[Robb_K]

Good morning, afternoon, or evening, depending upon where you are on this planet.  This fortnight's comic books to be read and reviewed are Golden Age comics mainly from Canada's WWII period, and one year after, as well as an interfaith, public service (anti-racist) book also from that period.  The examples chosen include one of the famous "Canadian Whites" (which were original Canadian-produced comic books issued after Canada instituted paper rationing for publishers to help the war effort, and a ban on magazines and comic books from foreign nations (including USA, who previously had supplied almost all comic books for Canada's market). It also includes a full-colour Canadian-produced comic book from a publisher who had issued only books with black and white interior pages during the war, as well as a Canadian anti-racist public service comic book-style pamphlet, and a US interfaith anti-racist full-sized comic book published for that same purpose.  The 2 Canadian full-sized issues are nostalgic for me as I read them as a child during the late 1940s from my 4 older male cousins' comics stash, my pick of which, I later inherited, as they didn't really "collect" comic books as I did, but merely read them a few times and moved on to new issues.

The 4 books are as follows:  Lucky Comics Vol.2 #5 published in 1943 by Maple Leaf Publishing (Vancouver, BC), Robin Hood & Co. 34, published in 1946, by Anglo-American Publishing Co., Ltd.(Toronto, Ont.), Jewish War Heroes, published in 1944, by The Canadian Jewish Congress, and Challenger Comics 3, published in 1946, by Interfaith Publications, New York, NY.  We have previously introduced books from GA Canadian publishers, Superior Publishers, Ltd. (Punch & Red Seal Comics, and Super Funnies), and Bell Features (reprinted in full colour by F.E. Howard Publ.) Dizzy Don, and Super Duper Comics.  Other Canadian GA publishers include Rucker Publishing.  The Canadian National Library has a special exhibit of almost all of Bell Features' issues open to its citizens, available for download (which I have done), but, unfortunately, we can't upload them here, as they have informed CB+ administrators that because they currently have planned a project using them (possible hardbound or collectors set reissue?), they have been taken out of The PD.

Lucky Comics Vol.2 #5

Lucky Comics Vol.2 #5, featuring "The Adventures of Lucky" and "The Haunted Castle", can be found here:  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58400

Robin Hood & Co. 34

Robin Hood & Co. 34, featuring "Robin Hood" and "Men of the Mounted", can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=3204

Jewish War Heroes1

Jewish War Heroes1 can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=27391

Challenger Comics 3

The Challenger 3, featuring "The Golem" (drawn by Joe Kubert) and "Who Is America's No. 1 Facist Fighter?", can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=62009

I thought these might be of special interest to several of us as we have several Canadians active on this website, including in this reading group (myself, Morgus, Bowers, Yoc, and perhaps a few others).  I look forward to the comments.

[Quirky Quokka]

Looks like some interesting selections there, Robb. I've downloaded them. Looking forward to checking out these Canadian comics.

Cheers

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

Lucky Comics v2 #5

The Adventures of Lucky
The restraint of the evil Nazis to not kill the obnoxious Lucky is amazing. A clear case of the Literary Protagonist Shield protecting him. ;-)
The gray shading on the art is nice. Seems too granular to be a grey wash, so would this have been done with pencil?

Juke Box Joe
Odd little story.

The Haunted Castle
So Peter's one of those 'smarter than the cops and robbers' type huh?
Unintentional humorous moment. “Wha-what's this! - It looks like foul play.” What? A dead man with a knife in his back is foul play? How are you so sure it's not an accident or natural causes? ;-)

Derry Dreamer
It's kind of hard to care about a story that's just a dream.

Black Wing
Does it seem to anyone else that this story might be... 'inspired' by the Spirit?

[SuperScrounge]

Robin Hood and Company #34

Caught On The Fly!
Nice to see Hy Moyer's work again. I wonder if it's not signed because he was working for Bell Features?

Men of the Mounted and the Counterfeit Ambergris!
Not bad.

Gallows Holiday
Interesting story challenge, save the day without using violence, unfortunately the writer couldn't stick to the premise the whole way through and had to use violence to stop the bad guy at the end. Also why would Guy succeed his father when his father is just wounded? Sir Miles could still bellow orders. Maybe it would have worked better had Sir Miles tried to use violence then his horse stepped in a gopher hole throwing Sir Miles?

Duel In The Dark
Cute.

The Case of the Sunburned Crooks
Interesting, although why Carnation Ike wanted to create a greenhouse in the arctic is baffling.

Sooper Dooper
Okay, but not a great joke.

[SuperScrounge]

Jewish War Heroes #1

Interesting. Since this was put out by the Canadian Jewish Congress I assumed it would focus on just, or mainly, Canadian heroes, but was surprised to see it was Jewish war heroes of a variety of countries. The stories are okay as one pagers, although one wonders if any of these could have been expanded to more in-depth multi-page stories. Nice art, as well.


The Challenger #3

The Challenger
Trumbell's motivation is almost cartoony, other than that a good story.

The Bildwell Brothers
Okay.

Prejudice
A little simplistic. Winters conversion seems to come out of nowhere. It seemed to me that he was sick and woke up changed rather than actually learning something. Also interesting to see a story about anti-Japanese prejudice while using an orange skin coloring that is considered bad to use these days.

Will To Win
Interesting, but not very exciting.

A Job Well Done
Interesting.

The Golem
Interesting that a giant can sneak around town and spy on the evil people like that, then again he does have God on his side, so perhaps the Golem has a few 'superpowers' we don't know about. ;-) I'd say the art is rough, but even at his peak Kubert's work had a rough look to it, which is why his work was at it's best with adventure, jungle, and war tales, the rough style work better in those genres.

Milly Mischief
Okay.

Win Together
Ummm... that title's a bit of a bait and switch as the story doesn't tell how they played better with cooperation, but rather how they bought their uniforms and equipment at cheaper prices. A slight rewrite and this could be an advertisement for a warehouse store like Costco or Sam's Club.

Don Dimwit
Oyyyyyyyy... not good.

[Robb_K]

Lucky Comics v2 #5

(1)The Adventures of Lucky
The restraint of the evil Nazis to not kill the obnoxious Lucky is amazing. A clear case of the Literary Protagonist Shield protecting him. ;-)
The gray shading on the art is nice. Seems too granular to be a grey wash, so would this have been done with pencil?

(2)Juke Box Joe
Odd little story.

(3)The Haunted Castle
So Peter's one of those 'smarter than the cops and robbers' type huh?
Unintentional humorous moment. “Wha-what's this! - It looks like foul play.” What? A dead man with a knife in his back is foul play? How are you so sure it's not an accident or natural causes? ;-)

(4)Derry Dreamer
It's kind of hard to care about a story that's just a dream.

(5)Black Wing
Does it seem to anyone else that this story might be... 'inspired' by the Spirit?

(1) "The Adventures of Lucky"
I liked the "The Adventures of Lucky" series very much, because as a kid, it's VERY encouraging to read about (and SEE (in the comics)) a kid, near your own age, be so courageous and be as effective as an adult, in fighting against The EVIL German Nazis.  It was especially impressive to me, being as I was born a few months after WWII ended, half my extended family was murdered by The Nazis in Auschwitz, and my grandparents were bringing the few survivors (including a twin who had been subjected to torturous experimental surgery by Dr. Mengele, which killed her sister) from Belgium, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, where their homes had been sold away from them after their deportation, to Canada, to live with us, until they could get jobs, save money and find their own apartments or houses.  So, I heard horrific stories of what The Nazis did from the few victims who were mentally able to actually talk about it so soon after being freed.

Of course, in real life, Lucky's pluckiness and refusal to cooperate with The Gestapo, would have gotten him killed, as an example.  The Nazi occupation was ruthless, especially in countries whose population was considered "inferior" to The Germans and other "Nordic" peoples in the Nazis' illogical, non-scientific "Racial Theory", in which The Germans' rival French People were considered inferior "Mediterraneans" (despite the latter's northern and northeastern population coming mainly from the same Paleolithic "Anatolian Farmer", and later Sintashta, migrations as The Germans and  Scandinavians.  But it makes Lucky someone a young male reader can not only respect and try to emulate, but also one with whom he can identify, filling the same type of role as Superboy, Captain Marvel Jr., and all the other Superhero child or teenaged "Sidekicks" played in child-oriented comic books and films.

Regarding the story's gray-tone shading, I agree with you that it looks much more like it was achieved using pencil manipulation, rather than a "gray wash".  It looks to me if the artist (Ernie Walker) used a VERY soft pencil, with a blunt (far from its last sharpening) point, using broad strokes on an extreme horizontal-style slant to cover large areas, also using a very light touch.

(2) "Juke Box Joe"
The description of "Odd" seems like a gross understatement for THIS one!  "Bizarre" might be a more accurate one.  Did Canada actually place a BAN on manufacture of vinyl records during The War???  I don't recall reading or hearing about that.  Besides, my parents had 78s with Canadian labels, with the copyright years reading 1940-1945.  So, I find it difficult to believe that there was such a ban.  The idea of an automatic "hear-as-you-pay" record listening service, to get newly-recorded music to the public, as commercial juke boxes and home record players could no longer get that new music on vinyl discs is a really weird idea.  That is because dancers and groups of listeners couldn't get satisfaction from such a system, as only one person at a time could listen through the telephone's earpiece. 

