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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 10, 2020 23:11:51 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #87 (Jan. 1943) "The Crimes That Bloom in the Spring, Tra La!!"
Synopsis: Unbeknownst to him, The Spectre has just made a terrific stride in cracking down on crime when racketeer "Bullfrog" Ames lets his men know that he's heading out of the city since "crime isn't paying dividends around here, what with The Spectre spoiling our fun all the time!" Crime however, maintains a delicate balance as Ames isn't so retiring as he is relocating and focusing on a new racket - flowers. Having inherited his father's farmland, Ames intends to take advantage of the "peculiar" flowers which have been harvested there.  And so, crime seems to be taking a holiday with both The Spectre and scofflaws alike noting how quiet things have been. Deciding that since this lull in crime may not last, Jim Corrigan resolves to take his holiday now. So too does Percival Popp who's hoping that warmer country climes might help him with his terrible cold. Who else is headed to the country? Well, not "Bullfrog" Ames seeing as how he's already in the country, but his boys, on the other hand, find themselves boarding the train at the same time as Corrigan and Popp to take their respective trips. Though it never was specified where exactly Corrigan planned to go (or Popp, for that matter), when he spots these crooks depart the train, he knows where he's headed. Corrigan follows these crooks and Popp tags along. Somewhat more open to his offer of assistance than he has been in the past, Corrigan allows Popp to trail "Bullfrog" which he does, albeit rather clumsily getting spotted in the process. Having already started work on growing hundreds of the strange flower he mentioned earlier, "Bullfrog" lets Popp follow his men to his greenhouse where this odd hybrid is being tended to. What's so odd about it? "It's got the deadly power of making men tremble helplessly, as though with palsy." Confusing "Bullfrog" however, is the fact that the plant has no effect on Popp who decides to inhale the flower's aroma not knowing of its dangers. The answer, of course, is that Popp's cold has prevented the flower's power from taking effect on him but he doesn't know this. So, when he reports his findings back to Corrigan, the detective is puzzled as to why "Bullfrog" is devoting so much interest to this new hobby. Meanwhile, "Bullfrog" (who stupidly decided to take a whiff of the flower to confirm its potency after watching it do nothing to Popp) has been holding up banks (via delivering the flowers in the morning and letting them open later in the afternoon) and armoured cars (by placing his seemingly broken down van filled with the things in the middle of the road so that the driver has no choice but to try and help out) through use of the plant. Kicking himself for having "trusted his judgement", Corrigan separates from Popp so that he can separate from himself and become The Spectre. Arriving at "Bullfrog's" estate, he waylays his men using his fists (and awful quips - "What's the matter - going to seed, boys?") and convinces "Bullfrog" who is watching all this from a distance, that now would be a good time to get as far away as he can from these proceedings. However, upset that he's let Corrigan down, Popp decides to take another look around "Bullfrog's" greenhouse and this time, the plant's scent does its job. Popp begins thrashing about and when approached by "Bullfrog" (who Popp doesn't seem to recognize) claiming that The Spectre is in "deadly danger" and handed a gun, Popp races to the rescue. Firing wildly as he thrashes about, Popp is grabbed by The Spectre who manages to get an explanation for his actions from the nitwit and confirms that yes, indeed, "Bullfrog" is behind these shenanigans (I guess he wasn't certain since up until now, "Bullfrog" hasn't actually been sighted). The Spectre ambushes "Bullfrog" and his men as they drive away by using a plow to scoop up the car, toss it into the air, and then "Hocus-Pocus, Jiminy-Crocus!" (which, I'm sorry to say, isn't some goofy expression I came up with - it's The Spectre's actual words) the villains are taken in by the local Sheriff. Thoughts: As M.W. Gallaher noted recently in reference to More Fun Comics #85, "This is at least the second "Hiram" we've seen in this strip - was that a go-to character name for Fox?" I guess so, since this issue has another Hiram in the form of one of "Bullfrog" Ames' men. Speaking of "Bullfrog" - it probably says a lot about either me or the medium itself that simply giving an otherwise bland villain a face like a bullfrog is enough to impress me. Not that there's anything else which really impresses me about the character - he doesn't that interesting of a gimmick and it certainly isn't bullfrog related - but I'm enough of a sucker for a distinctive face that his appearance sufficiently raises "Bullfrog" Ames from the status of "immediately forgotten bottom of the barrel villain" to "soon to be forgotten D-List villain". And wow, a Spectre story entitled " The Crimes that Bloom in the Spring, Tra La!!". Just... wow. I feel like Count Floyd at this point. "Oohhhh, we got a scary one for you tonight, kids! You haven't been exposed to real horror until you've read... ' The Crimes that Bloom in the Spring, Tra La!!' Whatsa matter? You don't think that crime blooming in the spring isn't scary? heh heh heh...AWWOOOOOO! Awooo- alright, so it's not scary, whadya want me to do about it?" Some interesting visual perspectives of The Spectre in this tale to be found either at the pen of Bernard Baily or perhaps Pierce Rice who at some point, seems to have taken over the art duties from Baily. To be honest, I'm not sure if we've reached or even passed that moment, but either Baily has changed his style or it isn't Baily at all who has The Spectre floating and falling through the air as though a solid statue might with arms pressed to his sides, vacant expression on face, and legs stiffly pointed to the ground. It's a neat trick and certainly appropriate for a supernatural being still referred