This site has not really been abandoned, but the loss of scans_daily, and the power box on my computer have dented it for this time. In the next few months I will be fixing the broken links here and adding new pages!

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

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Still Kickin'

For all members of scans_daily, February 7, 2009 was a sad day. Scans_Daily has been suspended by its host LiveJournal.There is a a backup comm on insanejournal (here), but the site is still gone.

Since many of the post of this site are linked to post I made on scans daily, I have some real work to do. I have copies of all of them, including those who had not yet earned pages. I'll work to fix these or replace them.

Mr. Muscles and the Carnies

Remember Mr. Muscles? I know, you tried to forget. I'm only bringing the bad feelings back. But you have yet to head the tale of Mr. Muscles in...

Page One // Two // Three // Four // Five (From Mr. Muscles #23)

Check the tags for More of this Grea-Okay Comic!

Avon's The Unknown Man (1951)

Facing someone who says they can't stand golden age comics because of the writing? It is time to start pulling out the Avon one shots. Like this one...

The Unknown Man (1951, art by Louis Ravielli) "The strange, bewildering tale of a man on trail for his life, and the man who hold it--and justice--in his hand!"

...An eye for eye, a tooth for tooth, and that killeth that man shall be put to death...

The link only has the main story in the book. The
second story is "The Nightclub Swindel" by Lesile Charteris and A. Chollingsworth.

“Dixie Dugan”

"A man is never too young to become a cartoonist. John Striebel, who draws the widely popular “Dixie Dugan” cartoon strip, won national prominence at the age of fourteen when he was recognized as the youngest front-page cartoonist in the country." -- Modern Mechanix: Dixie Dugan’s Fathers

Much has been said about Dixie Dugan, so I will not rehash it here. For More information on this multi-media comic strip girls see the links at the bottom.

Image via The blog of Joakim Gunnarsson

I've collected several “Dixie Dugan” strips, including some pages from Big Shot Comics. Check out this post to read them.

Dixie Dugan Links...

Toonopedia

Lambiek: John Henry Striebel

Dixie Dugan

Mr. Muscles!

Brett Carson suffered from polio, but through determination and hard work he was able to become the most prefect man on earth--Mr. Muscles!
Mr. Muscles came to be from the mind of Jerry Siegel in March 1956. Charlton threw in the towel on Blue Beetle (1955), and kept the numbering from his magazine as they replaced him with Mr. Muscles. Bill Fraccio was the artist for the first issue, #22. For the second and last issue, Charles Nicholas and John Forte were in charge of the art with Siegel still doing all the stories.
It is important to point out this is the ad in the front of the comic. Both issues are full of ads just like these, making it seems like a big advisement.
Not only did Mr. Muscles have a sidekick, but there was a Miss Muscles too! She only lasted two pages in issue #22.
You can read the origin story from #22 on scans_daily along with Miss Muscles' story (with a backup link here). You can read the story of Kid Muscle and Mr. Muscles vs. Jake Armbuster on dreamwith.

The final story in issue #23 is call "Steeple Jack," but more on him in another post.

In the way of more information...there isn't much....

International Catalog of Superheroes: Mr. Muscles
Oddball Comics - Mr. Muscles

Johnny Doughboy

Staring in Military Comics #14 Bernard Dibble's" Johnny Doughboy", knocked "Inferior Man" out for the humor filler spot. Johnny Doughboy fit the military them more the the parody-superhero.

Johnny lasted as long as the title Military Comics did. His final appearance is #43.

From Military Comics #28...

Star Pirate

He is only known as Star Pirate. No one knows from where he hails, only that he captains the ship "Revenge" and has yet to meet his match.

Star Pirate began in Planet Comics #12, and lasted till #64, when reprints started. (But he's in #65, #67, 68 and 70 of the reprints.) His original wrier used the pen name "Leonardo Vinci." The owner is unknown, but the artist for most of the strips signs. The original was Al Gabriele, but later the title sported Maurice Whitman, Leonard Starr, and Joe Kubert. It was young artist Murphy Anderson, along with writer "Len Dodson," who handled the largest part of the run, staring in #33.

Star beings and ends his adventures being thrown up against one gorgeous female villain after another. For the first part of his career it is done along side his purely loyal first mate, Trodelyte or Trody. Trody only make it to #31, where he is replaced by Star's "Martian-pal" Gura. Gura only makes it to #35.

But in #36, Star picks up the pirate that will stay with him to the end of his run.

Once a enemy, Blackbeard joins with Star to escape the rival band of pirates.You can read the story here. #36 also is when Star Pirate becomes a comic for laughs over serious drama.

Below a story from from Planet Comics #41. Star takes a spaceship of male colonists to a forgotten world populated only by women.

Page 01//Page 02//Page 03//Page 04//Page 05//Page 06//Page 07

UK monthly, Planet Stories (Atlas, 1961-62), reprints some of the Planet Comics titles, including Star Pirate.

Series info for Planet Comics.

Murphy Anderson essay by Michel Vance

More Star Pirate on the way!

Peterkin Pottle

Peterkin Pottle is a life guard, a early American hunter, and an all around great hero. Peterkin Pottle is a high imaginative little boy.

In real life Peterkin goes to a school where he has to sit in back of the class for being stupid. He is consetly teased by the other kids, except for the lovely Patty.

Peterkin Pottle is one of the earliest original creations of John Stanley. He started appering in 1949 and issues #32 to #38 of Raggedy Ann and Andy star Pottle on the cover.

Peterkin Pottle gave John Stanley a chance to show off his dark humor and really start to play with one of his favorite themes, social alienation.

From Raggedy Ann and Andy #33 you can read this Peterkin Pottle story on The John Stanley website.

Below is the story from Raggedy Ann and Andy #38.

38-03.jpg//38-04.jpg// 38-05.jpg//38-06.jpg//38-07.jpg//38-08.jpg//38-09.jpg//38-10.jpg//38-11.jpg//38-12.jpg

The Comet

Jack Cole is remembered for his creation of Plastic Man, but the stretchy superhero wasn't his first super powered savior.

Scientist John Dickering discovers a gas 50 times lighter than hydrogen. By injecting this gas into his blood he gains he the ability jump high into the air, achieving near flight. After his experiments continue he finds that by crossing his eyes he can focus beams to desegregate whatever is in his path. Knowing what this could do in the wrong hands, John destroys the formula and picks up a costume to become The Comet.

Meet John Dickering, The Comet!

The Comet ran trough Pep Comics #17, but Jack Cole was only the writer as far as #5. Before Cole left he had John meet reporter Thelma Gordon, who remained his girlfriend till the end of his series.
Shortly before he meets Thelma, he is hypnotized into stealing and killing a police officer, becoming a fugitive. Thelma believes he is innocence and falls in love with him. For a while the two work together, by #17 she is asking him to turn himself in so they can live normally.

Read the story arc "Pencils of Doom" from Pep Comics #11 and #12 here.

In #17 John's brother Bob is introduced and soon would become another big player in Pep Comics.

For More Information...
The Comet - Don Markstein's Toonopedia
The Comet (International Superhero)
Dangerous Origins, part 2
The Mighty Crusaders (The Comet was a member when revived later in comics)
Be sure to check the tags for more on The Comet.

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.