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[MarkWarner]

Well last week's Captain Marvel received a BIG thumbs up from the reading group. I am not sure that this week's choice will be so popular.

It's time for a bit of "non-fiction" courtesy of True Comics #78 published by Parents' Magazine  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17043 and the story we are concentrating is "The FBI's First Bank Robbery Case" on our page 9.

I am wondering if we should have to sit an exam afterwards to see if we have all read it properly

[misappear]

What can one say about True Comics?  Issue 78 was a nice enough read.  Stuff about Stan Musial I didn't know.  The target story about the FBI wasn't all that exciting, but it was a nice enough recap of their first bank case.  I would say True was good from start to finish in a calmly satisfying way.  I don't know that I would have bought this regularly, but if a good ball player or someone interesting was on the cover, I would have heavily considered it.

What I did do was hunt around online for company history/information on Parents Magazine Co.  I couldn't find anything in the way of said history or the like, so I went to the books themselves and scanned through a bunch looking for editorial content.  It seems George Hecht was at the helm, and just wanted to promote comics that were factual and exciting.  Quoting Byron and the "truth is stranger than fiction" idea, Hecht editorializes that these stories are every bit as juicy as the hero books, and just as well drawn.  I can't argue the latter point, and the former would be one person's opinion over another's.  There was editorial material in early '42 encouraging young folks to be mindful of the war struggles.  The pieces were uplifting and positive, as were all the editorials.  It looked for a hot second that Hecht was considering a letters page, but it was just a passing idea for a couple of issues.  Eventually, the editorials gave way to paid advertising.  Shame.

I did see a piece online about True's publication of a story "There is no master race." in which all races are presented as an equal portion of humanity.  I was thinking that the story was pretty forward thinking for a comic publisher in the mid-forties. 

True and its companion titles seemed to throw a non-threatening bit of wholesomeness into the mix; not edgy, but very competent.  I wonder if my being an old codger is informing my leanings here, but ain't nothing wrong with a little wholesome now and again.

--David

[paw broon]

This was a decent read for me.  I'm always keen on insites into great baseball players and this one was informative.  So to the FBI story.  Despite being a true story, this would have been quite at home in most crime comics.  I feel the artist could have better announced the flashback on p.2 of the story, as I was a bit confused for a second. I wasn't aware that the FBI at one time wasn't responsible for investigating bank robberies.  Or, rather that it wasn't the police who did investigate them.  I wonder why it was taken from police and given to the FBI.  This was a good police procedural story.
The Cagliostro segment is interesting because, as this comic purports to be a True story title, this is just one version of a number of opinions on the character and as such could be considered as much fiction/supposition, as fact. In spite of that it was quite well done imo.
As for Gen. Clay.  What a guy!  Does everything and does it all exceptionally well.  No flaws either!  You might call me a cynic but I find it all a bit hard to take.  Sorry.
I'm not sure the assertion that these true stories are as exciting as superheroes would ring quite as true to a young lad looking for the costumed excitement of a Superman or Black Terror and I think I would have read this, quite enjoyed the Musial and FBI stories but spent my next pocket money on a costumed hero comic.  But then again, the Musial story would have been a quite an example to young boys to persevere in the face of adversity.

[Drusilla lives!]

Eh, I might start sounding like a broken record here, but I kinda liked this comic.  Didn't expect to, but as with several of the comics we've read so far, I've been somewhat surprised.  Perhaps it's my age, who knows. 

That's not to say I didn't find this a bit staid in places, but overall, in totum it wasn't too bad a read.  Being in my opinion both educational and entertaining.  And in some ways, this is what I thought that disappointing Danger title from Comic Media would be more like conceptually... although of course with completely fictitious characters.

Liked the "Famous Split-Seconds in Sports" short, I thought the artwork was particularly nice on this piece. 

My favorite story of the issue was the first... the Stan Musial story.  A decently written/plotted piece imo, with some equally good art (simple, but a rather good match to the story), I found this tale of his rise to fame genuinely interesting as well as entertaining. 

I was a little disappointed with our featured story, I found it somewhat confusing, I suppose it was spotty plotting.  At the end it had me asking myself what exactly was their "technique."  Good detective work?  Was there something novel in this?

