Smash Comics # 39 (January 1943)
Midnight feature (The Absent Minded Corpse)
According to Comic Book Plus, this story is a Reed Crandall and Paul Gustavson collaboration. While it's a bit odd to think of a Golden Age Midnight tale without any direct Jack Cole fingerprints, I give Crandall & Gustavson credit for a story descriptor that really intrigues and makes you want to keep reading...at least that's the effect it had on me.
The story opens with Dave and his entourage taking the train to a big time football game between "Wartmouth" and its rival institution, "Jale." (Gee...I wonder if this might be a reference to any real-world institutions?)
As in their trip to Hollywood, Gabby is confined to a suitcase with air-holes in it (though I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish since he carries on a conversation with Midnight and Wackey during the trip. You'd think the other passengers might notice and have some questions regarding the talking suitcase.)
Though Gab's dialogue has long suggested that he was up for a scrap whenever, it always seemed to me this was restricted to beating up bad guys. In this story, however, he seems to have some sociopathic desire to just get a donnybrook going.
Gab's irresponsible yapping quickly has the desired effect as a number of...rough-looking gentlemen take umbrage at the perceived sleights to their respective "alma matrixes."
Once the manufactured melee is underway, what do our intrepid heroes do? Why scuttle out as quick as they can and jump off the train!
As the rolling Fight Club hurtles into the distance, we see Gabby's head poking out of the suitcase and demanding to be released. His homo sapien partners comply...so as to more easily dispense some justified corporal punishment.
The next scene jumps ahead to our protagonists getting settled into the press box at the big game. In response to a question from Wackey, Dave explains the aegis of the violent Wartmouth/Jale rivalry in a long-standing feud between identical twin brothers, Sam and Dan Benson, who wound up presidents of each institution and "taught their schools to hate one another too."
While this is all going on, Gabby spies--and is immediately smitten by--a girl monkey who appears to be the pet of another spectator.
Dave points out Presidents Dan and Sam on their respective sides looking equally dour, before announcing, "there'll be bloodshed for sure!"
For some unexplained reason, just about the time that the players take the field the Benson Boys (who, of course, are dressed in exactly the same outfit because...genetics?) spy each other and whip out their revolvers to gun the other down. Apparently, academic freedom in the 1940s entailed optional homicide in a large public gathering with no particular fear of reprisal by law enforcement?!
After predicting "bloodshed" and watching players run onto the field with clubs, axes, crowbars, etc. it's not until this moment that Dave apparently wakes up to the danger and decides, "Y'know...Midnight probably ought to do something to try to stop this."
As in their trip to Hollywood, Gabby is confined to a suitcase with air-holes in it (though I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish since he carries on a conversation with Midnight and Wackey during the trip. You'd think the other passengers might notice and have some questions regarding the talking suitcase.)
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| Also just like in the Hollywood trip, Wackey proves himself a rather libidinous old coot. |
Though Gab's dialogue has long suggested that he was up for a scrap whenever, it always seemed to me this was restricted to beating up bad guys. In this story, however, he seems to have some sociopathic desire to just get a donnybrook going.
Gab's irresponsible yapping quickly has the desired effect as a number of...rough-looking gentlemen take umbrage at the perceived sleights to their respective "alma matrixes."
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| Granted, I wasn't around in the 40's, but I'm a little skeptical that it was this easy to gin up a gun fight on the basis of an athletic rivalry. (Take a look at what the dude in the left panel is packing.) And is just me, or does Midnight look a little too panicky for his character? |
Once the manufactured melee is underway, what do our intrepid heroes do? Why scuttle out as quick as they can and jump off the train!
As the rolling Fight Club hurtles into the distance, we see Gabby's head poking out of the suitcase and demanding to be released. His homo sapien partners comply...so as to more easily dispense some justified corporal punishment.
The next scene jumps ahead to our protagonists getting settled into the press box at the big game. In response to a question from Wackey, Dave explains the aegis of the violent Wartmouth/Jale rivalry in a long-standing feud between identical twin brothers, Sam and Dan Benson, who wound up presidents of each institution and "taught their schools to hate one another too."
While this is all going on, Gabby spies--and is immediately smitten by--a girl monkey who appears to be the pet of another spectator.
 |
This panel would lead me to assume Dave was a broadcaster for CBS, rather than being a local radio guy for UXAM. Was this a plot hole in the script, or was the structure of early 40s broadcasting different than I'm assuming?
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| While one might be tempted to assume the bloodshed Dave warns about simply refers to a rough-and-tumble football game, the various accoutrements of death being worn onto the field by the players suggests he is referring to actual gladiatorial levels of carnage...which begs the question, "Why isn't Midnight intervening to try and stop this already?" Dave's passive response seems rather out-of-character. |
For some unexplained reason, just about the time that the players take the field the Benson Boys (who, of course, are dressed in exactly the same outfit because...genetics?) spy each other and whip out their revolvers to gun the other down. Apparently, academic freedom in the 1940s entailed optional homicide in a large public gathering with no particular fear of reprisal by law enforcement?!
After predicting "bloodshed" and watching players run onto the field with clubs, axes, crowbars, etc. it's not until this moment that Dave apparently wakes up to the danger and decides, "Y'know...Midnight probably ought to do something to try to stop this."
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