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Febuary Special: Iger & Crandall's Firebrand



Created by S. M. Iger and Reed Crandall for Quality Comics, Rod Reilly was the first of four costumed heroes to go by the moniker Firebrand. (The remaining three were all produced by DC long after the Quality properties were acquired by National).


Son of millionaire steel tycoon Ed "Emerald" Reilly,  Rod fit snugly into the "bored playboy" trope of superhero origins.  He just "decided" that he wanted to become a crime fighter, so he started training under the tutelage of his eventual sidekick, ex-prize boxer Slugger Dunn.

My initial impression of Firebrand was that he was a fists-and-mask-only sort of guy.  However, his entry at Public Domain Superheroes, informed me that Firebrand also exhibited lariat skills and even used vacuum cups (a la Midnight?) in some of his adventures.

Firebrand's agility (as witnessed by his tightrope walking skills) and facility with the lariat are hard to explain given the premise of his being trained by Slugger Dunn.  I wouldn't think that's a typical skill set for the ring.  For his own part, Reilly's a wealthy playboy.  How much cattle-roping do you suppose he's done up to this point in his life?

In his initial incarnation, Firebrand had a publishing life of roughly a year (Police Comics #1-#13).  After Quality went belly up, and sold its properties to DC (roughly 1956), the Firebrand went into literary storage until being revived in the pages of Freedom Fighters #10 (OCT 1977).
[NOTE:  Though, technically, Reilly re-appeared in Freedom Fighters #10, it was not until Freedom Fighters #12 that his identity was revealed.] 
According to Wikipedia there were plans to have Firebrand killed off in the pages of Freedom Fighters, but the title was cancelled prior to that happening.  (A story subsequently published in the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade showed Firebrand dying in battle with a villain named the Silver Ghost).

By the early 80s, DC had decided to let Rod Reilly live...but he wasn't going to continue as Firebrand.  Rather, in the pages of the The All-Star Squadron #1 (SEP 1981) it was retconned that Rod had been injured during the Pearl Harbor attack, thus requiring the ending of his superhero career.  The very same issue introduced Danette Reilly (Rod's younger sister) who--conveniently enough--acquired fire-based powers and took up his mantle as the new Firebrand.

Having completed that quick tour through the publishing history of the original Firebrand, let's take a closer look at his inaugural appearance.

Borgias in the Big City -- Midnight in Smash Comics #60 (AUG 1945)

Smash Comics #60 (AUG 1945)





The eerie looking splash page leaves you with the impression this case will require Midnight to investigate the deaths of two famous radio stars.

We begin inside the offices of (UXAM?) radio, where a leisurely Dave Clark is enduring a harangue from his boss on how the station, "needs some publicity!"  Dave points out that they're already the most popular station in the country thanks to signature stars: the Swooner and the Thrush.  The boss man can't be bothered by such facts, however.  He's certain that unless the station comes up with some new marketing gimmick, the public will soon forget all about these two. Dave promises he'll take care of everything.  Moments later, Dave spots the two typically-squabbling stars in an amorous embrace.  He asks what's going on, and is told that the duo is "in love!"  And with this, Dave has his "hook."


Dave pitches the idea of a studio wedding, replete with big name bands and a syrupy love duet sung betwixt the two love-birds.  The boss loves it...though the couple, themselves, aren't so sure.


Yet misgivings are not restricted merely to the ceremonial of the wedding.  The Thrush's publicity agent shows up and makes known his vociferous opposition to her marrying away at all!  Nevertheless, he gets rolled like a marble and it's full-steam ahead for the studio wedding extravaganza!  When the news breaks the public responds, for the most part, exactly as Dave had predicted....with two notable exceptions.




On the evening of the big event, the theatre house is packed.  The Swooner begins to sing when he's inexplicably attacked by Hotfoot.  When the Swooner labels his furried tormentor an "awful beast," Sniffer jumps in threatening a little gun play.

Threatening to shoot a man during a live broadcast for insulting your bear?
Nah, Sniffer. That doesn't sound like overkill to me.
While Dave is being incomprehensibly nonchalant about his housemate planting a long-gun into another guy's neck, here comes the crotchety old uncle and the mystery woman both more-than-willing to kill someone to prevent this wedding.

Though you never really see what happens with these two, they're apparently quite ineffectual as the next panel features the minister pronouncing the Swooner and the Thrush, "husband and wife."  Later when the happy couple enters their awaiting car to be whisked off to their honeymoon, they find a box of sandwiches thoughtfully left for them to snack on.  Unfortunately...

