(2) Bert "Yank" Levy (as stated on his page in this book, joined The Canadian Merchant Marine in 1916, and left it in mid 1917, to join the fight against The German, Austro-Hungarian, and The Ottoman Turkish Empires in World War I.  Born in 1897, apparently, he had been too young to join The Canadian Army in 1914.  Almost immediately, he joined The 39th Battalion of The British Army's Royal Fusiliers raised at Fort Edward Nova Scotia (as part of The British Army's "Jewish Legion" (comprised of The 38th, 39th, and 40th Battalions of The Royal Fusiliers)).  They were comprised of Canadian and US Jewish volunteers, who wished to fight against The Ottoman Turks to free Palestine, which had been accepting immigration of Jews since 1880, with the Zionist hope of making it into "an official Jewish homeland, under a postwar protectorate (perhaps mandated by The League of Nations).  They first were sent to Plymouth, England, and then to Egypt. There, they were joined by Egyptian, Palestinian, British, and Russian Jewish volunteers, filling out the 3 battalions.  They fought in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and at Gallipoli, in Turkey.  They fought to keep the peace in British mandates, well into 1919, almost for a year after The War's armistice. 

It's interesting to me that Levy fought as a Soldier of Fortune mercenary and volunteer for what he thought were good causes (i.e. The Republicans, in The International Brigade against Franco's Facist forces in The Spanish Civil War) between WWI and WWII.  When WWII broke out, he tried to sign up again for duty in The Canadian army, but was rejected as too old for the infantry.  So, he went to Britain, and was signed on as an
instructor in defence and Guerrilla tactics in The British Home Guard, and after The War, he performed those services for The US Army.  Apparently, he loved military life, and also got a lot of satisfaction from helping causes he felt were worthy (popular revolutions against dictatorial rulers).  He had a very interesting career, and got to see The World.  He died fairly young, at 67 (probably partly due to the beating his body took in all that combat).  I wonder how many times he was wounded.

(3) Canadian troops fought at Gallipoli, but not in Palestine or Iraq.  So, they DID fight against The Turks.  But as you thought, most of The Canadian military operations in World War I were on The Western Front, in France, and Belgium.

[The Australian Panther]

Thanks Robb,
Re Yank Levy,

apparently, he had been too young to join The Canadian Army in 1914.  Almost immediately, he joined The 39th Battalion of The British Army's Royal Fusiliers raised at Fort Edward Nova Scotia (as part of The British Army's "Jewish Legion" (comprised of The 38th, 39th, and 40th Battalions of The Royal Fusiliers)).  They were comprised of Canadian and US Jewish volunteers, who wished to fight against The Ottoman Turks to free Palestine, which had been accepting immigration of Jews since 1880, with the Zionist hope of making it into "an official Jewish homeland, under a postwar protectorate (perhaps mandated by The League of Nations).

That's about what I thought.
Amazing men back then.
I wish you and your family well.

[Robb_K]

Thank you Robb for bringing these to a wider audience. Sitting down to post this, (1) I just realized that in the COMICS section of CB+ we have a British and an Australian/New Zealand section but not a Canadian one. Maybe it's time? 
Also thanks for the list of our regular posters who hail from Canada.
Again, also, I find myself (2) wondering if there may have been a separate or parallel French Language Comic industry in Canada, and expanding on that, if there was/ is any interaction/mutual exchange between the French Comic scene and Canada?

Lucky Comics v2 5
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58400
A simple but powerfully effective cover, the eyes, the mouth and that hand say it all. In this case, Less is definitely more.

Lucky
Basic Art but a good narrative. I really enjoyed having a WWII realistic story for a change! And a story with a Boy [not a sidekick] for the hero.

Juke Box Joe.
I understand that Zoot Suit wearers were singled out and beaten up during the War has being visibly self-indulgent.
Love the slang!
(3)"Playing records from an central  office over open telephone lines to our machines all over town"
Wow, 1940's ITunes/Spotifly. Did anyone ever do that? Probably not, since you couldn't rig a speaker, and would have to sit with your ear to the phone, and couldn't get or make any other calls, but what creative thinking! 
They had a lab at SingSing?! Could they make explosives?!
"How's about a jitter, Bug?"
(4) Unsatisfactory and confusing ending tho.

Chapter XIV: The Haunted Castle
Ok. But Melodrama and cliches. Reading one episode inside a serial is always unsatisfactory 
Derry Dreamer
Way too word heavy at the beginning. Not a good example of this type of Genre. 
Black Wing
I like the fact that in all these stories the fourth wall is broken casually.
"'Say, is he swearing at me?' 'He wants to know when you will publish Black Wing stories in Spanish?'"
(5) And a Canadian 'Masked Mystery Man' are there more stories?
But, the inside last page disturbs me.
(6)In 1943 a detailed illustrated list of Canadian Army Equipment? Shouldn't this be confidential information?       

