More Fun Comics #71 (Sept, 1941)



“An odd role for me – that of cupid! But I’m going to do my best to bring those two lovers together again!”

Synopsis: Clarice Winston makes a return to these pages serving as Jim Corrigan’s date for the wedding of their friends Tom Grant and Barbara Newsome. Things don’t go according to plan (at least, to the plan of the bride and groom-to-be) as Grant fails to make an appearance when scheduled. Corrigan decides to investigate as his otherworldly self, but is unable to glean much beyond the fact that – per his ability to conjure images from the past – his friend was violently abducted from his apartment. What’s with the scant details and inability to track him down using his supernatural abilities? Well, it seems that “far off in the universe, a number of constellations strike a weird combination which occurs only once every 100 000 000 light years, temporarily robbing him off some of his powers”. So, a poor alignment of the stars then and yes, “light years” is probably the wrong term to use since light years indicates distance and not time, but I think you get the gist.

At a loss to nail the culprit or even locate his next lead, The Spectre plays a gamble – he transforms himself into the missing groom and shows up at the wedding. His hope is that whoever doesn’t want Grant to show up for the nuptials will strike at him at which point, The Spectre will be ready. Of course, if this doesn’t happen, it’s more likely that The Spectre will be married. Just as the latter possibility bounces around in his head, a bullet passes through his chest. Fired from behind, The Spectre-Grant doesn’t get a look at his assailant and doesn’t seem about to a second chance given the limits imposed upon his usual powers. But hey, guess what? A second chance is exactly what he gets when a masked gunman forces him at gunpoint to accompany him back to the ramshackle dwelling in which he’s supposed to be locked. Expressing his confusion as to how Grant even got out of his cell, the gunman only finds further perplexity to be had in the fact that, having arrived at the house, he’s come face to face with two Tom Grants. The Spectre clears matters up by transforming back into, well, The Spectre who grows to gigantic size, picks up the gunman, asks if he’d care to reveal the identity of his employer, gunman says ‘NO!”, and The Spectre produces a bow into which he places the hood, asks him the same question, and when no answer is forthcoming, shoots the crook into “the depths of interstellar space where he can no longer plague law-abiding citizens of the Earth”. Kind of makes you feel proud.

Grant is returned to the church but warned by his savior that he may not be greeted as warmly as he anticipates. Sure enough, Barbara Newsome is furious to have been left at the alter twice now by Grant and is in no mood for explanations. Sadly, the same goes for the assembled guests who feel that Grant is now getting his just desserts. In fact, one particular guest (and former suitor to Barbara) Clyde Wyckliff, seems practically jubilant over these developments. Consoling the jilted bride, he uses this opportunity to not only offer Barbara a shoulder to cry on, but to rundown Tom Grant. “That won’t do!”, thinks The Spectre as he invisibly plays Peeping Tom. A quick mental command wave of his arm and suddenly, Clyde Wyckliff becomes Tom Grant’s number one booster. “Disregard the bad things I’ve been saying about Tom! They’re a lot of hooey! Tom is a grand fellow and you’d be a lucky girl to marry him!” Barbara reconsiders her earlier decision and gives Grant a ring-a-ding-ding – the wedding is back on for tomorrow!

As for Wyckliff? “I must have been out of my mind to praise Tom and bring about that reconciliation! What I deserve is a kick in the pants!” “Glad to oblige!” announces The Spectre who goes ahead and promptly does just that! It’s a quick two-panel bit, but I enjoyed it!

Anyhow, the wedding’s back on and Tom is elated, though there’s a catch – this time, there’s no bride. Can it be that Barbara only feigned interest in a reconciliation so as to give Grant a taste of his own medicine. The Spectre thinks it unlikely and decides to pay the young lady a visit. Discovering the girl in tears, The Spectre quickly realizes the problem when he reads the note clutched in her hand – “MARRY TOM GRANT AND HE WILL NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE ALIVE!” So that’s it.

The Spectre makes his presence known to the woman (who – like Tom before her – recognizes him indicating that the hero has become, if not a household name then pretty well known) who accepts his assurance that no harm will come to Grant if she goes through with the service.

The wedding begins and Barbara finds another note threatening her beloved hidden in her bouquet. Any hesitancy is dispelled when The Spectre’s bodiless voice whispers “Courage” into her ear. The wedding continues. Just when Clyde Wyckliff looks ready to burst, guess who pulls a gun? Allen Tracy! Who? Allen Tracy! Best Man! Yeah, not Wyckliff, but another guy who also happens to be in love with Barbara. Took me by surprise too. So a bullet is fired, The Spectre intercedes, and finds himself “caught in an occult current – drifting off into the unknown –helpless to fight back because my powers are now limited!” We’ve seen this before – some random, freakish occurrence in the occult world just grabs The Spectre and tosses him into some sort of cosmic eddy. Now, I’m not exactly sure what Siegel means when he narrates “Light years vary a fraction from their occult design” but it results in The Spectre being restored to full power, getting back to the chapel, and turning the fired bullet to sand, which lands harmlessly upon the chest of Tom Grant. Though threatened, a second shot doesn’t arrive for The Spectre uses the time it takes Tracy to rant about losing the girl he loves to his best friend, to turn the barrel of his gun into a long metal rope in which to tie him. The newly weds drive off and agree that things would have turned out differently if not for The Spectre. From afar, their hero wishes them luck.

Thoughts: Though I’ve never given much credence to the idea of reading subtext in these older comics (ie. Batman and Robin must be gay, etc.) I am beginning to wonder if Siegel is covertly trying to let us know something which he can’t just be forthright about and that something is – The Spectre has a drinking problem. “Whoa! My head’s spinning! There must be uh, must be a weird alignment of the stars or something that’s keeping me from walking straight! Let me just lean on this lamp post and… yeah, that’s better! I’m good… whoa! I’m spinning around and around! Must be a cosmic eddy that’s making me do that!”

