July 1940: Pep Comics #8

Cover by Irv Novick

'The Shield' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): The Shield tackles a diamond smuggling racket that is murdering celebrities. There's a clever set-up where a movie star is supposedly shot by his own image on the silver screen, but otherwise this is never more than solid.  That's not necessarily a problem; the Shield is one of those dependable strips that hits that level consistently.

'The Comet' (by Abner Sundell and possibly Jack Cole): The Comet battles the Master, a gangster who is disintegrating people with his death ray. This strip isn't quite as manic as it used to be, but it still has a level of energy that the other Quality books just never reach.  It feels more like the sort of thing Marvel are doing at this time.

In other stories:

'The Press Guardian' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin) must once again deal with the Claw, who is running an insurance racket on old freighters. 'Fu Chang, International Detective' (by Abner Sundell and Lin Streeter) takes on a gang of people smugglers that is hiding the people inside dead sharks. 'Sergeant Boyle' (by Abner Sundell and Charles Biro) must get a general's daughter out of Antwerp before the Germans arrive. 'Lee Sampson, Midshipman' (by Bob Wood) helps an heiress who has fled to the circus to escape an arranged marriage to a Frenchman. 'The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds' (by Abner Sundell and Lin Streeter) dethrone and capture Retlek, but by the end the tyrant is holding them at gunpoint once again. 'Kayo Ward' (by Harry Shorten and Bob Wood) becomes a movie star, much to the chagrin of the guy he replaced. And 'Bentley of Scotland Yard' (by Joe Blair and Sam Cooper) investigates a supposed vampire murder, and reveals that the real culprit was a business rival of the victim, who stabbed her in the neck with a fork.

April 1940: Pep Comics #5

Cover by Irv Novick

'The Shield, G-Man Extraordinary' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): The Mosconian plot continues, as enemy agents try to kill the Shield and also blow up the White House with tanks. There is a lot packed into this story. The Shield is extra-vicious; in one scene he uses a battery to create chlorine gas to poison a submarine full of Mosconians. "There wasn't a life lost, Shield, thanks to you!" Yeah right, tell it to the bad guys. They get their vengeance by sealing the Shield in a steel coffin and burying him under tons of rock, but two panels of straining is all it takes him to escape. The Wizard shows up yet again for a token cameo. I'm getting annoyed with these pointless crossovers, because the character never do anything together. But this is entertaining stuff, and Irv Novick is producing some powerful, dynamic art.

'The Comet' (by Jack Cole): The Comet, still wanted by the police, goes up against a crook named Stinger Lee. Lee has stolen a ray that creates darkness, and is using it to aid in his robberies. The Comet obliterates him with his eye-beams, as is his habit. This is poppy and energetic as usual.

'The Press Guardian' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): The Press Guardian deals with a senator who is protecting a notorious criminal. The story is mediocre, but I was amused when the Guardian turned to a group of teenagers to print a story in their amateur newspaper.  Sure, the legitimate newspapers had been shut down, but it's a humbling thing for a super-hero to do.

'Fu Chang, International Detective' (by Joe Blair and Lin Streeter): Fu Chang buys a farm, but his workers start being killed by a man-eating plant. The plant is the work of Yen Fat Sing, a criminal who is after some treasure buried on Chang's land. The plant made an effectively gruesome villain in a decent story.

'Sergeant Boyle' (by Abner Sundell and Charles Biro): Boyle gets a new commanding officer who tries to straighten him out. They must go behind enemy lines together, and their escape results in all manner of   hijinks. This is another strip that has gone from Nazi-killing propaganda to actual storytelling, which I greatly approve of.

'The Midshipman' (possibly by Bob Wood): Argh. There's a Navy/Army baseball game, and you'll never guess, but some crooked gamblers try to get Lee Sampson to throw the game! The hackneyed set-up was almost too much, but the ending saved it a little. Navy wins the game due to the crooks' interference, but Sampson's sense of fair play makes him demand that the Army batter gets another go. This decision costs Navy the game. It's stronger than most stories of this type.

