PEP COMICS #1 (JANUARY 1940)

Pep Comics was the third anthology comic book published by MLJ Publications.  In issue #42 (December 1941) it introduced the character of Archie Andrews.  Archie was a major hit and by issue #57 the company changed its name to Archie Comics; Pep Comics continued under that imprint until issue #411 (March 1987)

The lead story in Pep Comics #1 featured The Shield. the first superhero to wear a costume based on the American flag -- predating Captain America by a year.  The Shield is Joe Higgins, "G-Man Extraordinary."  The only person who is aware of The Shield's true identity is the head of the F.B.I., old J. Edgar himself.  The Shield's costume is made of a secret construction which not only renders him bullet-proof and flame-proof but gives Joe "the speed of a bullet and the strength of Hercules."  The four white stars on his costume signify what Joe has dedicated his life to: Truth, Justice, Patriotism, and Courage.  In this adventure, The shield is sent to stop a Stokian spy ring (Stokians evidently come from Stokia and are not followers of  the author of Dracula).  Art  by Irv Novick, who would illustrate stories for Pep through issue #66; story by Harry Shorten, probably best known today for his syndicated cartoon There Oughta Be a Law!  The Shielkd was featured in the first 65 issues of Pep Comics.

Comic legend Jack Cole wrote and illustrated "The Coming of the Comet."  "After injecting himself with a gas fifty times lighter than hydrogen, John Dickering discovers he can now take leaps that are more like flying.  Beams now shoot from his eyes and when the rays cross whatever he is looking at disintegrates."  A pretty nifty trick for killing three associates of a typhoid racketeer before The Comet finally meets up with the villainous Dr. Archer.  The Comet was rather blase about killing his enemies.  He was the first comic book superhero to die, which happened in issue # 17 (July 1941), when he was cut down by gangster bullets; his death inspired his brother to become a similarly brutal hero, he Hangman.

Charles Biro (who created the original 1940's Daredevil) is most likely the artist behind "Sergeant Boyle/"  Hank Boyle, an American student in London, headed for home when war broke out, but his ship was torpedoed by a German U-Boat.  A non-superhero hero, he was featured in mildly comical action adventures through 1943.

Now we come to the first of three stories penned by one of my favorite authors, Manly Wade Wellman (Wellman also scripted the very first Captain Marvel story).  "The Queen of Diamonds" is a one-off story, to be followed in  the next issue with a spin-off "The Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds."  Behind impassable barriers lay the Diamond Empire, the hidden wonder of the world.  All the men her have yellow skin; the Queen (and evidently all other females) has white skin.  A villain tries to overthrow the queen but is stopped by our he-man hero who had crash-landed in the Diamond Empire.  Art by Lin Streeter.  (Evidently the Diamond empire is on an alien planet; in later issues of Pep, a winged character named Falkar of the Hawkmen is introduced to have adventures alongside the Rocket and the Queen of Diamonds.)

The next Wellman story (also illustrated by Streeter) featured Fu Chang, an American-educated Chinese living in San Francisco who uses both a set of magic chessmen and the powers of Aladdin's Lamp to solve international crime.  Here he rescues his girlfriend, Tay Ming, from the villain known as the Dragon.  Fu Chang and Tay Ming appeared in the first eleven issues of Pep Comics.

The final Wellman story features Bentley of Scotland Yard.  "In London the night was clear and calm -- and nobody was prepared for the Mayfair Monster."  The  monster happens to be a werewolf who% attacks Brenda Joyce, the wealthy ward of Sir Robert Napier.  Luckily, Bentley was on hand to stop the attack and save the girl,  but the  monster got away.  Three guesses who the monster actually is.  This one was illustrated by Maurice Gutwirth.  Bentley appeared in 41 stories between 1940 and 1945.

The Press Guardian, a.k.a. the Falcon (could he be city editor Jim Boyd? -- Nope.  See below.), appeared kin this first issue with a winged costume; beginning with the second issue, he became more sedate, wearing a  business suit, fedora, and mask. When newspaper reporter Flash Calvert goes up against Slug Wickum and his gang things go south until the Falcon shows up to rescue Flash.  Art by Jack Binder, who never met a face he could draw.  By Pep #2, the Falcon no longer exists and reporter Perry Chase takes over the role of the Press Guardian, who apparently ended his run with issue #11.

