#fox publications

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Certainly not dressed like that you can't.

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THE FIRST COMIC BOOK THOR

From WEIRD COMICS (vol. 1) #1 (April, 1940).

Methinks Grant is over-reacting a tad much to a bad date.

Methinks Grant is not reacting enough to a man in a Speedo suddenly appearing in his bedroom!

And WTF? "Thor mounts with Grant?" Double-WTF? Ain't this a kid's comic?

For those just joining us: Real Thor = red Speedo and cape; Grant Thor = blue Speedo and cape

And there ya have it: Thor's first superhero appearance in comics!

Surprisingly, this version of the God of Thunder only made five appearances before fading into comic book limbo.

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MYSTERY MEN COMICS (vol. 1) #1 (August, 1939). Cover By Lou Fine.

This issue contains the very first appearance of the Blue Beetle.

(And no, that's not the Beetle coming through the window on the cover, despite the placement of the name - or am I the only one who mistakenly thought that.

(It's actually the Green Mask, even though his mask is definitely NOT green in this image.)

The Beetle was very much a Green Hornet wannabe in his first story. He poses as a criminal to infiltrate gangs, and is wanted by the police as well. Like the Green Hornet, the Beetle only wears a suit with a mask (in this case, a pair of goggles), with a large scarab medallion. Also like the Hornet, the Beetle has a powerful, specially made car (which unfortunately we don't get a good look at in this story). The Beetle also possesses absolutely no superpowers at this time in his career.

This is the only time he appears in the business suit outfit. By the next issue (which I'll cover in a future post) he has started wearing a version of his famous chainmail costume, albeit with no mask at all.

There is no origin of the Beetle in this story. We can determine from context, though, that he has been operating in the city for some time, and is well known to criminals, police and the public.

Apparently, the Blue Beetle (aka police officer Dan Garret) is also the inventor of the wireless telephone.

Makes me wonder why Garret didn't patent it and make a fortune. Cops were paid notoriously low salaries back in those days.

The script for this story is believed to be by Will (The Spirit) Eisner, with art by Charles Nicholas.

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WHEN RETURNS...THE GORILLA!

From BLUE BEETLE COMICS (vol. 1) #10 (December, 1941) comes the second comic book story featuring the weirdo villain The Gorilla.

That's right: Jack Castle, former henchman to a mad scientist, is trapped with his brain inside the body of a (very anemic) gorilla, and has decided to become a menace to mankind.

"He can't do that to me!" Whattaya mean, Renard? He literally just did!

Oh brother, it seems the Gorilla still has the hots for Elsa Brock (now named Bonn), the gal who shot him in the last story.

And good grief, is that Ken Connors, at your service, in the last panel?

D'OH! First she shot him, now Elsa's set the poor Gorilla on fire! The only thing of which the Gorilla is deathly afraid!

Best line I've read today: "We ain't takin' no more orders from a monkey, see?"

Shot again???!! Twice in two stories?? And burned as well?

If it wasn't for bad luck, the Gorilla would have no luck at all! Especially since this is his last appearance anywhere. Given as he seems to be a bullet magnet, that's probably a good thing for him.

He's in the public domain now, known as The Gorilla With the Human Brain. I'd love to see someone continue his story of vengeance and mayhem. Or maybe give us a glimpse of him now (if he wasn't killed outright), living out his years in a penitentiary - or more likely a zoo.

By the way, the character who took his spot in the next issue of BLUE BEETLE COMICS was that scheme the Gladiator.

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DYNAMITE THOR

Despite a "next issue" blurb in the previous issue stating that Thor - God of Thunder would return, WEIRD COMICS (vol. 1) #6 (September, 1940) finds him missing from its pages.

Instead, jammed all the way in the back of the book, is a new feature: Dynamite Thor!

The byline still reads "Wright Lincoln, and still features a blonde hero, but has no connection to the Nirse god, other than the guy's last name is Thor.

Anyway, let's dive right into it and you can see for yourself:

This guy wears a belt containing sticks of dynamite! How freakin' safe is that?

And don't even get me started on his power line tightrope walking!

"The roof is leaving town!"

"Won't you tell us your real name?"

"No, I'm a famous, wealthy mine owner and society man who wears a costume with no mask, so I can't tell you my real name."

Apparently, Glenda is the only woman's name that Wright Lincoln knew. "Glenda" was the name of Grant (Thor - God of Thunder) Farrel's girlfriend in the previous five issues.

Yeah, tightrope walking on a power line while dragging a fully-grown man behind you is really that easy!