Okay, I'll admit it.  I did NOT see that coming.

Next we get some text-light scenes of Dave swinging into action as Midnight.  And--in case you were getting bored with Midnight as just a plain-jane-vanilla-masked-detective-skilled-at-fisticuffs...

Midnight:  man of uncommon courage and inhuman olfactory prowess

Both the old uncle and the young woman show up outside and make laudatory statements regarding the double-homicide.  Sniffer immediately decides the woman is guilty.  Midnight opts to pursue the old man, who's hopped into a waiting car and headed off to his old spooky-looking domicile.



When he tries knocking on the front door, a sword of Damocles booby trap nearly skewers our hero.  Plan B, then is a Spiderman-esque scaling the side of the building to bust in through a window (no mean feat in a business suit and brogues).



Midnight busts in on the pistol-packing old cuss, just as Gabby enters from another direction announcing that, "the rest of the gang is downstairs."  When the disgruntled uncle-d takes a pot shot at the monk, Midnight makes his move.

Once disarmed, the old man seems suddenly grieved at his niece's death.  Midnight notes that her assumption of room temperature didn't seem to bother the guy too much earlier.  While this is kind of an obvious point and one you'd think we'd get more pursuit of, our hero immediately follows up with the odd-sounding question:  "Have you any other relatives?"

As it turns out, he old guy did.  There was a nephew on his wife's side named Marvin.  We're left to surmise that there must've been a little familial animosity there, however, for while the Thrush was welcomed at her uncle's home, Marvin never was.

When Hotfoot begins growling at a curtain, that's all it takes for the defender of Big City to wrap this whole caper up.  A quick right to the drapes and that's all she wrote.


On the final page we get a surprisingly solid wrap-up of how Midnight figured this out, as well as some good news--though the Swooner was cut down by the death sandwich, it turned out that the Thrush didn't eat enough for it to be fatal.



3rd Annual State of the Blog Post

Year 3: the rear-view mirror


Social media strategy 2.0

Revamping the blog's social media marketing was one of those plans that just never happened.  That was partially a function of time constraints, but I think the even greater contributor was the lingering feeling that I just didn't have a first vision for where I wanted the blog to go.  I'm just not sure that one can effectively advertise a product or service in this type situation. (More on that below...)

Post planning cycles

Last year, I endeavored to monitor individual post page-views, with the thought that I would put out more content that was similar to the most popular posts.  This seems like common-sense marketing, right? Well...it turned out that wasn't as great a plan as it sounded.  The undeniable trend of views/interactions went down after this change.  Perhaps the two events are unrelated.  The correlation may not represent causation...but it clearly didn't represent salvation either. 

Growth in blogging network

One positive that emerged over the previous year was the expansion of my blogging network.  Over the last twelve months the good folks at:  The Four Color Media Monitor, and Chris is on Infinite Earths have joined last year's blogging buddy The Peerless Power of ComicsI sincerely thank all three of you, and in the upcoming year I aim to--in some small way--give something back.

Year 4: the crystal ball

Clean up the link lists

As I've done the last few years, I'll be giving the blog a face-lift with the new year.  I intend for this to roll out in the following sequence:
  1. move all link lists to one side of the blog. (probably the left sidebar)
  2. drop the popular posts gadget in the side bar and leave it in the footer.
  3. drop the followers widget.  Despite having people who regularly read the blog, in three years I've had not one person sign up as a follower through this widget.  I'm befuddled at why this is the case since so many other blogs seem to have followers signed up and displayed through this widget.  I don't know if I'm just not marketing the site in the right way or what...but in any case, I'm dropping this widget unless and until I have a better idea of how to effectively deploy it.
  4. drop the reactions widget. Much like the followers widget, this one just hasn't seen much use.  It's just cluttering the blog, so it's gone.
  5. organize webcomic links.  I intend to keep the "Virtual Spinner Rack" for ongoing webcomics (defined as titles which have made a new post within the past year).  In addition, however, I'm going to add a "Virtual Long Box" that will feature discontinued webcomics (defined as having last posted over a year ago).  There's some good comics that, unfortunately, have lain dormant for years.  That doesn't mean they aren't worth reading.  (I hope also that if you're aware of any other webcomics you think deserve to be listed here that you'll drop me an email or a comment or something and let me know about them!)
  6. repeal and replace the "Character & Team Blogs". A lot of the blogs currently listed are not being updated and I fear that the good stuff is getting easily lost amidst all stale content.  Instead, I intend to replace these categories with a single "My Favorite Comic Blogs" list that will be composed of  stuff that maintains at least a once-a-year posting.  (That seems like a more than reasonable standard.)

