July 1940: Zip Comics #8

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling' (by Charles Biro): When policeman Clancy is framed by counterfeiters and kicked off the force, Steel comes to his aid to clear his name. The story manages to evoke some genuine sympathy for poor Clancy, and any Golden Age story that induces any emotion at all is one up on the competition.

In other stories:

'The Scarlet Avenger' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick) deals with a gang that is killing senators. 'Nevada Jones, Quick-Trigger Man' (by Frank Volp) is framed for murder. 'Kalthar the Giant Man-King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick) rescues his girfriend from a murderous tribe, which involves him wrestling a lot of lions. 'War Eagles, the Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Smalle) are sent to Egypt to find out who is stirring the locals to revolt. 'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin) must deal with the traitorous Tania, and her Russian friend Nikolaus. 'Mr. Satan' (by Abner Sundell and Lin Streeter) fights a gang of hooded murderers. And 'Zambini the Miracle Man' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler) is blamed by the tribesmen of Yucatan for a drought.

April 1940: Zip Comics #5

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling' (by Abner Sundell and Charles Biro): Steel tackles a crooked senator and his plan to destroy a munitions factory and steal all of its defense contracts for himself. But even after Steel smashes up the bad guys and gets the senator to confess, he still has to rebuild the destroyed factory in a single day. His knowledge of building leaves a lot to be desired, and involves a lot of tying knots in steel girders. And then the Black Knight, Steel's nemesis and habitual cheater of death, shows up in a cameo to try and destroy the plant; he is promptly and hilariously crushed by a truck full of TNT, but I expect he'll escape somehow.

'The Scarlet Avenger' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): The Scarlet Avenger is still battling against Lexa, Queen of Crime. In this issue she plans to free a whole bunch of criminals for her private army, but the Scarlet Avenger stops her and blows up her dirigible. She escapes, of course, by means of her giant pterodactyls. I cannot hate a story with dirigibles, death rays and dinosaurs.

'Nevada Jones, Quick-Trigger Man' (by Creators Unknown): Nevada Jones takes on a gold miner who has killed his own brother for the gold and disguised himself as an old prospector. It's about as exciting as any of the westerns get (i.e. not very), and I feel like strangling someone every time Jones says "Yippee Yay, Blaze Away!" It's the first unbearable catchphrase in comics.

'Kalthar the Giant Man, King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter): Kalthar must do battle with a tribe of leopard-men and their chief, who turns out to be a slave trader that Kalthar spared in an earlier story. It all feels pretty tired and uninspiring.

'War Eagles, the Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Smalle): Tom and Tim stop a Nazi attack on a supply train, bomb some new Nazi guns into oblivion, and rescue an English spy. It's certainly eventful, but now that the protagonists have stopped being jerks to everybody it's not as much fun to read.

'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): Captain Valor and his friends are captured by Yat Sing and his half-sister Tania, who want China's defense plans against the Japanese invaders. As a continuing serial, this is something of a throwback to comics of the mid-1930s. It's not a style that I'm much enamoured with; I'll almost certainly have forgotten what happened by the time I read the next installment.

'Mr. Satan' (by Harry Shorten and possibly Ed Ashe): Mr. Satan and Doris stumble across a counterfeiting operation. This starts promisingly, as a man is killed with some carefully aimed fireworks, but then drifts into some tedious material. Mr. Satan's costume, is noteworthy, though; he looks almost exactly like Daredevil.

'Zambini the Miracle Man' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler): Zambini takes on a Voodoo priest. It's not great, but I am amused by Zambini's magic spells. Much like Zatara, his spells are cast by the way he speaks. "Babecabome Pabarabalabyzabed" is one example. I think he just throws an "ab" in at the start of every syllable.

March 1940: Zip Comics #4

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling, Man of Steel' (by Charles Biro): The plot here is exceedingly average, as some crooks steal a hospital's supply of radium. The only real twist comes when their leader is revealed as the Black Knight, Steel's arch-nemesis. (At this point, it will be a twist if he's not involved in a story.) Despite the plot, the story is full of small touches that make it great. There's a heavy dose of slapstick in the fight scenes, even a bit where a crook is punched through a wall, leaving a perfect outline of himself behind. The crooks show some remarkable overkill when delivering a message: they write it on a safe and drop it from a building. Most bizarrely of all, Steel now has the ability to pick up radio transmissions by setting up a contact between his teeth and tongue. But perhaps what really makes it is the triangle set up between Steel, his girl friend Dora Cummings, and Steel's brother John (who is actually Steel in his civilian identity). It's a shameless riff on the Superman formula, with Dora loving Steel and despising the cowardly John, but it's still done well.