Enjoyed the Cagliostro tale, very entertaining, with decent, serviceable art.  Ditto for the Gen. Lucius D. Clay story.

Love those "Little Known Facts About Famous People" shorts and the "Truly Comic" joke pages... next to the Stan Musial story, I found them to be the most enjoyable features by far (despite the poor print quality).

[Captain Audio]

The reason bank robbery was so sucessful in the early days was almost total lack of cooperation between state law enforcement agencies. Also few local cops even had radios in patrol cars.
If the robbers crossed a stateline pursuit usually ended right there.
Robbers found it easier to avoid detection in cities than the old west robbers had in hiding in the wilderness.
Federal statutes allowed the FBI to garner information from state and local agencies and investigators having something to work on could spot patterns, connect the dots and figure out far more than ever been possible before.

[bowers]

An interesting example of the "values-based" comic genre. Some other examples of this type are "Heroic Comics", "Calling All Boys" and the faith-based "Catholic Comics", Treasure Chest" and "Tales from the Great Book". In my opinion, these titles weren't so much intended to be purchased by young readers. They were probably more often purchased for them by their parents, trying to lure the kiddies away from some of the more sordid fare. I don't think "Treasure Chest"  was ever even sold on the newsstands. This genre featured stories, both true and fictitious, extolling the values of hard work, positive attitude, overcoming adversity, correct moral choices, etc. Nothing wrong with this- sometimes the books were drawn and written very well. This issue's F.B.I. story was probably more informative than exciting, and jumped around a little but was still pretty good. I enjoyed the Stan Musial and Gen. Clay stories a bit more, both better written. My favorite was the Cagliostro tale. The art was a bit crude but the facial expressions were wonderful. Not a great read, but an interesting and informative one. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

Thanks for the extra info Captain Audio. I agree with the story being a little staid but entertaining and interesting. Remember they did not have 24 hour news channels or even any 24 hour channels. So these stories would have been of more interest back then. I like learning new things. I think the story could have benefited from being a few pages longer. Of course if the same story were done today it would be a six issue story arc but suck.

[Drusilla lives!]

Yes, thanks Captain Audio for the historical insight, NOW the FBI story makes more sense.  I suppose another example of how we take for granted certain accepted ways of doing things today that were once considered novel... raises a very interesting and topical thought.  That perhaps one day this will also be true of international crime and terrorism... that is, people will come to accept certain methods as common and necessary.  Although for example, such issues as just how much "privacy" people are willing to forgo in such an effort (and whether any loss is necessary in the first place) is still undecided and debatable. 

[paw broon]

Thank you from me as well, Captain Audio.  I posed the question almost as a rhetorical one.  Now I know.  I had forgotten that thing about statelines.  And we have a slightly different culture here and it's the polis who investigate all that sort of stuff.  Although, in recent years we seem to have created more crime fighting/investigating agencies for really serious crimes.  So the FBI story now makes more sense as the question isn't still niggling away at the back of my mind.  As a fan of police procedurals, I'm sticking to my opinion that this one is a decent example of the form.

[Drusilla lives!]

For the record, that whole bit about keeping the brother in jail until he "broke" isn't exactly my idea of "good detective work."

[paw broon]

Oh, I don't know though!   The new Italian cop show now on BBC is set in wartime Italy with German nasties everywhere and keeping him in jail would have been the least of his problems had he been a suspect in last night's story.  Not for the squeamish.  And, I suppose, that's what happened in those days.  Have a read at some of the older Maigret stories for a flavour of stressful interrogations.  Even in recent years, suspects have occasionally had accidents with stairs.

[Drusilla lives!]

Well, I guess it's all in the portrayal... you were cynical at the Clay story, and I guess I must confess that I winced at that FBI one.  A reminder I suppose that just because the magazine has "True" in it's title doesn't mean it is... or that one should be lulled into thinking that all the things portrayed there as being "true" should necessarily be "right" by word association. 

Light torture is made "right" here, since it turns out (if I'm reading the "truth" correctly), that the brother was guilty... but was this known in advance really?... Will that always be the case with all people?  To me good detective work is (and always will be) mostly as Captain Audio states... getting off ones arse and using ones wits in cooperation with others (wits, that is).

But I think we are all in agreement still that we dislike Felix Sloper. 

