It is no secret that the character, Madam Fatal, dressed as an old woman. Madam was risking arrest in several cities, including or all places San Francisco. It was illegal for a man or woman in less enlightened times to cross dress. The actor, Richard Stanton, took up the role as the old woman to...

   Does anyone still use the phrase the life of Riley It indicates someone enjoying a great life. The story here is called The Life of Riley, to indicate a criminal named Riley who has his own life of Riley after a successful robbery.It is a horror comic, so a good life can turn bad before the...

   Jon Juan, is, as today’s title declares, a great lover. In the story we are told he is a man who gets what he wants. Jerry Siegel and Alex Schomburg are the writer and artist who did this story of a gallant gentleman sex addict. Jon is not only the world’s greatest lover, he can fight, too....

   The Fawcett comics hero, Mr Scarlet, is Brian Butler, a District Attorney. As a DA he can’t put all of the crooks and criminals away, so at night he dresses up in a bright red costume and goes out to kick crook butts. The Public Domain superheroes website calls him a vigilante, which, to Brian,...

   Like my peers in the late ’ s and early ’ s, I watched television, everything everybody else watched. We watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, One Step Beyond, Outer Limits, and of course The Twilight Zone. Even if one had never watched the latter, today we know that the show’s title has...

   In the early days of comic fandom early s a man had a letter published in a fanzine with an article telling why Amazing Man was so amazing. Amazing Man or John Aman, taking a test by some Tibetans who had raised him could fight a cobra with his hands tied behind his back, and he could...

   Over years ago I first showed this story of the notorious serial killer, H. H. Holmes. At the time I neglected to mention it contains one of the most egregiously violent panels in crime comics. In the panel Holmes kills a child with a knife. The action is done in silhouette, but the dead mother...

   In the ’ s I had disdain for the Blackhawks. Jack Schiff, editor, had changed the characters into one of those teams challenged by some science fiction creatures. Going back over a batch of coverless and poor condition comics I got years ago for a couple of dollars, including early ’ s issues of...

   nbsp;I showed this story by John Buscema in , in Pappy’s . Since I am having some production challenges of late I have decided to go to some of my older postings, which many of you have either a never seen it, or b have forgotten. Rest easy. They won’t all be re runs.As I have exclaimed...

   Despite the title of today’s post, I am not sure the story, Ol Witch Hazel and Her Niece, Little Itch, is the actual debut of Little Itch. I looked at various sources, including the Grand Comics Database, and they list the story as the debut, but with a question mark. They are guessing, like me....

   How dumb can people get, anyway The city fathers have brought to America a castle from Transylvania and rebuilt it as a museum for a park. It is said that at one time a vampire lived in that castle. Ewwww...that is dumb, folks In this comic book there is a mad scientist and a superhero who is a...

   Newsboys, once a common sight in big cities, sold newspapers on the street. In the pre television and pre Internet days they hustled their papers to the many people on the sidewalk, morning and afternoon. Newspapers are becoming passé, and kids selling them on the street are gone. Jack Kirby and...

   In the splash panel of today’s story Ginger seems not too hot on buying a pair of spike heels, but a couple of pages later we see her in platform shoes. Her boyfriend, Ickky, feels threatened by her added height, and has to do something about it. It reminds me of an old advertising campaign for...

   The Clock, created by George Brenner, is known as the first masked hero in comic books. The Clock was yet another rich person who put on a mask, and went out to take on criminals. The pulp magazine heroes were the inspiration, and they were what the Clock was striving to be. Pulp magazines...

   Englishman John Lee, often called John Babbacombe Lee, was sentenced to death and met the hangman in . The gallows trap door did not open, and after three attempts to hang the murderer, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment. The version of John Lee, surviving execution as told in...

   The Brave and the Bold was a comic book created as a wholesome entertainment for young readers, those who were now buying censored Comics Code approved comics, that is. The idea was simple: create three feature characters for the title, make them historical. Even the Comics Code would pass a bit of...

   Today a fun page story from the issue of Sub Mariner , drawn by Sub Mariner creator, Bill Everett. The story adds an homage to The Creature From the Black Lagoon, a popular movie from that year. The Creature movie was released March, , and the Sub Mariner comic was probably put on...

   American Comics Group editor, Richard E. Hughes, was inserted into stories a few times over the years in ACG’s supernatural comics, as they were referred to in house. This pre Code story, Adventure into Witchcraft, has some panels of Hughes listening to a writer’s problem of not being able to...

   The story I have told once or twice over the years is that Stuntman, a comic book from Harvey Comics, written and drawn by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, was canceled over a glut of comic books after the war. Simon and Kirby moved on to Hillman, and then Prize. The latter publisher was aptly named....

   It is that day. I put on my tuxedo and stand on the dais declaring the award to my readers. The Thanksgiving Turkey Award has been given every year since the inception of this blog, with the exception of one Thanksgiving and perhaps someone out there gave thanks that I didn’t show it that...

   Jo Jo Congo King was yet another white man swinging from trees in the comic book jungle. Published by Fox Features, and done for Fox by the Jerry Iger shop, where artists, even one or two, did the actual drawing in the familiar Iger style.Fox had a comic book called Jo Jo Comics, which was designed...

   A few months ago I showed a story by artist Everett Raymond Kintsler. It was a romance comic, like today’s posting. Far back in my past years ago...yikes I saw a couple of Kintsler comic book stories and thought his work didn’t belong in comic books. My prejudices at the time were that comic...

   Twilight was a short lived character, and as a guess perhaps Twilight failed because of his costume. Furry and brown. It’s unusual, but also not colorful enough for super hero fans of the era.How many characters of the early war years were in the armed services, and when the enemy struck the home...

   What would the world including America do without Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes When it comes to Spurs Jackson and his fellow cowpokes on the ranch, they keep running up against creatures and characters from space. You know Spurs and friends are the good guys because they shoot...

   When it comes down to dictators, I think Adolf Hitler gets some sort of recognition for being one who definitely stood out in a crowd. Humanity has put up with a lot of dictators in the past...too many for me to count...but Hitler just steals the thunder from among the rest. Maybe it was that...