That is nothing, compared to the extremely strange author's choice of having the lead character's (Juke-Box Joe's) comedic sidekick, Kipper, be a Canadian of African heritage, who is mildly stereotyped as such, and having him agree to take the latter's place on a date he couldn't make, with the woman being a much more exaggerated stereotype of a "Black" person.  That was an extremely racist statement, implying that it was an inexcusable offence, for kipper to not realise that NO Canadian adult male (or, at least most of them) would want to date a "Black" woman.  That might be difficult for young Canadians of today to believe during these "more enlightened", relaxed times.  But, although Canada has always been less racist than USA towards people of African origin, back during WWII, and before, its general "Caucasian" public behaved on a level much closer to The American standard than they do now.  So, it might be expected that "Black People" might be the butt of stereotypical racist jokes in reading material back then; but, it still seems strange to me that the author would want to place such a controversial scene as a "Caucasian man" on a date with a "Back woman" in a comic book for young children.

(3) "The Haunted Castle"
I liked this whole "Hardy Boys-style", innocent, pablum-style, watered down children's mystery series in Lucky comics (luckily, my cousins had most of the issues).  I think that the obvious cliche about foul play having occurred, was surely an attempt to inject a bit of humour into the story.  I did have a problem with the way Walker drew that scene.  Jabez was too far away from his victim for the knife to sink into "Hump" Harkins' back, and remain imbedded.  If, somehow, it even spanned that distance, it would have lost so much velocity due to wind friction, and gravity, it would have merely, and harmlessly, bounced off Hump's (outer) overcoat, and possibly, barely penetrated his jacket, to barely prick his skin (IF even that).

(4) "Derry Dreamer"
You have a good point, that a dream-based series is a LOT tougher to sell to the young adventure fans if they are told that it's not really happening.  But, this author stated in the introduction narrative, that Derry's wishes that he could partake in adventures of his own, were granted by "The Keeper of Dreams", manifested by "a Strange Force" that actually enables him to live (experience) in his day dreams in the present day (current/simultaneously-occurring) deeds of a hero in The Great War now raging" (ostensibly on Canada's side, opposing Nazi Germany or Japan).  Despite the author's attempt to give it some connection to actual heroic events, I think it still is a difficult sell to young adventure story fans. 

IF I were the author, I'd have started out my story with several pages showing (highlighting) Derry's history up to that point, that led to his current desperate desire to experience adventure.  That would include (A) his worshipping his gadabout, World-travelling, soldier-of-fortune uncle, who has been a big game hunter, wilderness explorer, and freedom-fighting mercenary (Spanish Civil War), (B) his emulating his uncle's heroic play, before his crippling injury, (C) his being turned down by his outdoor playing buddies from joining them on their outdoor "adventures", and being very frustrated.  And showing that that frustration consumes his whole life.  Still and all, this prelude, although introducing emotions with which readers can identify that make the lead character more "real", can't undo the fact that even IF the reader feels empathy for Derry, AND the reader has been told that, somehow, Derry's "essence" and perception has been transported into the body of a heroic Allied soldier, the reader only gets to see Derry and his thoughts on the first panel or two on Page One, and the last panel or two on the story's last page.  So they are really only following the adventures of an able-bodied soldier, who is NOT the story's supposed lead character.  For that reason, I believe this story's set-up is only suited for a one-shot, full-book story, with room enough to show Derry's able-bodied youth (to show what he misses), and his being shut out from accompanying his friends on adventures, and his sinking into a Walter Mitty-type dream World, which is a bit of a psychology-based tragedy, worth reading once, but not sustainable as a series (or even a long story broken into episodes (as Lucky Comics structured it).

(5) "Black Wing"
Yes, Black Wing looks like a cross between The Spirit (mask and hat), and The Phantom (Hood).  And his hat changed from small, and narrow-brimmed, on Page 1, to a wide-brimmed sombrero-type on Panel 8 of the last page.   

[Robb_K]

Robin Hood and Company #34

Caught On The Fly!
Nice to see Hy Moyer's work again. (1) I wonder if it's not signed because he was working for Bell Features?

Men of the Mounted and the Counterfeit Ambergris!
(2) Not bad.

Gallows Holiday
(3) Interesting story challenge, save the day without using violence, unfortunately the writer couldn't stick to the premise the whole way through and had to use violence to stop the bad guy at the end. Also (4) why would Guy succeed his father when his father is just wounded? Sir Miles could still bellow orders. Maybe it would have worked better had Sir Miles tried to use violence then his horse stepped in a gopher hole throwing Sir Miles?

Duel In The Dark
(5) Cute.

The Case of the Sunburned Crooks
(6) Interesting, although why Carnation Ike wanted to create a greenhouse in the arctic is baffling.

Sooper Dooper
(7) Okay, but not a great joke.

(1) Caught On The Fly
Sort of Canada's "Believe It or Not".  I've always enjoyed Hy Moyer's artwork. It's interesting to me that the "Facts" are World-Wide, rather than just Canada-based, or Canada AND UK-based (As Anglo-American marketed these comics not just to Canada, but also to comics distributors in Great Britain. I don't know if they were also sold in real time (e.g. same time as issued in Britain), or unsold copies were imported to Australia at discount prices some months later.  I've always wondered why they didn't call their company "Anglo-Canadian', or, at least, "Anglo-North American", because, as far as I know, they were not sold in USA.  Yes, I believe that Moyer was still working for Bell Features throughout 1946.  But I'm not sure he was a direct employee, or had signed an exclusive contract with them. If not, why would he have a problem with Anglo-American adding his signature to his artwork?

(2) Men of the Mounted and the Counterfeit Ambergris!
Not Bad???  I think this story is quite good.  It seems to have been decently researched (unlike many, if not most 1940s stories).  The artwork is above average for 1946, and the action scenes (especially the whale hunt) are quite realistic).  The best part is that this was in full colour, after almost 6 years of black & white issues due to printing restrictions and high costs during The War.  The story is a bit plodding in spots, and there isn't as much non-stop action as in many adventure-genre comics.  But, that is made up by having a more realistic story, with a decent level of respect given to the indigenous people (Inuits), and the all the great, well-depicted scenery.  Having the Mountie help The Inuits deal with the crooked fur-trader, and stop him from cheating them is a good element.

(3) Gallows Holiday
I agree that the "order" to Robin Hood and His Men to not use violence to rescue The Village Hermit (Wise Man) is an excellent, interesting plot device.  Quite a challenge for the author.   Robin dashing to The Hermit, just before his head will be placed in the noose, pulling the lever of the trap door, and pushing him down into the body vault, below is a good way to avoid the hanging.  Having ALL the non-violent, unarmed villagers there, at the hanging, to get in the way of Sir miles' men from capturing Robin's men, and forcing Sir Miles to decide to take his guards and return to his caste to assemble more soldiers to return to attack Robin and The Merry Men, is not very convincing to me.   

(4) Then, in the confrontation between the evil Sir Miles and Robin, Robin merely wounds him, so his just son can take over for him.  As you stated above, that doesn't hold water, because the father can return to run things as soon as his wound heals.  There really is no way to make The Hermit's non-violent method work.  The villagers can't even appeal to The (evil) Sheriff of Nottingham, or acting King of England (John), because he is also "evil", according to the 'Tales of Robin Hood".  And bringing "Good King Richard" back early from The Crusades in The Holy Land especially for this one story would be a no-no for a comic book author.  He put himself in an extremely difficult situation, by choosing to build a story around an interesting, but impractical story theme.  And he failed to solve it, and yet, submitted the story anyway.  None of my editors would have accepted a story with such a big logic problem.

(5) Duel In The Dark - Text Story
Yes, nice, unexpected ending that the homeowner was a blind man.  This is one of the best 1 or 2-page comic book text "filler" stories I've ever read.

(6) The Case of the Sunburned Crooks
Why Ike would choose to operate a greenhouse in the arctic (this part of The Yukon seems to be the Sub-Arctic) seems obvious to me.  "Carnation" Ike Spencer was a hermit-type loner, who, after finding lots of gold in The Klondke strike of the late 1890s and early 1900s, had enough money to allow himself to live "off the grid" in The Yukon, and pursue his hobby, and greatest love, the raising of flowers.  He was allowed to remain in The Yukon, and even to raise his favourite flower (a tropical orchid), because he found an enclosed valley filled with geysers, regularly spewing out superheated water.  He sold enough of his gold to pay for machinery and a giant hothouse, to grow such plants, and keep them warm enough to thrive.  It made for an interesting, unusual, police/crime story.  I used to love Sgt. Preston of The Yukon.

(7) Sooper Dooper 1-Page Gag
True, it's not a great joke.  However, it is pretty much run-of-the-mill for a 1-page filler in 1946; and it DOES have a completely unexpected ending.  The fence-perched bird warning him about the cop, and The Sun being so worried for him are nice touches, but they warn the reader that the joke is weak enough for the artist to try to help it.

[crashryan]

Lucky Comics v2 n5

When I first glanced at this comic I didn't think I'd like it, thanks mostly to the crude artwork. As I read it, though, I enjoyed it immensely. It's full of quirkiness (minus the quokkas) and I enjoy quirky comics.