to as "The Dark Knight" even as he quips and sings his way through these adventures. On a similar note, this issue credits the strip solely to "Bernard Baily" and not "Jerry Siegel and..." (Siegel, as Cei-U! revealed not too long ago, hasn't had anything to do with this series in a while, but his name was still in place as recently as last issue). As for The Spectre's lighthearted approach to fighting crime? You can get away with lightening up a character such as Batman, but Spectre? Well, certainly not to this extent. Batman can remain a brilliant detective, inventor, scientist, escape artist, fighter, etc. while quipping away - in fact, it even enhances his daredevilesque nature, but The Spectre's reason for being is to frighten crooks. "Bullfrog"'s men should be muttering something like "those eyes... those eyes... black... terrifying" at the end of this tale and not "He sang 'When the Saints go Marching in!' the whole time he was beating us up... the whole time..." Of course, the crooks themselves just quip right along. As they're being tossed through the air with their car, do you think they yell something like "Ahhhhh!" or "I don't want to die"? Of course they don't. "It's only summer, but it looks like I'm due for a fall!" is what they scream. What is it with crooks joking like this as they're on their way to the morgue? eehhhhhh. Speaking of which, there's a particularly violent moment when Ames' men ruthlessly gun down the drivers of that armoured truck I mentioned before. Somewhat unsettling in a cartoonish series such as this, but it's there. You know, if this had been any character but The Spectre, this yarn would have been easier to swallow, but man, is he really starting to stick out like a sore thumb. It's as if he's wandered into a Bugs Bunny strip and hasn't figured it out yet. No idea what the future holds, but I can't imagine it bodes well for The Spectre who is shockingly, becoming more the comic relief than Popp has ever been. 
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 15, 2020 17:57:42 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #88 (Feb. 1943) "Crime Makes a Movie!"
 Synopsis: Dollar Dan has taken over Gotham City (yes, that's the name of Percival and The Spectre's city this month). "All my life I've fought for justice, Jim! But I won't go out after Dollar Dan's boys! That's final!" And so, the words of a single police officer - "one of my bravest boys" is the opinion of Desk Sergeant Casey to whom this declaration has been spoken - may as well echo throughout Police HQ as not a single cop will go after Dollar Dan. With gambling operating without fear of reprisal in the open (for "even the Commissioner is afraid of him!") and his brazen calling card of a dollar bill attached to whichever building is playing host to his latest grandiose robbery keeping the police far away ("My boys see a dollar bill stuck to the side of a wall - and keep walking!") Dollar Dan has it made in the shade. But speaking of shadows... There is one crimefighter in Gotham who has made it his specialty to hunt down perpetrators of unusual gimmick crimes and who instills fear in the hearts of those upon whom he preys. A "Dark Knight" aided by a young companion who, though lacking his mentor's knowledge and experiences, harbours a passion for justice within an incorruptible heart of purity. I refer, of course, to... The Spectre! Taking down a pair of Dollar Dan's men following a bank robbery, The Spectre turns his catch over to Casey just after Percival Popp has witnessed that cowardly little outburst from that unnamed police officer. Though neither of the officers on duty that evening are willing to file a complaint against these men (even though Baily's art makes it clear that a man was gunned down during this robbery), Percival Popp speaks up. "Put me down as a complainant, Sergeant! Dollar Dan doesn't scare me!" OK, so how did Dollar Dan manage to gain control of the city like this and how does he sustain his stranglehold over it? Here's his secret - he creates incriminating footage of the police acting improperly (basically taking bribes) and forces the Commissioner to fire them. And when Dan learns of Popp's intentions, he prepares to do the same utilizing a film he had surreptitiously made of the pint sized detective pretending to break into a safe while playing with some neighbourhood children. By altering the footage to remove the kids, splice in a bank setting and some goons, while retaining Popp and his movements, the Police Commissioner decides to arrest him once he's received the film. Fortunately for Popp, Corrigan was present when that footage was shot and he's present now to hear of the Commissioner's plans. And so The Spectre pays a visit to the kids he earlier saw engage Popp in their little game. Discovering that the children had been paid a dollar to play "Cops and Robbers with a little man", The Spectre not only confirms his suspicions of Dollar Dan's complicity in this matter, but learns that he lives not far from these kids as well. Finding Dan's camera man hard at work when he pays the crime lord a visit, The Spectre confiscates all the incriminating footage he can along with the original, undoctored photos and film. Turning them over to the Police Commissioner who decides to free Popp and rehire all officers framed by Dan, The Spectre goes after the big man himself. Although Dan has wisely taken it on the lam, his rather unfortunate habit of tearing up dollar bills when he's nervous leaves a literal paper trail by which The Spectre and Popp track him down to the Midtown Central Railway Station. Dan gets taken down by a sock to jaw delivered by The Spectre and there things end.  