[paw broon]

Yes you're right.
I'm not too sure about historic N.American police procedures but here in the U.K. there were seriously dubious tactics used at times in the past.  And that's the thing about "procedurals", occasionally police forces/officers behaved in dead dogy ways in order to get a result.  In no way can I condone what happened in real life, it's simply that in this  FBI story, and in police procedural fiction, that's what happened. ( if this were a smiley, it would say, "worryingly"

[Drusilla lives!]

It should also be mentioned that this FBI story... just as much as the Stan Musial story (although perhaps not as obvious)... is a story frozen in time.  What is, and is not, acceptable law enforcement procedure in a real world context (outside of fiction), here in the US has (I'm assuming) over the years been "worked out."  And that what was once true, is now mostly relegated to the confines of said fictional drama.

The thought that made me "wince" I suppose, is that these same old issues, taken in the larger present day context, really haven't. 

[MarkWarner]

I am not sure what to expect on this one so here goes!

And it is a REALLY good start Famous Split-Seconds was an excellent little story about a driver pushing his car to the finish line to come second. I am going to read up about this! O dear The car died two laps before the end, not one .. Ralph DePalma had his mechanic help him push it  ... and they came 11th  not 2nd!

Now on to the Stan Musial story At Bat. I am a Brit and baseball is not a familiar sport on these shores.
When younger we play a game called "rounders" which is a very similar concept ... but then when we have grown up a bit it's cricket (BTW don't be fooled it is not a game for the faint hearted)! Anyway Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Joe Di Maggio are names that have crossed the pond ... but that is about it! And plenty of here people wouldn't know any of them. Was a great story ... but again as I don't understand the club structure, playing positions etc  ... parts of it were a complete mystery to me!

Right next story .. robbing banks. We do plenty of that "over here" .. (well not me personally), but at least I am back on familiar territory.

"They left one of their guns here ... and what's this? This tube?"

"Easy does it ... from the looks of it that might be nitro ... one sneeze and up we go!"

Next frame it is handed to a local policeman (thanks guys!)

"Here this is your evidence, hold it till we call on you."

Well to be honest I don't really see there was too much in that. Just dumb criminals ... that I reckon you or I could catch.

Next story is Cagliostro Master Rogue. And I confess I have never heard of him before, even though the introduction indicates he exploits are legendary. Well .. that was a really cracking yarn ... unfortunately the scan is very dark and I found it did not make for great reading. There is a sucker born every minute! I just looked Cagliostro and the Affair of the Diamond Necklace and I regret to inform you that the story bears no resemblance to the truth

The Anna Ella Carroll story was interesting ... but judging by past form probably wildly inaccurate.

Now some really cheesey jokes, but I have read worse. 

The short Napoleon story was OK as was the last one about Lucius D. Clay (strange to have an article about an administrator).

Verdict: a passable  read .. but I have got better things to spend my hard earned dime on.

[crashryan]

I expected to be bored silly by this comic, but it wasn't so bad. I learned some interesting things about Stan Musial, Anna Ella Carroll, Napoleon, and General Clay. The problem is, as Mark pointed out, some of the "facts" were invented, which casts doubt upon everything in the issue. What a drag that the inspiring ending of the car-racing feature on the inside covers was entirely bogus!

The Anna Ella Carroll feature seems true to what was known about Carroll at the time, though her life and legacy (like everyone's!) was rather more complicated than presented here. She was an interesting woman, well worth looking up on Wikipedia.

The Cagliostro story seems to be total fabrication. True, the writer covers his tail by saying this is "one of the many versions" of Cagliostro's story. But in Wikipedia's description of the Diamond Necklace Affair Cagliostro doesn't appear at all.

I didn't fact-check the Stan Musial or the FBI stories.

The Clay and Musial features didn't grab me because, in order to pack an entire life into a few pages, they were more like narrated slide shows than stories. The FBI and Cagliostro stories read more like real comic stories. In fact they reminded me of the period-based True Crime stories Hillman published in their crime books.

Someone mentioned earlier that Parents Magazine's titles were intended to be bought by adults to offer kids (or force upon them?) "high class" comics in lieu of the less respectable, more interesting, stuff they were reading. I can buy this notion, but I think that if a parent had researched some of the stories he'd have been unhappy with the liberties "True Comics" took with the truth.