"Lovely Little Mouse" from Campus Love #1

Maxie "Spaghetti Special"

Sometime the one page comics are the best.

From the hands from "Els Barthen" and the pages of Exciting Comics #28...

Parent's Magazine Press and the "Heroine of the Battle of Monmouth"

Parent's Magazine Press was one of the "safer" comic providers of the 1940s. They were also one of the more socially responsible, putting out comics like "There are no Master Races" (True Comics #39 (1944), read the story here or here). It is unsurprising they did well even through the comics drama of the 1950s. Still in 1965, they turned away from comics. The company became a children's mail order book club. Some of these titles became as collectable as the comics before them (source). After that the comapny went though a series on changes and owners (detailed here along with many beautiful illustrations from the children's books), and their comic titles fell into the public domain.

Real Heroes ran for 16 issues. There is nothing remarkable in the art or storytelling. They are writing heavy, doing little with the images for storytelling. There is nothing absolutely weird about them either. Being perfectly honest, I have to tell you unless you are looking for a cultural context of the time or you are a history fan this comic may not be as worth looking up as some of the other Parent's Magazine Titles.

From the pages of Real Heroes #1, "Heroine of the Battle of Monmouth"

To learn more about "Molly Pitcher" see the Wiki.

Panama Boy: Perdo Helps The United Nations

"Panama Boy: Perdo Helps The United Nations" was something of a random aside in Exciting Comics #51.

Here let us call it an artifact in time.

Fight Comics Teach You to Fight!

From the pages of Fight Comics #6 tips in keeping fit though hitting people.

I must tell you that while hitting maybe good exercise, getting hit back can make you become badly out of shape.

Patsy Pinup

Fight Comics #47 (Dec. 1947) was the about the girls. It has Senorita Rio ON her first cover, and it introduced Patsy Pinup.

Here is her first appearance. "Sista Swing" was only used once for this strip.

Starting at Fight Comics #48 to #51 the pen named used for the rest of strip was Wanda Graham. Pasty didn't appear after that.

    [Back Up link #48]

Jill Trent, Science Sleuth

In trying to class Jill into the superhero types of the 1940s the closet you can get is "bored socialite turned to adventurer."

Except that unlike those other rich girls, it would seem that Jill made all that money herself. She's also hard to class as bored. She always seems to be inventing something or saving her girlfriend fellow sleuth from kidnappers. She's all brains with no powers or masks, but she never fails to face the bad guys down with a cool head and some random object she just built. (MacGyver would approve; real science, I am not so sure.)

Her to-be-hostage-in-less-than-eight-pages pal is Daisy. Despite her awful luck of always getting grabbed, she's no pushover. You might have a knife to her throat now, but she will be kicking you in the head later. Hard. In fact, Jill and Daisy both have a habit of beating the living daylights out of the bad guys that mess with them.

Jill Trent got started in Fighting Yank #6. I've never come access a copy, and it hasn't been reprinted.  I haven't heard anything about this one, but I doubt it is an origin story. She just doesn't seem the origin story type.

Her earliest appearance that has made it to the net is Fighting Yank #9 (August 1944), "Case of the Sanitary Murders." All the art is by Al Camy. I have no idea who wrote any of them. 

Fighting Yank # 9 page 39 //40 //41 //42 //43//44 //45 //46

After two issues in Fight Yank Jill Trent moved to Wonder comics, running in #8 to #20. You can go here and read Jill's story from Wonder Comics #13. 

Inferior Man in "Busting the Dive-Bomber"

I have said much about Al Jaffee and Inferior Man. I could still say more, but I think I should leave this post filled with only one important fact.

Jaffee sent his creation out with a bang.

Here is his last appearance from Military Comics #13 (November 1942).