Thoughts: With rampant police corruption making the headlines these days, there's a strange timeliness to this tale though it's unlikely that Fox intended for his officers to e regarded as corrupt. Nevertheless, letting a thug and his gang rob and kill whoever they want out of fear that you might lose your cushy job going after only criminals who are easy to catch certainly equals corruption in my book. Fox, frankly, doesn't think these things through because if he did, he'd recognize just how rotten this makes the police of Gotham - whose uselessness and stupidity doesn't automatically mean the villain opposing them is somehow ingenious and brilliant - look, he'd understand that a villain handing out dollar bills at parties comes across as less an ingenious, eccentric, mastermind, and more of a down on his luck, criminal cheapskate, and he might even recall that The Spectre is a wanted fugitive and not a guy who chats amiably with the Police Commissioner (though I will admit that I liked Fox's touch of having Popp file a complaint against Dan's men rather than just pretending that The Spectre is a duly deputized agent of the law). Man, where do I begin with this mess? Why is Dollar Dan "Dollar Dan" and not "Big Shot Dan" or "Hundred Dollar Dan"? What was a dollar worth in 1943 anyway? Apparently, $14.82 in 2020's money. "The boss is feelin' good tonight!", "Yeah, he's givin' everybody dollar bills!", "Here's one for you, sister!" Did Fox think this was a lot of money? Was he told by his editor "Remember Fox, whatever your bad guy spends in this comic comes out of your paycheque!"? Just what was Fox making anyway that he thought a dollar was an impressive amount to people? Was DC somehow able to con him into thinking that you could buy a car for like a buck hence his nickel paycheques every month? "Ok, everybody, Fox is just coming into the building! Remember - a mansion costs, like $10 and a Rolls Royce a barrel of pennies! Let's keep the charade going!" Now, Batman went up against Joe Coyne - a criminal who made the penny his calling card (left over the eyes of his dead victims), his muse, his instrument during his war on terror. Out of it, Batman got an entertaining yarn about a villain with a tainted history dealing with pennies, a hatred of "coppers" (symbolic of the copper penny), and a cool, new addition to his Bat-Cave in the form of a giant penny, so the gimmick itself certainly has potential. The problem is, Fox can't be bothered supplying Dollar Dan with any reason for being obsessed with dollar bills nor any interest in supplying his story with some sort of symbolic meaning to the dollar bill which would create a sense that the rise and downfall of Dollar Dan was destined by fate (in "The Case of the Penny Plunderers", Coyne's penchant for carrying around only pennies prevents him from being to call his men to protect him from Batman since public phones didn't accept them). Dollar Dan meanwhile, is merely a cipher to whom the name Dollar Dan has been applied. He isn't intimidating because the only ones intimidated by him are cowards; he isn't interesting because we're given no background on the guy - he's just a noun who adjectively verbs a noun, in this case "Dollar Dan nervously tears up one dollar bills". And even that little detail is supplied only because Fox needs a way to explain how The Spectre later manages to track him down. Really? He just walked from his apartment to the train station? Tearing up dollar bills the whole time? You see why I think Fox just scribbled out these stories after finishing everything else he had to do? I'd be shocked if he spent more than ten minutes on this particular entry.  If this were a Batman adventure, we would also not only have a fleshed out opponent for our hero to face, but a writer who recognizes the storytelling potential inherent in the idea of a good, brave police officer being framed for a crime which has ostracized him with the police force he worked so hard to join. A character who knows he's innocent, but is at a loss for explaining the incriminating evidence used against him and losing hope that he'll ever be vindicated. We'd watch as Batman smashes this racket not only to put a new crime lord out of business, but to undo the damage which has been done to a decent human being. Such considerations never seem to enter the equation with this dark knight though. Oh, you know what I do like? The Spectre's visit to those kids. The kids themselves look like The Katzenjammer Kids with their blankets covering their faces save for their bulging eyes and raised hair when The Spectre enters their room intoning "I am THE SPECTRE!" as he passes through their window without disturbing the glass. He isn't overly friendly and he certainly isn't kibitzing around for once and yes, these are only children he's scaring, but the fact that he doesn't take it easy on them for this reason is a nice touch.  Another nice touch? Though Corrigan is with Popp when the latter plays Cops n' Robbers with those kids, he doesn't actually show up on film given his ghostly nature (yes, Fox himself had Corrigan become human back in issue 75 so this shouldn't be a problem), but it's still cool to see Dan's men developing their film and wondering "What's the matter with this guy? Is he invisible?" Still, this is another of those Pervical Popp plays straight man to the goofball Spectre. "What say to some hoop-tossing - or are you too tired?" quips The Spectre as he tosses some tires at some crooks. "Lights! Camera! Action!" jokes The Spectre as he slugs some of Dan's production men. "Here's odds of five to one... five knuckles to one jaw!" yuks up the gambling den breaking Spectre (as he fights alongside the police). Hoo boy. The tale mercifully ends with this notice - "...and we might say, with pardonable pride, that next month's Spectre is one of the best we've ever seen in - MORE FUN COMICS!" We shall see.
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Post by MWGallaher on Jun 16, 2020 6:19:33 GMT -5
Out of so many promising ideas in those dawning days of the super-powered comic book mystery man, so many devolved into Batman imitations. I guess scaling them down was easier than ramping them up to compete with Superman, but the Spectre started up there at that level (as did Dr. Fate, who similarly went on a trajectory toward more modest crime-fighting). I guess it's nothing we don't continue to see in the homogenization of popular culture, but being able to see it happen from such a distinct starting point, a point in which all sorts of wild ideas like vengeful ghosts and disembodied giant hands seemed like promising leads is kind of sad.
