MR. JUSTICE vs The King of the Vampires!

What!? More vampires!!? Well, it is Halloween, after all. Plus, we've got us a ghost in our super-hero protagonist, Mr. Justice!!

Debuting in BLUE RIBBON COMICS #9 (February 1941), Mr. Justice began his career one year after DC's Spectre (MORE FUN COMICS #52 [February 1940]). Is Mr. Justice a rip-off? I don't know. But they are both spirits, they both have hoods and capes, they both have white skin... I guess you can decide for yourself. I am surprised that DC didn't send a cease-and-desist letter, like they did for all the Superman copy-cats.

Mr. Justice's golden-age career spanned BLUE RIBBON COMICS #9-22 (February 1941-March 1942) and JACKPOT COMICS #1-9 (Summer 1941-Summer 1943).

from
BLUE RIBBON COMICS #11 (April 1941)
story by Joe Blair; art by Sam Cooper
[cover by Sam Cooper]

The SHIELD vs The Monocled Monster!!

We're going heavy on the vampires this week. Hey, it is Halloween after all!!

Although more well-known, Captain America (who debuted in CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1 [March 1941]) was not the first American flag-themed hero. The Shield beat him by 14 months!

The Shield first appeared in PEP COMICS #1 (January 1940) and stayed there through issue #65 (January 1948), at which point it changed to an all-humor title. He also starred in SHIELD-WIZARD COMICS #1-13 (Summer 1940-Spring 1944). He was created by writer Harry Shorten and artist Irv Novick.

from
SHIELD-WIZARD COMICS #5 (Fall 1941)
story by Harry Shorten; art by Don Rico?

This story has all kinds of weirdness in it:
The last time we see Dusty (page 8), he's lying seemingly unconscious on the roof as the Shield takes off to fight the count.
Mamie mentions her boyfriend, Ju Ju, to the count a few times, but never says his last name. Yet, on page 10, the count refers to him as Ju Ju Watson.
On page 12, Shield asks Ju Ju if the guy Mamie is with is wearing a cape. Ju Ju says yes, but at no point in the story does the count ever have on a cape.
When the Shield finally gets back home on the last page, he doesn't seem at all concerned about Dusty's state of health, who was unconscious the last time he saw him. Not too mention that Dusty, after waking up, decides not to track down the Shield and help him, instead opting to change into his pjs and wait for the Shield's return. Dusty then has the nerve to ask him "what happened?" The Shield's reply should've been, "Where the hell were you, you little bastard!?"
"Burn up that book on vampires you were reading!" The Shield is apparently Republican.

PARTING SHOT:


There's a time and a place for everything...

The GREEN KNIGHT vs the Vampire! -plus- The Rebirth of FRANKENSTEIN's Monster!

Today were doing a double again. Partially because the first story is kinda cheese-tastic, and partially because the second story has nothing even resembling a super hero in it. But, dang, you can't have Halloween without Frankenstein!!

From the cut and color-scheme of his costume to his bow-and-arrow motif, Green Knight looks like a Green Arrow rip-off. But he debuted just one month after Ollie Queen premiered in MORE FUN COMICS #73 (November 1941)!

Green Knight got his start in DYNAMIC COMICS #2 (December 1941) and wrapped up his career in DYNAMIC COMICS #3 (February 1942).

from
BULLS EYE COMICS #11 (1944)
[reprinted from DYNAMIC COMICS #2 (December 1941)]
story by ?; art by Charles Sultan?

Those last couple panels are all kinds of "what th- huh?" He says "We'll fire the old trap!" Which to me seems barely English. Then, the panel where he's "firing the old trap" hardly looks like anything; whether it's the art of the coloring...I just don't see a trap being fired. Finally, in the last panel, Dale says "Gosh, they did'nt [sic] even let me thank them!" Meanwhile, Green Knight is barely two feet away talking to her!!! Oh my...

---

Frankenstein's Monster has a checkered past -- made more interesting by the fact that all of his appearances published by Prize were from the same creator; Dick Briefer. He debuted as, well, a monster in PRIZE COMICS #7 (December 1940). By 1944 he was battling Nazis, as all good comic heroes were doing at the time. Before the year was out, his adventures were played strictly for laughs, sharing wacky adventures with vampires and ghouls. The comedy carried over into his own series; FRANKENSTEIN #1-17
(Summer 1945-January 1949). He continued to appear in PRIZE COMICS through the final issue, #68 (February 1948).

In the early 1950s, horror comics were getting huge. Prize decided to go for a piece of the pie and Dick Briefer brought back Frankenstein's Monster as, well, a monster. The new, original monster's adventures ran in FRANKENSTEIN #18-33 (March 1952-October 1954).

from
FRANKENSTEIN #18 (March 1952)
story and art by Dick Briefer

YARKO the Great vs Death and the Devil!

Dark-magical mayhem arrives in London!!

Yarko the Great, Master of Magic, is another super-heroic magician. He made his debut in WONDER COMICS #2 (June 1939), then continued his career in WONDERWORLD COMICS #3-33 (July 1939-January 1942). He also had a couple tales appear in SAMSON #4-5 (April & July 1941). His first 4 adventures were collected in BLUE BEETLE #1 (Winter 1939).

from
BLUE BEETLE #1 (Winter 1939)
[reprinted from WONDERWORLD COMICS #3 (July 1939)]
story and art by Will Eisner
[cover to WONDER COMICS #2 by Lou Fine]

You can download BLUE BEETLE #1
and just about every other comic on this blog
from Golden Age Comics Downloads!