Robb has already said enough about The Adventures of Lucky that I haven't much to add. I admire Lucky's pluck but even in the comic book world delivering a Resistance newspaper to the local Nazi commander, then speaking to him as Lucky did, is a remarkably stupid move. Von Stromper would have sent the kid directly to the torture room without bothering to give him a "fine dinner." I'm still unsure why Von Stromper does this. Does he really expect Lucky to change sides? Maybe he just wants to finish his meal and get ready for the after-dinner torture.

Ernie Walker's artwork is a bit rough but it grew on me. I wonder why the first letters of characters' names were put In Boldface. About the grey tones: It was a common newspaper trick to add tones with a litho crayon, a pencil similar to a china marker but firmer. You inked your drawing on paper with a slight tooth, like vellum-finish Bristol board. Then you applied the crayon with a light touch so that it marked only the raised parts of the surface texture. A litho crayon left a nice black mark, and the resulting pattern could be photographed as an inexpensive line cut rather than as a halftone, which not only cost more but reproduced poorly on cheap newsprint. It was sort of a poor man's Zipatone.

Juke Box Joe is a strange one. I for one didn't read Joe's sidekick Kipper as being African-Canadian. Reading up on the zoot suit changed my mind. It was worn predominantly by Black hepcats throughout the thirties. According to Wikipedia middle-class white kids appropriated the zoot suit along with hepcat jive talk in the early 40s and "...this began to erase the origins of the zoot suit as a Black cultural symbol, which made it more acceptable to white Americans." So Kipper could be white, but probably isn't. Either way, given racial attitudes of the time, Kipper's behavior is paradoxical. As Robb has said, Joe wouldn't dream of dating a Black woman and he feels cheated when his substitute date turns out to be one. This suggests Kipper is African-Canadian. On the other hand, it wouldn't have been acceptable for a Black man to date a white woman. Joe's sole objection to Kipper going after Myrtle is that Joe wants her for himself. Myrtle reacts negatively to Kipper, but only after he insults her. She is clearly white and her reaction would have been much stronger if she discovered her dream date wasn't. It's all very confusing.

I know nothing about a government ban on record manufacturing. It sounds made up. Phonatone's business model doesn't make sense either. Apparently someone uses the Phonatone juke box to call in a request. Phonatone staff play the record. The sound is sent via phone wire to be played through the juke box speaker. A sort of early streaming service. Purportedly CEO George saves money by needing to keep only a few copies of each record rather than buying one record for each juke box location, the "Wurlitzer way." But what if several Phonatone users at different locations want to hear a popular song at the same time? Wouldn't the company need one local turntable for each Phonatone location in to serve them simultaneously? Either way, poor Myrtle has her work cut out for her. It's funny that George looks like Ronald Reagan.

Bert Bushell's artwork is clunky, but I love the stairwell encounter on our page 22. One last quibble: I thought schmaltz already meant "excessively sentimental" by the time this book was published. Would hepcats really mourn the loss of their schmaltz?

The Haunted Castle says it's chapter 14. Were there really 13 previous episodes or is that just a convenient fiction to allow Ernie Walker to avoid the boring stuff and get right to the action? His story wanders, though he makes some good attempts at characterization. Like the other features, the art is crude. However the argument between Jabez and Hump, culminating in Hump's murder on page 30, is told very cinematically. Like SuperScrounge I got a laugh out of the passerby wondering if a dead man with a knife sticking out of his back was a victim of foul play.

Derry Dreamer is fair-to-middling in both story and art. I'd like to know how much of the copious action really happened to the "member of the Royal Air Force" Spike Brown credits. There's no reason for this to be a dream story except that it allows Brown to put Derry in any kind of story without explanation.

Black Wing has its moments though the convoluted story isn't nearly as funny as Bert Bushell seems to think. Part of the problem is the ridiculous premise that the president loses his office if he crosses into another country. Bushell's art improves dramatically whenever Carmelita appears. Wanna bet she was the only character drawn from reference? I hadn't thought of the Spirit connection, but SuperScrounge may have a point.

An interesting and entertaining book. By the way, the ad on the back cover can be read two ways: either "Comics from a publisher called Better Comics are coming soon" or "This comic wasn't so hot but better comics are coming soon!" Hopefully it was the former.

[Robb_K]

Lucky Comics v2 n5

When I first glanced at this comic I didn't think I'd like it, thanks mostly to the crude artwork. As I read it, though, I enjoyed it immensely. It's full of quirkiness (minus the quokkas) and I enjoy quirky comics.

Robb has already said enough about The Adventures of Lucky that I haven't much to add. I admire Lucky's pluck but even in the comic book world delivering a Resistance newspaper to the local Nazi commander, then speaking to him as Lucky did, is a remarkably stupid move. Von Stromper would have sent the kid directly to the torture room without bothering to give him a "fine dinner." I'm still unsure why Von Stromper does this. Does he really expect Lucky to change sides? Maybe he just wants to finish his meal and get ready for the after-dinner torture.

Ernie Walker's artwork is a bit rough but it grew on me. I wonder why the first letters of characters' names were put In Boldface. (1) About the grey tones: It was a common newspaper trick to add tones with a litho crayon, a pencil similar to a china marker but firmer. You inked your drawing on paper with a slight tooth, like vellum-finish Bristol board. Then you applied the crayon with a light touch so that it marked only the raised parts of the surface texture. A litho crayon left a nice black mark, and the resulting pattern could be photographed as an inexpensive line cut rather than as a halftone, which not only cost more but reproduced poorly on cheap newsprint. It was sort of a poor man's Zipatone.

Juke Box Joe is a strange one. I for one didn't read Joe's sidekick Kipper as being African-Canadian. Reading up on the zoot suit changed my mind. It was worn predominantly by Black hepcats throughout the thirties. According to Wikipedia middle-class white kids appropriated the zoot suit along with hepcat jive talk in the early 40s and "...this began to erase the origins of the zoot suit as a Black cultural symbol, which made it more acceptable to white Americans." So Kipper could be white, but probably isn't. Either way, given racial attitudes of the time, Kipper's behavior is paradoxical. As Robb has said, Joe wouldn't dream of dating a Black woman and he feels cheated when his substitute date turns out to be one. This suggests Kipper is African-Canadian. On the other hand, it wouldn't have been acceptable for a Black man to date a white woman. Joe's sole objection to Kipper going after Myrtle is that Joe wants her for himself. Myrtle reacts negatively to Kipper, but only after he insults her. She is clearly white and her reaction would have been much stronger if she discovered her dream date wasn't. It's all very confusing.

I know nothing about a government ban on record manufacturing. It sounds made up. Phonatone's business model doesn't make sense either. (2) Apparently someone uses the Phonatone juke box to call in a request. Phonatone staff play the record. The sound is sent via phone wire to be played through the juke box speaker. A sort of early streaming service. Purportedly CEO George saves money by needing to keep only a few copies of each record rather than buying one record for each juke box location, the "Wurlitzer way." But what if several Phonatone users at different locations want to hear a popular song at the same time? Wouldn't the company need one local turntable for each Phonatone location in to serve them simultaneously? Either way, poor Myrtle has her work cut out for her. It's funny that George looks like Ronald Reagan.

Bert Bushell's artwork is clunky, but I love the stairwell encounter on our page 22. One last quibble: I thought schmaltz already meant "excessively sentimental" by the time this book was published. Would hepcats really mourn the loss of their schmaltz?

(3) The Haunted Castle says it's chapter 14. Were there really 13 previous episodes[/b] or is that just a convenient fiction to allow Ernie Walker to avoid the boring stuff and get right to the action? His story wanders, though he makes some good attempts at characterization. Like the other features, the art is crude. However the argument between Jabez and Hump, culminating in Hump's murder on page 30, is told very cinematically. Like SuperScrounge I got a laugh out of the passerby wondering if a dead man with a knife sticking out of his back was a victim of foul play.

Derry Dreamer is fair-to-middling in both story and art. I'd like to know how much of the copious action really happened to the "member of the Royal Air Force" Spike Brown credits. There's no reason for this to be a dream story except that it allows Brown to put Derry in any kind of story without explanation.

Black Wing has its moments though the convoluted story isn't nearly as funny as Bert Bushell seems to think. Part of the problem is the ridiculous premise that the president loses his office if he crosses into another country. Bushell's art improves dramatically whenever Carmelita appears. Wanna bet she was the only character drawn from reference? I hadn't thought of the Spirit connection, but SuperScrounge may have a point.

An interesting and entertaining book. By the way, (4) the ad on the back cover can be read two ways: either "Comics from a publisher called Better Comics are coming soon" or "This comic wasn't so hot but better comics are coming soon!" Hopefully it was the former.

Thanks Crash, for explaining the shading and the intended phonograph broadcasting method.

(1) No wonder the "half tones" were so very regularly spaced.  I didn't look closely enough at the panels.  I see now that that effect was too regular (evenly spaced) to have been made by even very careful almost horizontal slanted strokes with a soft pencil.  I hadn't thought of using a litho crayon on Bristol Board hitting only the high points of its knapp.  Thanks for filling us in on that technique.

(2)
Thanks for explaining that the telephone connection could be used to send the sound from the single played record at Phonatone's headquarters to the Juke Box at each location.  I couldn't figure out how that could be done.  I just imagined the person ordering the song on the Jukebox and being given Phonatone's telephone number to call, and having to use the malt shop's, drug store's, diner's or other venue's pay phone to listen to the song alone, or have a group of friends take turns listening.  This shows you how silly people can get when senility starts kicking in!  Still, it seems to be a faulty premise, not workable to build a reasonable story.

