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Post by Cei-U! on May 1, 2020 7:04:19 GMT -5
Many of those changes to Spectre (and Dr. Fate) were dictated by DC's Editorial Advisory Board, hired by co-publisher Jack Liebowitz to clean up the company's output in response to a scathing criticism of the comics industry. It was the EAB that declared Corrigan could no longer be a living dead man and that Spectre could no longer exact horrific revenge on evildoers. This basically killed both strips, though they would shuffle along zombie-style until late 1944.
Cei-U!
I summon the ectoplasmic emasculation!
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Post by chadwilliam on May 1, 2020 16:13:07 GMT -5
I feel that a line in the sand was drawn with the Spectre story included in More Fun #64 when the formerly grim ghost lectures to another Spectre-like wraith looking to avenge himself upon the man responsible for his murder that "the law will deal with him!" The Spectre even goes out of his way to prevent the killer he just saved from taking his own life for the reason that suicide "would cheat the law of making you pay for your crime!" I remarked at the time that the other spirit acted more like The Spectre than The Spectre himself did. Strangely though, this neutered Spectre didn't last very long and soon he was back to killing bad guys as in days of old. I don't think his methods ever returned to the horrific standards he set early on in this series, but my suspicion that The Spectre had quenched his blood thirst certainly wasn't borne out in later episodes. Just another instance of things starting and stopping and then starting up unexpectedly within this run.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 3, 2020 13:32:06 GMT -5
All-Star Comics #10 (April-May 1942) 
"Next rocket out -- Mars -- Venus -- Mercury -- Local -- All stops! Have your tickets ready!"
Synopsis: This adventure begins already in progress as Hawkman, Sandman, and Dr. Mid-Nite interrupt an attack by Fifth Columnists on the lives of America’s greatest scientists. Although the thugs are readily handled by the trio, with the prospect of further attacks ahead, Hawkman suggests that The JSA make it their mission to these men working so valiantly in the country’s defence. After unanimously agreeing to his proposal, the team learns just what sort of secrets and projects they’ll be safeguarding when one of the scientists discloses that he’s already perfected a time ray which has enabled him to skip ahead ten years into the future. In a rare display of intelligence, Johnny Thunder suggests that the team goes forward in time to get whatever “air-tight defence” that period’s scientists would have developed. With The Flash and Green Lantern being recruited to stay behind to watch over the men of science, the rest of the team head individually to 2442.
Following his trip, Hawkman reconnoiters with the team still in the present to announce that he’s returned after having “discovered the whereabouts of a bomb-proof force formula! It is in eight parts, one of which I succeeded in securing from the swamp city of the Southlands – that leaves one for each of you!” Providing each team member with directions to their part of the formula, The Spectre’s slip reads “Go to the planet Ultima – furthest outpost of civilization”…
Materializing before a floating island in the sky (presumably a satellite of Earth, but this isn't specified), The Spectre decides that he'll have better luck finding his destination in the guise of Jim Corrigan. Coming across an "interplanetary bus station" - a common sight 500 years hence - he follows two men who he overhears are headed towards his destination. Thinking that they know their way around better than he would since the planet Ultima is unknown to him in any period, Corrigan alights from the rocket when they board a second ship headed to Mercury. Unfortunately, Corrigan has good reason to be curious about the round-about way in which the pair is travelling just as the two mean have valid concerns about the traveler following them around. When they ask the fellow who looks like one of "those old fashioned detectives" where he's headed, Corrigan's reply of 'Ultima' earns him a shot to the chest from a ray gun and a shove through a window towards Earth. Though unable to prevent being thrown off the ship due the paralyzing effects of the ray, Corrigan does manage to transform into The Spectre whilst falling thus enabling him to re-enter the ship invisibly and spy on his aggressors.
Doing so enables our hero to discover that the pair intends to travel to Ultima where they'll use a new device to make slaves of their people. Once this has been accomplished, the rest of "the civilized universe" will be attacked, Ultima will be blamed, and with The Interplanetary Friendship League smashed, the two will rule the world (though I don't know which world is being referenced here). The Spectre manages to discover Ultima's whereabouts by looking over a map on their ship and heads there to plead his case with The High Savant in his Jim Corrigan form. Though The Savant, sequestered in his castle, is open to Corrigan's proposition that he bequeath him the part of the formula he desires, he is hesitant to turn over such an important document without a plan. Thankfully, Corrigan has one. Shortly thereafter, the two would be rulers arrive and present themselves to Corrigan who is disguised as The Savant. Striking him down with one of their rays, one of the men puts on his cloak and speaks into a "televisory apparatus" as the true Savant watches on.
"Have all the envoys from other planets brought before me... in chains!" With no need of having to conceal his identity or his undead status any further, The Spectre rises, grows to gigantic height, grabs the two men in his hands, and knocks them out. The real Savant steps forward, thanks him for his help, and presents him with his part of the formula. The Spectre departs with sentiment that "there is great hope for humanity if the future holds so much that you have here!"
