[Robb_K]

Good morning or evening. I've chosen to compare 2 different US GA comic books that feature a theme of boy crime fighting heroes that fight against fully mature criminals, on their own, rather than being apprentice-type sidekicks of fully grown superheroes. 

The first is Lev Gleason's "Boy Comics" 12, edited by Charles Biro, featuring a mix of boy crimefighting heroes, who risk their lives fighting grown men, to help their communities or country.  Its features include: Crimebuster(and his pet monkey, Squeeks), Swoop Storm, Little Dynamite, Yankee Longago (who travels back to the past to see how historical events really happened), The Hero of the Month (Related to The US WWII War Effort), and Young Robinhood and His Band(who fight modern day criminals using Middle Ages weapons and tactics).  The series ran for 117 issues, from 1942-1956.



Boy Comics 12 can be found here:   https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=37351

The second book is Avon Periodicals' Boy Detective 1, Edited by Sol Cohen, featuring mainly stories about Dan Tayler, the boy detective, as well as one story about Rusty and Dusty Ames, young brothers who are sons of a judge, and who also fight criminals.  This series only ran 3 issues during 1951 and 1952.



Boy Detective 1 can be found here:   https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=28673


For those of you that are ambitious, and may have more time than some of us, I've added "Dickie Dare" 2 from January 1942, which, I believe is a compilation of original pages that appeared in "Famous Funnies" issues from the late 1930s.  It has quite a different page layout, and a different style from an earlier period of comics development.  Also, Dickie seems to be a pre-teen, whereas, the youthful heroes of the other 2 books seem to be in their mid teens or late teens, and so are more physically mature, and less of a stretch to imagine them fighting full-grown, muscular men.


Dickie Dare 2 can be found here:   https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68852


I'd like to discuss the similarities and differences between these 3 publications' way of telling stories, premises of their settings and characteristics of their characters, and how much the reader has to suspend their beliefs about how the real World works to be entertained by the unlikely situations and achievements of the stories' youthful protagonists.  I look forward to all your comments.

[The Australian Panther]

Nice!

[gregjh]

I haven't read these yet, but the vibe I'm getting is similar to the Dandy and Beano comics of my childhood, which featured smart and ingenious kids fighting crime and producing new inventions.

[Robb_K]

I haven't read these yet, but the vibe I'm getting is similar to the Dandy and Beano comics of my childhood, which featured smart and ingenious kids fighting crime and producing new inventions.

Yes, they're similar in that respect.

[SuperScrounge]

Boy Comics #12

Cover
Okay, Chuck, you and Squeeks go up against 4 evil soldiers and your first shot... takes out one hand of one soldier?
You're outnumbered! Go for a head or chest shot to take one out permanently! Unless Squeeks comes from the planet Krypton he won't be much good in a battle!


Crimebuster
The creators were ahead of their time. In the last few years comic creators have been creating superhero 'costumes' that cosplayers on a budget could make and wear to conventions. Crimebuster looks that way and they didn't even have cosplayers back then. 

Bootleggers? I was thinking it was a plot by enemy agents to keep eligible men out of the military.

Okay story.


Swoop Storm
So Swoop and Winkie, who are apparently are not in the military as they aren't wearing uniforms, are taking orders from the military?
Not impossible, but it really makes me wonder about their back story.

A little silly, but otherwise okay.


Little Dynamite
Page 30, panel 2. First I noticed one of the boys wearing a jaghead-type hat that I gave a history of when we read the first Archie story. Then I realized that every boy was wearing a different type of hat which is kind of an easy way for artists to keep their characters from looking too much alike (different hats, different clothes, different hair colors & styles...  )

Eh, okay. Surprised by the death of Schultz in an otherwise light-hearted story. Maybe they should have had Mr. Crime make a cameo and say, "Crime Doesn't Pay" when Lioni is caught? 


Sweeney Learns a Lesson
So, at least ten bullets punctured Daredevil's plane and only removed Sweeney's fingers? Amazing he didn't bleed to death. Man do the writers like their grim justice.