I will give Fox some credit for anticipating a development of the current times. Although Dollar Dan's blackmail efforts would probably not be convincing enough to have the stated effect, we're close to the point where computer effects allow us to forge utterly convincing video and audio "evidence" of anything we want. Someday soon, I predict we'll be seeing major motion pictures with the voices, mannerisms, and image of an entirely dead cast--Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Steve McQueen...
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 17, 2020 20:06:12 GMT -5
I did like the doctored film angle even though, yeah, it certainly wouldn't have held up to scrutiny. Of course, little would in comic books, but Fox doesn't seem interested in either giving the reader some reason to buy into such an idea or giving the reader something to latch onto to make the idea interesting. If Fox cared about these stories, he would have put some thought into how The Spectre or Corrigan or Popp (I mean, they are supposed to be detectives) noticed some flaw in the criminals plan (ie. "hmmm, note how one section of film seems to move at a different speed to the other?") or had them investigate alternate explanations for the incriminating film (ie. perhaps Popp was played by an actor, perhaps Popp was brainwashed, etc). Instead, Fox simply has The Spectre go in with fists swinging, beat up the bad guys, and let the crooks' negligence in getting rid of the original film do them in. And The Spectre has to go in with fists swinging because Fox can't be bothered to think of inventive ways for the character to use his powers just as he can't have The Spectre look for clues because that wouldn't be the simplest way to write this story and Fox doesn't seem interested in putting any more effort into these things than he has to. I really held Fox in higher regard not too long ago.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 20, 2020 22:51:56 GMT -5
All-Star Comics #15 (Feb-Mar 1943)
"Now may I use your phone? I want to let the police in on your little setup! I hope you object... so that I can sock you again!"
 Synopsis: All eight active members of The Justice Society send Wonder Woman their regrets when individual cases force them to miss this issue’s scheduled meeting. Using this unusual set of circumstances as an opportunity to get the girlfriends of her team members (or adopted daughter Peachy Pet, in the case of Johnny Thunder) together, Wonder Woman unites Shiera (Hawkgirl) Saunders, Inza Cramer (girlfriend of Dr. Fate), Doris Lee (girlfriend of Starman), Dian Belmont (girlfriend of The Sandman), and Clarice Winston (girlfriend of Jim Corrigan). United, Wonder Woman announces: “These letters are from your boyfriends! They’re each working on another case, but, unknown to them, one man is behind it all! My idea is this: from reading these letters, I know where that man is! Shall we girls go get him – and show up Hawkman and the boys? How about it?” Doris’ response says it all – “Yeah, man!” I love that. BUT… Yes, Clarice Winston is here. And when presented with a copy of Corrigan’s Spectre outfit just as each lady is given a duplicate of their respective boyfriend’s uniform, she doesn’t bat an eye. In other words, this story – penned by the same writer who is currently overseeing The Spectre’s main title - simply assumes that like the rest of the ladies here, Clarice Winston is privy to Jim Corrigan’s greatest kept secret. No explanation is provided, nor flashback; no look of surprise on Winston’s face (which would have suggested that Wonder Woman may have inadvertently blundered here in assuming that she had access to information beyond her ken) and yet, we can’t even be 100% certain that before setting foot in The JSA HQ, she knew his identity since, as mentioned, we aren’t given the slightest clue even as to when she discovered this rather important detail. In fact, I can’t even say with 100% certainty that Wonder Woman didn’t blunder and spill the beans since the story moves at such a pace that we don’t actually see Winston enter the JSA HQ or listen in on her conversation with the heroine inviting her over. Perhaps Fox wants us to believe she's known it for years or perhaps she learned it off panel in this very story. Who knows? So, she now knows the secret Corrigan could never before divulge and I have no idea how that happened.  Moving on… So, the ladies of The Justice Society head out to face the mastermind whose identity Wonder Woman has already deduced. Meanwhile, the team itself is one step behind as they attend to their own cases without realizing that one man is behind all of their problems... "Dear Wonder Woman, My deepest apologies to all the boys for failing to attend the monthly meeting, but I've stumbled onto something so immense in criminal scope and possibility, that I don't dare leave the case even for a moment!" And so begins our hero's contribution to this tale which picks up as he heads to that missed JSA meeting. Arriving upon the site of The First National Bank, The Spectre finds a robbery in progress courtesy of some masked gunmen. Though expecting this distraction to serve as little more than a quickly navigated detour on his journey, The Spectre finds himself in the middle of a puzzler when upon attacking the men, they simply vanish. Confirming with a nearby guard that he can trust his senses, The Spectre quickly reasons out an explanation for this strange occurrence. "The Psychic Research Society of Boston has been experimenting with "Television Telepathy". They've been sending thought pictures by mental telepathy, and succeeding!"  