Too Many Boy Friends

Kathy wasn't a romance comics, but it did often have a romantic comedy based plots. The text story below is a bit more serous than the normal Kathy fair, but it fits well for the Season of Love!

From Kathy 11

This story is by Mickey Marks. From what I can piece together he/she spent most of their comics writing career most of his writing for on comedy features. He also worked on on issues of Blue Bolt (Novelty Press) as "Mickey Klar Marks" You can some of the comics he/she wrote for here. Mostly though he embraced the 'funny animal' genre. 

Maxie "Spaghetti Special"

Sometime the one page comics are the best.

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

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. 

My Real Love #5 Highlight Reel!

Kicking off the weekend of love we have 1950's My Real Love #5, highlight reel!

The cover (see left) stars David Wayne & Gloria DeHaven from "Down Among the Sheltering Palms." It has little to do with the content of the comic.

If you have a link to a missing section, please post it in the comments.

"In Love with Love" Art by Art Saaf- Read it here!

"Too Much Family!" Art by George Tuska

"Love on the 5:15" (1 pg, text story) story by Madeline Mines - Read it here

"Good-Time Girl!" Art by Nick Cardy - Read it here!

"He's My Boss"  - Read it here! (or here)

"Shattered Dream!" Pencils by Alex Toth, Inks by John Celardo - Read it here!

"No Regrets" (1 pg text story )Script by Patty Hendryx - Read it here!

"I Ran from Romance" Are by Vernon V. Greene - Read it here!

"The Second Look" - Read it here!

"Daffy and Deke."

Staring in Smash Comics #41 (March 1943), Gill Fox began a humor strip called "Daffy and Deke." Daffy Dill is a lady wrestler, moved from a small town to find Deke Parsons. Deke is her crooked wrestling manager. He fled to the big city to escape people he owed money. You can check out their first story below.



























































After Gil Fox left to fight in World War II, Bart Tumey took over duties for the title. He continued on the comic till Smash Comics #85 in 1949, the last issue. The writer is listed as Tumey by Comic Book DB for a number of issues after he starts his run, but it is a good bet that he continued to do them the rest of the run too. (Not proven, do not quote me.)

As of Smash Comics #43, the comic was renamed to just be "Daffy." The strip underwent more changes in the coming years. Daffy stayed tall and strong, but slimed down and began to reflect the times more in dress and looks.

In Daffy size jokes are a consent, and many of the plots over the years are about losing weight.

If you're still looking for more Daffy check out Smash Comics - Daffy and Deke on Flicker for the story from #42

Jill Trent, Science Sleuth in Wonder Comics #13

Wonder Comics #13 (August 1947)
Art by Al Camy

Edit: Trying it on Flicker his time. Blogger's cut tags are too hard.

Wonder Comics #13 Jill Trent's Story

X of the Underground

Agent X was a female member of the European underground resistance movement. She worked undercover across the nations to perform acts of sabotage, create a network of people (mostly women) to help subvert the Naiz effort, and free people from Nazi tyranny.

X was created by Vernon Henkel (The Space Legion, Marvel titles during the early 1950s, mostly stuck to art after the 1940s). She had a short run in Military Comics, only appearing in six issues.

Military Comics #8 (March 1942): Introducing X
Military Comics #9 (April 1942): The Berlin Express
Military Comics #10 (June 1942): A Brother's Betrayal
Military Comics #11 (August !942): The Cholera Serum
Military Comics #12 (October 1942): The Gestapo's Costume Ball
Military Comics #13 (November 1942): "There Are More than One Way To Skin A Cat"

You can read #8, #10, and #11 online here.


Check out Military Comics 12 here.

The Black Terror & Tim

When it was superhero chic to wear gold and purple one brave pharmacist would jump on to the scene dressed in black, a skull and crossbones across his chest.

The Black Terror joined the superhero boom in Exciting Comics #9. Six months after his introduction, he had his own comic. The only other character from the publisher to have the honor being the Fighting Yank.

Since his golden age run he has been echoed by imitators and revived to make a number of appearances. Most recently, he is appearing in Project Superpowers. Since I made a post for Flame Girl, and I plan one for Miss Masque, I knew I had to make one for him and Tim. I wanted to show off how much of a loser interesting he was.

Now, you can see how it all got started.

Go read it on scans daily!