New Adventure Comics #22 (December 1937) featured a one-shot story of June Justis, G-Woman. June is a no-nonsense gal who is more feisty than Sandra of the Secret Service. In this story she fights the bad guys, shoots to kill and solves the case single-handedly, capturing Public Enemy No. 1, Jake Shiller.
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After The Claws of the Red Dragon, Bruce Nelson continued his “yellow peril” adventures in Detective Comics. Above shows a panel from the second chapter of “The Blood of the Lotus” in Detective Comics #10 (November 1937). In it, they depict the heroin being drugged (with opium presumably), perhaps the second time drug use was […]
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Sally Norris is mostly definitely not a damsel-in-distress and is continuing to prove her worth as Bart Regan’s partner / sidekick in “Spy”, by Detective Comics #9 (October 1937). She bails out her boyfriend with tear gas from her purse (!) and rescues everyone.
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In September 1937, Quality Comics debuted with Feature Funnies #1. It mostly reprinted of strips that had already been published by other companies like Joe Palooka and Jane Arden. It also featured Lala Palooza by Rube Goldberg, who became famous for “Rube Goldberg Machines“. Before it was a famous alternative music festival, Lollapalooza was a […]
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The name of the villain in Doctor Occult‘s adventure from More Fun Comics #24 (August 1937) was Henri Duval. This is the second time I’ve seen Jerry Siegel re-use a name of one of his characters (Jor-L being the first).
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New Adventure Comics, by National Allied Productions featured a comic strip simply called “She“. It is written by H. Rider Haggard, who died in 1925 (12 years before the comic was published). It was illustrated by Sven Elven. Apparently “She” is Ayesha, a two-thousand-year-old immortal sorceress of such great beauty that she can bind any […]
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New Adventure Comics #17 (June 1937) debuted a new hero: Nadir, Master of Magic. What I found interesting was the origin story told in the beginning that states: Because of a tragedy in his early life, which resulted in the death of his father and mother, he has devoted his life to the elimination of […]
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Superheroes die all the time these days and are resurrected in various forms months or years later, so it’s kind of meaningless. However, back in May 1937 it wasn’t so common, so I’m sure this cliffhanger where Doctor Occult is declared dead was upsetting to fans of Leger and Reuths’ “More Fun” strip.
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Detective Comics brought not only lengthier stories, but also stories of a more graphic nature. April 1937 featured the continuation of “The Claws of the Red Dragon” by Tom Hickey. This series followed Bruce Nelson through a “Yellow Peril” story. Like other forms of period racism, reading these stories can make one uncomfortable. We are […]
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By 1937, Siegel & Shuster had five comic strips going in National Allied Publications / DC Comics. “Spy” debuted in Detective Comics #1, but the dynamic between Bart Regan (newly minted spy for Uncle Sam) and his ex-fiance Sally Norris started taking shape in the second issue, March 1937. Sally became Bart’s reluctant sidekick / […]
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