Though confident that the Society itself is guilty of no wrong-doing, The Spectre is certain that "a criminally inclined super-brain" has co-opted this talent for nefarious purposes. Although it takes a while for The Spectre to detect the pattern, he does eventually manage to ascertain that based upon their previous crimes, this super-brain's next target will be focus upon The Industrial Trust Company. His hunch pays off and when a car pulls up carrying these men created through telepathy, he takes action. Although no more successful this time around than before - his targets simply vanish once again - The Spectre does discover that the driver of the vehicle which transported them to The Industrial Trust Company is flesh and blood. From the hood, The Spectre discovers that gangster Big Turk Thompson is working with a fellow named Brainwave. To gain information on this super-brain, The Spectre pays Thompson a visit. Through careful pummeling, The Spectre learns where to find Brainwave, turns Thompson over to the police, and writes the letter to Wonder Woman which opened this yarn. "...When you receive this, I will be on my way to get this 'Brainwave'! I'm mighty sorry to miss the meeting, but please convey my excuses... yours in a rush, The Spectre".  The rest of the tale... We get an origin for Brainwave, alias Henry King. As a child, King spent countless hours focusing his thoughts on the knights of old until he discovered that he could summon them through sheer concentration. Expanding his abilities into adulthood, he learned that what he was actually conjuring were physical manifestations of his own imagination. Using this power to steal, he grew wealthy and continues to grow wealthier still as he continues along this path. His recollections of his fantastic beginnings however, are interrupted by the arrival of the women of The JSA as they drive up to his castle. Tricking them with copies of The JSA, Wonder Woman and the rest soon escape their imprisonment as the real McCoys arrive upon the scene. Together, they force Brainwave into a corner, off a ledge, and seemingly to his doom. Thoughts: If it weren't apparent before, it's alarmingly obvious now that Fox really has little interest in these Spectre stories. Overlooking details Jerry Siegel had established during his run is one thing, but forgetting or ignoring the status quo he himself had initiated when he took over the reins of this series is another. And I don't know if he's simply forgetting these facts about The Spectre (ie. that though he had moved Corrigan quite a few steps closer to sharing his life with Clarice Winston following the events of More Fun Comics #75, things weren't so intimate between the pair that the detective had yet revealed his identity of The Spectre to his girlfriend) or if he's ignoring these details (ie. "Who's going to remember what happened a year ago in the back pages of More Fun?"). I suspect that Fox simply can't keep his characters straight. Writing The Flash and Hawkman in their respective titles, The Justice Society entries here in All-Star, The Spectre and Doctor Fate in More Fun, Starman in Adventure, Zatara and King for World's Finest, doing the same for The Face, Skyman, and Marvelo over at Columbia, and I imagine plenty more I'm not familiar with elsewhere, would almost certainly ensure that unless he had some particular affinity for The Spectre (and I don't know why he would) his prolific output likely resulted in his carrying only the most superficial impression of these heroes around in his head. Name, appearance, backstory (to an extent), and abilities (to an extent) were probably all he could tell you about a lot of these fellows without referring to notes or the comics themselves. As a result, I suspect that Fox knew Corrigan had a girlfriend and assumed that she knew her boyfriend was The Spectre which actually would have been in keeping with the rest (or most) of the team. Hawkman and Hawkgirl shared adventures, Doctor Fate had revealed his identity to Inza at some point in More Fun, Dian Belmont was aware of Wesley Dodd's double life since her debut, I believe, and so, I'll bet that Fox simply guessed that Winston knew the identity of The Spectre. If that is Clarice Winston. No one in the story - character or narrator alike - actually identifies The Spectre's girlfriend as 'Clarice Winston' or even just 'Clarice'. I'm calling her that because, hey, who else could The Spectre's girlfriend be, but since this Gardner Fox, she could be Esmerelda Snodgrass for all I know. Funnily, this isn't the first time I've across something like this. During the Bronze Age, Bruce Wayne was dating Selina Kyle who at some point transitioned from not knowing that her boyfriend was The Batman to suddenly knowing. How she discovered this was never explained - she simply didn't know one day and then the next knew, without any characters around her reacting any differently than if they knew she knew the whole time. Of course, during The Golden Age, things were dropped all the time. Characters had multiple origins depending upon the year (Daredevil, Doctor Fate) or no origin at all (The Justice Society); heroes who once wouldn't hesitate to kill their enemies suddenly spoke and acted as if they had always followed a solemn vow to never take a life (Superman, Batman); powers came and went (on at least one occasion, Superman managed to alter his features simply by molding his face into another alien being); and locales changed constantly (The Spectre has resided in something like a half dozen cities thus far; Clark Kent went from The Daily Globe to The Daily Planet; Batman's home was once given as New York). Nevertheless, I can't think of any character whose story has been as flexible as The Spectre. At times a wanted criminal pursued by Jim Corrigan, at others he's working alongside the police; originally