Yankee Longago
Page 43, panel 5 needs a word balloon reading "Well, excuuuuuuuse me!" 

I'd say it could have been better, but I can't think of any way to refresh the tired old idea of someone dreaming they are in the past.


Hero of the Month
Interesting.


Young Robinhood
"The mysterious Veiled Lady"
Because veils are such good ways to hide someone's identity. Right behind a pair of glasses as disguises go. 

Surprisingly violent, even the heroes kill the bad guys which, I think had been toned down at other superhero publishers. Not that villains didn't die, but it was usually a case of being hoist by their own petard type deaths rather than Batman throwing a sharpened batarang into a bad guy's chest or Superman tossing a bad guy into the sun.

[Robb_K]

Boy Comics #12

Cover
Okay, Chuck, you and Squeeks go up against 4 evil soldiers and your first shot... takes out one hand of one soldier?
(1)You're outnumbered! Go for a head or chest shot to take one out permanently! Unless Squeeks comes from the planet Krypton he won't be much good in a battle!


Crimebuster
The creators were ahead of their time. In the last few years (2) comic creators have been creating superhero 'costumes' that cosplayers on a budget could make and wear to conventions. Crimebuster looks that way and they didn't even have cosplayers back then. 

Bootleggers? I was thinking it was a plot by enemy agents to keep eligible men out of the military.

Okay story.


Swoop Storm
So Swoop and Winkie, who are apparently are not in the military as they aren't wearing uniforms, are taking orders from the military?
Not impossible, but it really makes me wonder about their back story.

A little silly, but otherwise okay.


Little Dynamite
Page 30, panel 2. First I noticed one of the boys wearing a  Jughead-type hat that I gave a history of when we read the first Archie story. (3) Then I realized that every boy was wearing a different type of hat which is kind of an easy way for artists to keep their characters from looking too much alike (different hats, different clothes, different hair colors & styles...  )

Eh, okay. Surprised by the death of Schultz in an otherwise light-hearted story. Maybe they should have had Mr. Crime make a cameo and say, "Crime Doesn't Pay" when Lioni is caught? 


Sweeney Learns a Lesson
So, at least ten bullets punctured Daredevil's plane and only removed Sweeney's fingers? Amazing he didn't bleed to death. Man do the writers like their grim justice.


Yankee Longago
Page 43, panel 5 needs a word balloon reading "Well, excuuuuuuuse me!" 

I'd say it could have been better, but (4) I can't think of any way to refresh the tired old idea of someone dreaming they are in the past.

Hero of the Month
Interesting.


Young Robinhood
"The mysterious Veiled Lady"
Because veils are such good ways to hide someone's identity. Right behind a pair of glasses as disguises go. 

Surprisingly violent, even the heroes kill the bad guys which, I think had been toned down at other superhero publishers. Not that villains didn't die, but it was usually a case of being hoist by their own petard type deaths rather than Batman throwing a sharpened batarang into a bad guy's chest or (5) Superman tossing a bad guy into the sun.

(1) Crimebuster should have trained Squeeks to jump on villains' faces, and while they use both hands to try to rip the monkey off their faces, their chest areas are unprotected, so Crimebuster can shoot them in their hearts for a quick death (or stab them in their chests' heart area, with his Swiss Army knife). 

(2)  It's obvious that Crimebuster made his "Superhero Costume" out of his old high school football uniform.

(3) Those tactics were used by artists who were not good at drawing the human body, and more importantly, artists who were paid terribly low wages for their drawing, which were way to low to make a decent living unless they used a streamlined time-saving method such as using slight variations of the same body type, and facial features, and varying hats, clothing, and other details so the characters can be identified, one from another.  They were working for pennies an hour when they took proper time to research their stories, think long enough to develop high-quality staging, meeting the story's needs to communicate
the important messages the story wishes to tell, and drawing the detail in facial features required to portray the proper degree of emotion of the character, etc.
(4) Personally, I like the hero dreaming or imagining they were living in past eras of history, as opposed to using a time machine to get there.  It's easy for young kids to identify with that, as they've done that, themselves.  A time machine needs some explanation, which may lead to taking the reader out of "living in the story" (the flow of the story) to ponder over the lack of plausibility, or illogical premise from the author, related to the real science.

