Midnight and the Absent Minded Corpse: pt. 2 (Smash Comics #39)

Smash Comics # 39 (January 1943)

Midnight feature (The Absent Minded Corpse)

Today's post picks up where we left off a few weeks ago.   Dave Clark has just changed into his Midnight garb and is attempting to intercept the feuding Benson brothers before they kill each.  Unfortunately, the first shot with his vacuum gun misses, and by the time Midnight can recover the pistol-packing presidents have maneuvered onto the field and are in the midst of a general melee.  When finally relocates them, however, it is too late.

Midnight quickly snags the unconscious brother and spirits him away to try and determine who has shot whom. 

Meanwhile in the press box, Gabby and Wackey are spending more time observing the finer qualities of the opposite sex than they are the football game. 

The moment of comedic confusion passed, Wackey's attentions are arrested by a drama-in-the-stands, where a young chap of Jale is hitting on a the verdant-gowned Wartmouth lass with the monkey.  This leads to some...ah...problems with his broadcasting.

Does anyone else find it odd that Jale and Wartmouth fans would be sitting on the same side, at a game which has already been explained as essentially keg of black powder nestled inside a burnin' ring of fire?

Meanwhile, the amnesiac Benson is still clueless as to his true identity.  He asks Midnight why he couldn't just pick an identity--either Sam or Dan--and stick with it.  Midnight explains that this won't work as a rich uncle had left a million dollars to Jale University because Dan was his favorite nephew.  If the man pretends to be Dan, but isn't, then Jale would get the money "under false pretenses."  However, if the man pretends to be Sam (but is really Dan) then under the terms of the will with the first beneficiary (i.e., Dan) deceased the million dollars would go to the next of kin, Sam...and therefore to Wartmouth!

One wonders exactly how Midnight is aware of this. If it was common knowledge, you'd think this would've come up earlier in Dave's explanation of why the two schools were feuding.

Just when it seems all is lost, Midnight has a seeming epiphany, grabs the poor lost Benson by the neck and drags him away announcing that he's got a solution to the problem.  

Now, I realize "jumping the shark" was not a saying in the 1940s, but given the absolutely bonkers "solution" that Gustavson comes up with for Midnight, I think we can make an exception in this case.  It's so craptastically bad that...well...just read it for yourself:

Soooo....yeah.  Remember what I said in the first post about how Gustavson's opening story descriptor really made you want to keep reading?  Well, I guess the closing page is the one that makes you really regret that you kept reading.  Is this what a comic book hangover feels like?  

FNF (Round 1): M12 results and Vigilante (DC) vs. Inspector Von Ghoul

Round 1, Match 12 results

This was another difficult call.  Regardless of how tough the Face is, however, I think we need to acknowledge that a whole lot of his fighting edge came from "shock value" arising from his grotesque mask.  Is there much reason to think that would have much of an effect on the Prowler?  This guy has been running around with Puma and Sandman, so I rather doubt it.

Both guys are most stealth-type heroes.  Given the fight-ring setting, that wouldn't seem to benefit either of them.  While Prowler has a variety of non-lethal gadgetry amplifying his suit, the Face carries a side-arm and seems to have no hesitancy to bust a cap in an opponent. 

Thus, in the end this is largely a coin-toss.  About the only tie-breaker I can see is the durability of Prowler's outfit.  Given the time he operated and the level of attention given to his costume construction, I'm assuming it's pretty kevlar-heavy.  That would seem to mitigate against the "punch power" of Face's handgun.  Face, for his part, appears to be wearing regular dress.  So I'm going to have to give the win to Prowler by the slightest of edges.

 

 

Best of Others' Work: The Angel before the Angel

Life got busy again last week, and I wasn't able to complete any of the original posts I've been working on.  So, once again, it's time for a "Best of Others' Work" post...the series in which I share with you something I've run across on the Interwebs that I found especially interesting.

Today, it's a five year-old post from the Comics, Old Time Radio, & Other Cool Stuff blog, wherein author Tim DeForest introduced me to a Golden Age vigilante named "The Angel."  As I shared in the comments section of CTROCS, ever since I got into comics I'd thought it strange that no one had ever thought to name a character "Angel" until Stan Lee & Jack Kirby in 1963.  Turns out that instinct was right.  There was an earlier Angel...he was just forgotten.  When I realized that the original Angel was a creation of Paul Gustavson, the same chap responsible for the Midnight story we're currently mid-way through reflecting on, it just seemed like kismet.  