dead set against partnering up with Percival Popp, suddenly they're buddies; sometimes his powers enable him to do this, sometimes they prevent him from doing that - and these contradictions are all made by the pen of a single author. I keep thinking as I read these stories, "If Gardner Fox doesn't care about these tales, why should I?" And yet, there is something I like a lot about this comic - the way Fox establishes the strength, bravery, determination, and ingenuity of the heroines of this tale. These aren't damsels in distress nor are they lesser heroes than their male counterparts - they're truly presented as equals who, in fact, happen to be one step ahead of their boyfriends in this outing. Not really unusual for a comic of this vintage, but given the sexist attitudes comics would soon adopt and to an extent, even retain, its very much appreciated though in a bittersweet way. And again: Wonder Woman: Shall we girls go get him - and show up Hawkman and the boys? How about it? Doris Lee: Yeah, man! I love that! And, hey, Brainwave is an impressive villain. It's a nice touch having the young Henry King converse with a medieval Knight and assume that because he was, at the time, wishing he could speak with one them, that is what's happening when in fact, he's actually interacting with only a manifestation of his imagination - something he wouldn't figure out until years later. All too often, people bestowed with extraordinary powers seem to understand exactly what's happening to them as if they have access to the comic we're reading. Here however, Fox understands that since things appear to King as if he's summoning figures from the past, that's the conclusion he'd naturally reach. What about The Spectre chapter itself? Since Fox doesn't really do anything to distinguish Spec from any other hero, there isn't much I can single out for comment here especially given the brevity of this tale. We get a tougher Spectre here who is reminiscent of The Spectre of old in that he threatens to play for keeps. When he comes face to face with Big Turk, he crushes the hoodlum's gun in his hand, wraps his hands around his neck, and remarks "Now imagine what I can do to you!" Still, this has more of the feel of Superman circa 1938 than it does Spectre Dateline 1940 and once again reminds us that Fox simply isn't interested in coming up with ways to use The Spectre's powers when a good old fashioned sock to the jaw or hand around the neck will barely suffice. I mean, couldn't he have at least resorted to the old "Peer into my eyes, Turk" trick? Oh well, at least he's not joking and singing this time around. Don't know why, if Brainwave can materialize imaginary crooks across the city, he even needs a driver for these guys, but I suppose without one, The Spectre wouldn't be able to find Big Turk and through him, Brainwave. The Spectre does incorporate some detective work into this yarn when he pulls the classic "if Robbery A, B, and C have been committed here, robbery D must be about to happen..." trick. Not sure if one could really pinpoint such a location with such accuracy in real life, but, hey, Fox remembers that The Spectre is supposed to be a detective so that's something. You know, I glanced at the next story ( More Fun #89) and it does actually look promising. So as aggravated as Fox made me with this installment and his "Hey, The Spectre's Lois Lane knows his identity, don't ask me how, she just does" sloppy writing, I'm truly holding out hope for what's coming up next. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Jun 21, 2020 5:19:48 GMT -5
Given that she's not identified by name, and that Clarice has been permanently MIA in More Fun, I'll assume this was a new woman that Fox generated out of a need to fit the Spectre into his "girlfriends" plot. He's not making any attempt to reflect the solo feature continuity in All-Star (and that disconnect is about to get a lot more noticeable), so why not have "this" Spectre have a special lady who knows his secret?
The premise of the story suggests that the JSA has been a lot more communicative about their private lives than Fox would later have the JLA be, doesn't it? Or maybe they were on a list of "emergency contacts" Wonder Woman maintained in her secretarial role.
I notice that in the one scene where the female Spectre is clearly depicted, she's got her arms crossed in front of her chest. Obviously, she'd be wearing white tights to duplicate the ghostly bare skin of Spec's chest, arms, and legs, but still, smart not to call too much attention to that. But then again, it's never been clearly established whether the Spectre really is bare-chested, or whether that's just part of the costume Jim Corrigan sewed at the end of his origin, has it? By this point, of course, the "costume" has to be a purely mystical construct like the Spectre's physical form, but surely we and the readers of the time always assumed he was showing ghost-skin, right? (I shouldn't assume too much about other readers' perceptions; I've recently run across several people who thought the 1970's Phantom Stranger was wearing a black mask over his eyes).
Also worth mentioning in the "I never woulda dreamed it" department: in just the past few weeks, we've seen Henry "Brain Wave" King make his live action television debut in the CW's Stargirl series. The Spectre has not been implied as a JSAer in the series (the show establishes Johnny Thunder, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Wildcat, Hourman, Star (Spangled Kid) Man, Sandman, and Dr. Midnite as the historical lineup, all presumed dead or inactive). I understand that Jim Corrigan did appear on the cancelled Constantine tv show, so we may yet see a live action Spectre on the home screen.