The issue ends with all team members returning to the present with the information they set off for. The scientists build a terrific force field and The Justice Society offers their services should the need ever again arise. Thoughts: Clocking in at just six pages and serving as but one chapter of a larger tale, it's difficult to find much to say about this entry. Nice to see that because The Spectre either knows where a planet is located is doesn't he's forced to take what is essentially a bus to his destination when it's established that he's never heard of Ultima. It's a nice injection of realism into a strip which all too often relies on The Spectre being all knowing when the situation calls for it. Furthermore, it's nice to see the two travelers being just as curious as to why the old-timey looking detective is following them as Corrigan is about the round-about way in which they travel. Though we eventually discover the pair are up to no good, at first it seems as if our hero just might be heading for a brick wall in what seems to be a comedy of errors. Though this is the first time The Spectre's traveled into the future there isn't much to distinguish the occasion from his jaunts to, say, other planets aside from the aforementioned rocket shuttle. The characters on Ultima in the year 2442 could be exactly the same as the characters on Ultima circa 1942 for all we know so there's little to marvel at here in terms of seeing how an advanced civilization operates since we've been down similar roads before when The Spectre's visited planets with little green men with ski-sleds ( More Fun 68), worlds existing in glass orbs ( More Fun 60), or even the gates leading to the afterlife ( All-Star Comics #1).
Not sure what else to add other than remark that this tale starts with a very Aquaman-esque Splash page with The Spectre holding by rope two stars attached to his feet as if surfing the solar winds while offering passerbys a friendly wave. Replace those stars with dolphins and you'd think he's welcoming you to Sea World or something. Too short to be really memorable but the brevity does allow Fox to sidestep the sort of padding that manifests itself with exasperating visits to The Chief, battles which don't really go anywhere, and drawn out scenes where Corrigan has to plead his case to the either dimwitted or stubborn key to solving the case. And hey, no Percvial Popp!
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Post by MWGallaher on May 3, 2020 16:23:26 GMT -5
Have we commented on Bernard Baily's lettering yet? That panel from All-Star #10 reminds me how distinctive it was. I've always appreciated comics artists who provided their own lettering, like Jim Aparo who decades later would become the fourth really notable artist on this feature.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 4, 2020 20:41:27 GMT -5
Have we commented on Bernard Baily's lettering yet? That panel from All-Star #10 reminds me how distinctive it was. I've always appreciated comics artists who provided their own lettering, like Jim Aparo who decades later would become the fourth really notable artist on this feature. To be honest, the only lettering from The Golden Age that I've ever taken note of was the weird style adopted for early Dr. Fate with those elongated 'E's. David Lynch has come closest to capturing what those words sounded like to me. |
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Post by Cei-U! on May 5, 2020 7:56:27 GMT -5
Have we commented on Bernard Baily's lettering yet? That panel from All-Star #10 reminds me how distinctive it was. I've always appreciated comics artists who provided their own lettering, like Jim Aparo who decades later would become the fourth really notable artist on this feature. That's probably not Baily's own lettering. He had assistants for things like that (also background inks, etc). Sometimes his credited work at DC is all the work of ghosts. Several signed stories in the mid-'40s were actually drawn by Pierce Rice.
Cei-U! I summon the peek behind the curtain!
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Post by zaku on May 5, 2020 11:02:19 GMT -5
Well, Now I know why they came up with the Spear of Destiny. Between him and Green Lantern, why would the war last longer than 10 minutes?
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Post by MWGallaher on May 5, 2020 14:37:29 GMT -5
Have we commented on Bernard Baily's lettering yet? That panel from All-Star #10 reminds me how distinctive it was. I've always appreciated comics artists who provided their own lettering, like Jim Aparo who decades later would become the fourth really notable artist on this feature. That's probably not Baily's own lettering. He had assistants for things like that (also background inks, etc). Sometimes his credited work at DC is all the work of ghosts. Several signed stories in the mid-'40s were actually drawn by Pierce Rice. Cei-U! I summon the peek behind the curtain!
Good to know, Kurt. I see the GCD pegs Baily's lettering to have stopped with #74, the debut of Percival Popp. Whoever this was lettering, they kept enough of a similar vibe, as did the ghosts, to maintain a consistent feel. I should have expected ghosts to be writing and drawing and lettering this feature! |
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Post by chadwilliam on May 7, 2020 21:05:02 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #79 (May 1942) “Money to Burn!”
"I'm ready to give up! We haven't come across one man yet who meets the qualifications! He must be incredibly stupid, unimaginably naïve, a first-rate sap... all these other men have been wary, suspicious..."Synopsis: “Wanted: Someone to do Nothing!! Absolutely no physical or mental effort required! Payment: $1,000 dollars a day! Apply Mr. A. Chizzeler, Room 2102, Minton Building…” So reads the strange advertisement printed in The Daily Register which Percival Popp responds to one morning alongside countless other applicants. While the reason for the ad isn’t made immediately clear, we’re provided with some insight into Chizzeler’s thought process when he bemoans to his secretary that thus far, every responder has been “wary, suspicious” whereas he’s looking for someone “incredibly stupid, unimaginably naïve, a first-rate sap”. In walks Popp. When asked how he would spend the money if he were fortunate to be selected for this job, Popp makes it clear that he’d spend it as quickly as he could. Making it abundantly clear that in addition to not investing, saving, or putting the money to any non-frivolous use, he also wouldn’t bother asking any questions since he’d be too busy spending his windfall, Popp is chosen for this task after providing Chizzeler with his height (5’2) and chest measurement (14 inches across). Setting out to do exactly what the ad asked him to do, Popp leaves Chizzeler’s office unaware that he is being trailed by two men. He is also unaware that at this moment, his benefactor is reserving a room at the Cheery Smile Hospital for “a business acquaintance”. On this first day, Popp spends his funds on “ties”, “a hundred boxes of cigars”, “twenty suits”, “two dozen pairs of shoes”, “fifty dozen white kerchiefs”, and gives a $100 bill to a blind man (who, it turns out isn’t actually blind in a sort of gag revelation).  