DETECTIVE PICTURE STORIES #4 (MARCH 1937)

The early comic book company Comics Magazine Company, of Cleveland, began in 1936 by two former employees of National Allied Publishers (which later morphed into DC).  CMC was then bought out by Ullem the following year, which in turn was bought out by Centaur Publications the year after that.  Centaur was a distributor of pulp magazine and Centaur Comics ran from 1938 to 1942.  Centaur Comics, although a minor publisher, along with its early incarnations, holds a strong place in the hearts of comic book fans.

Superman first hit the stands with Action Comics #1 in 1938.  With DC leading the way, Centaur Comics followed with a long string of superheroes in an effort to cash in on that part of the comic book market.  Actually, Centaur preceded DC in the superhero market, introducing The Clock (the first masked superhero), as well as others.  None could rival the popularity of Superman, though.  Among the Centaur secondary heroes and superheroes were The Arrow The Fantom, The Masked Marvel, Speed Centaur (yeah, half man, half horse), Amazing-Man, The Iron Skull, Minimidget and Ritty, Mighty Man, The Shark, Zardi (The Eternal Man), Doctor Hypno, TNT, The Voice, Miraco the Great, The Marksman, The King of Darkness, Blue Lady, Nightshade, The Electric Ray, Rainbow, Air Man, Craig Carter (he had a magic ring), The Sparkler, Blue Fire, Solarman, The Buzzard, Dr. Synthe, The Black Panther  (not the Marvel guy), The Stars and Stripes, The Liberty Scouts, Man of War, Vapo-Man, Fire-Man, The Sentinel, The Ferret, and The Invisible Terror.  [Phew!]  None of these ever made it to the big time, but you cannot say that Centaur Comics did not try.  Some of these heroes became templates or influenced later, better-known comic book heroes.

One of the Centaur titles reflected the hard-boiled, semi-realistic detective stories the were so popular in the Thirties -- Detective Picture Stories, which ran for five monthly issues from December 1936 through April 1937.

The March 1937 issues is noted for the 7-page story "Muss-'Em-Up" by Will Eisner.  Hammer Donovan, a rogue cop who is quick with his fists and his gun, has been fired from the force for brutality.  Then a bloodthirsty gang of robbers shows up, killing all potential witnesses.  The city and the press are in an uproar and the police are pressured to bring back Donovan, offer him carte blanche to go after the killers.  Donovan beats, threatens, and blackmails his way to a conclusion where he can "muss 'em up."

This issue has nine other tough guy stories:

• "Fifty Dollar Ride" by Ellis Edwards
• "Stand-In Girl" by Joseph E. Buresch
• "Kidnapped"  by Joe Campbell, Jr.
• "The Radio Patrol" by Rodney Thompson
• "Kane and Abel" by John Wilson & John Ewing
• "The Case of the Four Haircuts" by Victor J. Dowling
• "Sapphire Seas" by Captain C. W. Scott
• "Enemy Spy" by E. F. Webster
• "Will of Uncle Dan" by Matt Curzon

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=76355&b=i

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE

Not only is this the July 4th weekend, by today is the anniversary of George Washington's assuming command of the Continental Army in 1775.  With that said, here's Jim Croce with an old jug band song, seguing into an ode to fat girls (???).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wWZEseeUsM

FORGOTTEN BOOK: JAMES HERBERT'S DARK PLACES

James Herbert's Dark Places by James Herbert (1993)

A coffee tale book with a lot of photographs and what might appear to be padding from a number of Herbert's novels, this might be considered a bit of fluff suitable to Herbert's fans only. 

Herbert (1943-2013) was one of England's most popular horror writers, selling over 54 million copies worldwide.  His books are compulsive reads from his first book, the animal disaster novel Rats, to his final novel Ash, Herbert produced 23 novels -- all best-sellers.  Rats, a gore-fest of sex and violence, elevated itself above others of its type, such as Guy N. Smith's Crabs and Shaun Hutson's Slugs, by its "raw urgency."  Rats spawned a trilogy and a graphic novel, launching a career that soon went beyond the standard horror tropes and included such varied titles as The Fog, Fluke, The Magic Cottage, The Ghosts of Sleath, and  The Secret of Crickley Hall.

In Dark Places, Herbert reviews the locations that helped spawn his novels and how he used those locations.  Lengthy excepts from his novels are given to show how he translated his impressions of these places into scenes from his books.  Dark Places is heavily illustrated by photographs by Paul Barkshire.  Not only did Barkshire photograph those locations, but he photographed other places with a similar atmosphere -- all of which have their own legends of ghosts, murder, and horror.  These last photographs are captioned by Roderick Brown. who researched those real places and the legends surrounding them.  All in all, this gives us not much original material by Herbert.

Given this, is the book worth your time?  Yes, if you are a Herbert fan.  And yes, if you are interested in how one man's imagination can translate real places into effective narration.  Otherwise, probably, not so much.

For the record, Herbert divides his Dark Places into seven basic groups (straining himself while doing so):

• Burial Places, old graveyards that are found everywhere in England
• Holy Places, usually old or abandoned churches
• Dwelling Places, old homes, estates, and castles
• Abandoned Places, this category merges with the other six and includes bombed-out ruins, abandoned houses, lonely forests. and old village customs
• Lonely Places, again, why is this a separate category?
• Watery Places, the ocean, scum-covered ponds and bogs
• Capital Places, giving the City of London its own category

Sadly, the sum is less than its parts.  Efforts to pad and expand the book tend to fall flat.  The main value of James Herbert's Dark Places is to show how the atmosphere of a place can add to a brooding description in a novel.

:MUSIC FROM THE PAST: CATCH THE WIND

Sisters Joan Baez and Mimi Farina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pxMhJJP-0

JOHNNY FLETCHER: THE NAVY COLT (1946)

Frank Gruner's popular detecting pair Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg appeared on ABC radio in a short-lived series (May 30, 1948 to November 27, 1948) with Bill Goodwin as Johnny Fletcher and Sheldon Leonard as Sam Cragg.  Two years previously. NBC radio had the rights to broadcast Johnny Fletcher; they made an auditioning tape from Gruber's novel The Navy Colt featuring the stars of the recent Johnny Fletcher movie The French Key -- Albert Dekker and Mike Mazurski -- to see if they could transition from the film to the radio.  I'm not sure why this incarnation did not work out, but NBC dropped it and ABC picked up the ball in 1948.

When you're down on your luck and somebody offers a buck to punch out a man, promising you nine more, would you take it?  Be cautious, you might find yourself with a murder rap and without the additional nine bucks.

This recording is from "The Great Detectives of Old-Time Radio" and includes introductory and closing comments.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge6eea1mhg

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: VISIT FROM THE DEAD DOG

Ed Harcourt with a pretty good song, despite the title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB40fCSJvD8

BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY

There's a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.