"The Midshipman" is Lee Sampson, who goes through Navy college to graduation in sixteen issues. When a small plane crashes into the river, Lee dives in to save the pilot, the lovely Mae Dennis.  Don Lewis, from a rival college and jealous of Lee talking to his "girlfriend," attacks Lee.  Mae breaks up the fight and says she will go to the dance with whoever wins the boat race that afternoon.  Both Lee and Don are the champion oarsmen for their respective schools.  As they near the finish line, neck and neck, Don smashes Lee's prow with his oar, causing Lee's boat to take on water.  With a superhuman effort, Lee manages to bring his boat over the line to win the race, but the physical strain causes him to collapse in the water.  Mother of mercy, is the end of the Midshipman?  Of course not; he goes on for another fifteen issues.  Lee is pulled out of the water just in time.  Don is pissed and later attacks Lee.  Lee defends Don in front of the brass and they become good friends, and Lee goes to the dance with Mae.  Script by Will Harr, with art by Edd Ashe.

Lastly, Eddie "Kayo" Ward is a boxer who has to fight both inside and outside of the ring as a crooked manager and his fighter try to make a "sap" out of him.  But Kayo is a clean cut powerhouse who is not easily taken.  Script by Phil Sturm; art by Bob Wood.  Kayo ;punched his way through the first 28 issues of Pep Comics.

A pretty good deal for your 1940 dime.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=70623

FORGOTTEN BOOK: MY BROTHER MICHAEL

My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (1959; reprinted in omnibus volume Three Novels of Suspense, undated,  but 1960)

This was the March selection of Erin's Family Book Club.  How it works:  Every month we each suggest two  books; the winner is chosen randomly by computer.  Because March was Kitty's birthdate, this was one of my two selections.  It was one of Kitty's favorite books and one that she re-read often.  Despite the fact that Kitty married me, she had remarkably good taste.

It is fourteen years after World War II and Camilla Haven has recently broken off a six-year engagement; she new realizes that she was unhealthily dependent on her former fiance.  Camilla is on a solo extended vacation in Greece; circumstances prevented the woman she had planned to go with from accompanying her.  He has read extensively in Greece, its landmarks, and its history and is enjoying the quiet beauty of the country, even though nothing exciting has actually happened.  Her funds are low and she hopes to make a brief trip to Delphi before having to return to England.

While having a cup of coffee in an Athens cafe, she is approached by a man who had been told to ,look for a single woman in that cafe at that time.  He told Camilla that the car was outside and ready to be delivered to Mister Simon in Delphi and that it was "a matter of life and death."  He then pushed the car key across the table at her before quickly leaving, and before Camilla had an chance to tell him that he had mistaken her for someone else.  Obviously the woman he had been intended to meet had been delayed.   Camilla waited for over an hour but the mysterious woman never appeared.  At last, she decided that she would drive the car to Delphi herself and deliver it this Mister Simon, whoever he was -- surely there could not be that  many Mr. Simons in Delphi...and it was "a matter of life and death."  (Also, it would save the money for bus fare, and Camilla's funds were getting desperately low.)  Camilla was not an expert driver, but how hard could it be anyway?

It turns out it was not easy.  She got stuck along the way after having several minor accidents.  (Local villagers told her not to be concerned; the donkey that she hit was not damaged -- it would most likely run for a kilometer or so, then calm down and return on its own.)  she was rescued by an Englishman who happened to on his way to Delphi himself and he volunteered to drive her.  His name was Simon Lester but he was evidently not her "Mr. Simon" -- he had no idea about the mysterious woman, the car, or the matter of life and death.  Simon volunteered to help her find her "Mr. Simon" once the arrived in Delphi.

Simon arranged for her to stay in a small hotel; he himself was staying at a large dormitory intended for students and artists.  (Simon was a teacher in England, but managed to talk his way into the dormitory; the only other person staying at the dormitory was a young, talented, and insecure artist named Nigel.)  Delphi was a small community,  but Camilla and Simon could not locate her "Mr. Simon."

Simon Lester was in Delphi to pay homage to his  brother Michael, who was murdered there, presumably by Germans, shortly before the war ended.  Michael was sent  by British Intelligence to work with Greek resistance group against the German occupiers.  Simon's father had recently died and, among his effects, was a final letter from Michael that Simon had never seen before, along with items taken from Michael's  body -- including three gold coins.  The British had sent a large supply of guns and gold to the Greeks to help in their fight against the Nazis; somehow the guns and money had gone  missing.  Simon  believed that Michael had found the hidden cache of gold before he was killed.