And on his second… Further confirmation that Chizzeler just may not have Popp’s best interests at heart comes when we see him advise an armed arm at the ready in his office to ambush the Super-Cop that now isn’t the best time to “let him have it”. Popp arrives, is given his second thousand dollars, is once again trailed by two men, and heads to a jewelry store where he attempts to purchase a $450 diamond watch. While seemingly heading to the back to procure Popp’s change, the jeweler actually phones the police. You see, wall-street businessman John Griffin was kidnapped several weeks ago. Though he hasn’t turned up, the ransom money paid out by his family (and marked by his loved ones) has now that Popp has been blowing it around town. Popp is arrested, nobody believes his strange story, and while Corrigan does know that his goofy pal is innocent, feigns ignorance of that fact when he arrives at the prison. This isn’t to say however, that he doesn’t have a plan. Changing into The Spectre, Corrigan frees Popp and the pair travels invisibly to Chizzeler’s now vacant office. Though the big boss isn’t there, the pair of hoods who have been watching Popp arrive to retrieve what’s left of the ransom money from a hidden safe. Our champion wills their hands to get stuck in the safe and offers to free them on the condition that they divulge the whereabouts of their boss. Though further persuasion is required, that is easily provided when The Spectre’s head “seems to swell to giant proportions [and] fill the entire room”. The men break down, tell their tormentor that Chizzeler can be found at The Emery Warehouse, and that’s exactly where they find him explaining his crime and his intentions to deal with Popp no matter what happened (hence the reserved hospital room) to the bound Griffin.  Before anything further can be done, The Spectre arrives with Popp in tow. Fisticuffs ensue and Chizzeler complains that The Spectre wouldn’t fight him if he didn’t have supernatural abilities. Stupdily, The Spectre takes the goon up on his challenge and cancels out his powers for a chance to fight him “man to man”. Chizzeler knocks our hero in the head with a shovel and attempts to follow his advantage with a second blow when The Spectre rolls out of the way causing the ne’er do well to fall to the floor thus knocking himself out. With that done, The Spectre transforms into Corrigan out of sight, takes Popp back to prison (he is still a wanted criminal), but Griffin assures the worried cop that he’ll be out in no time since he’ll testify on his behalf. The story ends with Popp a free cop and broke as ever. Thoughts: Part Brewster's Millions/Part The Red Headed League, this entry moves things closer to The Spectre becoming Popp's sidekick rather than the other way around. Brewster's Millions deals with a young man who inherits $1,000,000 from his grandfather with the stipulation that should he not spend it all within a year's time, he will lose the rest of the fortune otherwise due him. The Red Headed League meanwhile, is a Holmes tale in which a rather naive shopkeeper has his attention drawn to this fictitious club so that he can make a decent sum from the trivial job of copying the Encyclopedia Britannica every morning as a means to steer him away from his store while the bank next door is being broken into. Of course, "Money to Burn!" is hardly as elaborate as either of these stories and you can hardly blame Fox for this given the brevity of the adventure. Cei-U!'s revelation that DC's Editorial Advisory Board was responsible for the curtailing the more horrific aspects of The Spectre's personality and MOD while insisting that Corrigan must now be a living man as opposed to walking corpse would place those changes/additions to right around the time Percival Popp was introduced to the series. While it doesn't sound as if any edict was handed down to Gardner Fox (who took over the strip with More Fun #72 as Cei-U! also noted) insisting that The Spectre be paired up with a dimwitted, goofy looking, sidekick, it does seem as if his hand was being guided to doing something more lighthearted with this strip by the powers that be by the changes they were forcing on the run. Percival Popp, would fit that description. My reason for suggesting that Fox was being "guided" towards such a direction comes from the sense that he doesn't really seem to know what to do with the character. The only obvious thing Popp could add to the strip is comedy and this doesn't seem to be what Fox is attempting. I've made note of this detail before, but it's really apparent here. Popp doesn't spend his money in silly, eccentric ways; there are no slapsticky moments with him lugging around armfuls of goldfish bowls or something; no zany mix-ups in his orders - it's all very matter of fact. The one bit of comedy delivered during his spending spree comes not from Popp, but from an apparently blind man given a $100 bill by the spendthrift only to suddenly lift his dark glasses and proclaim "Holy Mackeral! A hundred dollar bill!" I suppose Popp's openness that he's fiscally irresponsible to point of taking offense at the idea of saving his money is somewhat amusing, but it certainly isn't the driving force behind this character. I suppose the purpose of Popp is to get him into situations which Corrigan wouldn’t and this story suits that need perfectly. I simply can’t envision Jim Corrigan falling for such a scam or even going on a crazy spending spree. For that end, I probably would have enjoyed this story when I was a kid which I think is the best measurement of what makes a good comic. I wouldn’t have been blown away by it and my enjoyment would be dependant upon my not realising that it was a take-off of a pre-existing work of fiction, but I would have easily have lost myself in the fantasy – who wouldn’t want to be handed a thousand dollars a day and told to go crazy? The fact that The Spectre is ancillary to all of this though, would be troubling. He’s really just Popp’s guardian angel here and it feels clear that he’s being pushed to the side to make room for The Adventures of Percival Popp with Spectre, the Super-Spirit! It’s been said that Robin was introduced so that young readers had someone to identify with, but when I was a ten year old kid, he was just a manifestation of everything I wasn’t – I can’t do