(3)
YES!  There absolutely WERE 13 chapters before that one.  My cousins had most of them.  So, I followed the story fairly well, and enjoyed it.  All 4 Maple Leaf Comics titles, "Lucky", Better, "Rocket", and "Bing Bang" Comics all had solid decently-long runs from 1940-46.  Better Comics series should not be confused with Ned Pines' co-owned Canadian distributor, Better Publishing, Ltd., which also was operating during 1946-49 (they distributed US produced Nedor/Standard and Creston/ACG titles to Canada).

(4)
As I mentioned above, related to #(3), "Better Comics" was a title published by Maple Leaf Comics, who also published "Lucky Comics"; all 4 series ran for about 27-30 issues, if I remember correctly.  The same was true for Bell Features main titles (Dime Comics, Joke Comics, The Funny Comics (Starring Dizzy Don), Active Comics, Triumph Comics, and Wow Comics).  Anglo-American Publishing's  "Robin Hood"/Robin Hood & Co." "Spy Smasher", and "Freelance Comics" each ran about the same as the Bell Features and Maple Leaf titles, at about 30 issues, only lasting through 1946, while their "Three Aces" and "Grand Slam Comics" totalled around 50, each, lasting into the beginning of the 1950s by importing and distributing only US product.  Near the beginning of 1946, the Wartime Restrictions on publishers' use of paper and ban on imports of foreign magazines were lifted, which sent most of the Canadian comic book publishers out of business, by bringing back full-colour books with which Canadian self-producing publishers couldn't compete due to the high cost of printing.  Anglo-American were able to stay in business by dropping their own production, and just assembling and distributing US produced full-colour comic books (and selling them to British distributors as well), and a few other Canadian smaller publishers, like Superior, survived by distributing US product, and producing on a small scale and selling those in USA as well.

[Robb_K]

Jewish War Heroes #1

Interesting. (1) Since this was put out by the Canadian Jewish Congress I assumed it would focus on just, or mainly, Canadian heroes, but was surprised to see it was Jewish war heroes of a variety of countries. The stories are okay as one pagers, although (2) one wonders if any of these could have been expanded to more in-depth multi-page stories. Nice art, as well.


The Challenger #3

The Challenger
(3)Trumbell's motivation is almost cartoony, other than that a good story.

The Bildwell Brothers
Okay.

Prejudice
A little simplistic. (4)Winters conversion seems to come out of nowhere. It seemed to me that he was sick and woke up changed rather than actually learning something.

(5)Also interesting to see a story about anti-Japanese prejudice while using an orange skin coloring that is considered bad to use these days.

Will To Win
Interesting, but not very exciting.

A Job Well Done
Interesting.

The Golem
(6) Interesting that a giant can sneak around town and spy on the evil people like that, (7) then again he does have God on his side, so perhaps the Golem has a few 'superpowers' we don't know about. ;-) I'd say the art is rough, but even at his peak Kubert's work had a rough look to it, which is why his work was at it's best with adventure, jungle, and war tales, the rough style work better in those genres.

Milly Mischief
Okay.

Win Together
Ummm... that title's a bit of a bait and switch as the story doesn't tell how they played better with cooperation, but rather how they bought their uniforms and equipment at cheaper prices. A slight rewrite and this could be an advertisement for a warehouse store like Costco or Sam's Club.

Don Dimwit
( Oyyyyyyyy... not good.

(1) Jewish War Heroes #1
I first expected that, too.  My father would have liked that book, as he was in The Winnipeg Rifles, who stormed the walls at Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day in 1944. They lost roughly half their unit.  He probably knew about several of the Canadian heroes.


(2) Certainly Yank Levy's military career of more than 45 years includes enough exploits, or, at least highlights, to be worthy of a 10 to 12-page story in a giveaway comic book.  Same for Alfred Brenner.  If a feature film could be made about American WWII hero Audey Murphy's life, I'm sure a giveaway public service comic book could print at least a 6-page bio of a war hero's life and heroic deeds.  I'd rather they'd have printed more issues, with 24 total pages, as in many public service giveaways, and given the 3 "Top Achievers" (with the most interesting backgrounds) perhaps 6-8 pages, and adding a few single pages (as in this book) for the other heroes, starting first with only Canadian heroes, then moving on to those from other countries when the Canucks had been exhausted.  After all, the point of the publication was to fight anti-Semitic prejudice in Canada. 

(3) 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. 

(4)Prejudice
I disagree.  The dialogue explains it succinctly, and rings true.  Winters saw that he was wrong about Pine, and that his former prejudice made no sense.  Furthermore, he became eternally grateful to him for saving his life.  His only way of showing that gratitude was to get rid of his irrational prejudice, and treat everyone he meets with fairness.  I think that he learned The Golden Rule.  If you want to be treated fairly by others, you have a better chance of that if you live your life as an example of that behaviour.  The more people are in an atmosphere of that behaviour, the more they will learn that it is good, and so, the more young people will
emulate it. 


(5)Yes, it seems strange that Pine's skin tone was shown as orange or yellow.  I suppose the colourist felt obligated to do so because that was still the convention at that time,  I guess he didn't even think about this book being a public service, anti racist publication (or wasn't apprised of that fact, and didn't pay attention to what was on the pages.

(6) The Golem
Yes.  It would seem that it would be difficult for a giant the size of 3 or 4 large men would have a hard time keeping from being noticed. 

(7) The Golem ABSOLUTELY had superpowers provided to him from The Lord, himself.  One of them is the ability to make himself invisible.  Another is the ability to summon spirits from among the dead for potential use as an army.  But, they are mostly mindless, like robots, and mainly do what they are told by their makers, unless they become agitated, and then they rebel (and sometimes run amuck in a rampage of destruction).  The Kabbalist book, Sefer Yetzirah, contains the instructions of how to create a Golem (in Hebrew language, of course).

(8} Don Dimwit
Unbelievably awful!  How does this help stem the tide of racism???  It likely fomented hatred of the creators of this so-called "story"!

[crashryan]

Robin Hood & Co. #34

Not bad. The two Men of the Mounted stories were entertaining and treated native people respectfully save for the Tonto dialect. I liked the first story better because of the whaling / ambergris angle. Not knowing much about ambergris I was confused why blubber might be mistaken for ambergris. Reading up on it I learned that the stuff comes out of the whale in a soft, fatty form.  It's useful to perfume makers after it dries and its smell has changed. In its original state it has a strong smell of feces. So I suppose that looking at it the fishermen might mistake blubber for ambergris but the smell would be wrong.

The factoids in Caught on the Fly are amusing if unlikely. The art is loaded with Bill Holman influence. I almost expected a "foo" to pop up somewhere.

Can someone explain the business of guy ropes and guy logs in two of the Boy Scouts' Page items? "Slacking off" ropes sounds as if the ropes contract in the wet so they must be loosened until they dry out. But doesn't wet rope expand rather than contract? I have the same question about moving the guy logs up in wet weather.

I wish I'd thought of that trick for pouring a bucket of hot water. Very clever. I assume an "ablution bench" is a washstand. Is this a Canadian / British term? I've only heard "ablution" used in the context of religious rituals. Finally, the item about the scout carrying the baby to safety by swimming under burning oil notably doesn't mention the babe's mother who was also on the burning boat. Did she not survive the fire?

The plot of Robin Hood and Company twists itself into knots to provide a nominally non-violent solution to a problem in a feature which generates excitement with archery, sword fights, and fisticuffs. It reminds me of Joe Gill's regrettable Peacemaker, "the man who loves peace so much he's willing to fight for it." Like Robin & Co. he always wound up beating up / shooting / blowing up his adversaries. Then he went back to being peaceful. The anonymous artist draws well enough but he draws all his adult men (save the two fat ones) with identical heights, builds, faces, and haircuts. This is really obvious in the splash panel. It becomes a problem in situations like the top two panels on our page 26. The only difference between Robin and his comrade is the length of their mustaches. It doesn't help that their shirts are the same color and their hair only a tiny shade different.

Clancy the Cop: that's quite a reaction shot for such a stupid joke. Was it really against the law to watch a baseball game through a hole in the fence? A thousand comic strip kids did the same thing without a cop stopping them.

[SuperScrounge]

(2) "Juke Box Joe"
The description of "Odd" seems like a gross understatement for THIS one!

I've been told I have a talent for understatement.

"Bizarre" might be a more accurate one.

That's a good word for it.

I've always enjoyed Hy Moyer's artwork.

Yeah, and it's so recognizable, I was surprised that, until I edited the index, the GCD had a question mark for the creator.

(2) Men of the Mounted and the Counterfeit Ambergris!
Not Bad???  I think this story is quite good.

My talent for understatement again. I was going to try to be more in-depth on that, but didn't like the wording I was coming up with.

(6) The Case of the Sunburned Crooks
Why Ike would choose to operate a greenhouse in the arctic (this part of The Yukon seems to be the Sub-Arctic) seems obvious to me.  "Carnation" Ike Spencer was a hermit-type loner, who, after finding lots of gold in The Klondke strike of the late 1890s and early 1900s, had enough money to allow himself to live "off the grid" in The Yukon, and pursue his hobby, and greatest love, the raising of flowers.

Okay. I guess I was just looking at him too rationally, rather than seeing him as the type of eccentric you might see on shows like The Avengers.

