December 1935: New Comics #2

Cover by Robert Leffingwell

 

I'm still enjoying this series more than I am More Fun Comics.  I think a big part of that is that the strips here run for at least two pages, instead of the one page they get in the other mag.  The installments get a little more time to breathe and sink into my memory.

I'm also starting to figure out why I like the humour strips better than the adventure strips.  The characters in the adventure strips are very bland, most being the classic type of square-jawed hero/detective/cowboy.  The serial nature of them means that the plot has to barrel forward at a good clip, so there's little room to flesh out the characters.  Whereas the humour strip characters are much more distinctive, both in appearance and manner.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have a new serial starting in this issue called 'Federal Men'.  It's about federal agent Steve Carson investigating a baby's kidnapping.  As usual it's very bland fare, but at least the story wraps up here in one strip.

I think my favourite creator at the moment is Sheldon Mayer.  'J. Worthington Blimp' (in which a boastful fat dude rides across America on a bike) and 'The Strange Adventures of Mr. Weed' (time travel!) are two of the most enjoyable strips in the book.  Vin Sullivan is still a stand out, and I'm starting to notice a lot of Matt Curzon's work.  And Robert Leffingwell's 'Sir Loin of Beef' is climbing the list of my favourites as well.

Not to say that I'm really enjoying anything a hell of a lot.  There's some mildly amusing stuff, and a lot of culturally bizarre things that fascinate me, but nothing that I'm outright entertained by yet.  And dear god, please ditch the text articles!  It's taking me a good hour-and-a-half to read each issue at the moment.  I'd really love to pick up the pace, but those text pieces are killing me.  (And no, I'm not going to skip them.  Not even the ones about stamps.)