(5) A Hell of a punishment, wasted, as the villain would die from lack of oxygen within a minute or two  after leaving The Earth's atmosphere, and/or be burnt up from the friction of the speed Superman would need to throw him, for him to span the 93 million miles without slowing significantly, and dropping out of his trajectory and falling well short of the target.  Or he'd die from the G-force's at that great speed tearing him apart.  It would be a gruesome death, but he'd never get near to even the outer heat of the Sun killing him.

[SuperScrounge]

(2)  It's obvious that Crimebuster made his "Superhero Costume" out of his old high school football uniform.

Hockey uniform, according to his origin in issue 3.

(4) Personally, I like the hero dreaming or imagining they were living in past eras of history, as opposed to using a time machine to get there.

My problem with imagining is it risks becoming a shaggy dog story where nothing happens outside of filling a few pages in a book.

Now if the dream helped the hero solve a problem in his normal life. Okay.

Or it could be an educational story where what the character learned about the time period gets demonstrated.

Or the character imagines people he knows as filling the various roles probably for comic effect.

A time machine needs some explanation, which may lead to taking the reader out of "living in the story" (the flow of the story) to ponder over the lack of plausibility, or illogical premise from the author, related to the real science.

I don't know. Time machines are a fairly common thing in science fiction so a simple "This time machine my uncle built..." or something like that, could work.

(5) A Hell of a punishment, wasted, as the villain would die from lack of oxygen within a minute or two  after leaving The Earth's atmosphere, and/or be burnt up from the friction of the speed Superman would need to throw him, for him to span the 93 million miles without slowing significantly, and dropping out of his trajectory and falling well short of the target.  Or he'd die from the G-force's at that great speed tearing him apart.  It would be a gruesome death, but he'd never get near to even the outer heat of the Sun killing him.

Yeah, but I was being over the top with that made up example.

[Robb_K]

(2)  It's obvious that  Crimebuster made his "Superhero Costume" out of his old high school football uniform.

(1) Hockey uniform, according to his origin in issue 3.

(4) Personally, I like the hero dreaming or imagining they were living in past eras of history, as opposed to using a time machine to get there.

My problem with imagining is it risks becoming a shaggy dog story where nothing happens outside of filling a few pages in a book.

Now if the dream helped the hero solve a problem in his normal life. Okay.

(2) Or it could be an educational story where what the character learned about the time period gets demonstrated.
Or the character imagines people he knows as filling the various roles probably for comic effect.

A time machine needs some explanation, which may lead to taking the reader out of "living in the story" (the flow of the story) to ponder over the lack of plausibility, or illogical premise from the author, related to the real science.

(3) I don't know. Time machines are a fairly common thing in science fiction so a simple "This time machine my uncle built..." or something like that, could work.

(5) A Hell of a punishment, wasted, as the villain would die from lack of oxygen within a minute or two  after leaving The Earth's atmosphere, and/or be burnt up from the friction of the speed Superman would need to throw him, for him to span the 93 million miles without slowing significantly, and dropping out of his trajectory and falling well short of the target.  Or he'd die from the G-force's at that great speed tearing him apart.  It would be a gruesome death, but he'd never get near to even the outer heat of the Sun killing him.

(4) Yeah, but I was being over the top with that made up example.

(1) Ha! It's kind of unbelievable that I didn't realise that, given that I was a hockey player all through the 1950s. And a fan a couple years before that.  Of course, his uniform was a late '30s/early '40s style, more ancient than mine.

(2) Yes, THAT's the best use of that scenario, and what I had in mind.

(3) This is where I differ from most Sci-Fi fans, in that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief when the author
avoids deep thinking and work to provide a semi-plausible scientific explanation, using some real scientific knowledge to give it at least SOME credibility (as a flim-flam man does), rather than copping out by showing a finished time machine, and forcing the readers to either accept it as true, or ruin the story for them.  I'd prefer even a lousy attempt to fake an explanation using scientific-sounding words, which allow some readers to plough through this part of the story (digesting the bogus explanation subliminally, and not stopping reading to think deeply about it and come to the conclusion that it is tripe, rather than possible).

