YOUNG ROBINHOOD Calls it Quits!!

There's very little info online for Young Robinhood (often misspelled "Young Robin Hood"). Here's what Public Domian Super Heroes has:

Billy Lackington, son of one New York City's wealthiest men, decides to use his archery skills to fight against the criminals who preyed on the poor. He used his fascination with Robin Hood as his costumed theme. He soon shifted his scope to fighting the Axis powers and crime in general. He recruited a group of local street kids - "Fatso," "Shorty," and "Freckles" - to serve as his "Merry Men." On their second adventure, the Merry Men got codenames, becoming Friar Tucker, Little John, and Big Doc. Doc was killed in action early on, but Friar Tucker and Little John continued to assist Young Robin Hood until their feature was canceled.

Young Robin Hood and his allies operated out of a secret base hidden in Central Park which they built using the money they managed to pool together. They fought villains such as The Crow King and the Veiled Lady.

Young Robinhood debuted in BOY COMICS #3 (April 1942) and ran through issue #32 (February 1947), never to be heard from again...

from
BOY COMICS #9 (April 1943)
story by ?; art by Alan Mandel

SERGEANT SPOOK vs King Tut!

Sergeant Spook (which apparently was his real name before he died) has a very short and simple secret origin...and it contains a message: Smoking is bad for your health!

One night while working in the police crime laboratory, Sergeant Spook absent-mindedly laid his pipe next to a rack of chemicals. The chemicals exploded, killing the sergeant. Thus began his career as a ghostly crime fighter.

No real super powers (like, say, the Spectre), but although he was invisible to humans, he could still make physical contact with them. He also spent a lot of time hanging with his fellow ghosts in Ghost Town.

Sergeant Spook debuted in BLUE BOLT COMICS v1 #1 (June 1940) and held a regular spot through v7 #7 (Dec 1946). There were 27 more issues of BLUE BOLT COMICS, and Sergeant Spook made it into 17 of them (v7 #10-v10 #1, Mar 1947-Jul/Aug 1949). He also appeared in DICK COLE #1 (Dec/Jan 1948/49).

from
BLUE BOLT COMICS v1 #10 (March 1941)
story & art by Malcolm Kildale

MINIMIDGET, Man of Mite!

Minimidget (and girlfriend/sidekick, Ritty) debuted in AMAZING MAN COMICS #5 (Sept 1939, which was the first issue of the series). He held his spot until the next to the last issue of the series, AMAZING MAN COMICS #25 (Dec 1941). He also appeared in all 5 issues of STARS & STRIPES COMICS (#2-6, May-Dec 1941).

Minimidget had an interesting debut: Although he was the headliner of the tale, he had no dialogue and was just used by Dr. Barmell (the mad scientist who created him) to murder people (which he did without showing much remorse). By the end of the story, Minimidget had been killed by a rattrap!

Death being what it is in comics (even in the Golden Age, apparently), Minimidget wasn't dead, just injured ("while on an evil errand for his late master"). The district attorney's office finds Minimidget and Riddy a home with the kindly old lady, Mrs. Kerry. They neglect to mention to Mrs. Kerry (or the readers, ever again) that Minimidget was on a killing spree when he was caught in the trap, but...oh well.

Minimidget and Riddy pretty much lived happily-ever-after, fighting crime and riding around in toy planes, trains and automobiles. Well...until the end of 1941.

from
AMAZING MAN COMICS #21 (March 1941)
story & art by John F. Kolb

The FIGHTING YANK in "The Case of the Extra Nazi Prisoner!"

The Fighting Yank (Bruce Carter III) meets Baron Karl Mannfred Von Khill, Der Fuehrer's greatest secret agent!!

from
AMERICA'S BEST COMICS #14 (June 1945)
story by Richard Hughes (?); art by ?

Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar - MAYBE

Update: Zazzle is offering 40% off calendars!
Use code 40CLNDRS2011 at checkout! Ends 11/30/2010.
Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar

The Story, The Drama, The Strife...

Okay...
Earlier this year I was thinking it would be cool to have a calendar of Golden Age heroes. I figured with all the print-on-demand options out there, I'd give it a shot.

I decided to go with Zazzle since I could design the entire page, as opposed to CafePress where they put on any calendar they feel like. I'm just too much of a control junkie! [Although I won't make that mistake again...]

So I finally had it all together and up on Zazzle in May and placed me an order. I got the confirmation email...I couldn't wait to see what it looked like! A bit later I got a second email that said:

We are sorry, but we are unable to process your Zazzle.com order 131-39775797-2721874 due to a conflict with one or more of our acceptable content guidelines.

Your entire order has been cancelled; all of the items in your order will not be shipped.

For these reasons, we were unable to process your original order:

Title: Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar
Product Link: 158648999484715845
Result: Not Approved
Content Issues:
--- Design contains an image or text that is copyrighted.

I sent them an email explaining that the images involved were public domain, and that they had other sellers on Zazzle that were also selling public domain images. The response I got was:

Thank you for reporting a suspected marketplace violation. It's Zazzlers like you that uphold our community ideals to provide a great venue for creativity and originality.

Your submission will be reviewed by our Content Management Team. If we determine that the product is in violation of our policies, it will be removed from the marketplace.

I emailed them back letting them know that first: I hadn't reported any violations because there weren't any, and second: what needed to be done to resolve this "issue."

I never received a response.

I just let it go and pretty much forgot about it.

For some reason in September I remembered it again, and since I'd never heard from them, I assumed maybe they had their crack legal team research the term "public domain" and it was all better now. I sent in an order.

And received the same cancellation notice.

This time I asked them specifically what in my calendar was the problem. I actually got a response!:

In this instance, your order contained products with copyright-protected content related to Marvel UK, which cannot be printed without written permission from the rights holder or licensor.

I was like "Marvel UK?" So I emailed them again, again asking for specifics. And, of course, never heard back.

Well, the calendar has never been taken off the marketplace. Why? I have no idea. What I do know is: last week I received an email from Zazzle saying:

You recently sold 1 copy of your product, Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar.

So now I'm all like WTF? I dunno. Apparently I'm the only one to whom they won't sell my calendar. Never seen it. Have no idea of the quality. But if anyone is interested and wants to take the crap shoot that is Zazzle. Give it a go:

Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar

If it works out for you, let me know!!