CAMERA COMICS #1 (OCTOBER 1944)

Question:  You have a product you want to shill.  What do you do?  For many companies and organizations the answer is simple:  put out a comic book to lure your customers in at a young age.  (Well, it seemed to work in the 40s.)  Anyway, that seems to be the idea behind Camera Comics, issued by U.S. Camera Publishing Corporation, which published nine issues of the title from 1944 through 1946 == the first three on a monthly basis, the final six on a quarterly basis.  Camera Comics straddled that fine line between a comic book, a general interest magazine, and a trade publication.  Because it began in 1944, most of the comic story scripts had to do with the war effort for the first few issues; later intrepid newspaper photographers and whatnot tackled other threats such as criminals and corruption.

After a full-page ad for Everybody's Photo Course (for just twenty-five cents, kids!), we come to out first story, about The Gray Comet, "a daring danger-seeking member of the Army Air Force."  His plane does not carry a gun; instead it carries a camera because The Gray Comet does recon over enemy territory.  "He's been largely responsible for most of our bombing success...He's just about the greatest guy who ever lived!"  Take that, you Nazis!  In this adventure, he's off to locate enemy rocket bombs.  [SPOILER:  He does.] 

You'd think they would give us a breather after all that excitement but, no!  We hop straight into a story about Sergeant Art Fenton of the Signal Corps, whose job it is to go in on the first wave on D-Day "to get the pictures to tell the world what the American really did!"  [SPOILER:  He does.  But we will have to wait until the next issue to see what happens to Art Fenton when he gets close to the Nazis!]

But it's not just Nazis.  There's also the Yellow Peril, and the Japanese are drawn in the most yellow-ish peril-ish manner possible in the tale of George Ferguson, ace newsreel cameraman, in San Francisco in the days before Pearl Harbor when the city was a hotbed of spies and saboteurs.  George stumbles upon a Japanese agent who uses a trained crow to fly over restricted areas and take photographs.  When  George puts the kibosh on that deal. the spy tries to get murder-y.  [SPOILER:  George prevails.]

In "Pick Your Target" we have the lowdown on how "modern photography and modern planes combine against the Axis in a nard to beat team!"

Then comes a two-page text article devoted to "you photography hobbyists."   This issue discuss EQUIPMENT, METHOD, and RECORDS.  Next issue they will discuss the parts of your camera, speed, and selection.

You never know where Kid Click is going to show up.  This time Kid Click and his trusty camera is on the job at the local war plant where Nazi spy activity is unchecked -- but not for long!  The police have no clues as to who is behind the spy ring so the Police Chief calls Kid Click on the case, because that would happen in real life.  But Kid Click gets caught by the bad guy and is about to be tossed into a room full of acid when the police arrive.   How did the police know where to go?  Because Kid Click was able to write a message backwards on a roll of film.  Kid Click was also able to figure that the bad guy's glass eye was actually a miniature camera, enabling him to get information without throwing suspicion on himself.  [SPOILER:  The police decide to continue to use Kid Click's services to fight crime and spies and stuff; Kid Click agrees, as long as they don't tell his mom because she would worry.]

Bob Scott, U.S. N. Crash Photographer and his buddy Tom Hayes are stationed abo]ard one of the Navy's biggest aircraft carriers.  Their job:  To record on film all the action and adventure that is part of their Navy lives; their duties with the Pacific Fleet bring them daily face-to-face with death, especially since they are inside ENEMY TERRITORY!  [SPOILER:  The Japanese are no match for the U.S. Navy -- at least until next issue.]

Ole 'Prof, bald, bearded, and cranky is not happy with the jitter buggin' music that is coming from his radio, so he captures some of those pesky insects to try to figure out how to get them to stop.  But the bugs still have a lot of "jitter juice" left in them and they inject it into Ole 'Prof and now he's a hep cat.  [SPOILER:  Don't expect a realistic story; the jitter bugs look like the gremlins from an old Disney cartoon.]

Then, in rapid succession, a one-page diagram on How To Make an Automatic Timing Switch, reprinted from U. S. Camera magazine, and a one-pager on "Fotofacts" on Aerial Photography, followed by a back page ad for War Bonds (HASTEN THE DAY of final unconditional surrender).

Future issues would reduce the number of comic stories and increase the number of articles about photography and advertisements.

It's time to get your patriot on and get your cameras clicking!

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