I turned out that Michael had not been killed by Germans, although he had been wounded in  the shoulder.  Michael had been hiding lout in one of the many caves in the area, which is where he probably found the gold.  The gold and guns had  been stolen by a murderous sadist named Angelos, who had hoped to use the loot to help finance an overthrow of the Greek government once the war was over.   Before that could happen, though, he was seen murdering Michael and had to flee the country to Switzerland, where he vanished completely and was presumed dead.

But there were others besides Simon who were searching for the hidden cache.  And when Michael and Camilla finally found the gold, they also found another treasure -- one that would have a greater impact on the future.

My Brother Michael is an atmospheric romantic suspense novel that delays its action until the final pages, where murder and danger become paramount.  This is as much a love  novel ab out% Greece itself -- its beauty, history, its legends, its people -- as it is about anything else.   The vivid colors, the sounds, and the smells of the area was wonderfully described, as if one were in the actual setting.  The romance is present, but not overt, allowing the reader to bath in the novel's other romance, that of the countryside itself.  It is an effective, well-told tale.  In 1990, Britain's Crime Writer's Association named the top 100 crime novels of all time -- My Brother Michael made the list at number 55. 

As I said at the outset, Kitty had good taste.

Mary Stewart was a pioneer in the romantic suspense subgenre, penning many best-selling novels with "skillful story-telling and elegant prose" and "well-crafted settings."  Along with fellow writers Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney, she helped pave the way for an immensely popular that began with Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.  Among Stewart's better-known novels are Madam, Will You Talk?, Wildfire at Midnight, Thunder on the Right, Nine Coaches Waiting, The Ivy Tree, The Moon-Spinners, This Rough Magic, and Airs Above the Ground.  Later in her career she began a best-selling series of five Arthurian romances, beginning with The Hollow Hills.  Stewart has received an Agatha Lifetime Achievement Award.  My Brother Michael was nominated for a CWA Gold Dagger Award in 1961, losing to Lionel Davidson's The Night of Wenceslas (no shame in that!)

BOX 13: THE BITER BITTEN (JULY 17, 1949)

Box 13 was a syndicated radio show which ran for fifty-two episodes in 1948-49.  It followed the adventures of reporter turned mystery novelist Dan Holiday (Alan Ladd) who explored new ideas for his soties by placing an advertisement in the Star-Times:  "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- write Box 13, Star-Times.  

Sylvia Picker played Holiday's scatterbrained secretary, Suzy; Edmund MacDonald was his police foil, Lt. Kling.  The show was created by Ladd's own company, Mayfair Productions.  Produced  by Richard Sanville, the show was both announced and directed by Vern Carstensen.  It was written by Russell Hughes (who had hired Ladd as a radio actor for $19 a Week back in 1935); Ladd would sometimes collaborate on scripts.  Despite four different attempts, the show never made the transition to television.  At the time of his death, Ladd was attempting to make a never-realized feature film based on the series.  Box 13 did briefly make it into comic book form in 2010, although highly reimagined.

"The Biter Bitten" posed a unique challenge for Holiday, who received a letter sending him to a hotel where a deadly King Cobra was on the loose.  As one one viewer commented: "Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?"

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVomSUaU-94

SHORT-SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: PLEASE HELP ME

"Please Help Me" by Richard Christian Matheson (first published in Robert Bloch's Psychos, edited by Robert Bloch for the Horror Writers Association [and completed by Martin H. Greenberg, following Bloch's death], 1997; reprinted in the author's Dystopia:  Collected Stories, 2000)

Richard Christian Matheson (b. 1953) is the author of over 100 short stories, the Stoker-nominated novel Created By, and numerous teleplays and filmscripts.  Most of his fiction consist of short-short stories of psychological horror and magic realism, effectively delivering short, sharp shocks.

"Please Help Me," as with a number of his short tales, is written in partial sentences, providing an immediacy that amplifies the story's horror.  The story begins:

"So hot.

"Smells.  Exhaust.

"Memorize the road.  Curves, dips.  Ruts.  Draw a map in your mind.  A way to trace everything for the cops.  Take them wherever the hell I'm going.

"Five left turns since the Shop 'N Go.

"Three rights.  Over metal grating.  A bridge?  The tires buzzed for nine seconds.  Maybe the  bridge that links Canoga Park with Chatsworth.  that narrow one.  Remember?  Used to fish off it with Dad."