FNF (Round 1): M11 results and the Face vs. Prowler (Marvel)

Round 1, Match 11 results

This one was a real challenge.  Honestly, I would've preferred having more feedback from others to help settle the thing.  Essentially, we have a fight between two combat-savvy spy-types.  Under optimum conditions, I'd assume their fighting skills were roughly equivalent, and so would (at the risk of being accused a chauvinist) give the win to Nemesis simply on the assumption that he'd be physically stronger.

However these conditions aren't optimum...at least for Nemesis. In the specified title for him (Suicide Squad #13) Nemesis has just been busted out of a Russian prison.  You gotta assume he was unarmed in the political pokey.  He's probably suffering from a bit of...less-than-adequate nutritional care.

In contrast, in specified issue for Mockingbird (West Coast Avengers #40) she demonstrates her street-fighting chops by taking down a vastly physically stronger opponent (Digger) with relative ease.

Mockingbird goes to the next round!

 

Midnight and the Absent Minded Corpse: pt. 1 (Smash Comics #39)

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.)

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."

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?

Dave points out Presidents Dan and Sam on their respective sides looking equally dour, before announcing, "there'll be bloodshed for sure!"

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."

FNF (Round 1): M10 results and Mockingbird vs. Nemesis

Round 1, Match 10 results

When I first paired the Match 10 combatants, I knew next-to-nothing about the Voice.  Basically, I jus thought he was like a crime-fighting ventriloquist.  Up against that, a quirky-looking martial artist like Osakan Riot would seem to have a pretty good chance...

But then I read the Voice's inaugural adventure in Amazing Comics #22.  In it, not only does the Voice single-handedly taken on a large group of thugs (in contrast to Osakan Riot, who shows up to help Miss Melee take down a gang) but to top it off, the guy can blast bad guys out of trees and even collapse a building by "throwing his voice in a loud roar"!?

I'm guessing this assessment was universal, as the feedback I got from a few Facebook polls uniformly gave the win to the Voice.  The people have spoken, Voice goes to the next round!

 

The Heroes of Lallor: brief thoughts on some square peg superheroes

The Heroes of Lallor

In previous posts, I've discussed my appreciation for members of the Legion of Superheroes (specifically Chemical King and Polar Boy).  Today, I want to return to DC's 31st century, but not to focus on the LSH.  Instead, I'm interested in another super-group:  The Heroes of Lallor.

One of the main things I liked about the Heroes was the contrast they presented to the Legion.  It always struck me as odd--given the plethora of teams and independent heroes in the contemporary DC timeline--that by the 31st century superheroes had largely been consolidated into one massive uber-team.  With an even bigger universe, it seemed natural to assume, there should've been at least as many independent heroes in the 31st as there had been in the 20th. 

Gas Girl

The five powered teens (Beast Boy, Gas Girl, Evolvo Lad, Duplicate Boy, &  Life Lass) who composed the Heroes, were all born on Lallor, a planet ruled by a single dictator.  They were mutants whose powers were the result of exposure (in utero, apparently) to fallout from an accidental atomic explosion.  The kids' powers manifested when they were quite young--a fact the planetary authorities seem to have known. Eventually, however, "Prime Minister" Vorr experienced one of those sudden, inexplicable opinion changes that are all the rage with  dictators, and banished the teens.

The actual reason for the banishment isn't exactly clear to me.  Wikipedia  says it was for, "opposing the dictatorship," while the DC Database wiki simply claims that, "the leader of Lallor, fearing what the young people could do [had] them exiled..." Whatever the specifics, one thing is clear:  the Heroes were outsiders.  They were the super-powered square pegs in the 30th century...and that's one of the main reasons I like 'em.

Evolvo Lad

This theme of nonconformity appeared again in Adventure Comics # 339 (Dec 1965) where Beast Boy--who, for some reason was shunned from polite Lallorian society--retreated to the jungle planet Vorn where he led an animal revolt against the planet's human population.  As it turned out, this story concluded with Beast Boy's death and his burial on the memorial planet Shanghalla.

FNF (Round 1): M9 results and The Voice (Centaur) vs. Osakan Riot

Round 1, Match 9 results

Initially, I really thought this would be a pretty even match.  First, I have to acknowledge that I've read neither Contest of Champions #3 nor Flash #124.  Thus, in both cases, I'm having to base my judgement based on others' synopses of the tales.  With that caveat, I really thought this would've been a more even match, but now--despite being a fan of Peregrine--this looks to me like a pretty easy win for Captain Boomerang.

In the two tales referenced, we have a non-superpowered dude who's repeatedly given the Flash trouble and learned how to throw a boomerang through time, going up against a non-superpowered guy who was defeated by the Angel once the latter was able to secure a stick!? If a stick is all it takes to tip the scales, then tossing a boomerang through time should pretty much wrap it up.

Boomerang for the win!