About the grey tones: It was a common newspaper trick to add tones with a litho crayon, a pencil similar to a china marker but firmer. You inked your drawing on paper with a slight tooth, like vellum-finish Bristol board. Then you applied the crayon with a light touch so that it marked only the raised parts of the surface texture. A litho crayon left a nice black mark, and the resulting pattern could be photographed as an inexpensive line cut rather than as a halftone, which not only cost more but reproduced poorly on cheap newsprint. It was sort of a poor man's Zipatone.

Ahh! Thank you! 

(5)Yes, it seems strange that Pine's skin tone was shown as orange or yellow.  I suppose the colourist felt obligated to do so because that was still the convention at that time,

Oh, yeah. The colorist was probably taught to use orange for people from Japan, China, Korea, etc. and probably didn't even think twice about it. Comics were a 'four color' medium then and they went with a more simplistic way of showing different skin tones so the kids reading could easily tell when someone wasn't white.

(7) The Golem ABSOLUTELY had superpowers provided to him from The Lord, himself.  One of them is the ability to make himself invisible.

Now that would have been a good one to mention for this story. While I've known of the Golem for decades, I don't think I've ever read or watched a story that went in-depth into the whole legend before this comic.

In its original state it has a strong smell of feces.

Apparently because that's the end of the whale it comes out of. 

[Robb_K]

Robin Hood & Co. #34

Not bad. The two Men of the Mounted stories were entertaining and treated native people respectfully save for the Tonto dialect. I liked the first story better because of the whaling / ambergris angle. Not knowing much about ambergris I was confused why blubber might be mistaken for ambergris. Reading up on it I learned that the stuff comes out of the whale in a soft, fatty form.  It's useful to perfume makers after it dries and its smell has changed. In its original state it has a strong smell of feces. So I suppose that looking at it the fishermen might mistake blubber for ambergris but the smell would be wrong.

The factoids in Caught on the Fly are amusing if unlikely. The art is loaded with Bill Holman influence. I almost expected a "foo" to pop up somewhere.

Can someone explain the business of guy ropes and guy logs in two of the Boy Scouts' Page items? "Slacking off" ropes sounds as if the ropes contract in the wet so they must be loosened until they dry out. But doesn't wet rope expand rather than contract? I have the same question about moving the guy logs up in wet weather.

I wish I'd thought of that trick for pouring a bucket of hot water. Very clever. (1) I assume an "ablution bench" is a washstand. Is this a Canadian / British term? I've only heard "ablution" used in the context of religious rituals. Finally, the item about the scout carrying the baby to safety by swimming under burning oil notably doesn't mention the babe's mother who was also on the burning boat. Did she not survive the fire?

The plot of Robin Hood and Company twists itself into knots to provide a nominally non-violent solution to a problem in a feature which generates excitement with archery, sword fights, and fisticuffs. It reminds me of Joe Gill's regrettable Peacemaker, "the man who loves peace so much he's willing to fight for it." Like Robin & Co. he always wound up beating up / shooting / blowing up his adversaries. Then he went back to being peaceful. The anonymous artist draws well enough but he draws all his adult men (save the two fat ones) with identical heights, builds, faces, and haircuts. This is really obvious in the splash panel. It becomes a problem in situations like the top two panels on our page 26. The only difference between Robin and his comrade is the length of their mustaches. (2) It doesn't help that their shirts are the same color and their hair only a tiny shade different.

Clancy the Cop: that's quite a reaction shot for such a stupid joke.  (3) Was it really against the law to watch a baseball game through a hole in the fence? A thousand comic strip kids did the same thing without a cop stopping them.

(1) I don't remember anyone calling a washstand an "ablution bench" in Central Canada during The late 1940s through the 1960s.  Nor do I remember that nomenclature from Canadian, Australian, or even British films.  I'm guessing it was an old fashioned, British posh(upper class) term used between 1850 and 1920.

(2) I wondered why the artist drew Robin and Little John (2 of the most important characters) both sporting thin moustaches, both the same size (Little John was supposed to be quite large - bordering on a Giant's dimensions).  As far as the colourist colouring their garb EXACTLY the same was a terrible blunder.  He or she should have made them opposites, automatically, just to ensure contrast (regardless of whether or not colour instructions were noted in the page margins.  My own experience matches that of Carl Barks (which is that EVERY time notes about the colours were submitted with the original finished art, they were ignored).

(3) First of all, when it came to Baseball fields, in USA and Canada most of professional organised Baseball stadia only had wood plank wall-fences from the 1880s through to 1910 (at the latest).  By the 1930s (earliest these 1-page gags should reflect) only semi-pro and pick-up games would be played at fields with such wood walls that might have punched-through knotholes.  So, NO!  There would be no laws against watching such a game through the knothole when the semi-pro game seat charge would be minimal, and the pick up games would be free of cost.  The way the semi-pro players made money was from fees the beer companies paid to the playing teams, to sell beer, hot dogs, ice cream, and popcorn to the crowd.  A cop in a nasty mood might shoo away kids looking through the hole, but most cops wouldn't bother the watcher.  Major League games' grandstand seats didn't all become 50 cents until 1891 in USA.  In the early 1900s they were $1-$1.50.  By The 1930's, when seat costs amounts with some significance, Major and Upper Minor League ballparks all had brick and steel walls with no knotholes for peeking.   So this is just a cliche late 1800s and very early 1900s Music Hall/Vaudeville skit joke used as a 1-page cartoon gag staple in newspapers an the early days of comic books, used long past its time.

[Quirky Quokka]

Lucky Comics

A lot of you have already commented on this one, so I'll try to respond to some of the things you've said and add a few different things.

Cover

I don't think anyone has said much about the cover yet? The cover is usually one of the best bits of art in a comic, if not 'the' best. But I thought this cover was less appealing than some of the art inside. Before reading the story, I assumed the female was responding to something in 'The Haunted Castle' story, but I didn't think she was very well-drawn and didn't look all that scared. Also, I assumed it was a middle-aged woman, so I was surprised to find out later that it was a young girl. More about that story later.

The Adventures of Lucky

It's a shame we're missing a bit from the bottom of the first page, as that would have told us who Francois was. But he's clearly a nasty piece of work. I'm afraid I also took a dislike to the adults of the French Resistance who would send an 8-year-old boy to give a message to the head of the Gestapo. Then when he finds them again at the end, all they can say is 'Oh, look! It's our Roger come back.' No one seems to care that he's got his arm in a sling as a result of being tortured by the Nazis. But I take Robb's point that kids would have enjoyed seeing a brave boy their own age who was helping to win the war. Toto is of more use to Lucky than his family, and I assume Toto is a nod to The Wizard of Oz. We find out on p. 11 that there is a Canadian soldier in the story. Not sure if I missed something earlier, but it's tricky trying to pick up a serialised story in the middle. I guess that would have added some interest for Canadian readers if he was an ongoing character.

I liked the art on the whole, and I too was wondering if that was pencil shading. Thanks for clearing that up, Crashryan.

Overall, an interesting little story.

Juke Box Joe

As others have said, this was 'odd' (SuperScrounge) and 'bizarre' (Robb). I too missed that Kipper was supposed to be African-Canadian until Robb pointed it out. I guess I can see that in hindsight. Though it was a shock to get to the last panel and see a very stereotyped depiction of an African girl. Presumably, it would be a cruel joke to trick someone into going on a date with the likes of her. Even given changing views of racism, it still seems like a strange ending. And can we please give a thought to the poor cross-eyed telephone operator? Presumably, it would also be a fate worse than death to go out with her. Though I must admit that I thought she was just badly-drawn to begin with. Took me a while to realise she was actually cross-eyed and that made her undesirable.

I too wondered if there was an actual record ban, so thanks Robb for clarifying that. I actually thought parts of this story were interesting, but the end ruined it for me. The racist views also seem like a stark contrast, given that the Canadians are presumably fighting the horrible Nazis because of their 'master race' ideas.

Ch XIV - The Haunted Castle

As I mentioned re the cover, it took me a while to realise that the main characters were children. I couldn't tell that from the first panel they appear in on p. 24, and the girl in particular is very badly-drawn. After the racism in the previous story, I thought we were in for that again, with gypsies as the scapegoats this time. But I guess it balances out because the older woman is a 'good; gypsy. Robb mentioned the unfeasability of the knife killing 'Hump' because of the distance. But there's also a problem with sequencing. Hump looks further away in the last panel on p. 29 than he is in the first panel on p. 30. Jabez is standing still in both pics, so he can't have been gaining on him. We're promised that the tale becomes more wierd (sic) and sinister as it draws to its conclusion and that we need to be sure not to miss the next issue. Alas, I'm going to miss the next issue! As a kid, I did like these kinds of stories with children solving crimes, especially The Secret Seven and Trixie Belden. But I'm not sure this tale would have done it for me.

Derry Dreamer

I gather the Hawkman-like character in the top left corner of the first page is the Keeper of Dreams who grants the Derry Dreamer his wish to be an adventurer. Although this is a daydream, we're told on p. 33 that 'this story is based on actual facts related to the author by a member of the royal air force'. So I assume they mean that they're inserting the Derry Dreamer into an actual true story? Interesting way of doing it, I guess. And don't forget to buy those war stamps, kids.