'The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds' (by Abner Sundell and Lin Streeter): Last issue the Rocket and the Queen were captured by Ape-Men. The Rocket defeats an attacking bat-serpent, and so becomes the Ape-Men's chief, but the old chief plots against him. This is decent pulp adventure, and the Rocket's devotion to the queen is quite endearing.

'Kayo Ward' (by Harry Shorten and Bob Wood): After being set upon by some rivals, Kayo develops amnesia. He must then fight his opponent Slick in a boxing match, even though he can't remember any of his skills. The story isn't resolved by the end, but the novel set-up has me interested.

'Bentley of Scotland Yard' (by Joe Blair and Sam Cooper): A foreign agent and his unexplained pet monster try to intercept a message that is vital to the British Empire. The monster certainly livens things up, but he has no real reason to be there. And he's the only interesting thing in this story.

March 1940: Pep Comics #4

Cover by Irv Novick

'The Shield, G-Man Extraordinary' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): The Shield must stop a plot by Mosconian spies to destroy Pearl Harbor, but he has a little help: The Wizard! And Keith Kornell, the West Pointer! This is a good adventure story in its own right, even without the crossover cameos. The Wizard's appearance is disappointingly short, and Keith Kornell's is inexplicable. What is a cadet doing leading rescue missions in Hawaii? But the novelty of the whole affair outweighs any such concerns, and the crossovers continue in the next issue of Top-Notch Comics.

'The Comet' (by Jack Cole): After his killing rampage while mind-controlled last issue, the Comet is a wanted man. He spends the first half of the story on the run from police and angry mobs, but the second half diverts into a plot about miners being denied adequate ventilation by their unscrupulous boss. It's a decent enough story, but has little relevance to the Comet's mission to clear his name.

'The Press Guardian' (by Abner Sundell and  Mort Meskin): The Press Guardian takes on a graft ring that has threatened his father's newspaper. This is solid stuff, although it's let down a bit at the end when the main villain commits suicide off-panel.

'Fu Chang, International Detective' (by Joe Blair and Lin Streeter): Fu Chang goes up against Princess Ling Foy, a black magic sorceress. First she attacks with an army of brass robots, then she resorts to sticking knives in a voodoo doll. In the end it is Chang's fiancee Tay Ming who saves him, with the help of Chang's magical chessmen. This is fairly enjoyable, but the stereotypically honourable nature of Chang gets a bit tiresome after a while.

'Sergeant Boyle' (by Abner Sundell and Charles Biro): Boyle foils a Nazi plot to destroy London, saves a cornered battalion, and kills a shitload of Nazis.  In the Archie universe, I'm pretty sure that this guy marched on Berlin all by himself.

'The Midshipman' (possibly by Bob Wood): It's crossover time again, as the Wizard makes a cameo to help Midshipman Lee Sampson foil a Mosconian plot to destroy the US naval academy. The law of diminishing returns is setting in already, because I wasn't particularly thrilled to see these two characters meet. More likely it's the characters themselves, because I don't care at all about Sampson.

'The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds' (by Lin Streeter): The Rocket and the queen befriend a Hawkman, and are pursued through the Dark Forest by an army of Lizard Men. What follows is a story of survival, as the three are threatened by giant monsters, the environment, and the Lizard Men themselves. It all falls apart at the end, though, when a hitherto unmentioned tribe of Ape Men comes out of nowhere to defeat the Lizard Men. Weak.

'Kayo Ward' (by Bob Wood and Phil Sturm): Kayo Ward takes on some crooks who are collecting protection money from his father. The story makes a big deal about Kayo having been shot in the arm last issue, but it never plays into this story.