(4) Of course, I knew that.  And I'm so glad you made the comment, because the image of that, and the thought of the author tossing the villain from The Earth, all the way 93 Million miles, to The Sun, in a Super-strength Superhero story, is gut-splitting and pants-wetting hilarious!   

P.S. I like The Crimebuster's origin story in "Boy Comics" #3, very much.  It's just about the best "dedicated crime-fighter (or powerless quasi-Superhero) origin story" I've ever read! 

[SuperScrounge]

Boy Detective #1

Cover
"Look ma, no hands!" This cover should be used as an example of what not to do on a bicycle.  No hands on the handlebars. Was he holding the guns the whole time, because he's not wearing holsters. He's just fired two guns and did not hit the guy with the machine gun and he and his bike will no doubt hinder, at least, one of the police motorcycles as the machine gunner mows down this punk ass kid on a bike. 


Death Wears a Plastic Mask
It just needed a scene where a bat flies through a window inspiring him to dress like a bat. 

Not a bad story. I'm not much of an art spotter, but I agree with those who think Carmine Infantino did this.


School For Crime!
Not a nit on the story, but generally those inclined to crime, don't usually like school so the idea of a school for crime is kind of an ironic concept.

A castle setting. Another American comic book cliche.  I swear you could find more American-based castles in American comics than you'd find real castles in Europe. 

The police were supposed to be there at 7:00 pm, but then Dan says it's 11:30 pm. Not sure if it was the writer or the letterer who goofed up.

Okay, but not as good as the first story.


The Statue of Liberty Murder Case
They murdered the Statue of Liberty???  Who's that imposter standing in her place?

Okay story, but how hard were the winds blowing to move a body?


This Way to Death
Okay.


Foo Shampoo
Nothing against Earl Derr Biggers and his creation of Charlie Chan, but the sheer number of these lame Chan-inspired knock-offs/parodies is amazing.


Young Folks at Home!
They hear creaking, grab weapons, and I thought, "What if it's Santa?" 

Not great, but not terrible. Kind of a low-rated okay.

[Quirky Quokka]

Hi everyone

I started reading Boy Comics, but the ad on the inside front cover intrigued me. They're encouraging readers to buy the Swiss Windmill Weather Forecaster because they can no longer 'get weather forecasts or temperature reports on the radio or through your local paper'. It's 1942. I assume weather forecasts aren't available because it would somehow give the enemies inside information? Can anyone shed any light on it? I haven't heard of that happening in Australia during the war, but maybe it did. Seems strange to me.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

Hi everyone

I started reading Boy Comics, but the ad on the inside front cover intrigued me. They're encouraging readers to buy the Swiss Windmill Weather Forecaster because they can no longer 'get weather forecasts or temperature reports on the radio or through your local paper'. It's 1942. I assume weather forecasts aren't available because it would somehow give the enemies inside information? Can anyone shed any light on it? I haven't heard of that happening in Australia during the war, but maybe it did. Seems strange to me.

Cheers

QQ

The Japanese bomber attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor in December, 1941 was helped by aircraft carriers.  As I recall, I think that although 3 aircraft carriers were away from there, The US Navy had some other carriers disabled in that battle, and lost several battleships.  They were worried that The Japanese would attack US naval installations all along The US' West Coast (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland (Oregon) and Seattle).  There were many blackouts so The Japanese flyers couldn't get a decent view of those cities.

I'm sure that they were worried about Japanese listening to US radio and hearing the weather forecasts for those coastal cities for 2-4 days ahead, which could help them plan their attacks to have the best possible weather conditions.  I don't know if there were prohibitions on weather reporting in USA and Canada for their East Coasts, to prohibit German bombing raids or their smuggling spies onto the mainland from U-boats (submarines).  But I don't remember reading or hearing about that.  My family was in the midwest.  There actually was a German U-Boat landing in Northern Labrador in 1943, which set up a secret weather station. So I'm guessing the Canadian, and maybe East Coast US radio stations were prohibited from broadcasting weather reports for at least some time during 1942-43. 