somersaults in the air, beat up grown men, dodge bullets, and so forth. I mean, I loved Batman, but Batman was what I might still grow into in the future whereas Robin was what I wasn’t in the present. I wonder if part of me would have loved The Spectre if I were exposed to these tales as a kid, while another part of me would identify with Percival Popp – the well-meaning but blundering guy who somehow still winds out on top and has an exciting story to show for it at the end. I suppose it would all depend upon when I started reading this series – if I were at all familiar with Siegel’s Spectre I can’t imagine I would have appreciated the inclusion of this buffoon then any more than I do now, but had I started with the series when Fox did, perhaps I might have appreciated these stories as something worth reading after I had already read the good comics that came out that month. Anyhoo… Here’s something I really liked about this yarn – The Spectre’s head growing to enormous size to scare the crooks into a confession. Baily has The Spectre grinning from ear to ear like a madman and replaces the irises of his eyes with mini-Spectre heads – it’s an effective and even unnerving image reminiscent of the early days of this strip. I could definitely see this being done during the first three or four issues of More Fun. The Red-Headed League is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories and if you’re going to steal, steal from the best, they say. The revelation that Chizzeler is trying to find out if the ransom money he’s received from Griffin’s family isn’t a bad one, though it is full of holes. Wouldn’t there be at least hundreds of people who also applied for the vacancy who could back-up Popp’s story and even identify the crook? What about the ad in the paper? Certainly not the best way to not draw attention to yourself. I really liked the way Fox revealed Chizzeler’s duplicity not by having him do something evil or announce his true intentions, but by placing a phone call to reserve a room in the hospital for Popp (though again, why doesn’t he simply just kill the guy?). It’s a nice touch and an illustration that here is a crook who thinks several steps ahead. I don’t like the way The Spectre takes Chizzeler up on his challenge to remove his powers so that the two can engage in a fair fight. Is The Spectre’s ego so easily bruised that he’s willing to let a bad guy go free simply because he can outfight him? I guess you have to raise the tension somehow but it’s a display of bravado I never liked even as a kid. So all in all, I’m enjoying these stories in the same way I might enjoy a Bazooka Joe comic – a diversion from boredom, but disposable enough that I’d be shocked if I could tell you a thing about it a month from now.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 10, 2020 22:55:28 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #80 (June 1942) “King of Color!”
 “So… they don’t want to steal from orphans, eh?!! We shall see…”Synopsis: An uninvited Percival Popp seats himself next to Jim Corrigan and Clarice Winston at what the detective describes as a "Color Concert". Essentially, bright, vivid colors are projected onto a screen to the accompaniment of organ music. Should be humdrum enough, but... "Suddenly, the organist plays wildly - the color on the screen turns a vivid blood-red... and in unexpected response petty quarrels begin among the audience which soon spread to fisticuffs until the entire auditorium is in turmoil" The lone exception to this outbreak of mindless violence is Corrigan who though immune to whatever it is controlling his fellow patrons, can't explain their abrupt outburst. However, he soon suspects the organist. Transforming into The Spectre, he commands the musician to cease his performance, the audience simmers down, and Jim Corrigan assures himself that a night in jail will sober up the organist who claims that he was compelled by a "great force... to play that way". Despite what Corrigan thinks however, we learn better as miles away, a strangely clad criminal gloats about tonight's trial run. Deeming the experiment a success, this odd looking man with a globed projector upon his head capable of flashing all sorts of colors whenever he so chooses, now announces his plan to rob the proceeds from a charity dance intended to help war orphans. In an uncommon display of principles, his two men refuse arguing that they "draw the line at stealing from orphans!". In response, the criminal mastermind his thugs refer to as 'Spectrum' emits a black light from his globe thus instilling within them enough hatred to comply with his demands.  As it transpires, Clarice Winston has tickets to this event and in the process of asking Corrigan to drive her to the hall when they notice that Percival Popp has affixed himself to their running board in an attempt to discuss "crime-busting" with Jim. Though he lost whatever money he had when he jumped aboard the vehicle and is refused admittance, Popp manages to get inside the building when one of Spectrum's men comes by, is drawn to the super-cop's purple tie, and insists upon buying it from the dimwitted nuisance. Within, Popp interupts Corrigan's dance with Clarice seemingly to dance with Clarice, but when Corrigan acquises, Popp explains that it's Jim he wants to sway with. "Let go, you fool!" yells Corrigan as Mrs. Winston finds another partner in the form of Hal Herman, a gag man for a cartoon studio. If our hero is still put out by Popp's strange behavior (and no, it has nothing to do with Spectrum - this is just how he is) he doesn't have time to further comment on it for his attention is directed towards the sound of a gunshot. Coming across the charity's treasurer as he's being robbed of the evening's proceeds, The Spectre transforms the goons bullets into flowers and Percival Popp trips them as they vacate the room. Although one of the men attempts to put up a fight, he is unable to do much after The Spectre turns his coat into a straight-jacket. Corrigan takes the men to the station and Hal Herman offers Clarice a ride home but not before offering Popp a screen test as he judges the goofy looking fellow to be of "excellent screen material". For once, Popp turns down an offer to go with Jim to the station. Dropping Clarice off, Herman asks if he has a chance with her. Explaining that her heart belongs to Jim Corrigan, Herman departs. Meanwhile, at headquarters, Spectrum's men refuse to speak. A package then arrives informing The Chief that if its contents are shown to them they'll become compliant, Corrigan advises Chief to give it a shot though only a bright scarf is contained within. When the men view the scarf, "a dazed look comes into their eyes" and if it seemed unlikely that they'd confess anything before, now it seems downright impossible. Anyhow, things