'Bentley of Scotland Yard and the Hunchback Horror' (by Joe Blair and Sam Cooper): The Earl of Crackenthorpe is killed by a legendary demon from an old family story, but the demon turns out to actually be his cousin, trying to get the Earl's title for himself. I enjoyed this while I was reading it, but on closer scrutiny it falls apart. The cousin's plan hinges on someone investigating the legend of the demon, but that is done totally on a whim, one that he has no part in encouraging. And I have to say that the Earl's fiancee is pretty fickle. She displays no emotion at his death, and within hours is shacking up with his brother.

January 1940: Pep Comics #3, Top-Notch Comics #4

Cover by Irv Novick

'The Shield, G-Man Extraordinary' (by Irv Novick): Mystery planes are dropping mines into New York harbour, and the Shield investigates. Exiled munitions magnate Count Zongarr is behind the whole thing, and the Shield soon wrecks his operation in the usual two-fisted manner. At least in this one the Shield shows some vulnerability, specifically to poison gas. I was also quite struck by Count Zongarr's multiracial army; just seeing a panel of white, black and Asian soldiers standing together all on equal terms is startling for this time period. The art is also strong, as Novick shows off his story-telling chops. This is a great showing all around.

'The Comet' (by Jack Cole): The Comet is captured by his enemy from last issue, a mobster called Satan. Satan has the Comet hypnotised (by a hypnotist named Zadar) and uses him to steal loads of money, and kill a whole bunch of people in the process.  Seriously, he's blasting cops point blank in the face with his eye-beams. Eventually the bad guys turn on each other over the money, Zadar has the Comet kill Satan, and the Comet kills Zadar by accidentally leaving his visor open. Super-hero mind control stories are a dime a dozen in the modern age, but this is early days for the genre, and it follows none of the usual tropes. The Comet doesn't try to resist killing people, and he doesn't triumph through his own force of will.  It's mostly dumb luck and the treacherous nature of the villains that saves the day, which is pretty refreshing from a modern perspective.

'The Press Guardian' (by Abner Sundell and Mort Meskin): The Moronia Bund villains from last issue kidnap the daughter of the bank manager who holds the mortgage on the Daily Express, and forces him to close down the newspaper's funding. The Press Guardian (really the newspaper owner's son) rescues her in a story that has plenty of dynamic action, but not much else going for it. I was surprised to see that the girl has learned the Press Guardian's identity, though, and that it's going to have future ramifications.

'Fu Chang. International Detective' (by Joe Blair and Lin Streeter): Fu Chang goes up against Ghor, a drug kingpin. Ghor is bad news as far as villains go; he actually walks up to Fu Chang's fiancee on the street and injects her with drugs that make her his slave. And when Fu Chang rescues her later, she's completely naked under a sheet. It's all implicit, but by the time Fu Chang sends one of his magic chessmen to inject Ghor with the drug, you know he has it coming to him.

'Sergeant Boyle' (by Abner Sundell and Charles Biro): If you like to see guys punching Nazis, this is the story for you. Boyle is captured and must escape, and that's as complicated as the plot gets. His biggest obstacle comes when he runs out of grenades to throw at the German planes chasing him, and tricks one plane by throwing an apple at them. Followed by the immortal line:

I think I've just given you all the information you need to know whether you like this story.

'The Midshipman' (possibly by Bob Wood): Midshipman Lee Sampson stops some foreign agents from stealing submarine plans. It's generic and uninspired.

'The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds' (by Abner Sundell and Lin Streeter): The Rocket and the queen decide to visit the Rocket's homeland together, but the queen's guards think she's being kidnapped and shoot their ship down. They land in a subterranean world where they are captured by "Batmen", and the Rocket spends a good few pages just killing giant spiders, turtles and snakes. It's pretty crazy stuff.

'The Shield Meets the Wizard and the Midshipman Meets the West Pointer': This is an ad for a crossover between the four characters mentioned, the first major event of its kind so far as I know. The first two participants have me kind of excited, but I don't know what the Midshipman and the West Pointer are going to contribute. Still, it ought to be very interesting.

