Blue Beetle, Civic-Minded Hero

Mystery Men Comics #4 (Fox, 1939)

Just a reminder Blue Beetle is awesome. 

Chen Chang, Villian of Many Faces

Angered by the Western world's exploitation of China, Warlord Chen Chang plotted to "to bring disaster upon the white race." His opposition in this nefarious effort is American Richard Kendall, who success in thwarting evil plans and surviving is only by sheer luck.

I first posted about Chang in '08. For a fuller introduction to this wonderful villain, check it out.

All the stories I've read with Chang are written inconsistently. Sometimes he is a brainy, pure evil mastermind, and in the next issue he acts like he was raised by parrots. If you need an example, look that the henchman here.

Mystery Mean Comics #13
30 //31 //32 //33 //34//35

I know that I am not suppose to come out of this liking Chen Chang more than Ken Doll Kendall, but I do.

I mean, come on! This guy has fairly elaborate death traps ready to go at moments notice with no repeats. In his many travels he has no trouble picking up spies and murderous curious performers. He is innovative, and has great networking skills. Also, the only reason he is not seven kinds of dead is because he is just that good. That is most of what you need to be a good bad guy.

Kendall tries to be witty and gets tied up a lot. A lot. And the man has no sense of style!

Billy Bounce, The Kid Detective

Billy Bounce wants to be a detective, but things aren't going so well. Although it would appear from the art above he can levitate, it seems to only be a power he possesses in front of billboards. No flying detective high-jinks here.

The first strip is signed Norman Lee. The rest vary, but normally have Lee in the name some where. The name Norman Lee looks like a pen name, only ever appearing in these first few issues of Mystery Men Comics.

Mystery Men #12

01 //02

Mystery Men #14

01 //02

Mystery Men #15

01 //02

Billy Bounce appears in Mystery Men Comics #1-15. No relation to this Billy Bounce.

Lt. Drake and The Skull

Last year for the 4th of July I shared with you patriotic heroine Miss Victory. Rather than post another star-spangled superhero, this year I bring you a often forgotten hero from Fox.

Lt. Drake's only real claim to fame is that Klaus Nordling did the strip's art. It is his earliest confirmed work. (Fun fact: Nordling did a lot of work for Fox, signing his name as Spark Stevens, F. Klaus, Ed Norris and Clyde North.)

Lt. Drake of the U.S. Naval Intelligence started running in Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939) when the magazine was still under the name Bruns Publications. Drake's last appearance is in #25. He fal away from the line up with no note or fan fare.

An interesting point for the strip is the early mark of a share universe between the superheroes in house. Villains in Lt. Drake were normally one shots. In a way The Skull is no different, but his appearance in Lt. Drake is not his first in Mystery Men Comics. In #14 The Skull, apparently the same man, is the villain for Blue Beetle. 

Meet The Skull as he face off with Lt. Drake below!

 01 //02 //03 //04 //05

Read More Lt Drake!

Hemlock Shomes and Poston

Military May didn't end as I would have hope. It was missing one key post, the story of Chop-Chop. School is taking up more time than I thought it would, so please wait for this post until I can do it justice.

Until I hope you enjoy some regularly scheduled programming.

Have some Hemlock Shomes from Mystery Men #12.

Fox's Phantom Lady

Thought jinx!
After losing her spot in Quality's Police Comics, Phantom Lady went to Fox. Here Sandra Knight got a redesign to how she as known today by the hands of Matt Baker and Ruth Roche.

Fox's Phantom Lady #13 (Aug. 1947) story #1

Page 01 //02 //03//04 //05//06//07//08//09//10//11

Klaus Nordling and Lt. Drake of the U.S. Naval Intelligence

Writer and artist Klaus Nordling, famous for his work on Lady Luck, started his career in 1939. His first work is Baron Munchausen, a Sunday strip comic. Soon he was working with Fox Comics on "Spark Stevens" and "Lt. Drake of the U.S. Naval Intelligence."

F. Klaus, who singed the first panel of the comic below, is really Nordling. He did do the pencil work here, if not the writing. The writer is is marked as unknown by the Grand Comics Database, but Nordling did the writing on a number of strips.Now to see some early work! Here is Mystery Men #12 (July 1940)"The Stuffed Fish Smugglers"

pg38 //pg39 //pg40 //pg41 //pg42

More more infomation on Klaus Nordling:

Klaus Nordling (Artist Profile)

Nordling, Klaus (Who's Who Bio; A few of his pen names, and a list of known works)

Patty O'Day and English Eddie

Here is a quick spy story, featuring reoccurring character the suave "English Eddie" (or is it Lord Mike?).