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Post by sabongero on Jun 21, 2020 11:01:29 GMT -5
Looks like I have a lot of back-reading to do on this thread. Thanks for reviewing this series chadwilliam. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 21, 2020 21:06:34 GMT -5
it's never been clearly established whether the Spectre really is bare-chested, or whether that's just part of the costume Jim Corrigan sewed at the end of his origin, has it? By this point, of course, the "costume" has to be a purely mystical construct like the Spectre's physical form, but surely we and the readers of the time always assumed he was showing ghost-skin, right? (I shouldn't assume too much about other readers' perceptions; I've recently run across several people who thought the 1970's Phantom Stranger was wearing a black mask over his eyes). Top Five Things I couldn't work out as a kid, thought I had worked out, or still haven't worked out: 1. I genuinely believed that blue was a hair color based on the fact that Superman was depicted as having blue hair in the comics. 2. Do Batman's eyes actually look white to the other characters in the comics or is just to us readers? 3. Is Superman's cape stitched into the front of his costume just below the shoulders or does he tuck them into his pecs? 4. Whenever Spider-Man's spider sense went off in his Peter Parker identity, he had to turn away from people around him or else they'd wonder why half his face suddenly became Spider-Man's mask with little electrical bolts shooting out of it. 5. The Joker's elongated jaw was a result of his being dunked in acid. The Spectre's outfit is still something I haven't figured out. If he is wearing white tights then you'd think that his face wouldn't be the same shade of white as the rest of him, but it is. On the other hand, if he isn't wearing tights, then he's basically running around in a speedo. Now, the goofball currently appearing in More Fun, I can see doing that, but the fearsome being at the start of this series? I don't know... I was originally going to remark upon this detail in my review - that since The Spectre's girlfriend has to be wearing tights, then it's possible that Corrigan is too, but decided against it simply because there's little point in using anything Fox establishes as pertinent to what Siegel or even Fox himself intended. I'll go along with this Spectre being far removed from the one in All-Star in the same way that I don't really think of the Golden Age Superman or Batman as being the same guys who we're meant to believe are always just a phone call away from showing up at a JSA meeting. If the Batman written by Bob Haney in Brave and the Bold was from Earth B, then The Spectre in More Fun under Fox's pen haunts Earth F Flat and the one in All-Star Earth F Sharp or something. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 21, 2020 21:07:30 GMT -5
Looks like I have a lot of back-reading to do on this thread. Thanks for reviewing this series chadwilliam. Glad to have another follower. If you have any thoughts on any reviews - I don't care how far back or recent they may be - please share them. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 21, 2020 22:53:41 GMT -5
I just checked tonight, and it looks like Spectre's run on More Fun Comics is nearly at an end. Will you follow him into the Silver Age at that point?
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 22, 2020 0:44:17 GMT -5
I just checked tonight, and it looks like Spectre's run on More Fun Comics is nearly at an end. Will you follow him into the Silver Age at that point? Not really sure - there are about a dozen issues of More Fun to cover with a further eight or nine appearances in All-Star to attend to. After that... My impression of what the Silver Age holds for The Spectre is such that I expect something too far removed from what I enjoy about the original version of this character to be of enough interest to sustain me for however long it lasts. Actually, after a few appearances in Showcase, ten issues of his solo series, a number of pop-ups in Justice League, and perhaps two stop overs in Brave and the Bold (one with The Flash, the other with Batman) I can't imagine that it would take long to cover the Silver Age portion of his resume. Still, I like a Spectre who haunts back lanes looking for criminals whose souls he can pry his fingers into and am fairly indifferent to the cosmos travelling Spectre who always seemed to have an entire planet at the ready so he could knock it over the head of some musclebound monster. In all honesty though, the only Spectre comic I've read in its entirety from this era is issue eight of his solo series. It's a great issue - moody and creepy - and it also examines The Spectre's relationship with Jim Corrigan in a manner which I wish Siegel or Fox had explored. Furthermore, it utilizes The Voice as It determines that The Spectre has gotten sloppy and must be punished accordingly. I don't think the rest of the series is like that, but depending on what I discover, I'll either continue forward with this period or pick and choose whichever issues of interest show up within my field of vision. So whether it'll be a continuation of this thread or simply an afterword isn't something I've determined yet, but again, thank you very much for the interest! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 22, 2020 1:01:51 GMT -5
The Silver And Bronze Age Spectre is what I know best. The Silver Age appearances are pretty much limited to what you listed, but they are so thoroughly all over the place. One particularly horrendous team-up in Brave and the Bold aside, they're tolerable, highly inconsistent depictions of the character. But you will get through them fast and (no doubt) find the utter mess of interpretations interesting (is he from Earth One or Earth Two??).
Of course, the Bronze Age stuff is where the franchise really strikes gold.
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Post by MWGallaher on Jun 22, 2020 6:36:23 GMT -5
I think at the very least you'll want to cover Showcase #60, chadwilliam. Gardner Fox mines some of the best elements of the Spectre you like and reveals why the Spectre's 1940's crimefighting career came to an abrupt, unexpected end. It doesn't directly address the situation that was in place at the Golden Age finish line (that is, Percival Popp and the status of the Corrigan/Spectre relationship at that time) but it does close off the original run as being complete, confirming that we didn't miss any further exploits after the More Fun Comics feature stopped. Murphy Anderson revives a lot of the most memorable Bernard Baily imagery and Fox makes at least some attempt to establish the "rules" of the characters' dualism and inter-dependence.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 22, 2020 18:54:51 GMT -5
More Fun Comics #89 (March 1943) "The Underworld Goes Overweight!"