(1) Yes, there should be a Canadian comics section set up in CB+, just as there is one on DCM (which has quite a few more Canadian books than we have here).  Maybe Yoc can arrange for copies of those to be  uploaded on CB+?  We have very few here, partly because The National Library of Canada has some projects involving The Canadian Whites and other comic books in their special collections, and so, they are not in The PD (that includes ALL of Bell Features comics).  But, I've seen several Canadian books on DCM that I haven't seen here, that I think must be PD, as DCM is just as careful about not infringing on copyrights as we are.

(2) Yes, there has long been a French language comic book industry in French Canada (mainly Québec, but probably also distributed in the French speaking half of New Brunswick, and the French speaking areas of Ontario, near Québec's border).  But, mainly they were just the French and Belgian books sent as is, to Canada.  Glénat, Dargaud, Dupuis, Le Lombard, Casterman and Delcourt are the publishers I remember offhand.  I only know of French Disney, Asterix, Tin Tin, Spirou, etc.  The cartoony comics.   Sometimes, for short periods Canadian publishers imported French books and placed local adverts in them.  But, I don't recall
any publishers productions of purely French Canadian creators being sold in comic book form in Canada.  But, I never looked for them.  So, I don't know what exists.  But for Disney Comics, I know there was only importation from France.  No local production.  Maybe Morgus, Bowers, or Yoc can answer that question for you.

(3) The way it was explained by Crash was that there were telephone lines from the city's central telephone switching terminal, which emanated from a single source that broadcast the recording, sending that sound  through telephone lines connected directly to selected juke boxes inside drug stores, malt shops, clubs and dance halls around the city.  When a customer pushed a nickel into the coin slot, an impulse would be sent to the record library, that would automatically start the record player or tape recording machine playing the song, whose sound would be sent in the telephone cable to the specific juke Box of the order, and the people there would hear it.  This all doesn't seem to be a practical way to bring in more revenue than this system's costs of operation.

(4) Yes, the ending "joke" is racist, and was against the cultural practices of the time.  It wouldn't be funny to almost anyone, and it would be throwing current problems in North American society into the faces of the children and adolescent readers, who would ask their parents embarrassing questions they wouldn't want to address.  The African-Canadian sidekick arranges a date for his friend, the Caucasian lead male character, with the former's current "Black" girlfriend.  That simply was not done-not acceptable.  It's no wonder that he felt cheated, and humiliated.  But why would anyone, even a racist, think that is funny?

(5) Yes, I remember that there were more issues of Lucky Comics that had Black Wing stories in them.  Lucky ran about 30 issues, but "The Black Wing" was not in all of them.

(6) The detailed information on Canadian military equipment on that page was probably what they had at the start of the war, in late 1939, before war industries started up.  There is also a several month gap from the production of pages, printing, and comic book assemblage, to delivery to the subscriber or vendor.  So, by the time these books hit the bookshelves and comic book racks, the armies were using newer, more effective models.  And, German spies operating inside USA and Canada would already have passed such information on  to their bosses by then, in any case.  The source of this information was likely the military.  So they wouldn't hand their own top secrets to comic book publishers.  The kids didn't really see all the details about their nation's armed forces' weapons and vehicles they were currently using in a Worldwide war to determine the fate of Humankind.  And that wasn't a problem for those kids, who didn't know the difference, or the publishers, who lost no sales because no large mass of children were disappointed.

[Robb_K]

Robin Hood and Company 34
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=3204

(1) Something of a record. The first and only Robin Hood comic with a Mountie and a Whale featured on the cover.

Men of the Mounted and the Counterfeit Ambergris!

For those who came in late;--

Ambergris (/ˈæmbərɡriːs/ or /ˈæmbərɡrɪs/; Latin: ambra grisea; Old French: ambre gris), ambergrease, or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.[1] Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. It acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages, commonly likened to the fragrance of isopropyl alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency.[2]
Ambergris has been highly valued by perfume makers as a fixative that allows the scent to last much longer, although it has been mostly replaced by synthetic ambroxide.[3] Dogs are attracted to the smell of ambergris and are sometimes used by ambergris searchers.[4] 

Nice imaginative story!

Gallows Holiday
Robin Hood. OK, but no surprises.

(2) Six pages with interesting facts.
Way too many in this book. I wouldn't be happy if I had paid for the book. 