I looked that up, and found that after Japan's Pearl Harbor attack, radio weather reports WERE prohibited in both Canadian and US East Coast cities, as well as on the West coasts of both countries, including Alaska.

There were also Canadian military maneuvers and installations on our Arctic Islands, and in Hudson Bay(not terribly far from where we were in Manitoba), from 1940-43, to prevent a German invasion.  For a time, The US Military participated there, as well, and also in Greenland.

I'm sure that Australian East and South coast cities' radio stations must have been prohibited from broadcasting weather reports after December 7th, 1941, when The Japanese Navy simultaneously attacked The Philippine Islands, Indonesia, Malaya, and Singapore, as their aircraft carriers were well within range of their bombers reaching the entire East Coast of Australia and Victoria, and South Australia and The Northern Territory, as well. 

It turns out that the Australian radio stations were still allowed to give large areawide reports, but not local details that could help The Japanese military to invade or send bombing attacks on specific cities, harbours, or military installations.

[SuperScrounge]

Dickie Dare #2

Cover
Wow! Dan punching a whale. Would the whale even notice? Kind of a "fly vs. windshield" effect there. 

Dickie Dare
Before reading this I was thinking Dickie Dare was a Terry and the Pirates-type knock off. Looking it up I found out that Milton Caniff created Dickie Dare before he switched syndicates and created Terry and the Pirates. So any similarity between Dickie and Terry is like the similarity between brothers. Well, duh, of course they're similar.

Police are looking for a green car, but the colorist colored it red in some panels and orange in others.
Guess who didn't read the comic before picking colors? 

Nice stories and Coulton Waugh is a good artist.

---

Now to compare the books.

While all comics did have violence and death, Boy Comics just seemed the most shocking of them all. It felt the most out of place in those stories.

Boy Comics had the largest diversity of stories, 3 superhero stories, an adventurer story, a gang story, a comedy story and a non-fiction story.
Boy Detective had three detective stories featuring the same character, 2 adventure stories and a comedy story.
Dickie Dare had one long comic strip serial covering 2 main stories (or more depending how you divvy up the shifting tales).

As a reading the Dickie Dare made for a nice solid read. Boy Detective was okay, even if some of the stories were a little iffy in believability. Boy Comics depended on the quality of each individual story with Crimebuster as the strongest story and Yankee Longago as the weakest.

[Quirky Quokka]

The Japanese bomber attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor in December, 1941 was helped by aircraft carriers.  As I recall, I think that although 3 aircraft carriers were away from there, The US Navy had some other carriers disabled in that battle, and lost several battleships.  They were worried that The Japanese would attack US naval installations all along The US' West Coast (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland (Oregon) and Seattle).  There were many blackouts so The Japanese flyers couldn't get a decent view of those cities.

I'm sure that they were worried about Japanese listening to US radio and hearing the weather forecasts for those coastal cities for 2-4 days ahead, which could help them plan their attacks to have the best possible weather conditions.  I don't know if there were prohibitions on weather reporting in USA and Canada for their East Coasts, to prohibit German bombing raids or their smuggling spies onto the mainland from U-boats (submarines).  But I don't remember reading or hearing about that.  My family was in the midwest.  There actually was a German U-Boat landing in Northern Labrador in 1943, which set up a secret weather station. So I'm guessing the Canadian, and maybe East Coast US radio stations were prohibited from broadcasting weather reports for at least some time during 1942-43. 

I looked that up, and found that after Japan's Pearl Harbor attack, radio weather reports WERE prohibited in both Canadian and US East Coast cities, as well as on the West coasts of both countries, including Alaska.

There were also Canadian military maneuvers and installations on our Arctic Islands, and in Hudson Bay(not terribly far from where we were in Manitoba), from 1940-43, to prevent a German invasion.  For a time, The US Military participated there, as well, and also in Greenland.