Tighten-down the focus even more

The successes and failures of the past year have left with me with the renewed conviction that my focus has been too diffuse.  Though a lifelong comic fan, I simply don't have the breadth and depth of knowledge to provide the type of entertaining and informative commentary I'd like over the generic category of "obscure super characters."  Consequently, moving forward I will return to a more tightened focus. The short term plan will be to concentrate on finishing out the series I've been writing on the Golden Age appearances of Midnight.  Based on the progress I've made thus far, my assumption is that this may take up the full year.

That being said, I do want to preserve the option to stretch out into some other characters.  Consequently, once a month I will do a one-off post on some other character.  When the Midnight series ends, I'll look back on the stats for those various one-offs to determine who the next focus character will be. 

Face-lift the blog to reflect the tightened focus

In light of the tightened topical focus this year, I'm refreshing the look of the blog by populating the side bars and margins with some of my favorite Midnight images.

Get around to monetizing the blog

When I started this blog, I had hopes of eventually making some money (however little) from it.  In that time, I've brainstormed and discarded a number of ideas.  This year I want to finally get around to setting up the necessary accounts to start putting some ads into the blog.   However, I definitely don't want to bog the site down with ads. Thus, here's my open call to you, dear reader.  If you find anything about the structure of the ads annoying or distracting from your reading experience, please let me know.  I want to keep this a hassle-free (and hopefully fun) place to learn about oft-forgotten characters.

Average 600 views per month

A final goal I've set for the blog in the next year is to average 600 views / month.  Based on recent performance, this should be very doable.  Part of the reason for setting a specific number out is to give me objective measures on whether the blog is moving in the right direction or not.  I'm pledging now, to track this and honestly report (at least, as best as I can based on the analytics I'm getting) on the blog's performance. 

Conclusion

After three years of blogging, in many ways I've come full-circle.  I sincerely want to thank all my readers.  You guys are great! 

Two Drink Minimum -- Midnight in Smash Comics #59 (JUN 1945)


The opening splash page for the Midnight feature in June 1945 must've left its original readers with the thought, "Well, it finally happened.  Sniffer pushed them one time too many and Wackey has snapped!"


Smash Comics #59 (JUN 1945)

It's a pretty jarring cognitive lurch, then, when you go from Sniffer being chased by a cleaver-wielding Doc Wackey, to Midnight beatin' the snot out of some guy named "Knife" who's in the employ of the improbably named "Monk Simian."


Being the hero that he is, Midnight can't bring himself to "finish off" Knife.  Instead, he leaves the mobster unconscious and heads out musing about how in the world he might get the goods on Simian, thereby clearing up "half the unsolved crimes in...town!" When Midnight finally reaches his home, he finds his front door locked!

I guess Midnight's completely given up on the dream
of maintaining a "secret" identity anymore.

When the door is finally opened by a shuddering Sniffer Snoop, the feature splash page finally makes sense.  Apparently Sniffer slammed a door while Doc Wackey was in the midst of delicate chemical measurements.  This caused half Wackey's glassware to tumble off the shelves and shatter.  Turns out Doc was pretty attached to that glassware because its destruction really elicits some bloodthirstiness!


Midnight tells Wackey to calm the heck down.  He, too, has had an exhausting day.  By way of making small talk, our fedora-ed fighter asks Wackey just exactly what the "greatest discovery" du jour is, and learns:


In contrast to Wackey's own perception of the practical value of his super-sleep drug, Midnight excitedly announces this is the solution to his Monk Simian trouble.  He'll slip Simian a roofie, sending him into a death-like sleep.  With their feared boss "dead," Monk's underlings will then be persuaded to squeal on him.  (I know...seems like a convoluted plan to me too...but, hey, it was the Golden Age of comics.)  Midnight heads out to "collect" (i.e., kidnap?) Simian, and bring him in for (a highly illegal) dosing.  Wackey agrees, and announces that he'll be making a special delivery of his super-vitamin to Mayor Glibb.  (Apparently, the Mayor has grown too lethargic to run for office.)
Of course, you know it's not gonna be that simple. On the next page, Wackey clues us in on what to expect with  this rather flippant rebuff to Gabby's eminently sensible suggestion.

