Western Roundup

Howdy pardners!  You know, I'll keep the Old West slang to a minimum this time around.  Today I want to share a couple stories with you from different comics.  They both have an Old West theme, as you probably have guessed.  Then I want to share a cover from a third comic.  I'll give you more info on that later.

First I have a story from the first comic with a Western theme, "Western Picture Stories" #1 (February 1937).  This was written and drawn by Will Eisner.

The story you just read was reprinted in "Keen Detective Funnies" Vol. 1 #9, and there may be a couple people who think the scans for this comic look better.  The reason I am choosing the scans for "Western Picture Stories" is because page 6 of the reprint was re-inked.  There is a loss of detail that smudges every drawing on the page!  I'll take the above scans over the reprint, but feel free to disagree with me.   

The second story I want to share is from "Kerry Drake Detective Cases" #12 (January 1949).  This is a short backup story done by Bob Powell. 

Bob Powell did not sign his name on the story above, but it is unmistakably his work.  And now for something a bit controversial, depending on what you think.  

I've been looking at comics uploaded to The Internet Archive and I found some comics that may not be authorized uploads.  They are for the actor Alan Ladd, and they were originally published by DC Comics.  I first heard of Alan Ladd when I was a teenage movie buff in search of a good movie to watch on TV.  I found The Black Knight (1954), a medieval action film set in King Arthur's England.  Flash forward to 2016 and I found some comics about the lead actor.  So I then spend a lot more time than I should have cropping and straightening the scans.  I spend more time adjusting the color to a cover found on the Heritage Auction website.  Why?  I don't know, really.  I do like Alan Ladd, but I have many other favorite actors.  I think the thrill here is Free DC Comics. But does DC still own the copyright on these?  Are they ever going to reprint these old comics featuring actors many people living today have all but forgotten?  Does the estate of Alan Ladd's family own the rights to the comics?  I have many questions, but I doubt I'll get any answers.  In any case, here is my adjusted cover to "The Adventures of Alan Ladd" #1 (October - November 1949). 

Thank you very much for reading my blog.  Thanks to all the swell cowpokes at Digital Comic Museum for sharing all of these great comics.  Later, y'all!     

Cat-Man and Kitten

Cat-Man was created by artist Irwin Hasen and made his debut in 1940's "Crash Comics" #4.  Cat-Man was the hero with nine lives, and he did die a few times in his stories.  Eventually this gimmick was stopped, as his nine lives were quickly being used up.  Cat-Man eventually starred in his own title, basically an anthology comic in which he had the lead story.  It was, more or less, a continuation of "Crash Comics" and continued the volume numbering (although the volume and issue numbers would soon cease making sense).

Here is Cat-Man's debut in "Crash Comics" #4 (September 1940).

The first time Cat-Man appeared on a cover was the following issue, "Crash Comics" #5 (November 1940).    

When the first issue of "Cat-Man Comics" appeared, the credits read "By Martin Panzer and Chas. M. Quinlan".  Charles Quinlan took over the art for several more of the stories and drew a new costume for Cat-Man.  His stories, more than the two "Crash Comics" stories, are what many people who are fans of the character remember.  

Here is the lead story from "Cat-Man Comics" #1 (May 1941).    

By issue #5 kid sidekicks were all the rage, due to Batman's partner Robin.  So obviously Cat-Man needed his own kid sidekick, but Quinlan decided to do something different.  Instead of a boy sidekick, like many male heroes had, Cat-Man's new partner in crimefighting would be a young girl! Kitten is, I believe, the first preteen girl sidekick in American comics.  

Here is the lead story from "Cat-Man Comics" #5 (December 1941).  

The ending is a bit silly, because Katie Conn has made her desire to fight crime as The Kitten known.  You'd think at this point someone would figure out Cat-Man's secret too.  Katie would later team up with another kid sidekick from "Cat-Man Comics", The Deacon's partner Mickey, to form a team known as The Little Leaders.  But I'll try get more into that some time later.  

I hope everyone enjoyed these stories.  Thanks to all of the real heroes at Digital Comic Museum who provided these scans for all of us to read. 

  

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in Color

I'm back to share more comics with you!  I mentioned in my very first article that maybe someday I would share some Sheena stories in color, and I am going to do that now.  I also made a couple slight changes to my first article, if you want to read it again.

Today I am going to share a trilogy of sorts.  It may not seem like a trilogy at first, but keep reading and you'll see that some of the supporting characters and villains return in the third story.  As always I am taking my scans of these wonderful stories from America's rich history of comic books from The Digital Comic Museum.

The first story is from "Jumbo Comics" #12 (February 1940).

The second story is from "Jumbo Comics" #17 (July 1940). 

The third and final story is from "Jumbo Comics" #18 (August 1940). 

I hope everyone enjoyed these stories as much as I did.  Thanks to all the kind, generous owners and scanners of these Golden Age comics for sharing the wealth!  You have helped me and many others to be able to read these stories.  Hopefully I will be back soon to share some more exciting comics that have given me a lot of pleasure to read.