In Batman #64 (February 1951), we get a quick glimpse at how Batman changes into Batman, which apparently involves a stiff mask for a cowl. I always thought that the cowl and cape were part of one piece, but at least in 1951 that is not the case. The cowl, of course, is one of […]
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The Vault of Horror #18 (January 1951) includes the story “Mask of Horror”. A story about masks, what they hide, what they do to us inside. It is very reminiscent of The Masks, an episode of the Twilight Zone that aired 13 years later. After being rejected by his cold, cheating fiance, Ken buys a […]
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EC Comics continue to push the standards of what they will show in a comic book, showing rotting flesh on a skull. In Tales from the Crypt #23 (January 1951), “Reflection of Death” is a well-written and creepy tale of two men driving on a dark, country road told in the second-person that turns into […]
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Remember that episode of Mad Men where Peggy tries out that electric weight loss belt and it turns out to be a vibrator? Well that was based on real products, one of which ran ads in Marvel and ACG comic books throughout 1950-1951, usually showing a woman “pleasuring” herself seductively. I guess “weight loss”, “can’t […]
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In Detective Comics #168 (December 1950), the Batman reminisces to a college class in criminal deduction about the Red Hood, a criminal that Batman failed to catch ten years ago. In their final encounter, Batman had chased him from a playing card factory and the Red Hood dove into a vat of chemicals to escape. […]
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The last appearance of the Justice Society for more than ten years occurs in All-Star Comics #57 (December 1950) with “The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives”. It’s mostly a bland story about a crime syndicate boss named The Key, but I did find it interesting that a panel featuring Wonder Woman’s invisible plane describes it […]
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Batman #63 (December 1950) features an outlandish new rogue for Batman’s gallery: Killer Moth. Killer Moth is an ex-convict who somehow works himself into high society as “Cameron van Cleer”. He then proceeds to develop his villainous alter-ego as a counterpoint to Batman, complete with a garish costume and a Moth Car. Cameron even makes […]
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Wonder Woman #45 (November 1950), includes a re-telling of Wonder Woman’s origin. It describes in detail how Aphrodite awarded Queen Hippolyte a magic girdle, and how Hercules tricked her into giving up the girdle, rendering the Amazons helpless against Hercules’ army. Hippolyte makes a plea to Aphrodite, who agrees to help the Amazons this one […]
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In Weird Science #5 (October 1950), a scientist gets an idea to create a fictitious threat to the Earth to unite countries in “The Last War on Earth”. Ozymandias was not the first to come up with this idea. Professor Harlow drops an atom bomb from space onto Middleburg and destroys the town of three […]
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Another horrifying tale in the Haunt of Fear #4 (October 1950), in which a ghoulish hunchback’s hump is discovered to be an evil Siamese twin that demands to eat the flesh of freshly buried corpses.
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