Because it takes soooo long to make a label

As a frequent reader would likely expect, no sooner have Wackey and Gabby left the room than Sniffer Snoop enters and feigns incredulity at Wackey's inventions, while nevertheless messing around with the bottles.  Realizing he's now no longer sure which was placed where, the original Snoop Dog decides now is a fine time for he and Hotfoot to take a walk in the park.

On the next page, we've got, at best, a bad sequencing of story panels.  Immediately after seeing Sniffer mix up the two different bottles in Wackey's lab, we arrive at the hideout of Monk Simian where the boss' doormen (?!) receive Midnight with a surprising degree of formality, prior to our hero busting in some doors and heads and forcing the contents of one of Wackey's bottles down ole' Monk's gullet.

1.  Remember, Midnight said he was going out to "collect Monk and
bring him in
for dosing."
2.  Remember, also, that Sniffer just mixed up two bottles back at Wackey's lab. 
If Midnight got this bottle before Sniffer's mix-up--which the panel order seems
to suggest--everything should be good.

I'm sure you can anticipate where this is going.


(Now, I suppose it's possible that we're supposed to read the story as saying Midnight left Wackey's lab, then Sniffer came and switched the bottles, and then--in off-panel action--Midnight returned and took the wrong bottle.  If that is the argument...it's pretty lame in my opinion.  Like I said, at best, this is a case of bad panel sequencing.)  About this time, it dawns on Midnight what Wackey must be giving Mayor Glibb and he races out to try to stop him.  Unfortunately, our hero arrives too late.


While the ominously-named Drs. Slasher and Carver, argue over what has killed the mayor--and therefore over which of his vital organs they're going to remove first--Midnight spirits away the unconscious Mayor Glibb.  Midnight decides to stash the mayor in his apartment.  It's not so much that this idea is crazy, but his rationale is...well...you see:

Yeah...nobody will suspect a thing. 😏

Ten minutes later, Sniffer Snoop, still trying to evade his roommates, sneaks into Dave's bedroom thinking he and Hotfoot will hide out until they have a better idea of the reaction to his bottle mix-up.  When he spots Mayor Glibb in Dave's bed, Sniffer concludes that this must be the infamous Monk Simian.  (Does it strike you as a bit implausible that even someone as annoying as Sniffer wouldn't recognize the Mayor?)  Concluding that it'll still be a good idea to allow Wackey some cool-down time, Sniffer decides he will hideout in Dave's bedroom.  However, in order to make sure this "gangster" doesn't wake up and start trashing the place, Sniff will give him another dosing! Of course, since Sniffer has switched the bottles; then what he actually gives Glibb is super-vitamin!  The Mayor wakes, wonders where he is, and then storms back down to the police station to get his revenge on Wackey and Gabby.


While Midnight's busy trying to save Wackey and Gab from the Mayor, he stumbles across a newsboy announcing the latest:  Monk Simian has messed around and gotten himself shot, and this has (for some unexplained reason) prompted a spate of confessions from his underlings.


Midnight's (uncharacteristic) complaint over a lack of credit, prompts Sniffer to issue his own protest against the injustice of him not receiving credit for discovering, "the super vitamin was an antidote for the super sleep drug."  Wackey, of course, quickly connects the dots...and promptly agrees that Sniffer does deserve the credit...which closes the circle and brings us back to our opening splash page.




Left Crying at the Altar: Leir's 10th and Final Appearance

 
The Mighty Thor #426 (NOV 1990)


In my last post, I wrote of the way that Leir's most recent story arc, which began with his effort to marry Lady Sif (way back in Thor #....) got more or less leap-frogged.  We wound up in the previous issue with Sif finally seeing Thor (her beloved and the only real reason she'd been entertaining Leir's advances in the first place) and immediately engaging in some good ole' Asgardian lip-wrestling.

I can only suspect that someone at Marvel back in the day noticed this and said, "Y'know...we really need a better resolution than just Leir slinking off like the band nerd who got rejected by the head cheerleader who'd been stringing him along, only to surprise him in front of the whole school by saying, "Later nerd!  I'm going to prom with the quarterback!"  And so...as the cover of #426 suggests, we finally get some resolution here.

Having defeated Ymir and Surtur and forestalled Ragnarok, Asgardians are due for a little downtime.


Odin, like any old man, chooses to take a nap.  (Sorry...I guess I should call it an Odin-Nap).