Oh well, who am I to judge?

Actually, what I’m really wondering is whether or not Siegel is reading these posts. Not too long ago I lamented the polishing away of Jim Corrigan’s tragic relationship with Clarice Winston. That the two would even attend a friend’s wedding would seem to illustrate how far away Siegel has gotten from his earlier presentation of their relationship as one that both could pine for but never achieve. However, Siegel addresses this head on with the following caption.

“The tragedy of Jim Corrigan’s existence: Tho he loves Clarice Winston with all his heart and soul, marriage is not for them! For Clarice is of the living while Jim is a member of the legion of departed souls…”

Cut to Corrigan’s face in shadows looking glum.

“I… I shouldn’t have come! The happiness of Tom and Barbara only serves to further remind me that such happiness can never be mine! My fate is to haunt this world in a continual battle against crime, always helping others – but helpless to aid myself!”



THAT’S the Corrigan I know and love!

There is levity to be had in this tale though. We’ve seen a mischievous side to The Spectre on a few occasions and once again, he gives someone a kick in the pants simply for being a lout. Last time, it was delivered to a doorman who had gotten flip with Jim Corrigan; this time, it’s to Wyckliff when he says he deserves as much for trying to save Barbara and Tom’s relationship. It’s actually a pretty funny moment – one of those things The Spectre does not because he’s meting out justice, but simply because he can. Nice to see this human side every once in a while.

Another thing The Spectre can do? Fashion a giant bow out of nothing and fire a villain into the deepest reaches of space with it. I guess that ‘No Killing’ edict hasn’t yet kicked in with The Spectre after all or Vincent Sullivan simply hasn’t been reading this series.

You know, I really liked this entry. The tragedy, the humour, the weirdness – it’s all there, but there’s a very human side to The Spectre in this one as well. Although not directly stated as such, one gets the feeling that The Spectre fights on this couples behalf because they’re having the wedding he can never have. Juxtaposed amongst so many others (well, two, at least) whose jealously either turns them into embittered men or would-be killers, The Spectre’s decency really glows here. Even the ‘Good Luck’ he silently wishes the couple as they drive away is touching.

One final observation: Tom Grant and Barbara Newsome both recognize The Spectre on sight and not in a “Hey, you’re that guy who keeps robbing trains and opening casinos!” way either. It seems that the guy is becoming a known quantity in his world and has moved on from the status of unknown crimefighter. Interesting that he’s recognized as a good guy too. We’ll see if this keeps up or if as happened before, Siegel goes in one direction only to move in another only to again move back to his original approach before dropping it again. Like I said, we’ll have to see.

Same here. Forever on the outside of everything in life. He was never going to have an option for happiness like Superman with Lois or Lana--in many ways, he was the prototype "long suffering / tragic hero" that would influence a significant part of Spider-Man's greatest points in his history, which always made heroes far more compelling than the guy who has it all--even if he does not pursue it.

The big difference between Jim Corrigan and Clarice Winston and Superman and Lois Lane is that one series established the end of a relationship whereas the other established the start of it.  It's why Siegel always seems to have backed himself into a corner whenever Clarice shows up.

The visualization of the evil entity as an oozing black vapor is something that would seem very at home in modern horror films, and I know I've seen it more than once, but I can't think of a specific example at the moment. These Spectre stories are worth it for the number of weird ideas thrown at the reader, which compensates for a variety of potential weaknesses. Delaying tactics like hurling the Spectre into the cosmic ether may not be very satisfying story-wise, but they do provide that brief jaunt into strange landscapes that would have really fired my imagination as a young reader. The Spectre would have been a big favorite for me, and I wonder why the more mundane characters had much longer runs.

This has my vote. Not sure how much comics relied on anything more than sales to judge a concept, and if one company saw something that seemed to be selling somewhere else, well, it was time to jump on the latest bandwagon.

I'm wondering if there was a fairly sudden shift to the notion of a comic sidekick at most companies at around the same time. Maybe a response to a phenomenon in the movies?

If I had more time right now, I'd do some digging. A project for another day.

The Sandman portion of the story found in All-Star Comics #3 deals with the hero facing off against giant sized men in an area filled with sacks made out of human flesh filled with bones.  It eventually turns out that the drug which made these men giants wear off leaving normal sized bones inside of overstretched bodies of flesh.  I found this inventive and creepy and like the headless men in issue #6, the sort of thing you really only find commonly during The Golden Age.  

I do hope you'll bear through the Percival Popp era, chadwilliam! I need the motivation to read along and be able to claim I've read the full run! And if you bail once the Popp phase gets underway, you'll miss the Popp-less Spectre segments running concurrently in All-Star Comics.
This time around, Siegel would have been much better off letting the Spectre's telephone tracing actually work for once, since the idea that a 1940's telephone company would have immediate records of ordinary phone calls ("Within the telephone building, the Man of Darkness glances at company records to discover...") is hard to swallow. Baily draws the Spectre's invisible form looking at some sort of simple switching device, while a hapless employee stands in front of a huge book, so exactly what The Spectre is consulting to glean this information remains vague, but still, it's far-fetched...and ultimately pointless since the delay isn't significant anyway.
The space-folding machine is another one of those ideas straight out of the sci-fi or weird fantasy pulps that made this series a lot of fun.
And finally, "Hey, fellers! Watch for Percival Popp the Super-Cop" leaves me with one question that's long haunted me: did kids in the 40's actually use the word "fellers" as much as Golden Age comics would suggest?