Black Wing

This was better-drawn than some of the others, but Black Wing was a strange character. He is making no attempt to hide himself while chatting to the drunk on deck, but then seems to jump ship in secret? And I'm not even going to comment on the drunk's view that everything will be okay if the Republicans get in.    So the Spanish-speaking waiter won't understand the word 'drink' but will understand 'guzzle guzzle'? More subtle racism? I do love the name Argentango for the country, but if we're in South America, why does a Mexican pop up? I guess all of those people south of the border are the same?? And it's hard to work out if Black Wing is supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy, given that he's so fickle in who he supports as President. One minute, he doesn't want 'that baboon' and next minute, he's throwing the opposition over a cliff. Also kind of a strange ending to ask when Black Wing comics will be published in Spanish? Well, probably never if they portray Spanish-speaking people this way.

Like Crashryan, I couldn't help notice the double meaning of the final ad with 'Better Comics coming soon'. What a relief that the next one will be better  It reminds me of some of those generic statements you see in job references: 'We recommend Bob for any job for which his skills would be suitable. We can't think of any, but maybe you can.'

Actually I enjoyed this comic book more than some of my comments would suggest. It was an interesting mix, and it was good to see something a bit different. Lots of things that we would consider racist or politically incorrect now, but an interesting slice of the times. And good to see a Canadian comic from this era. I'd be interesting to hear what our Canadian friends think. I bet Morgus has a story or two he could tell??

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Lucky Comics

A lot of you have already commented on this one, so I'll try to respond to some of the things you've said and add a few different things.

Cover

I don't think anyone has said much about the cover yet? The cover is usually one of the best bits of art in a comic, if not 'the' best. But I thought this cover was less appealing than some of the art inside. (1) Before reading the story, I assumed the female was responding to something in 'The Haunted Castle' story, but I didn't think she was very well-drawn and didn't look all that scared. Also, I assumed it was a middle-aged woman, so I was surprised to find out later that it was a young girl. More about that story later.

The Adventures of Lucky

(2) It's a shame we're missing a bit from the bottom of the first page, as that would have told us who Francois was. But he's clearly a nasty piece of work. I'm afraid I also took a dislike to the adults of the French Resistance who would send an 8-year-old boy to give a message to the head of the Gestapo. Then when he finds them again at the end, all they can say is 'Oh, look! It's our Roger come back.' No one seems to care that he's got his arm in a sling as a result of being tortured by the Nazis. But I take Robb's point that kids would have enjoyed seeing a brave boy their own age who was helping to win the war. Toto is of more use to Lucky than his family, and I assume Toto is a nod to The Wizard of Oz. We find out on p. 11 that (3) there is a Canadian soldier in the story. Not sure if I missed something earlier, but it's tricky trying to pick up a serialised story in the middle. I guess that would have added some interest for Canadian readers if he was an ongoing character.

I liked the art on the whole, and I too was wondering if that was pencil shading. Thanks for clearing that up, Crashryan.

Overall, an interesting little story.

Juke Box Joe

As others have said, this was 'odd' (SuperScrounge) and 'bizarre' (Robb). I too missed that Kipper was supposed to be African-Canadian until Robb pointed it out. I guess I can see that in hindsight. Though it was a shock to get to the last panel and see a very stereotyped depiction of an African girl. Presumably, it would be a cruel joke to trick someone into going on a date with the likes of her. Even given changing views of racism, it still seems like a strange ending. And can we please give a thought to the poor cross-eyed telephone operator? Presumably, it would also be a fate worse than death to go out with her. Though I must admit that I thought she was just badly-drawn to begin with. Took me a while to realise she was actually cross-eyed and that made her undesirable.

I too wondered if there was an actual record ban, so thanks Robb for clarifying that. I actually thought parts of this story were interesting, but the end ruined it for me. (4) The racist views also seem like a stark contrast, given that the Canadians are presumably fighting the horrible Nazis because of their 'master race' ideas.

Ch XIV - The Haunted Castle

As I mentioned re the cover, it took me a while to realise that the main characters were children. I couldn't tell that from the first panel they appear in on p. 24, and the girl in particular is very badly-drawn. After the racism in the previous story, I thought we were in for that again, with gypsies as the scapegoats this time. But I guess it balances out because the older woman is a 'good; gypsy. Robb mentioned the unfeasability of the knife killing 'Hump' because of the distance. But there's also a problem with sequencing. Hump looks further away in the last panel on p. 29 than he is in the first panel on p. 30. Jabez is standing still in both pics, so he can't have been gaining on him. We're promised that the tale becomes more wierd (sic) and sinister as it draws to its conclusion and that we need to be sure not to miss the next issue. Alas, I'm going to miss the next issue! As a kid, I did like these kinds of stories with children solving crimes, especially The Secret Seven and Trixie Belden. But I'm not sure this tale would have done it for me.

Derry Dreamer

I gather the Hawkman-like character in the top left corner of the first page is the Keeper of Dreams who grants the Derry Dreamer his wish to be an adventurer. Although this is a daydream, we're told on p. 33 that 'this story is based on actual facts related to the author by a member of the royal air force'. So I assume they mean that they're inserting the Derry Dreamer into an actual true story? Interesting way of doing it, I guess. And don't forget to buy those war stamps, kids.

Black Wing

This was better-drawn than some of the others, but Black Wing was a strange character. He is making no attempt to hide himself while chatting to the drunk on deck, but then seems to jump ship in secret? And I'm not even going to comment on the drunk's view that everything will be okay if the Republicans get in.    So the Spanish-speaking waiter won't understand the word 'drink' but will understand 'guzzle guzzle'? More subtle racism? I do love the name Argentango for the country, but (5) if we're in South America, why does a Mexican pop up? I guess all of those people south of the border are the same?? (6) And it's hard to work out if Black Wing is supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy, given that he's so fickle in who he supports as President. One minute, he doesn't want 'that baboon' and next minute, he's throwing the opposition over a cliff. (5) Also kind of a strange ending to ask when Black Wing comics will be published in Spanish? Well, probably never if they portray Spanish-speaking people this way.

Like Crashryan, (7) I couldn't help notice the double meaning of the final ad with 'Better Comics coming soon'. What a relief that the next one will be better  It reminds me of some of those generic statements you see in job references: 'We recommend Bob for any job for which his skills would be suitable. We can't think of any, but maybe you can.'

Actually I enjoyed this comic book more than some of my comments would suggest. It was an interesting mix, and it was good to see something a bit different. Lots of things that we would consider racist or politically incorrect now, but an interesting slice of the times. And (8} good to see a Canadian comic from this era. I'd be interesting to hear what our Canadian friends think. I bet Morgus has a story or two he could tell??
Cheers
QQ

(1) Lucky Vol. 2 #5 (Cover) - "Adventures of Lucky"
Yes, the girl on the cover wakes up, terrified, in the middle of the night after hearing a noise, and seeing Jabez's shadow through the window.  I agree that she doesn't look scared enough in a "haunted castle story" for it to be a "grabber" to catch the eye, and attract potential purchasers.  True, that scene isn't taken from the episode in this book.  It's taken from the previous one.

(2) The added lines included nothing more that would identify Francois.  We were already told he was the French "Quisling" of The Nazis' occupation of northern France.  So, we know that he was The French chief administrator of either all northern and west coastal areas of France (non-Vichy ruled area, under Marechal Pétain); or, merely the chief French administrator of metro Paris, under The German military occupation government.  He was the chief traitor to his nation under The Nazis, as Pétain and Pierre Laval were in The Vichy Government in southern France, and Vidkun Qvisling was in Norway.  He is blowing his police whistle, so that police will come running, to help "escort" the lad into Gestapo headquarters (so he can't escape).

(3) The Canadian pilot absolutely IS a continuing character in the multi-episode serial.  Lucky Comics ran 34 issues, and this story had over 10 episodes, if i remember correctly.

(4) Juke Box Joe
I've seen the attitudes towards racism change a tremendous amount just during my near 80-year lifetime in Canada, USA and The Netherlands (a little moreso in Canada than USA, but along the same general lines).  Back in late 1939, for Canada, and at the end of 1941 for USA, both countries went to war because of politics and what they thought could eventually happen to their own countries if their potential enemies would become too powerful through conquest of other nations, rather than to fight against a nation which imposed laws against so-called "other" races.  Canada went to war against Germany, Italy, and Japan because it's British Commonwealth ally declared war against those countries and those countries had declared war against Britain.  USA declared war against Japan because Japan attacked them.  They didn't declare war on Germany and Italy until Hitler had Germany declare war against them, in support of it's Axis partner.  Avoiding having Germany getting too powerful, so as to conquer North America, and treating Canada's and USA's minorities badly would only have been a side benefit, not appreciated all that much by a not insignificant proportion of those 2 countries' populations at that time.  Canada's people are now much more for equal treatment for all than they were back then, and same for USA (but, in my opinion, on a lesser scale).

This cover on Maple Leaf's Bing Bang Comics from late 1945 shows you how the bulk of The Canadian public tolerated making fun of Canadians of African origin, even after many thousands of them had risked their lives for that country fighting in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the 6-year World War.  There were several issues of that title with this comic character, Li'l Moe, on their front covers.