Synopsis: The product of "thirty years of unrelenting toil" sits before its inventor within the walls of The Research Corporation of America. Though Jim Corrigan has been selected to protect the machine as its transported to the War Department, he doesn't get the chance. Enticed by the bar of gold also present in this laboratory, "Grabby" Gus Nelson makes his move and rather clumsily at that. Sneaking in through a window and slipping upon an errant bar of soap, Nelson rather ignominiously activates the machine when he falls into its path. With its lens trained upon the very bar of gold the crook has sought out, Nelson watches as the machine projects a ray upon his target... and watches as the bar of gold sinks through the table upon which it had rested and lands who knows where. Accepting that the gold bar is now out of his reach, Nelson considers the possibility that this strange device might actually offer greater rewards in the long term. With that, The Research Corporation of America is now short one machine which, well, I'll let that professor explain what it is: "My machine is based upon the physical laws of molecular weights of various substances! Man is heavier than water so he can walk through it! If I made a man heavier than stone, he could walk through that! I do this by increasing the molecules' weight that forms substances - thus an object could penetrate another without breaking it... as a man enters water, pushing its molecules aside. Then seeing them reunite after him!" Unfortunately, it is as this unnamed inventor describes his machine to Corrigan and Popp that he learns of its disappearance and as he learns of its disappearance, that Nelson explains its significance to his men who seem rather uncertain of its possibilities until the goon turns the ray upon himself. Sinking through the floor of his apartment, the crook demonstrates to his men just how they'll be putting this strange machine to work. Shortly thereafter, Nelson once again turns the machine on upon himself and his men, but this time does so outside the National Bank of Trust Company. Standing precisely where they need to to sink through the ground and into the building's vault, Nelson and the gang switch on the contraption and accomplish just that. Hearing about the break-in while lounging around Police HQ, Popp heads to the scene where he meets up with The Spectre who has heard the rather farfetched sounding yarn about head's sticking through floors at the Trust Co. over the radio. Although in time to stop the fiends, The Spectre doesn't really know how - slugging one of the gang results only in the observation that "that was like bouncing a fist off a cement wall!" Ruling out the possibility of building another machine to counter the stolen one ("It'll be months before I can build another machine", notes the Professor) The Spectre is, for the time being, at a loss for defeating his new foes.  "As the days slide into weeks, the Heavier-Than-Stone gang ransacks the city's most impenetrable vaults..." Fortune however, smiles on The Spectre when an errant remark by Popp about his recent experiences at the dentist leads the ghost to realise that a pneumatic drill designed for breaking through stone should have no trouble doing the same to the gang. When The Continental Bank is robbed, The Spectre and Popp test their theory and while don't actually harm the men, convinces them that surrendering might not be a bad idea. With the men taken care of and Nelson's whereabouts divulged, The Spectre finds his prey at home wondering what's keeping his men. "I kept them", informs The Spectre as he enters the room. Although Nelson turns the machine on the hero, The Spectre's status as a ghost prevents his molecules being manipulated and the crook may as well be zapping him with a flashlight. Regrettably, the fate he had intended for The Spectre is bestowed upon Nelson when the unfortunate soul is knocked into the ray. Sinking through the floor, Nelson disappears and another case comes to a close. Thoughts: I actually enjoyed this issue - quite a corker! Not that I really buy that The Spectre would be incapable of replicating the effects of a drill with his powers and actually have to go get a drill, but Fox is, for a change, building upon ideas as opposed to setting them up and then knocking them down. The Professor's explanation for how his machine works likely wouldn't work in real life (I mean, even your molecules were dense enough to pass through steel, that doesn't mean the steel would reform around you like water) but what it lacks in applicability, it makes up for in imagination - Fox isn't just chalking things up to magic here. All too often, Fox seems content to establish some detail not to flesh out his tale, but to have an out ready to go for when he needs to wrap things up. Here, he has a little fun with the idea of sinking through the ground by having the hoods pop their heads in and out of floors while gauging their whereabouts. Some nice bits of atmosphere as well is provided by way of Baily's (?) artwork most noticeably when Nelson and his gang celebrate their victory in a darkened, smoke filled apartment lit only by the light from their cigarettes. In fact, though the text doesn't draw attention to this detail, Baily even has Nelson lighting his cigarette with what seems to be money.  Like I said, I'm not crazy about The Spectre suddenly becoming so powerless that he needs a drill to fight criminals with, but even the image of him turning one on a gangster is memorable. Out of context, The Spectre pressing a working drill up against the body of a bad guy screaming "A pneumatic drill!" would look like a chilling scene you'd expect from Fleischer's later run. Also; The Spectre isn't quipping or acting soft in the head this time around. His little "I wonder what's keeping the boys"/"I kept them" exchange with Nelson is a welcome call back to when The Spectre spoke ominously and infrequently and was not a guy you wanted to come face to face with under any set of circumstances. While Nelson's undoing is of his own making, sinking through the ground presumably to the Earth's core is the type of poetic fate you used to be able to find within these pages and certain to leave a lasting impression. Though not a punishment doled out by The Spectre, his "Don't feel sorry! He met a fate he would have meted out to us, Percival!" ends this installment on an appropriately sombre note.  So, Fox can impress me still. As M. W. hinted yesterday, changes in this strip lay just ahead and we'll see what Fox can do with the status quo he establishes with the very next issue of More Fun...
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Post by MWGallaher on Jun 22, 2020 20:58:38 GMT -5
Yeah, sinking through solid matter is a cool idea, one that seems to have resonance still in many people's dreams, from what I understand. Here's one of my favorite treatments of the concept:
It is surprising to see such a grim climax, when the strip has seemed so watered down of late. If there was an editorial dictate to do tamer stuff, why would Fox revert to giving the villain such a fate now in the midst of the Spectre's humor-tinged era?
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