I'm sure that Australian East and South coast cities' radio stations must have been prohibited from broadcasting weather reports after December 7th, 1941, when The Japanese Navy simultaneously attacked The Philippine Islands, Indonesia, Malaya, and Singapore, as their aircraft carriers were well within range of their bombers reaching the entire East Coast of Australia and Victoria, and South Australia and The Northern Territory, as well. 

It turns out that the Australian radio stations were still allowed to give large areawide reports, but not local details that could help The Japanese military to invade or send bombing attacks on specific cities, harbours, or military installations.

Thanks Robb

That's all very interesting. My mother was a little girl during the war (6 years old in 1939 and 12 in 1945) and she's often told stories about what she remembers. She's told me about the blackouts and the US servicemen stationed in Brisbane, but I don't remember her saying anything about the weather. She's 91 now and in a nursing home, so I'll ask her next time I see her if she's well enough.

Some readers might not realise that Australia had an event known as the Australian Pearl Harbor, when Japanese planes bombed Darwin on 19 February 1942. A lot wasn't known about it at the time because I think a lot of the documents were kept secret.

https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/commemoration/days/bombing-of-darwin

Some mini Japanese subs also made it into Sydney Harbour a few months later:

https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/japanese-midget-submarine-attack-sydney-harbour

So Australia was very much involved in the Pacific campaign after Pearl Harbor. I always like reading the ads in these old comics because they tell you a lot about the times. Thanks for your input.

Cheers

QQ

[Robb_K]

I knew about the bombing of Darwin, but didn't know Japanese subs travelled into Sydney Harbour.  That would have been scary to a lot of people.  World War II was serious business. My father and his brother fought in Europe, and my father was wounded. Half his unit was killed on D Day alone, storming Juno Beach. Canadians fought in Burma, too (along with Australians and Brits).

[Quirky Quokka]

Boy Comics #12

Cover

A surprisingly grim cover for a boy’s comic. Presumably an ally being tortured, though at my first quick glance, the hair made me think it was Hitler. Then I realised there was no mustache. Though given this is 1942, I can understand them wanting to show a boy single-handedly overcoming the Japanese.

Crimebuster

Again, a grim splash page, though later in the story, we see that it wasn’t quite as it seemed. Boys would have liked seeing a boy hero uncover the plot and rescue the stolen boys. Though I didn’t like the way Crimebuster was nasty to the poor unattractive girl (‘I’d rather kiss a pig’.). That took some of the gloss off his hero status for me. Superman would never have said that.

Swoop Storm

Presumably Swoop and Winkie are teenagers, but when Swoop is flying the plane, he looks like a muscly older man. And why did they let a teenager fly one of their planes? Also, if Winkie is comic relief, why would the military trust him to go on secret missions? And where did the dummy plane come from? Lots of holes in this one.

Little Dynamite

I guess the aim was to show boys that they could make a valuable contribution to the war effort even though they couldn’t enlist. The idea of selling war bonds was admirable. But I don’t like Little Dynamite. Wouldn’t he end up in juvenile detention for beating up that soldier to prove he could fight? I don’t think the senior officer would just go ‘Hmmm’. Not my cup of tea, but I guess it made a point.

Daredevil Ad

At the end of the Little Dynamite story, there’s an ad for a Daredevil comic. Is that the same Daredevil who became the Marvel character, or does he just have the same name?

Yankee Longago

This one hasn’t stood the test of time. Had a lot of cringe factor for me regarding the cultural insensitivity. Though if Yankee Longago kept popping into different time periods in his stories, it could have been interesting. I just wasn't crazy about this story.

Hero of the Month

I was wondering if this may have been a real person, but my quick Google search only found a current footballer with that name. Interesting that it showed how someone with a disability could still make a valuable contribution. Though in reality, I doubt he would have been allowed anywhere near the fighting. Also interesting that they’re praising a Russian soldier, when we’re used to seeing Russians as the bad guys in Cold War era comics. Though this of course was before then. Interesting contrast to see a Russian praised in an American comic.