The beauty of this approach is is that there is as much unsaid as there is said.

We learn that the narrator is bound, gagged, and blindfolded in the trunk of a car, kidnapped because he witness a grocery store robbery.  The three robbers shot the store owner.  We don't know why they did not shoot the narrator, who is a married man with a wife and daughter.  He has seen the robbers' faces and can identify them.  They are young; one of them is a girl.  He hears metal clanking in the trunk as they speed along.  A jack?  A gun?  They stop.  Take him out of the trunk.  The girl kicks him sharply in the groin, twice.  She enjoys it.  The others laugh.  There is a scratching sound, digging.  He is thrown into a hole in the ground, a grave.  He feels the dirt as it lands on him...

And that's the story...a vignette with the effect of a punch in the gut.  The story is less than four pages long, yet it says more than stories ten times the length.

Not a pleasant story and certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but a vivid exercise in the power of economy of words.

The author is the son of writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man. Hell House, What Dreams May Come, The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok, Kolchak:  The Night Stalker).  He is also the older brother of screenwriter Chris Matheson (the Bill and Ted franchise, Mom & Dad Save the World, A Goofy Movie), as well as writer Ali Marie Matheson.  Talent runs deep in that family.

OVERLOOKED CRIME DRAMA: MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1941)

This is the first of four films based on the popular radio series which ran from 1939 to 1952; the series moved to television twice, first on ABC from October 1, 1951 to June 23, 1952, then in syndication from 1954 to 1955.

The radio show was created by Ed Byron, who based the character on then New York Governor Thomas B. Dewey; Dewey's earlier campaign against racketeering had led to his election.  Producer Philips Lord, the creator of Gang Busters, helped develop the concept and created the title.  For many years the main character was known only as Mister District Attorney, and was later called Paul Garrett, which was also the name given the character in the syndicated television version.  In the first three films, his name was P. Cadwaller Jones; in the final film the name was Steve Bennett.  Over the years, many actors portrayed the title character: on radio -- Dwight Weist, Raymond Edward Johnson, Jay Jostyn, tony Randall, and David Bryon; in film --Dennis O'Keefe, James Ellison, and John Hubbard; and on television -- Jay Jostyn and David Brian.

The 1942 film of Mr. District Attorney took a screwball approach to the series; although it remains a crime drama, you really have to squint to call it  noir.  P. (for Prince) Cadwaller Jones (Dennis O'Keefe), is a newly appointed Assistant District Attorney who teams up with eager young reporter Terry Parker (Florence Rice) to track down missing crook Paul Hyde (Peter Lorre), whose hidden cache of embezzled loot suddenly turns up at a race track.  There's a few dead bodies, more than a few wisecracks, and some action -- all of which adds up to a very enjoyable time waster.  Also featured are Stanley Ridges as District Attorney Tom Winton and Minor Watson as Arthur Barret, the man eager to take over Winton's job, as well as a slew of Republic Pictures' most accomplished character actors.

Directed  by William Morgan, a former cinematographer whose directing career never matched his talent.  Written by Karl Brown and Malcolm Stuart Boylan; of the two, Boylan had the more noted career, penning three Boston Blackie films, one Lone Wolf film, as well as Trent's Last Case, A Yank at Oxford, and Dr. Cyclops.

O'Keefe also starred in the fourth film, also titled Mr. District Attorney (1947), a much more serious take, and this time the character was named Steve Bennett.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfX4YqeF2w8

MINI VAY-CAY

 See you next week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KURT WEILL!

Kurt Weill (1900-1959), the German-American composer who% collaborated with Bertold Brecht to produce The Threepenny Opera, was born on this day 126 years ago.  The World of Kurt Weill in Song premiered off-Broadway on June 6, 1963, featuring Martha Schlamme and will Holt; it was revised as A Kurt Weill Cabaret for Broadway with Schlamme and Alvin  Epstein in 1979.

MGM Records released a cast recording of the 0ff-Broadway performance in 1963, featuring songs from The Threepenny Opera, Marie Gallante, Der Silbersee, Lady in the Dark, Knickerbocker Holiday, Happy End, and Lost in the Stars.  I literally wore out my copy of the record, it was so perfect  The link takes you to all fourteen songs; unfortunately, there are a number of irritating ads between each song -- fell free to skip over them.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNkkXfgsscE&list=PLbsqz0QMw2y7oVag4GOAx5pr_IrX7MMFR&index=1