are looking for Popp who has arrived at Bisbey Studios for his screen test with Corrigan in tow. Busy being given some odd sounding lines to read, Popp and Corrigan separate as the latter is given a tour of the studios courtesy of Hal Herman. While conducting this trek, the two fall victim to a platform giving way. Herman grabs the ledge but his guest isn't quite so fortuitous. What for any ordinary mortal would mean a certain death, for Corrigan the plunge merely provides him with an excuse to transform in his alter ego and effect a rescue. Herman is astounding by his luck. That night, Corrigan returns to the studio with Clarice to watch some cartoons. "I wonder if they'll show the Superman cartoon?" asks Winston. As happened at the start of this tale at the Color Concert, the screen blazes a hypnotic pattern of colors which force the audience to fall asleep - Corrgian, though immune, goes along with the gag. Spectrum arrives upon the scene, orders Corrigan tied up, and backstage forces the detective to watch a color-rigged spool of film designed to drive him mad. Before the show begins however, Spectrum removes his globe thus revealing the features of Hal Herman. Turns out that simply by standing in Herman's way of hooking up with Clarice Winston, Corrigan has made himself an unwitting target of the fiend. Explaining further that prior to his current position as a gag man, Herman worked for the company's color department where he "learned the effects of color upon human emotions, etc, etc, I soon saw what an aid it could be in amassing in illegal profits!" Under his spell, Clarice promises to marry Herman, Corrigan is left alone, and uh-oh, turns out that his supernatural abilities offer no defense against the colors he's being subjected to. With one desperate effort, he presses his chin against the device foolishly left within his reach causing the machine to speed up and force all the colors to blend into a solitary white. With the cornucopia of colors he had been forced to watch now gone, Corrigan's powers return and he heads out after Spectrum as The Spectre. Good thing too, since he arrives in time to stop a Justice of the Peace from marrying Herman and Clarice. Spectrum takes off in his car, The Spectre hot foots it after him, and the villain crashes his car into a paint factory where he has the misfortune of driving his car into a vat of paint and drowning. "A colorful death for a colorful fiend!" observes The Spectre.  Oh, and about that cartoon Percival was lending his voice to? Turns out it was for the role of a skunk. Corrigan seems amused; Popp is outraged. Thoughts: This issue may serve as the best indication as to what a Spectre feature would have looked like circa 1958. Spectrum looks like something out of The Jack Schiff era of Batman during that time and I have to admit, I was sold on the character from the start. Comics should be filled with outlandish ideas and colorful costumes and this certainly fits the bill. However, while The King of Colors might act as a glimpse of a future where villains let their own peculiar methods serve as their calling card and crimes are an art form to be presented before a large captive audience, The Spectre remains a figure who keeps a low profile as he reacts to events only after they've occurred under his very nose. Those Batman stories where our hero squares off against such similarly garbed villains (such as Crazy Quilt or The Polka-Dot Man) work because the caped crusader could adapt to such a change in storytelling. It doesn't really seem as if the same holds true for The Spectre who thus far, seems ill-equipped to offer something different when paired with a goofy sidekick or faced off against a brightly garbed super-criminal. Whereas Batman was game to solve the riddles his new brand of enemy left for him, it feels more like The Spectre is sort of standing by the sidelines waiting for the story to resemble something more along its earlier days before jumping in. Despite being a detective, he doesn't really look for clues and instead merely waits for the villain to come to him. If the villain creates a unique and bizarre death-trap for our champion, The Spectre seems all too content to simply stand back and let him finish himself off rather than engaging in a bit of poetic justice. A criminal who kills horribly The Spectre can effectively respond to in kind, but for a villain who uses color to commit his crimes, The Spectre doesn't really seem have anything in his playbook to counter with. It really seems as if the guy is just going through the motions. Speaking of which, Clarice Winston is back but once again, she’s just there as the token girlfriend and I’m sure that this issue is about as close as she’ll ever get to being married within these pages. Percival Popp has some little bits of humour this time around and it seems that he is now being embraced by Fox as proper comic relief. Corrigan speeding along the streets and having to do a double take when he sees that Popp has jumped onto the running board to have a conversation is as clever as his wanting to dance with Jim is strange. He displays come competence when he trips the escaping gunmen at the Charity Ball, but aside from that brief foray into quick thinking he’s played as a punchline. His date at the color concert at the start is the one person who doesn’t apologize for her outburst explaining “I meant what I said!” in reference to her swatting him with her purse for his “corny jokes” and the story ends not with the bad guy captured but with Popp discovering that his voice is being put to good use as a cartoon skunk. A nice touch is having Spectrum’s men refuse to rob war orphans. Reminiscent of a gangster’s line “I may not make an honest buck, but I’m 100% American” from 1990’s The Rocketeer, it’s nice to see it acknowledged that there are varying degrees of villainy in the comic world just as in real life. Another bit I liked was Clarice wondering if they’d see a Superman cartoon while at the theatre – Detective Comics #66 (Aug, 1942) would have Batman and Robin battle Two-Face against the backdrop of a Superman cartoon during the villain’s debut appearance and Superman #19 (Nov-Dec, 1942) would famously feature the story “ Superman, Matinee Idol” where Clark Kent and Lois Lane take in a showing of an episode. I wonder if this is the first time the Fleischer series is mentioned in a comic. As for The Spectre himself, there are only two moments which really left any impression upon me. First, when he transforms two crooks’ coats into straight jackets and second, when he “rescues” Jim Corrigan from his fall. Although this whole “Jim Corrigan is trying to arrest his alter ego” subplot hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s still a nice added layer to have it suggested that the reason The Spectre will pull him out of a jam is to mock him. So, that’s about it. I’m sure we won’t see Spectrum again, but he could have made an interesting recurring foe for The Spectre – a character who needs something to keep him from losing the top spot in this series.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 13, 2020 21:26:20 GMT -5