And to put your OWN country in this context, your soldiers were fighting against "The Hun", and The Japanese, both of whom considered the peoples they conquered (especially those from Tropical areas, backwards and inferior).  So, would you have guessed that they would be less disrespectful of their own aboriginal citizens and protectorate population (e.g. Papuan and adjacent islands' Melanesian populations)? Here are a couple front covers of "Choclit" (a stereotyped young "Abbo") from the late 1950s, whose "career" started in "The Bosun & Choclit Comics" in the 1940s:

Clearly, Australia and Canada fought against The Axis powers for similar reasons, but fighting against being made fun of by the (European heritage)majority, as a stereotyped minority, wasn't one of the major reasons, if one at all.  The Americans also had their own stereotyped young Black boy, Walter Lantz's Li'l Eight Ball.  All 3, Canadian, Australian, and American, were so stereotyped, that they shared more in common, and looked a lot more like anthropomorphic "funny animal" characters than realistic Human children.
Choclit:

Australian comics still making fun of Aborigine children like legendary characters, such as dwarfs and elves, as late as 1957, when Mankind sent the first satellite into Space.
Below is Choclit, also in 1957, with his Human pal, The Bosun, and funny animals, Felix The Cat and Kokey Koala.  Choclit looks a LOT more like a "funny animal" than a young Human:

Li'l Eight Ball's first appearance in 1943:

Li'l Eight Ball was removed from Lantz's "New Funnies" in late 1949, due to many complaints from subscribers.  I assume that his short cartoon films also stopped being shown in theatres at that time.  Li'l Moe stopped appearin Canadian comics in late 1946.

(5)Black Wing
I see nothing unusual about a Mexican in a Spanish-speaking South American country.  Native Spanish speakers are a LOT more likely to do business in a fellow Spanish-speaking country than a foreign speaking one, just as people from native English-speaking countries frequent other English-speaking countries much more than others.  And the Mexican's continuing to ask the Black Wing the silly question of when will HE publish Black Wing Comics in Spanish language, is a running gag in the story, asked 4 times, breaking the 4th Wall, taking the reader out of the story, basically inferring the author is speaking directly to the reader.

(6) When The Black Wing pushes the current Presidente off the cliff, into Congofirma, and effectively ejecting him from his office of President, and banishing him from Argentango forever, it becomes clear that he came to prefer the girl's father to him after the current president refused to let him pass on the extremely narrow ridge path.  I don't have a problem with this.  Clearly, this story is intended to be more of a comedy than a serious adventure story (despite its not being funny, to my taste).

(7) I doubt that the double-meaning joke was appreciated by most Canadian readers.  After 4+ years of Maple Leaf having issued both the "Lucky Comics" and "Better Comics" series, the readers wouldn't have appreciated the possibly (but not likely) intended double meaning.

(8} As far as I can remember, in addition to myself, Morgus, Bowers, and Yoc, among active recent Reading Group posters, are Canadians.  I'm sure there are more Canadian posters that have posted recently on this website, but I can't remember more that have posted on the Reading Group threads.

[Quirky Quokka]

Robb said:

(4) Juke Box Joe
I've seen the attitudes towards racism change a tremendous amount just during my near 80-year lifetime in Canada, USA and The Netherlands (a little moreso in Canada than USA, but along the same general lines).  Back in late 1939, for Canada, and at the end of 1941 for USA, both countries went to war because of politics and what they thought could eventually happen to their own countries if their potential enemies would become too powerful through conquest of other nations, rather than to fight against a nation which imposed laws against so-called "other" races.  Canada went to war against Germany, Italy, and Japan because it's British Commonwealth ally declared war against those countries and those countries had declared war against Britain.  USA declared war against Japan because Japan attacked them.  They didn't declare war on Germany and Italy until Hitler had Germany declare war against them, in support of it's Axis partner.  Avoiding having Germany getting too powerful, so as to conquer North America, and treating Canada's and USA's minorities badly would only have been aside benefit, not appreciated all that much by a not insignificant proportion of those 2 countries' populations at that time.  Canada's people are now much more for equal treatment for all than they were back then, and same for USA (but, in my opinion, on a lesser scale).

This cover on Maple Leaf's Bing Bang Comics from late 1945 shows you how the bulk of The Canadian public tolerated making fun of Canadians of African origin, even after many thousands of them had risked their lives for that country fighting in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the 6-year World War.  There were several issues of that title with this comic character, Li'l Moe on their front covers.

Thanks for all the extra info, Robb, and for your responses to the other points too. Yes, there would have been different reasons for Canada and the US entering the war, just as there were for Australia and all other countries involved. I suppose I thought it was interesting that we'd just had a story about the French Resistance fighting the Nazis and all they stood for, and then had a story that in hindsight seems quite racist and critical of anyone deemed 'inferior', which is what the Nazis were doing. But you're right that people at the time would have seen it differently. When I was a kid growing up in Australia, there were a lot of Irish jokes making out that Irish people were stupid. I would laugh at the jokes too, not realising how those jokes had come about and not understanding anything about the political situation in Ireland. We often just join in with the culture around us. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Also, you're obviously very familiar with this comic book series. I no doubt see it with different eyes when I'm just looking at one issue in the middle. But that's the good thing about CB+. We get exposed to a lot of books we may not have come across otherwise, and I like thinking about how they fit into their times. I did enjoy this book overall.

Cheers

QQ

[Morgus]

Great selections, Robb. It’s always nice to take a look at the Canadian black and whites comic book era. My high school library had a hardcover collection of some of the bigger heroes, that included Nelvana, a northern heroine who got into print BEFORE Wonder Woman, and Johnny  Canuck “Canada’s answer to oppression” who got to smack out Hitler.
And there was my sentimental fave, Mr Monster, as drawn by Fred Kelly with that panel of him blasting the back of a mummies’ head off. I would have paid money for Wertham to have seen that.  Michael Gilbert gets the fast pass to heaven when he goes just for reviving him.
I can see the point of comparing The Challenger to The Spirit, but I also wonder if Lucky was a spin off of Little Orphan Annie. She was always running head first into situations designed to get the reader worried. I mean, the kid even comes complete with the standard issue dog!
The art for Robin Hood could have come from a Classics Illustrated. But I had to wonder...you folks know everything..would they use gallows in England at the time? Especially mass produced ones like they have in the lead panel?
Jewish war Heroes reminded me of a similar one panel feature that came out of Canada in 1967...IT HAPPENED IN CANADA. A true 'Ripley’s Believe it or Not' answer record. Ran for something like 20 years up here.
Overall the art was fine for a golden age comic, and the stories varied but were on the average pretty good.

Thanks again.

[Robb_K]

Great selections, Robb. It’s always nice to take a look at the Canadian black and whites comic book era. My high school library had a hardcover collection of some of the bigger heroes, (1) that included Nelvana, a northern heroine who got into print BEFORE Wonder Woman, and Johnny  Canuck “Canada’s answer to oppression” who got to smack out Hitler.
And there was my sentimental fave, Mr Monster, as drawn by Fred Kelly with that panel of him blasting the back of a mummies’ head off. I would have paid money for Wertham to have seen that.  Michael Gilbert gets the fast pass to heaven when he goes just for reviving him.
I can see the point of comparing The Challenger to The Spirit, but I also wonder if Lucky was a spin off of Little Orphan Annie. She was always running head first into situations designed to get the reader worried. I mean, the kid even comes complete with the standard issue dog!
The art for Robin Hood could have come from a Classics Illustrated. But I had to wonder...you folks know everything..(2) would they use gallows in England at the time? Especially mass produced ones like they have in the lead panel?
Jewish war Heroes reminded me of (3) a similar one panel feature that came out of Canada in 1967...IT HAPPENED IN CANADA. A true 'Ripley’s Believe it or Not' answer record. Ran for something like 20 years up here.
Overall the art was fine for a golden age comic, and the stories varied but were on the average pretty good.

Thanks again.

(1) I would have chosen "Nelvana of The Northern Lights" IF we had one, Or if I were allowed to upload any of my copies, but The National Library of Canada informed us that neither CB+, nor anyone else but the holder of Bell Features' rights to ANY of their comics (and Hillsborough's previous "Triumph Comics" can legally upload them on a public media outlet, as TNLC who has made scans of those books available to all Canadian citizens and Library members, plans a project using them, in addition to the fact that a private firm (Nelvana Limited) currently shares those copyrights with The Library.  I was able to download that entire Bell collection (only 2 obscure (Hillsborough and Bell Features books were missing).  I haven't heard that it was taken down.  So if you are missing some of them, check out The Library's website, and look up the Bell Comics Collection under "Special Collections", to see if they are still available to download. I think you just need to scan your ID card or library card.  But, of course, IF we had issues of that series here on CB+ at least one of them would have been chosen for reading and review long before I joined this forum.

(2)Robin Hood & Co.
According to Wikipedia, platform gallows, with a trap door for catching the victim, were introduced into England in 1760.  So you are correct in being skeptical that castle-based nobles used them in the 12th or 13th Centuries.

(3) Yes, I remember seeing "It happened in Canada" in The Toronto Star.  But I don't remember The Winnipeg Sun or Free Press carrying it.  I assume it was in all The Toronto Star's Syndicated papers.  The Jewish War Heroes also reminds me of Canadian Heroes Comics from 1941-45.  Issue #1 is below:

Notice that Hall of Fame hockey player, Howie Morenz (of The Montréal Canadiens) made the grade!

(General Related)
I wish we could have some of the Hillsborough "Triumph Comics" on this website, but they likely wouldn't be considered PD in any case.  But I DO plan to choose more Canadian AA and Maple Leaf, and some Superior and Drucker Titles in further threads.  I'd like to see more Australian series as well.  And, maybe Paw can choose more obscure British titles. 