The Case of the Sunburned Crooks
(3)I was thinking that Ted McCall was quite talented.
Yep!
https://canadianaci.ca/Encyclopedia/mccall-ted/

  “McCall was: “the founding giant of Canadian comic books…” George Henderson”

Edwin Reid (Ted) McCall is the father of the graphic adventure story in Canada. While no one else in Canada was attempting adventure cartoon strips in the period between the two World Wars he introduced two: first “Men of the Mounted”, then ‘Robin Hood and Company’. When World War 2 broke out he originated one of Canada’s earliest and probably its most successful wartime comic book hero: “Freelance”. 

Good quality book for the day!

(1) Yes.  Quite a strange combination of genres in one small book.

(2) The unusual facts pages contain some really nice artwork, but one page of that would have gotten the idea across and exposure for the artist.  But i hate losing 5 pages that could have been added to other filler pages to include a third adventure or comedy story for the book.

(3) McCall's story about a reclusive hermit-type, who wanted to live far away from other people, and so moved to The sub-Arctic, and had a strange hobby of wanting to raise tropical flowers there, and had the vast amount of wealth to accomplish that from his previous gold prospecting there is quite inventive.  And tying in the setting of this story resulting from its weird circumstances to a funny, and yet action-packed story, was VERY inventive and clever.  Very impressive, especially given that the much, much larger market of USA usually drew most super-creative Canadians in all fields of entertainment, down across the border, because the pay is so much greater due to the much larger markets.  So, it is quite impressive that Canada still had enough very creative writers and artist left at home during The War, to produce series like Nelvana, Johnny Canuck, Men Of The Mounted, etc. when most of The Nation's "cream of the crop" of creative people emigrated to USA or Britain to better their careers.  I'm sure that Australia also suffered mightily from such a talent drain (Pat Sullivan, Frank Ifield, Dame Edna, Rupert Murdoch, The BeeGees, etc.).

[The Australian Panther]

I'm sure that Australia also suffered mightily from such a talent drain (Pat Sullivan, Frank Ifield, Dame Edna, Rupert Murdoch, The BeeGees, etc.). 

Well, we really didn't lose any of those people, the world gained them and Murdoch and Dame Edna, for two, had a continued Australian presence.
But this kind of talent drain was common to most English-speaking creative people from what were known as 'the Dominions' because they grew too big for the local stage.
In comics in Australia, John Dixon [AirHawk, Catman] was the exception although he did leave Australia in the 80's.
Most of those you list left in the 60s, Dame Edna in the 70's. Murdoch in the 80's.
Pat Sullivan is the exception, the creator of Felix the Cat left in 1909.
But that talent drain goes back to the colonial days, well before even that.     

[MarkWarner]

What about Sir Les?

[Robb_K]

Challenger Comics 3
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=62009
Cover- He needs to wrap the thumb inside the fist, or he will hurt himself.
What was it with Yellow Trench coats back then? And why are they called Trench coats? I know I can look it up, but maybe one of you wise people can help!
Splash Page.
I have no truck with Racism, but I also dislike contemptible human behavior compared to animal behavior.
I don't hold with human beings who commit atrocities being called 'Animals' or 'Dogs'. A Tiger is a dangerous animal, and that's it, it doesn't discriminate in any way.
Also, Racism and Racial prejudice aren't limited to fascists. I do realize that the context is WWII and the concurrent fascist movements.

  The Challenger
Yes. The big American industrialists, back in the 1930s and 1940s, didn't need to pay outsiders to foment racial hatred among the union members.  Caucasian racists hatred and related actions against African American workers both in union affairs and outside, probably already stirred up enough rifts in union solidarity for their purposes.   

 
There were and still are men [and women] in power who think like that. [Divide and conquer is the name of the game] All tyrants and dictators play the same game and, unfortunately large populations, on both sides can easily be manipulated that way.  We are seeing this right now, played out across the world.

(1) This is a Canadian publication but it seems concerned with a US scenario.     

(2) Prejudice
A redemption story, nice detail, deals with the Japanese/American prejudice.

(3) Will to Win
Nice, but I'm not sure why this story is in this book.   

(4) The Golem
An Archetypical story. Visually far above anything else in this book.
Joe was seriously creative from day one. Also, his heart and mind were likely very much involved in his work for this book.

(5) Milly Mischief
Put a smile on my face.

Thank you Robb once again!
QQ should be here tomorrow with some surprises.
Cheers! 

(1) Sorry for the ambiguity.  As I stated (maybe not so clearly) in my introduction to this topic, "The Challenger" was a US publication, which was included in this topic mainly because of "The Golem" story, and the anti-racist prejudice theme of The Jewish War Heroes book (e.g. the reason for the latter's existence), proclaiming, in a sense, that blind hatred and prejudice against any group of people is wrong, and that should be especially evident when those people that are the object of the hatred have fought hard for the haters' country (which is also their country).