All Star Comics #11 (June-July 1942)  “I’m commanding officer, Hawkman! Do you realise that you and your Justice Society are disrupting my army?” Synopsis: This chapter opens with a rather pensive looking Hawkman wondering how he’s going to break the news that he’ll be stepping down from The Justice Society to enlist in the war effort. Turns out that he needn’t have worried for the rest of the members are asking themselves the same questions save for The Spectre (“As a ghost I can’t enlist”). “I’ll keep just as busy on the home-front”, he assures the them. And with that, the team – minus The Spectre - enlists in the Army (and minus Johnny Thunder as well who has already joined the Navy).  Carter Hall gets involved with the Flying Cadets (naturally), Diana Prince finds duty in the Philippines, Wesley Dodds joins up with the marines, Al Pratt is assigned to the tank corps, Kent Nelson teams with the Parachute Troops, Charles McNider is commissioned as a Captain in the Medical Corps, and Ted Knight joins the Air Force. Each member acquits themselves so well in their superhero identities that a problem arises. The top commanders of the U.S. army finds themselves bickering over which member has helped them the most. Through Johnny Thunder, the team is brought together to be informed that rather than have “officers squabbling because of divisional pride and loyalty” The Justice Society shall be reformed and renamed as The Justice Battalion so that they can still serve in the war effort but as a single unit. And that is that. Thoughts: No individual Spectre this time around since he was the one member not to enlist. Rather strange since I don’t remember Corrigan using his “I’m a ghost” excuse to stop working as a detective and especially strange since Gardner Fox has already gone out of his way to establish that Jim Corrigan is no longer a dead man but a living, breathing person. More Fun Comics #90 will have Corrigan enlisting in the army and given how Spectre continuity operates, I doubt it'll be as much a barrier as the hero makes out here. As for All-Star Comics, I suspect that there are just too many members in the team for them all to participate this time around, but it doesn’t look good that this time, The Spectre is the odd man out.
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Post by MWGallaher on May 14, 2020 12:58:23 GMT -5
With the Spectre and Jim Corrigan increasingly independent, perhaps Jim is currently off doing his own thing and Spec's attending the JSA meeting while separated from his human host. Corrigan's not ready to enlist, and the Spectre can't join up in his ghostly form, so his comment to himself does make some sense. (I'm formulating some hypotheses now regarding how the Corrigan and Spectre entities co-exist, and I'll revisit those when Jim eventually does enlist.)
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Post by chadwilliam on May 14, 2020 23:40:57 GMT -5
With the Spectre and Jim Corrigan increasingly independent, perhaps Jim is currently off doing his own thing and Spec's attending the JSA meeting while separated from his human host. Corrigan's not ready to enlist, and the Spectre can't join up in his ghostly form, so his comment to himself does make some sense. (I'm formulating some hypotheses now regarding how the Corrigan and Spectre entities co-exist, and I'll revisit those when Jim eventually does enlist.) You know, you might have something here. I believe that eventually, Popp takes over the strip with Spectre being invisible all of the time behind the scenes. Not sure what happens with Corrigan though I have a feeling that he does leave the strip at some point. This might be when and why. |
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Post by chadwilliam on May 15, 2020 19:28:10 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #81 (July 1942) “The Case of the Scholarly Spendthrift.”
 Synopsis: Another story; another opening with Percival Popp nagging Jim Corrigan to let him be his partner. Corrigan is once again in the midst of reminding him that he’s a “lone wolf” when their attention turns towards scholar, Claudius Harmon as he rants to himself about his current predicament. Just what is that predicament? “I must spend a half million dollars on myself within this week! Disgusting, isn’t it?” (Huh? Haven’t we read this plot already?) At any rate, Harmon is an artist to whom money means nothing so now that his father has died and left him with a fortune on the condition that he spend $500,000 in a week, he has decided that he simply won’t spend the money. Unfortunately, Harmon has chosen the site of police headquarters to have his tirade and doing so has cost him any anonymity he might later have wanted. You see, also present outside of Police HQ is a crook being hauled away who overhears Harmon and decides to let a ‘Sport O’Dea’ in on this development. Meanwhile, Popp points out that with a fortune at his disposal, Harmon could retire and spend all his time writing which is what he really wants. Apparently, the scholar couldn’t have thought of this himself. Corrigan suggests that Popp go with Harmon to help him spend his money, thus freeing the detective up for a week or so. So Popp and Harmon go on a spending spree - shows, a trip to the department store, a new car - and while it seems, just for a moment, that Popp has come up with an answer to his friend's dilemma by suggesting that he simply give his money to charity, the super-cop is reminded that the funds must be spent on Harmon himself. Off on their next venture, the two just barely manage to avoid bumping into a milquetoast looking gentleman who calls out Harmon's name. Meanwhile, Ratso is divulging his tale to Sport O'Dea who assures his informant that Harmon's money is as good as spent. Shifting the scene over to Jim Corrigan, we discover that the detective hasn't found it quite so easy to dismiss Popp and Harmon from his thoughts describing the pair as "two babes in the woods of crooks". Transforming into The Spectre, Corrigan finds the duo at The Hot Potato Nightclub where O'Dea's men are attempting to sell them a bag of fake jewelry. The Spectre exposes the ruse, the spalpeens put up a fight, and are summarily dealt with (chucked into prison). While The Spectre's off doing that, Harmon has just purchased himself a tugboat for $10,000 with which they chase down a yacht and buy for $300,000... from Sport O'Dea himself. Not knowing what sort of crook O'Dea is, the deal goes through smoothly but with the catch that the vessel is about to be raided due to the illegal gambling going on onboard - illegal gambling which has just made Harmon as owner of the boat, half a million dollars.  