Barry O'Neill and Fang Gow of China

No one speaks normal English
in this comic

Not too long before the publication of Superman and the rise of the capes, there was Barry O’Neill. Barry is lauded as the first modern action hero in comics. He has a strong jaw, quick punch, and blank personality.

Barry is a creation Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. A idea born to help his new business a line of comic books containing all original material. Barry started appearing in National Periodical Publications' (DC) very first comic, New Fun Comics, in 1935. He moved to More Fun Comics when the title changed, continuing in two pages installments until #25.

His arch villain, Fang Gow, was yet another Fu Manchu-styled stereotype. The plots and side characters could have easily been lifted from the pages of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu.

Fang Gow was never really as interesting as his fellow yellow peril villains. His only unique feature is his directed hatred for France rather than some vague white, western enemy.Given China history with France at the time, this effort makes some historical sense.

He did make a serum to turn men in to wax dummies one time. That was interesting.  Sadly, like most really cool serums of the 1930s and 40s, it was never heard from again.

Barry and his side kick Legrande returned to fight their genius adversary in 1946. Atomic Comics reprinted 12 of their adventures with new art by Leo O'Mealia. With World War II over negative Chinese stereotypes were deemed usable again. See his reprinted adventures from Atomic Comics #1 below.


32//33 //34 //35 //36//37//38 //39

Leo O'Mealia also did the art for the news strip adaption of Fu Manchu in 1931 to 1933.

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!

Wang the Tiger: The Man Without Fear

This issue of Military Comics features a lot of interesting things. One of the best The Sniper stories, a Private Dogtag that could make an analytical essay on 1940s history or female objectification a few pages fatter,  and the key feature, a Blackhawk story taking place in China.

It isn't weird for the Balckhawks to have a story in China, they do their work all over the world. China was also struggling against Japan too, so an international, allies aligned force would want to help there. What is weird the turn the story takes.

China has it's own superhero, Wang the Tiger. This is an anomaly in a wartime comic. (Military Comics #25, dated Jan. 1944.) I don't want to spoil too much of what you are about to read, but be ready for a "classic" costume.

Also be ready for the "Ugh, why?" of Chop-chop's caricature. Now, I'm going to add a hopefully big post on Chop-Chop, but this deserves noting here. While all the Chinese people in this story are drawn like normal humans Chop-chop is still a bizarre looking little person.

Line art by John Cassone; Inks by Alex Kotzky

 03 //04 //05 //06 //07 //08 //09 //10 //11 //12 //13 //14 //15 //16 //17

It is possible that Wang the Tiger is a reference to The House of Earth trilogy, a early 1930s series by Pearl S. Buck. The lead character in the first book is Wang the Third/The Tiger.

Interesting too is the this new hero seem to share Military Comics disdain for superpowers, special gadgets, and flashy costumes. Well, I guess that last part is debatable.  

Wang the Tiger never shows up again in Quality Comics and to my knowledge DC has never used him either. 

Military Man: Johnny Doughboy

Johnny is not a newcommer to this blog. The name Bernard Dibble is. He started on newspaper strips in the 1920s. He best know for Iron Vic (see left) who he created for United Features Syndicate in 1940. He stayed in the comics game until the 1950s, when he began work as a Park Employee with the New York City Dept. of Parks.

Today, I share with you some of his work on John Doughboy from Military Comics #33, #17, and #34. (Please note that 34 contains some racist content.)

#17

#33

#34

You can read Bezzey Bubble, a short from Crack Comics, here.

For more checkout...

Comic creator: Bernard Dibble

Bernard Dibble

BERNARD DIBBLE - The Wooly Art and Cute Girls

From Crack Comics #39.

Lil' Eightball

Three "Lil EightBall" cartoons were produced and distributed through Universal Pictures in 1939. Black Like Me: The History Of Black Comic Book Heroes Through The Ages Part One 1900-1968 by Dart Adams makes mention of one of the Lil Eight Ball cartoons and give a short background on the character with pictures. "A-Haunting We Will Go" provides more screen shots for the last of the cartoons with a light background.

Dell took the short-lived, animated character from 1939 and dropped him into the pages of New Funnies. Lil' EightBall is a black boy growing up in the rural south. It has all the racist stereotypes one might expect with that setting.

From New Funnies #106 (Dec 1945)
page 01 // page 02 // page 03 //page 04//page 05 //page 06 // page 07//

More information...

Lil' Eightball (Big Cartoons Database)
Der Captain give his thoughts on Lil Eightball after seeing "A-Hunting We Will Go"
Here is the story of Lil Eight Ball B-17G-35-DL 42-107215 from the 709th Bomb Squadron which featured the character as it's nose art.
I am not sure who owns it now, but New Funnies is not in the Public Domain. It is safe to say Lil Eightball will never be re-printed, but you can still find the cartoons running around and unadvertised episodes on Walter Lantz's Cartoons DVDs.

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!