(2) "Prejudice"'
This is a good, very true-to-life story, that the purveyor of racial hatred often is so full of learned, blind hatred, that he or she cannot see the wrong and irrationality of that until an individual from the hated group helps the hater in such an important way that the latter can't help but notice that, and finally see that the people that are the object of their hatred are simply fellow Humans, just like themselves, who deserve respect as another living being, and to be treated in all ways by applying "The Golden Rule".

(3) "Will To Win"
This story included a "token" African-American player on that neighbourhood youth club team.  This was not likely during World War II times, or even during the 1950s, even in The North of The USA.  So, it is clear that that inclusion was meant to make a statement that it is best for the general society, when all citizens and residents are treated the same, and included in the benefits of that society's produce, and participating in that society's activities as a full member.  The story failed to include any prejudicial actions and bad consequences from that; and so, it also failed to clearly demonstrate the good that can come from respect, equal treatment, and working together.  Yes, the African-American was part of the group that pooled its resources to reach a goal.  But, without showing the ill-treatment and prejudice that eliminates the possibility of working together, the point is almost lost.


(4) "The Golem"
Yes, Joe Kubert did a great job on this one.  The artwork, and story (interpretation of the Medieval legend is excellent, and a work of a person who was determined to inform the general public what the legend really is, and portray the World that generated it, as it really was.  This is the first comic book version of The Legend of The Golem I've seen that really shows what a living Hell life was for Jews in Europe during much (or dare I say "most") of The Dark Ages, Middle Ages and much of The Renaissance.  That legend demonstrated why idea of The Golem came about as a dream of a Messiah-like creature given to The Jews by God, to "save" them from their Christian tormentors, who used them as the scapegoats for their own woes.  This idea could take away the hopelessness of those constantly mistreated people during the bad times.  It's clear that Kubert really knew the history of the legend, and felt very strongly that it should be portrayed strongly enough to inform the general public what that legend was all about, and that blind racism is inhuman, and bad for The World.

(5) "Milly Mischief"
This clever but naughty girl reminds me very much of Eastern Color Printing's Hortense (The Loveable Brat), from "Jingle Jangle Comics", in both her design (red hair with pigtails), and her behaviour.

[paw broon]

As Mark says, "what about Sir Les?"  Never mind Dame Edna, Sir Les Patterson, Australian  cultural  ambassador to the 
Court of St. James, is superb.  I always preferred him.   Hilarious.  As for Murdoch, I wish you'd kept him.

[Robb_K]

I will not need to write a post reviewing the stories in the 4 books I've chosen for review this fortnight, as I've covered all that in detail in my comments directed towards the comments of the other posters on this thread.  I hope a few others of our regular posters, and any interested new members will post on this thread when they have time.

And for Mark, and other CB+ Administrators and Moderators: I would like any thoughts on whether or not it would be practical to have a "Canadian Publications" section here on CB+, like we do for UK and Australian and New Zealand publications.  Is it simply because we don't yet have enough Canadian books to warrant a separate section?  Also, it seems to me that there are several more Canadian books on DCM (in their Canadian Publications section) than we have here on CB+.  Is that because we are "more careful" to avoid risk of them not being considered in The PD? - Or simply because no one has offered to upload them here?

[Quirky Quokka]

And for Mark, and other CB+ Administrators and Moderators: I would like any thoughts on whether or not it would be practical to have a "Canadian Publications" section here on CB+, like we do for UK and Australian and New Zealand publications.  Is it simply because we don't yet have enough Canadian books to warrant a separate section?  Also, it seems to me that there are several more Canadian books on DCM (in their Canadian Publications section) than we have here on CB+.  Is that because we are "more careful" to avoid risk of them not being considered in The PD? - Or simply because no one has offered to upload them here?

I'd be interested in a Canadian section if there are enough comics to warrant it. I've looked for Canadian comics on this site previously, and had trouble finding them.

Cheers

QQ

[MarkWarner]

Originally there was a Canadian section just like DCM. But we "promoted" Superior to the main comic section and the other smaller companies are holding court in "Small Press" (my favourite comic section).

Off the top of my head, there should not be any books missing which DCM have.

[Robb_K]

Originally there was a Canadian section just like DCM. But we "promoted" Superior to the main comic section and the other smaller companies are holding court in "Small Press" (my favourite comic section).

Off the top of my head, there should not be any books missing which DCM have.

Thanks Mark, for the explanation.  I guess we'll move back to a Canadian Publishers section when enough new books arrive to warrant it, or move Maple Leaf and Anglo-American into their own categories, when they get big enough.  Bell Features will remain non-PD until TNLC's and the other current project-oriented copyright holder finish their projects.  Hillsborough, Rucker, and other small Canadian publishers will always qualify for The Small Publishers section.