The Spectre shows up, tosses O'Dea into the water, heads to the yacht and finds Popp explaining to the boarding policemen that yes, this is Harmon's property, but as a law-abiding man, purchased it only to destroy the gambling equipment on board by tossing it overboard and having "the kind of yacht he wanted". The police buy the yarn and The Spectre flies the pair off to their homes. Once again, that mysterious little fellow who's been trailing them arrives just after the nick of time to see them depart. For his part, O'Dea is still looking to cheat Harmon out of his windfall even if it means simply stealing his loot at gunpoint. Breaking into their swanky room at an unspecified hotel, O'Dea and his men awaken Popp who, though he puts up a valiant defense, is no match for the thugs. No matter, since Corrigan's "psychic powers" inform him of the peril Harmon and Popp face and he arrives upon the scene in his ghostly other form. O'Dea and his henchmen are overcome and at this point, Harmon's follower enters the room identifying himself as a lawyer acting on behalf of his late father's estate. Explaining that the senior Harmon had specified that his money was to be spent in Florida, Harmon and Popp learn that they have to start spending all over again. Harmon faints and The Spectre takes off through the window.  Thoughts: Two issues ago, Gardner Fox penned a tale about Percival Popp coming into a fortune and having to spend it with unusual rules attached. Now, Gardner Fox has penned a tale about Percival Popp helping another fellow who has come into a fortune which must be spent under unusual circumstances. I don't know if Fox wasn't satisfied with the idea the first time around or was instead extraordinarily-satisfied with it, but he's revisiting it again almost immediately. Of course, given how prolific Fox was, he could have scripted a couple of dozen other tales between More Fun 79 and 81 and genuinely been unaware of how quickly "The Case of the Scholarly Spendthrift!" follows on the heels of "Money to Burn!", but it certainly doesn't seem as if we'll be getting the originality which Siegel almost always injected into his scripts with Fox. Another reused idea, is the presence of the unassuming little man who pops up throughout this tale only to miss out on all the action until we learn of his importance at story's end. Fox used this idea with Mr. X in All-Star Comics #5 and now uses it with the lawyer overseeing Harmon's estate. One can only hope that his pronouncement that "you've got to do it all over again" isn't going to be focus of the next issue. Having Harmon purchase a yacht which turns out to be the front for an illegal gambling racket has potential, but Fox just doesn't seem up for exploring it. I really doubt "why did we start throwing all this illicit contraband overboard when we saw you approach, officer? Why because we hate gambling!" would stand up to the least bit of scrutiny, but of course, that's the problem with this yarn - Fox doesn't seem interested in doing anything beyond getting from start to finish with this entry. Popp didn't find any interesting ways of spending his $1,000 a day allowance last time and unfortunately the same goes here. No crazy haggling, no eccentric purchases, no hiccups to their plans; just a list of items to check off one by one. Exciting, I suppose, if your idea of fun is watching Popp and Harmon eat large meals, but when the most original element of the story is the last panel in which The Spectre dives back into Bernard Baily's inkwell, you have to wonder if tuning in next issue is really going to be worth it.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 18, 2020 22:40:56 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #82 (August 1942) "The Truth Hurts!"
 Synopsis: Stopping in on scientist Henry Barton at Police Headquarters, Percvial Popp is the first to learn of the professor's latest invention - truth pills. "The fact that science can detect a lie shows that the nerves in the body respond to an untruth! A lie is physical in its effects! Being physical -- it can be treated physically! My pill does just that --- attuning the nerves to such an extent that a lie becomes a physical impossibility!" Impetuously, Popp swallows a sample despite the scientist's warning that what he's doing is "dangerous". Popp doesn't see how, leaves HQ seemingly no worse for wear, and pays a call on Jim Corrigan who asks him what he's been up to now. Without intending to, the Super-Pest spills the beans and quickly learns just how effective Barton's drugs are... and so does the thug lurking outside of Corrigan's building. Corrigan and Popp race to Barton's lab, but are beaten there by "Tacks" Taggart, Bad Guy. Barton gets a knock on the head, Taggart gets the pills, and Corrigan and Popp have a new mystery to solve.  What is Taggart planning though? "We slip this to people we want information from! Bank Presidents will tell us the combinations of their safes! People will tell us their secrets because they can't lie!" There you go. Of course, Jim Corrigan isn't exactly short on tricks of his own. Transforming into The Spectre, he easily manages to locate Taggart's men (though how isn't explained beyond his Spectre-sense which, come to think of it, was pretty useless in detecting the thug hanging around his building) as they force an employee of The National Bank to take some of the pills and divulge the combination of the safe (which I won't repeat here for obvious reasons). Arriving in time before the goons are able to act on this information, The Spectre tosses the three men into space and is congratulated by the rather dapper looking gentleman (he even wears a monocle) for his display of "physical strength" which truth pills compel him to now admit "I always admire". So - the pills not only make you speak the truth when questioned, but force you to declare it whenever you get the chance to speak. Dangerous indeed. As it turns out, that employee was brought to the bank from his home on Elm Street by car and when The Spectre learns this, decides to steal the car and drive over to the banker's home to look for clues. Kind of odd seeing The Spectre driving a car anywhere, but, ok. As The Spectre drives off, Popp shows up on the scene at the same time that the car's owner does the same - and remember, that car owner is one of Taggart's gang. Asking Popp who stole his car, the Super-Cop tells him the truth (as the pills haven't yet worn off), and the blaggard runs off. The Spectre doubles back onto the scene, chides Popp for interfering, and grabs the crook.  