'The Scarlet Avenger' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): Last issue we left the Scarlet Avenger about to be killed by the crime queen Lexa, but here she makes the classic criminal mistake of letting him live, because "he might be of use". Her hypnotism fails against the Scarlet Avenger, and he foils her plot to kidnap the president. As the strip ends, the Scarlet Avenger and his operatives are being overwhelmed by Lexa's forces. This is decent, but the failure of Lexa's hypnotism irked me. There's no reason for it given, and no particular struggle against it on the Scarlet Avenger's part. It just doesn't work, which is not good enough for me.

'Nevada Jones, Quick-Trigger Man' (by Creators Unknown): Nevada goes up against Slade Bowman, a notorious railroad bandit. This started well, with Slade as a charming yet ruthless killer, but the ending confused me. Nevada figures out that the sheriff is in league with Slade, but there's nothing I can see in the story to support his theory. Certainly nothing that would evidence enough to put him in jail.

'Kalthar the Giant Man, King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter): The jungle is invaded by the people of Shem, and Kalthar must drive them out. This is a nice change of pace for this strip. It's not high art, but it does have Kalthar throwing an elephant.

'War Eagles, the Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Wexler): Tom is still wounded from last issue, and Tim is called in for a solo mission to bomb a munitions factory. The two are still complete jerks to each other, but even so Tim decides to come to his brother's rescue, and both of them are shot down behind enemy lines. I do keep mentioning what assholes these two are, but to be honest that's the best part of the strip. If they were nice it would be terribly dull. I should also single out the artist, because that guy really knows how to draw planes. It's obvious that he's done a lot of research.

'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): Captain Valor is captured by Yat Sing, brother of a Chinese villain named Hop-Lung that Valor killed in a previous story. The strip ends on a cliffhanger, as Valor and his friends are surrounded while trying to escape. It's an unremarkable story, though I am left puzzled by one thing. Yat Sing's female accomplice claims to be Hop-Lung's quarter-sister, and I can't quite figure out what that means. Half-sisters I understand, but what exactly is a quarter-sister?

'Mr. Satan' (by Ed Ashe): Mr. Satan deals with a gang of diamond smugglers who are hiding the diamonds inside corn cobs, feeding the corn to the cows, moving the cows across the border and removing the diamonds from their stomachs. It all seems a little too complicated, and the story is much too close to cattle rustling for my tastes. The best bit comes at the end, when the main villain is karmically gored to death by a maddened bull. Like 'Steel Sterling' above, this serial features a hero who masquerades as a coward in his civilian identity, but Mr. Satan takes it too far when he, as Dudley Bradshaw, tells a girl who has just been kidnapped that he went to a party instead of getting her help. There's protecting your secret identity, and there's making everyone you meet hate your guts.

'Zambini the Miracle Man' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler): When Mermen drag a woman into the sea to become their queen, Zambini goes underwater to rescue her. This has just enough of the sort of craziness that I like in Golden Age stories. The only thing I felt let down by was that Zambini never has a proper duel with the merman wizard Magi.

January 1940: Zip Comics #3

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling, Man of Steel' (by Charles Biro): Sterling has taken on the identity of his "twin brother" John, and acts as a private investigator. He's hired by a girl named Dora Cummings to rescue her scientist father, who has been kidnapped by the villainous Black Knight. The story that follows is pretty mad. It has flying tanks conquering a South American country. It has a cannon that fires balls of flaming oil. It has alligator men. It has a swarm of giant mosquitoes. And it has Steel Sterling smashing the hell out of all of them. I'm a sucker for a fast-paced, frenetic action story with lots of crazy elements, and this is exactly that.

'The Scarlet Avenger' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): I had almost forgotten about the Scarlet Avenger, but how could I ever forget "The Man Who Never Smiles"? In this story he takes on Texa, a female crime lord who flies around in a dirigible and uses a giant magnet to rip a vault full of gold bullion from beneath the earth. It's a solid if unspectacular action story, and there is lots of gonzo technology on display. The cliffhanger is good as well, with the Scarlet Avenger having barely survived a plane crash and Texa hunting him in her dirigible.

'Nevada Jones, Quick-Trigger Man' (by Creators Unknown): Nevada Jones takes on a gang of stagecoach robber who are posing as Injuns. The storytelling here is really choppy, and the page layouts are also weird. As far as I'm concerned, if you need arrows to tell me what panel to read next, your layout sucks.

'Kalthar the Giant Man, King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter): Kalthar joins up with some white men who are searching for the lost city of Kybys, and a golden tablet hidden within. There are the usual traitorous party members, and a girl for Kalthar to fall in love with. The only thing that separates this from every run-of-the-mill jungle lord story is that Kalthar can change size, and that's hardly a compelling enough hook.