Personally, I'd like to choose some Dutch titles, but, I think all the other regulars, except Paw might balk at that.  If someone wants to choose a Dutch title for us, I'd be more than willing to do a translation of it (as long as I have decent headstart time, and I'm not expected to do the graphics work of whiting out the Dutch speech balloons and narrative boxes, and fitting the chosen font text to them).  But, I'd bet that Crash or Scrounge would be more than capable of doing that easily and maybe willing to do it if they aren't too busy at that time.  I'd just send whoever does that hand-written page and panel-numbered text paragraphs.  I've only read "De Tweede Pimpernel" (Adventure/Crime) and "Fulgor" (Sci-Fi).  And both of those series are quite good.  As I remember, "Bob Crack" is also good.

[Quirky Quokka]

(4) Juke Box Joe
I've seen the attitudes towards racism change a tremendous amount just during my near 80-year lifetime in Canada, USA and The Netherlands (a little moreso in Canada than USA, but along the same general lines).  Back in late 1939, for Canada, and at the end of 1941 for USA, both countries went to war because of politics and what they thought could eventually happen to their own countries if their potential enemies would become too powerful through conquest of other nations, rather than to fight against a nation which imposed laws against so-called "other" races.  Canada went to war against Germany, Italy, and Japan because it's British Commonwealth ally declared war against those countries and those countries had declared war against Britain.  USA declared war against Japan because Japan attacked them.  They didn't declare war on Germany and Italy until Hitler had Germany declare war against them, in support of it's Axis partner.  Avoiding having Germany getting too powerful, so as to conquer North America, and treating Canada's and USA's minorities badly would only have been a side benefit, not appreciated all that much by a not insignificant proportion of those 2 countries' populations at that time.  Canada's people are now much more for equal treatment for all than they were back then, and same for USA (but, in my opinion, on a lesser scale).

...

And to put your OWN country in this context, your soldiers were fighting against "The Hun", and The Japanese, both of whom considered the peoples they conquered (especially those from Tropical areas, backwards and inferior).  So, would you have guessed that they would be less disrespectful of their own aboriginal citizens and protectorate population (e.g. Papuan and adjacent islands' Melanesian populations)? Here are a couple front covers of "Choclit" (a stereotyped young "Abbo") from the late 1950s, whose "career" started in "The Bosun & Choclit Comics" in the 1940s:

Clearly, Australia and Canada fought against The Axis powers for similar reasons, but fighting against being made fun of by the (European heritage)majority, as a stereotyped minority, wasn't one of the major reasons, if one at all.  The Americans also had their own stereotyped young Black boy, Walter Lantz's Li'l Eight Ball.  All 3, Canadian, Australian, and American, were so stereotyped, that they shared more in common, and looked a lot more like anthropomorphic "funny animal" characters than realistic Human children.
Choclit:

Australian comics still making fun of Aborigine children like legendary characters, such as dwarfs and elves, as late as 1957, when Mankind sent the first satellite into Space.
Below is Choclit, also in 1957, with his Human pal, The Bosun, and funny animals, Felix The Cat and Kokey Koala.  Choclit looks a LOT more like a "funny animal" than a young Human:

Hi Robb - Yes, you're of course correct that golden age Australian comics (and even later) also included images and other elements that we would consider racist. I wasn't familiar with the comics you mentioned featuring Choclit. He looked to me more like a stereotyped drawing of an African-American boy than an aboriginal boy. There were certainly derogatory pictures of aboriginal people, but this didn't look like one to me.

I have a book called From Sunbeams to Sunset: The Rise and Fall of the Australian Comic Book (1924-1965) by Graeme Cliffe. It says in there that Choclit was indeed 'a young Negro lad'. The Bosun and Choclit Funnies started in 1946 and ran for 111 issues. Interestingly, the book says that : "In 1949 London-based publisher S G Bruce packaged a series of five comic books headlined by Felix the Cat. The eight page reprints included short Kokey Koala and The Bosun and Choclit strips.' So I think the second cover you've included might be one of those.

But yes, Australian comics certainly had their racist moments. A while back, I was going to choose a Clancy of the Overflow comic because the character is based on a couple of famous Australian bush poems. But on closer inspection, I discovered it used the 'N' word to describe aboriginal people, so I decided not to use it.

Thanks for the extra examples.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

The Challenger Comics #3, July-Sep 1946

I thought this was a really interesting comic book, coming so soon after WWII. The war against the Nazis was over, but the editors still wanted to fight 'race prejudice, discrimination and all other forms of fascism in North America'. The full challenger pledge appears towards the end of the book, with the aim of defeating fascism and bigotry in all their forms, including Gentile against Jew, White against 'Negro', and faith against faith'. There's a promise that the next issue will contain information on the formation of Challenger clubs. I wonder how many people started those clubs and joined them? (And would they have been the kinds of clubs wrongfully scrutinised during the McCarthy era?)

Actually, I just looked up Issue #4 and you can find the info on clubs on the last page:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=79176

There was still a long way to go before some of the gains of the Civil Rights movement. The letters to the editor seemed to indicate that it was having an impact on some people, or at least there were other like-minded people who wanted to go a step further in defeating all kinds of prejudice and discrimination. Good for you, Willis C. Patten, the 18¼-year-old from Kansas who is going to college and wants to make a difference.

Though the fight against prejudice apparently didn't extend to those with unsightly blackheads, like Tom and his sister in the ad towards the end of the book. They had to shell out for a Vacutex pump to get rid of those blackheads and be acceptable to the social set.

Also, I did wonder if this was a Canadian reprint of an American comic, as the office is in New York?

In  any case, this was an interesting pick. Prejudice is a subject close to my heart, and I enjoyed seeing a comic book that was trying to do its bit to change public attitudes.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

The Challenger Comics #3, July-Sep 1946

I thought this was a really interesting comic book, coming so soon after WWII. The war against the Nazis was over, but the editors still wanted to fight 'race prejudice, discrimination and all other forms of fascism in North America'. The full challenger pledge appears towards the end of the book, with the aim of defeating fascism and bigotry in all their forms, including Gentile against Jew, White against 'Negro', and faith against faith'. There's a promise that the next issue will contain information on the formation of Challenger clubs. I wonder how many people started those clubs and joined them? (And would they have been the kinds of clubs wrongfully scrutinised during the McCarthy era?)

Actually, I just looked up Issue #4 and you can find the info on clubs on the last page:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=79176

There was still a long way to go before some of the gains of the Civil Rights movement. The letters to the editor seemed to indicate that it was having an impact on some people, or at least there were other like-minded people who wanted to go a step further in defeating all kinds of prejudice and discrimination. Good for you, Willis C. Patten, the 18¼-year-old from Kansas who is going to college and wants to make a difference.

Though the fight against prejudice apparently didn't extend to those with unsightly blackheads, like Tom and his sister in the ad towards the end of the book. They had to shell out for a Vacutex pump to get rid of those blackheads and be acceptable to the social set.

Also, I did wonder if this was a Canadian reprint of an American comic, as the office is in New York?

In  any case, this was an interesting pick. Prejudice is a subject close to my heart, and I enjoyed seeing a comic book that was trying to do its bit to change public attitudes.
Cheers
QQ

This book was entirely produced in USA for distribution in USA.  I don't believe that they were able to arrange for it to be distributed in Canada, by the time in late 1946, when US-produced comic books and magazines were again allowed to be imported into Canada.  I included it among my offerings, anyway, because it was published with the goal of ending blind prejudice against population groups; and anti-semitism was one of them, especially as that was the goal of publishing "Jewish War Heroes".   And "The Golem", published in this magazine, was an ancient legend, created as a "wish" for an antidote for ill pan-societal treatment of Jews during The Middle Ages.

[Quirky Quokka]

The Challenger Comics #3, July-Sep 1946

Also, I did wonder if this was a Canadian reprint of an American comic, as the office is in New York?

Cheers
QQ

This book was entirely produced in USA for distribution in USA.  I don't believe that they were able to arrange for it to be distributed in Canada, by the time in late 1946, when US-produced comic books and magazines were again allowed to be imported into Canada.  I included it among my offerings, anyway, because it was published with the goal of ending blind prejudice against population groups; and anti-semitism was one of them, especially as that was the goal of publishing "Jewish War Heroes".   And "The Golem", published in this magazine, was an ancient legend, created as a "wish" for an antidote for ill pan-societal treatment of Jews during The Middle Ages.

Thanks for that, Robb. I just realised that I missed seeing your explanation of that in the original post. An interesting comic book.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

Thank you Robb for bringing these to a wider audience. Sitting down to post this, 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 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 Jo.
I understand that Zoot Suit wearers were singled out and beaten up during the War has being visibly self-indulgent.
Love the slang!
"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?"
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 forth wall is broken casually.
"'Say, is he swearing at me?' 'He wants to know when you will publish Black Wing stories in Spanish?'"
And a Canadian 'Masked Mystery Man' are there more stories?
But, the inside last page disturbs me.
In 1943 a detailed illustrated list of Canadian Army Equipment? Shouldn't this be confidential information?       

[The Australian Panther]

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

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.
Six panels 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
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!

[The Australian Panther]

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.
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. "Battled through WWI in Palestine and Mesopotamia" -But in which army? 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.