We get a bit of a political plot twist next.  In Odin's absence, the Father of Asgard will not be leaving Balder the Brave in charge, but instead...Heimdall!!  Perhaps this is appropriate, since the first action of Asgard's interim liege lord is to rebuild the Rainbow Bridge.

In the midst of such multi-hued reverie, Hercules informs Thor that he's going to make a quick round of the Asgardian ladies before heading to Olympus for his own homecoming.  Thor muses about how he's always all alone, but his cognitive pity party is interrupted by...


Having announced his intentions, Leir proceeds without further ado.


In response to Thor's natural question:  "Ummm...why're you hurling lightning bolts at me, again?"  Leir provides a quick run down of how they got to this moment.


First of all, I went back and re-read The Mighty Thor #417 (MAY 1990) wherein the attempted wooing of Lady Sif began.  There is nothing in there about Leir having to "defeat a champion of Sif's choice."  In fact, what is there is this little announcement:

"The Lady Sif has accepted [Leir's] chivalrous
proposal!" (Does that sound like she's putting any
conditions on the acceptance?)
So we have a pretty blatant plot hole here, created (I assume) to prevent acknowledging that Sif has straight up used Leir for over half a year of publication.  Hold onto your seat, though, because the humiliation of Avalon's premiere warrior is just beginning.

Now, understandably, Thor's still pretty ticked at being attacked while standing by a rainbow bridge, minding his own business.  I think we can all understand Thor's desire to take Leir down a peg or two.  His next statement, however, is...well... You decide.

"thy foul and loathsome touch"?!  Really, Thor?  I mean...the guy did just
help save Asgard from destruction, after the good Lady strung him along
under false pretenses. 

Despite Thor's unbecoming trash talk--Remember, Goldlilocks, this guy did just help you fight off a fire demon and an ice giant--he will not be the one to face Leir in combat. 




Instead, Sif herself is going to add injury to insult.


An an observer, I'm really beginning to feel sympathy for Leir.  The dude has done everything that was asked of him, and his reward is getting slandered, beat up, and now mocked by his wing man!?


And with that, Leir (lord of lightning and god of the spear) vanished from the Marvel universe.  Despite his arrogance, Leir still proved himself a loyal hero.  He deserved a better send-off than this.

[SIDENOTE:  Reviewing Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1 (FEB 1992), I was reminded that yet another of my favorite Marvel characters also tried to wed Sif.  What was the deal?  Is she that irresistable?]
et tu, Warlock?

Another Midnight Feature...Or Is It? (part 2) -- Smash Comics #58 (APR 1945)

 

Last week we left a hypnotized Midnight backed up against a wall by machine-gun toting gangster, Vince McGonigle.  But before we find out what happens to our titular hero...


Once Gabby frees himself, he races to the McGonigle gang's warehouse hangout.  Despite the fact that it seems to destroy the in-story timeline, Gabby arrives just as his pals are about to get aerated by lead.  At the last possible moment, some random henchman convinces Vince to halt the execution, in favor of a "better idea."

Comic gangsters:  icons of best management practices

Gabby is mortified when he realizes what his pals can be persuaded to do in their hypnotized state.  Then, he realizes that since anyone can influence Midnight now...he (Gabby) could just order him to mop up the McGonigle gang.  However, a moment's reflection gives him pause.

I guess the moral of this story is:  don't be an annoying houseguest

Unfortunately, things don't work out at Gab is expecting.  Rather than attacking his captors, Sniffer takes a swing at the man in blue, himself!


Apparently, shortly after drawing this panel...somebody notified the creatives-in-charge they were running out of room.  You turn the page and all sort of plot holes and discrepancies explode.  After Gabby's second order to Sniffer, the clueless detective suddenly turns and starts fighting the actual gangsters. (No explanation on why that didn't work the first time.)  Next Wackey--for absolutely no explicable reason--snaps out of his hypnotic trance and then rouses Midnight by pulling his best "Dr. Phil."

Yep...that looks clinically sound.

Of course, once he comes to himself Midnight enters the fray alongside Sniffer.  Unfortunately, when our hero tells the Snoopster to "wake up!" the latter does so, and promptly reverts to his standard cowardly self.  Of course, that doesn't change the outcome.  Midnight mops the warehouse floor with McGonigle and his crew.

And we wrap up with the standard (lame) effort at humor.

Aaaaand, it's a swing and a miss!