While The Spectre is busy doing that, Taggart has made his way over to an up-scale nightclub where he surreptitiously administers his pills to the club's patrons. With this accomplished, Taggart effortlessly gains knowledge of the secrets he's after and scurries off to rob them blind. Of course, the real danger lays ahead for upon his departure, Taggart's victims find themselves admitting the truth as they see it to one another. "Handsome? Whatever gave you that idea? I really think you're a horse-faced fool!", "I must confess I see you look ten years older!", "Hmm... I see you dye your hair!". Pandemonium breaks out in the form of a sort of food fight/knock down brawl as The Spectre arrives in time to bear witness to the carnage. Introducing himself as someone "you may have heard of", The dark avenger calms things down by explaining that everyone present has been affected by Lie pills stolen from a scientist forcing them all to speak untruths they never otherwise would have given voice to. With The Spectre's lie assuaging the crowd's temper, he departs with Popp in tow reasoning that while he doesn't want the pest around, he doesn't need him revealing the honest truth to these people either. With precision timing, The Spectre appears at the home of one of Taggart's targarts and succeeds in saving the life of one of his intended victims with the old 'swallowing the bullet before it reaches its mark' trick. Popp has missed all this due to The Spectre dropping him on Taggart's lookouts when entering the residence, but is on the scene when the head crook himself is knocked through the window and into his own men as they prepare to rough the pest up. The Spectre makes short work of the gang, retreats to Barton's laboratory where it's confirmed that all pills have either been accounted for or disposed of, and Popp mistakenly believes that while unconscious (I guess he got knocked out when Taggart's men got thrown into him by The Spectre) he single handedly gave the goons the thrashing of their lives. The tale ends with Popp turning the men over to the police and The Spectre hoping that with his ego sufficiently boosted, he'll stop pestering Jim Corrigan.  Thoughts: The Spectre's sudden appearance at The Tuxedo Club where he acts as the trusted and even calming voice of reason over the assembled crowd is a far cry from days of yore where one wouldn't expect anything less than guarded awe or stunned terror in response to his presence. But The Spectre is no longer one of the few superheroes around as he was a mere two years prior and now operates on a landscape mined with a variety of costume clad kinsmen. The melting pot that the DC Universe has become is apparent in the same way all the characters act and speak over in All-Star and likely due to Gardner Fox penning both that title and The Spectre's exploits here, has carried over to More Fun. I suppose this is why The Spectre has become such a punster - ""This will make your eye true-blue, pal!" (cue punch in the eye), "Mmm... that was delicious! Thanks, Tack!" (said after swallowing a bullet fired from "Tack"'s gun), "This is your cue to exit!" (as Taggart gets knocked through a window). It's weird, certain early elements of the strip have remained but feel as if they've somehow been re-contextualized in the world of this nicer, happier Spectre. Growing his head to enormous size, once a somewhat disturbing image now seems cartoonish. While The Spectre throws three men into the sky and forgets about them, it doesn't really feel as if he's meting out vengeful justice even though this is exactly what he's done. Although it's pretty obvious that those men aren't going to be surviving that fall, it's hard to accept that The Spectre has just killed the hoods in the same cartoonish world which spawned Percvial Popp. Come to think of it, though these men were clearly criminals, it's not apparent that they were killers - thieves and swindlers, yes, but the sort of villains who deserve death? I don't know... A brief reminder that Corrigan is still a bit of a roughneck comes when he grabs Popp by the neck just to confirm what the nuisance has already told him ("You mean. Barton has found something that makes people only tell the truth?"). And what about these truth pills? You know, something I enjoy about Golden and Silver Age comics is that not every story was necessarily a superhero story - that is, a tale which could only be told with superheroes squaring off against supervillains. You could do stories conjecturing what would happen if all sound disappeared from the city for 24 hours, what if the world got shrunk and held for ransom, and yes, what if someone had to spend half a million dollars in a week? Not necessarily tales which had to be told with Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Kid Eternity, etc but tales into which such characters were thrown as a sort of added enticement to get you to buy the publication it was published in. This is one of those types of yarns and on that level, it works even if it doesn't work as a Spectre tale. I've got to say that it's easy to go along with the premise (I even kind of believe in the professor's logic that since lie detectors can detect lies proves that lies are "physical in its effects" even though I also suspect that it's a little more complicated than that) and there is some fun to be had in watching the pills release the truths which have until now been inhibited within those who consume them. The well-dressed toff freely confessing that he enjoys witnessing expressions of violence was clever as was watching the dinner patrons insult one another after Taggart has come and gone. Even though The Spectre was greeted a little too warmly by the crowd and interacted a little too chummily with, I did think it somewhat inventive to have explain away their odd behaviour as the result of Lie Pills. Still, with the generic presentation of The Spectre here (I mean, the guy even drives a car at one point - would Superman chase after a crook by driving after him?), where he feels as if he could end the tale as comfortably by waving in a parade held in his honour as he could disappearing into the night helps explain why he's been banished to the back pages of this title. Even though he sees more action here than he does in recent months where he's taken a back seat to Popp, he's lost whatever it is that makes him unique and is therefore no longer irreplaceable in a world which could easily find any number of superheroes to take his place should the occasion arise. We're about twenty issues away from his last appearance in the Golden Age and to tell the truth, I'm kind of surprised that he lasts even that long if this is the sort of tale which will represent his dwindling future. Again, not really bad, but it isn't The Spectre.
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