'War Eagles, the Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Smalle): Tom and Tim leave a man behind while escaping from Nazis, and must go back to rescue him. They're still jerks, but not as insufferable as they were last time. And Smalle has gotten much better at drawing aerial dogfights.

'The Slip-Up' (by Creator Unknown): In this prose story, Larry Duryea tries to kill another businessman by filling his car with poison gas. But when Larry slips and is knocked unconscious, the businessman stops to bundle him into the car and drive him to the hospital, and it's Duryea who dies. This is a pretty good twist ending story, the sort of thing that I'd be happy to see more of.

'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): Angie's father is kidnapped by the villainous Ho Tsin, and Valor goes to his rescue. The most interesting scenes come when Valor befriends one of Ho Tsin's goons, a giant with no name and an endearingly stupid personality. It was also novel to see Angie save Valor's life, instead of the other way around. But otherwise this is truly generic stuff.

'Mr. Satan' (by Harry Shorten and Ed Ashe): Mr. Satan takes on a gang that is wrecking trains carrying payrolls for the local mine. The cliches are thick and fast here, to the point that Mr. Satan is actually tied to a railroad track. Even that bit of audacious hack-work can't make this story interesting, though.

'Zambini the Miracle Man' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler): In this story, Zambini goes to Hell and kills Satan. For real. It's not even like he has a difficult time of it, because Satan here is a complete wimp. All he has is his minions (including a brontosaurus, weirdly), who Zambini casually dismisses with his magic powers. This could have been brilliant, if only Satan wasn't so weaksauce.

December 1939-January 1940: Zip Comics #1-2

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling, the Man of Steel' (by Charles Biro): John Sterling's father was killed by racketeers, so he vows to wreak vengeance on the underworld. His origin story is pretty simple, as John covers himself in special chemicals, dives into a vat of molten metal, and emerges with a skin as hard as steel and the ability to magnetise his body. It's all quite compellingly depicted.  In his first adventure he battles against a crook known as the Black Knight, who has a castle full of goons and deathtraps. The action doesn't let up here, as Steel Sterling batters his way through everything in his path. And I almost pitied the Black Knight by the end. He was beaten up, thrown head first into a wall, fell down a hundred foot pit, got savaged by a pack of giant rats, and then blown up along with his castle. That's a bad guy who goes out with style.

'The Scarlet Avenger' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): Jim Kendall's wife and kid were killed in a plane that crashed after being hijacked by crooks, so he decided to become the Scarlet Avenger to fight crime. Jim himself was in the crash, and was the only survivor. His face muscles were paralysed, and he became "The Man Who Never Smiles", which is completely hilarious. He even talks to his operatives while sitting on a skull throne, so this guy is pretty emo. He doesn't have any powers, just a whole load of gadgets; a bulletproof cloak, a magnet ray, a paralysis gun, pretty much whatever the plot demands. In his first story, the Scarlet Avenger takes on a gang who are insuring people and then murdering them, which is pretty pedestrian stuff.

'Nevada Jones, Cattle Detective' (by Creators Unknown): Nevada Jones is a generic western hero, "ace operative of the cattleman's association". In this story he must rescue a female ranch owner from Mexican cattle rustlers. Not only is Nevada unpleasantly racist towards Mexicans (the word greaser is used at least once per page) he shoots his horse point blank in the head after it falls down a cliff. And that ain't cool.

'Kalthar the Giant Man, King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter): Kalthar is a Tarzan clone, raised in the jungle by a tribe that his father had rescued from Arab slave traders. He does have one bit of originality, in that he can eat a special grain that makes him grow to fifteen feet in height. In this story he fights more Arab slave traders. It's not great, and it has the usual undertones of white supremacy at the core of this genre.

'War Eagles featuring The Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Smalle): I've seen my share of over-reaction, but Tom and Tim Shane take the cake. After being fouled in a game of polo by the German sportsman Herr Schultz, they decide to join the British Air Force to seek revenge. Yes, a good bombing raid will fix him! The twins display pretty much the same level of maturity throughout, disobeying orders, getting their fellow soldiers killed, letting a girl come between them, and flying an unauthorised bombing mission against the Germans. They're presented as heroes, but they really do come across as spoiled brats.

'You Can't Win!' (by Creators Unknown): This grim prose piece tells the story of murderer William Hickman, who did neck strengthening exercises in an attempt to stop his neck from being broken when hanged, only to die by slow strangulation. It seems less of a story and more of an excuse to present a scene of gratuitous unpleasantness.