'Kayo Ward' (by Phil Sturm): Kayo Ward is fighting Socker Benson, and a gambler named Ace Brady tries every trick in the book to get Kayo to throw the fight, even down to shooting him in the arm during the match. It's all stuff that's been done to death by this point.

'Bentley of Scotland Yard' (by Joe Blair and Sam Cooper): Bentley investigates the murder of a man who was part of a World War I unit that is planning to enlist again for World War II. The story is adequate, but made more interesting by the contemporary London setting, right in the middle of the Blitz.  It lends the story a sense of urgency it otherwise wouldn't have.

Cover by Edd Ashe

'The Wizard, the Man With the Super-Brain' (by Will Harr and Edd Ashe): The Wizard tackles Bundonian spies and stops their submarine fleet from destroying US ships. It's basically the same plot that every Wizard story has had so far, with the same scenes of him wrecking enemy soldiers and vehicles. There's a glimmer of interest when the Wizard's fiancee leaves him, and I thought it was going somewhere when she came back into the story later, but no such luck. The only really interesting thing here is that every time the Wizard uses one of his gadgets there is a blueprint showing its component parts. It's pretty nifty.

'Dick Storm in South America' (by Harry Shorten and Mort Meskin): First the country of ChilanPruvia invades, and Dick Storm helps defeat them. The opening here has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story, which is pretty poor.  Presumably the people of Chilan are still dying of the plague, no?

'Moore of the Mounted' (by Creators Unknown): This new strip is about Sergeant Terry Moore, a Mountie who has to track down two murderers. I was rather hoping for 'Lesse of the Mounted', and it looks as though I'll get my wish, as this is the strip's only appearance.

'The Devil is a Mule' (by Creator Unknown): Buffalo Bill Cody must deliver a message to a garrison besieged by Injuns, and fails because of his mule. Which he then promptly shoots in the head. This is just blatant anti-mule propaganda.

'Streak Chandler on Mars' (by Harry Shorten and William Wills): Streak is kidnapped by gangsters so that he can't play in a football game. Through sheer happenstance they take him to the home of a professor who has just finished building his rocket, and they force the professor to fly Streak to Mars. (Looks like he won't make it back in time for the game, which means the gangsters win!) Once on Mars, Streak is menaced by the baby-like Red Men, the bird-like Lokis, and a horse-headed octopus. I like the way this mashes up the standard sports genre story and crazy sci fi, and it is pretty crazy once they reach Mars. But the characters are bland, and there's no plot to speak of.

'Wings Johnson of the Air Patrol: Sky Raiders of the Western Front' (by Joe Blair and Ed Smalle): Wings must land in England in a stolen Nazi plane without being killed. After that he fights off some Nazi planes, then he gets caught behind enemy lines. And after all that, he finds out that his arch-enemy Von Schiller has survived yet again. A lot happens here, but it never gels into a coherent story.  And Von Schiller's continued survival is getting ridiculous at this point.

'Bob Phantom, The Scourge of the Underworld' (by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick): Bob Phantom takes on a smuggling ring that is bringing Chinese men into the USA. It's very dull, and the villain's identity (a Chinese princess) doesn't make a lot of sense.

'Stacey Knight, M.D.' (by Lin Streeter): Knight tackles a gambling ring that has fixed a boxing match by doping one of the fighters. This is really dull, and the last we ever see of Stacey Knight.

'The West Pointer' (by Ed Wexler): After Keith Kornell saves his girlfriend from drowning in icy water, he is declared unfit to play in an important basketball match. But because he is super-awesome he plays anyway and wins the game for his team before collapsing. It's the same old routine.

'Kardak the Mystic Magician' (by C.A. Winter): Kardak's girlfriend is kidnapped by fish people, as they have a prophecy that says they can only defeat their enemies if they have a white Earth Queen. Kardak helps them against their enemies, the spider-like Mocha Men. This could have been epic, but the art is stiff, and unable to convey the necessary scope.