Young Robinhood

As SuperScrounge noted, those disguises don’t do much. We can see every feature of the Veiled Lady’s face, and domino masks are definitely not going to hide the fact that the fake band of merry men are ugly older guys. Though I suppose it sets up more stories with the Veiled Lady. Reminded me a little of the Black Widow’s first appearance in Iron Man, but she’s still kicking.

Interesting mix of stories. Boys at the time probably would have liked them.

Cheers

QQ

[crashryan]

At the end of the Little Dynamite story, there’s an ad for a Daredevil comic. Is that the same Daredevil who became the Marvel character, or does he just have the same name?

Different Daredevil. This one is your basic non-super superhero, his gimmick being that he throws a boomerang. His comic lasted quite a while and took a path similar to Boy Comics. After the War the  violence was toned way down and most of the action took place in everyday settings. Daredevil became something of a father figure to a group of kids, the Little Wise Guys. They came to dominate the stories, which mixed "human interest" themes with mild crime fighting.

The comic was long gone when Marvel grabbed the Daredevil name for the modern hero. They did that with a couple of other defunct Golden Age character names (Ghost Rider comes to mind).

[The Australian Panther]

Boy Comics 12
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=37351
For whatever reason, Lev Gleason / Comic House titles just don't do it for me.
The Crimebuster story is certainly violent.

Though I didn’t like the way Crimebuster was nasty to the poor unattractive girl (‘I’d rather kiss a pig’.). That took some of the gloss off his hero status for me. Superman would never have said that.

Well, the context is that he's been kidnapped and has lost his freedom. And she's just told him he is her slave. And then she lies about him. At least he didn't punch her out.
Swoop Storm
Of course it's silly. Two teenage boys - not enlisted and in uniform, fly a plane to a top-secret mission and kidnap a general. Not only that but their base is in Africa?! 
Little Dynamite
This was just an ad for War Bonds. Valid at the time and under the circumstances. But nothing special.
Pocahontas Makes the Scene
Indian with an arrow takes out the captain of a NAZI submarine, which has just surfaced in New York?!
If you say so. 
Hero of the month.
Interesting to see a story acknowledging the Russians as Allies in the war against the NAZI's
The Return of the Veiled Lady
Why would anyone in the 20th century impersonate Robin Hood to fight crime? So the regular returning villain is a female? 
Dull. obvious story too.   
   

[Quirky Quokka]

SuperScrounge said:

Crimebuster

The creators were ahead of their time. In the last few years comic creators have been creating superhero 'costumes' that cosplayers on a budget could make and wear to conventions. Crimebuster looks that way and they didn't even have cosplayers back then. 

Bootleggers? I was thinking it was a plot by enemy agents to keep eligible men out of the military.

Yes, I was thinking it was to keep eligible men out of the military too. And interesting about the ComicCon costumes.

Robb said:

I knew about the bombing of Darwin, but didn't know Japanese subs travelled into Sydney Harbour.  That would have been scary to a lot of people.  World War II was serious business. My father and his brother fought in Europe, and my father was wounded. Half his unit was killed on D Day alone, storming Juno Beach. Canadians fought in Burma, too (along with Australians and Brits).

Thanks for sharing your family connection, Robb. D-Day must have been terrible for all present.

Crashryan said:

Different Daredevil. This one is your basic non-super superhero, his gimmick being that he throws a boomerang. His comic lasted quite a while and took a path similar to Boy Comics. After the War the  violence was toned way down and most of the action took place in everyday settings. Daredevil became something of a father figure to a group of kids, the Little Wise Guys. They came to dominate the stories, which mixed "human interest" themes with mild crime fighting.

The comic was long gone when Marvel grabbed the Daredevil name for the modern hero. They did that with a couple of other defunct Golden Age character names (Ghost Rider comes to mind).

Thanks for that, Crashryan. I'm not as familiar with the Marvel heroes (I'm more of a DC kinda gal), but the red costume put me in mind of Daredevil. I guess it was also hard to keep coming up with superhero names too, so there was bound to be some overlap.

Australian Panther said:

The Crimebuster story is certainly violent.
Quote
Though I didn’t like the way Crimebuster was nasty to the poor unattractive girl (‘I’d rather kiss a pig’.). That took some of the gloss off his hero status for me. Superman would never have said that.