'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): Captain Valor was a US marine, but he left because the marines weren't exciting enough for him. That's a hell of a thing to live up to, but I'm afraid that Valor doesn't cut it. In his first story he rescues a girl from the warlord Ho Tsin, and blows up the warlord's base with grenades. But Ho Tsin never gets dealt with, which never makes for a satisfying action story.

'Mr. Satan' (by Edd Ashe): Wealthy playboy Dudley Bradshaw is also Mr. Satan, international detective and soldier of fortune. In this story he must rescue a missionary from Count Bodana and his pygmies, who want the location of a valuable gem. It's all very hackneyed stuff, and Mr. Satan is fairly bland despite his cool name. Even the scene where the missionaries daughter has her feet burned with matches didn't shock me.

'The Miracle Man, Zambini the Magician' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler): Zambini is yet another generic magician hero. His one unique power is his boomerang amulet, which can make any evil force return where it came from. In this story he stops the nation of Hundaria from invading Ritania.  It's an average story, and Zambini is very powerful, but without the fun of Zatara. He does have one weakness, though: as long as someone touches him with their hand, he is powerless. That's a neat twist, but it doesn't save this from being a dull story.

Cover by Charles Biro

'Steel Sterling, Man of Steel' (by Charles Biro): Steel tackles a gang of escapes convicts who steal a gold shipment from a ship at sea. It turns out that they're working for the Black Knight, who you may recall was emphatically killed off in the last issue. He's alive again, which usually doesn't bother me for villains, but at the very least I expect an explanation beyond "I thought he was dead".  About halfway through this story I was getting very tired of Sterling's invulnerability, but then he suddenly developed a whole bunch of weaknesses. Tear gas can blind him, liquid fire can damage his eyes, and he can be helplessly buried under a huge pile of chains. With some weaknesses established, I found myself enjoying this one, especially the extended polar bear fight sequence.

'The Scarlet Avenger, Gang Buster' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): The Scarlet Avenger goes up against a gang of racketeers and their leader, who is actually the District Attorney. This is a pretty boring story, but it's somewhat livened up by the Avenger's ridiculous gadgets and preparations. He's almost like the Adam West Batman is his level of preparedness, only this is supposed to be taken seriously.

'Nevada Jones, Quick-Trigger Man' (by Creators Unknown): Nevada Jones is framed for murder by a gang of outlaws, but that story is just a backdrop for Nevada's transformation from cowboy to masked hero. He starts wearing a mask, because he's now wanted by the police. He finds a horse and names it Blaze. He gets a Mexican sidekick named Little Joe. He even gets a lame catchphrase - "Yippee-Yay! Blaze Away!" - that he repeats no less than three times during this story. The story is average, but the various heroic trappings acquired make me slightly more interested in where this is going.

'Kalthar the Giant Man, King of the Jungle' (by Harry Shorten and Lin Streeter): White ivory hunters arrive in the jungle, and Kalthar has to stop them. The villains aren't fleshed out at all, and Kalthar isn't interesting enough to carry a story on his own.

'War Eagles, The Devil's Flying Twins' (by Ed Smalle): Tom and Tim, after a series of dogfights and battles, end up as majors with the rank to do whatever they please. They're still insufferable characters being presented as heroic. The artist is also unable to draw a good dogfight; his planes look like they're falling out of the sky rather than flying.

'The Oregon Death Dealer!' (by Creators Unknown): This prose story is about a man who leaves his love to head out west and make his fortune. With no luck on the goldfields he becomes a criminal, and his woman must break him out of jail so that they can go on the run together. This veered a little closely to cloying romance for my tastes, but the ending was quite sweet. It's unusual to see crime romanticised in comics at this time.

'Captain Valor' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): There's a lot going on here. Valor and his friends Angie and Ronnie befriend the jovial outlaw Wang-Fu. They make enemies out of the less-than-jovial outlaw Hop-Lung. There are invaders from another country. There are missionaries under siege. It's a mess, quite frankly. I do like the way Valor just solves every problem with a big bag of dynamite, though.

'Mr. Satan' (by Harry Shorten and Edd Ashe): Mr. Satan goes up against a woman who is trying to kill her husband by getting her boyfriend to attack him dressed as a lake monster. It's dull.

'Zambini the Miracle Man' (by Joe Blair and Ed Wexler): The fiery planet Inferno is nearing Earth, and threatens to burn all life to death. Zambini, along with the crazy Professor Stargaze and an unnamed girl, travel to Inferno and meet the glass people who live there. Zambini is able to cool Inferno down while battling against the glass people and Professor Stargaze, and this is exactly the sort of gonzo nonsense that I want from Golden Age comics.