From Wonderworld Comics #4 "The case of English Eddie" by Adolphe Barreaux

Page 01 // Page 02 // Page 03 // Page 04 // Page 05 // Page 06

Patty O'Day

Newsreel reporter Patty O'Day with her camera man/ever loyal bodyguard, Ham, investigates and adventures her way into her stories. Patty first showed up in Wonderworld #3, written and drawn by Adolphe Barreaux.

Patty is fairly athletic, and something of a of an actor. She has been know to dress up in disguise to get information.

(Image to the left from Wonderworld Comics #8 "Action in Switzerland," drawn by Clarie S. Moe.)

Read some Patty O'day here!
Wonderworld #30
page 01 // page 02 // page 03 // page 04 // page 05 // page 06 // page 07 // page 08

Find out more...
Comic creator: Adolphe Barreaux
Comic creator: Claire S. Moe - signing her work "Vic Todd" (See the story above) and Orville Wells.
See the tags for more Patty Comics!

Blue Beetle #10 Highlight Reel

Looking at Fox's Blue Beetle #10 stories:

"The Case of the Burning Death" Story #1 Writer "Charles Nicholas"; Art by Ramona Patenaude.
"The Monster of the swamp" Story #4 Writer "Charles Nicholas"; Art by Ramona Patenaude.

Ramona Patenaude, a female artist, turned out most of the bondage covers for Fox titles. (Ramona Patenaude is not a house name.) Writer "Charles Nicholas" could be one of three people. This might be Jack Kirby here, I'm not sure.

Check them out here!

Women Outlaws #3 (Nov 1948) Highlight Reel

A Fox Features Syndicate's Women Outlaws was created to take advantage of the popularity of comics featuring bad girls. The book earned a spot in Seduction of the Innocent.

Checkout the full story of "Cowboy Maggie Queen of the Barbary Coast" with run downs and clips from the other stories. Read more...

After eight issues the title continues as My Love Memories #9 (then to Hunted, into Western Outlaws, into two other changes). For more check it out on the Grand Comic-Book Database.

Dr. Fung —Super Sleuth of the Orient

From the same company and time period that brought you Chen Chang, I give you Dr. Fung

Written and drawn by Bob Powell, under the pseudonym Arthur Dean, Dr. Fung started showing up in Wonderworld Comics in 1939. Dr. Fung is a old man with a hobby for solving mysteries around the world with his sidekick, Dan Barrister. They travel around, do detective stuff, and get attack by snakes a lot.

Scans from Wonderworld Comics #3, 13, 18, and 30.

This isn't nearly as bad you're probably thinking.

Chen Chang

Fox Comics came out with some wacky things even in it's time. While I can't say "Chen Chang" from Mystery Men Comics comes close to topping the list it is...special.

Prepare yourselves for three tons of racism and random death traps.

Chen Chang Deals Out Death To The White Race!

Mystery Men Comics #13 (Aug 1940) Highlight Reel

Showing the Stories of Blue Beetle, Lt. Drake of the U.S. Naval Intelligence (Klaus Nordling), and the first appearance of The Lynx and Blackie.

Blue Beetle will pwn you with ease...as long as you don't use a car.

Lt. Drake stars a Lady In Her Underwear.

Lynx and Blackie are the Shirtless-man and the pantsless boy wonder!

The Chen Chang story from this issue posted in here.

The Origin of Flame Girl

When The Flame's popularity began to fade a attempt was made to refresh the Big 3 member with partner in Wonderworld #30 (Oct. 1941). Writer Basil Berold is actually Lou Fine. He took over all the work on the The Flame after Will Eisner left.Flame Girl has one of the most over dramatic introduction ads I have ever seen. I looked for the issue because of the ad.

Go check it whole story out on Scans_daily.
The Flame lay there, on the ground, helpless, dying… and if he passed on, so would all those innocent people whom he had sworn to protect….But there was still one way could come to their rescue, by passing the secret of his flame powers on to the one person he could trust the most….Linda Dale…