Well, the context is that he's been kidnapped and has lost his freedom. And she's just told him he is her slave. And then she lies about him. At least he didn't punch her out.

Yes, I can certainly understand him not being happy with the situation. I think the thing that got me was that his comment seemed to be directly related to her looks. She may well have been a victim of her father's plans as well. Not exactly an innocent bystander, but used to unkindness from others.

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

Yes, I can certainly understand him not being happy with the situation. I think the thing that got me was that his comment seemed to be directly related to her looks. She may well have been a victim of her father's plans as well. Not exactly an innocent bystander, but used to unkindness from others.

QQ,
ON further thought, I have to agree. She is clearly a mess and he clearly doesn't react in the expected heroic manner. And to the reader that grates.   

[The Australian Panther]

Boy Detective 1
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=28673

The cover is powerful and violent, but very problematic.
A boy on a bicycle, two guns blazing, in front of two adult police on  motorbikes, apparently holding their guns, in the face of someone firing a machine gun. And the boy is not wearing any Armour or helmet.
Unbelievably insane.
Story> Boy Detective.
Obviously an Origin story.
All Round, not a bad little story. No noticeable logic holes.
School for Crime
Early 21 Jump Street?
Again a good read. well told,
well drawn.
The Statue of Liberty Murder Case (7 pages)
Nice little Mystery. Liked it.
Foo Shampoo
there is something reminiscent of Mr Magoo in this one.
Rusty and Dusty
Art - very visual.

[Quirky Quokka]

Hi Robb and all - I had intended to read the other comic, but I don't think I'll get there now. Have had COVID since Sunday. Hopefully on the mend now. I've enjoyed reading your comments

Cheers

QQ

[The Australian Panther]

Dickie Dare 2
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68852

Well,

Turns out that Dickey Dare  was a creation of none other than Milton Caniff!

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/caniff.htm

Dickie Dare
However, Milton Caniff's most interesting work for the Associated Press was 'Dickie Dare', which debuted in the summer of 1933. The series revolved around a young boy, Dickie, and the fantastic adventures he imagined. It offered Caniff the opportunity to let his own imagination go wild and create stories about King Arthur and Robin Hood. In May 1934, the concept of boyhood daydreams was set aside when adventurer "Dynamite" Dan Flynn joined the cast. From then on, Dickie and Flynn traveled the world for real and encountered real-life villains and other dangers. 'Dickie Dare' caught the attention of Captain Joseph Patterson of the New York Daily News. He asked Caniff to create another adventure comic for his Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Thus came an end to Caniff's tenure with the Associated Press in December 1934. 'Dickie Dare' was continued in later years by Coulton Waugh (1934-1944, 1949-1957) and his wife Mabel Burvik (1944-1948), as well as Fran Matera (1948-1949), while 'The Gay Thirties' was taken over by Hank Barrow for another five years.   

This is a 1942 collection, so possibly  the art is by Coulton Waugh.
3 adventures and a good read.

A curiosity, the dog, 'Wags' is a dead ringer for TinTin's Dog, Snowy!

cheers. Christmas books, Monday!

[The Australian Panther]

QQ wrote;

Have had COVID since Sunday. Hopefully on the mend now. I've enjoyed reading your comments

QQ, you have my sympathy. ! don't have Covid, but had a Kidney Stone operation a week ago and will have another one in early January. [One in the other kidney!] so I am by no means physically back to normal. Not a great Christmas. So, yeah, my Sympathy.
Oh, and I hope you will have recovered enough to enjoy Christmas Day! 

[lyons]

Best wishes and prayers to QQ and Panther for their comfort and joy this festive season.     

[SuperScrounge]

This is a 1942 collection, so possibly  the art is by Coulton Waugh.

You can actually see his signature in some panels.

A curiosity, the dog, 'Wags' is a dead ringer for TinTin's Dog, Snowy!

Which came first? Although I assume Wags and Snowy were based on a real breed of dog so I doubt one was based on the other.