Lemme get this straight: he put out a huge fire, wandered down a long tunnel, dragged a man all the way back to the city police department, took a car ride out to the country, and returned to police headquarters in the city - all during a theatre intermission?

And the big bad turned out to be one of the most notorious porn stars of all time?

Comic books, amiright?

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SCIENCE COMICS (vol. 1) #1 (February, 1940). Cover by Lou Fine.

I wish that they had used Lou Fine's version of Electro's costume in the actual story. It's a lot more striking and dynamic than the one artist Bob Webb gave him:

Lou Fine drew a different, but still predominantly red, version of Electro's costume on the cover of the next issue:

SCIENCE COMICS (vol. 1) #2 (March, 1940). Cover by Lou Fine.

Electro was now named Dynamo. This was probably because Timely Comics (the predecessor to Marvel Comics) already had a character named Electro. Fox Publications, the publisher of Science Comics, had just been successfully sued by DC Comics for copyright infringement, and was not interested in going to court yet again.

Despite the new, nifty costume drawn by Lou Fine for the cover, Dynamo still wore the all-blue get-up from his origin story. Interestingly, he still had the large "E" on his chest in most of the panels he appeared in.

SCIENCE COMICS (vol. 1) #3 (April, 1940).

The cover of the third issue shows Dynamo in yet another red outfit, although this looks like a robe as opposed to a superhero costume. I don't know who the artist is, but I do know that it's NOT Lou Fine as some sources have suggested.

Inside, Dynamo continues wearing the costume he's had from the beginning, although now the colorist has made his hands, boots and belt red. The new artist on the feature, Dick Briefer, has removed the "E" from the costume, but a couple of times in dialogue Dynamo is still called Electro.

Dynamo wasn't on the cover of Science Comics #4 or #5. The interior art for the fourth issue, still credited to Dick Briefer, has him in essentially the same costume he's had from the start. However, the color scheme has been reversed. He still has the "E" on his chest in about half the panels.

The story in the fifth issue, with art by an unknown artist, finds Dynamo in a completely new costume:

He's lost his pants, but now he wears a helmet that allows him to read people's thoughts. I reckon that's a fair trade-off.

SCIENCE COMICS (vol. 1) #6 (July, 1940). Cover by Joe Simon.

Dynamo returns to the cover spot with issue #6, rendered by Joe Simon. Simon has given the hero the same costume he wore on the cover of issue #2.

The interior story, with art credited to Harold Weber, has Dynamo wearing yet another new set of duds:

This time it looks like he's just wearing a union suit with a blue cape and boots. His helmet has changed as well, and now it's capable of picking up thoughts from outer space. We also learn that Dynamo has the ability to fly to faraway planets elsewhere in the galaxy.

SCIENCE COMICS (vol. 1) #7 (August, 1940).

I have no idea who the artist is for this, Dynamo's last cover appearance for Science Comics, but they depict Dynamo in pretty much the same costume he's worn on most of the covers.

The uncredited artist for the interior story decides one his own version of Dynamo's costume:

Now it's a green union suit coupled with what looks like a (for then) contemporary football helmet. We are assured that the helmet still has its mind reading function, though.

Science Comics' final issue was #8. Dynamo appeared again in the green costume:

At least the uncredited artist fancied the costume up with a lightning bolt and the "D" on the helmet. It's a whole lot more attractive than the outfit Dynamo wore in the previous story.

Dynamo would next be seen in Weird Comics #8, and he would appear there until #19, after which he vanished into limbo. I haven't researched his costume changes in that book yet, but given how many he had here the man must've spent a small fortune at the tailor shop.

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MYSTERY MEN COMICS (vol. 1) #5 (December, 1939). Cover by Lou Fine.

This is the issue that contains the fifth appearance of the Blue Beetle.

Written by Will Eisner, art by Charles Nicholas.

We meet again Dr. Franz, the proprietor of a drugstore that Dan has used as secret headquarters before. This time the doc displays his skills at disguising Dan Garret, as well as giving the poor guy a HUGE forehead.

It seems all that work Dr. Franz did to disguise Dan was all for naught (and didn't last more than 3 panels!).

How the Blue Beetle got from a steel cage to a "strong cell" is entirely up to our imagination.

But it gives us an opportunity to learn what the Beetle keeps in his belt buckle. And while the master keys are nice, maybe he should use his portable, wireless telephone that he invented in his first story and call the cops!

For the first time we learn that the Blue Beetle's costume is made of mail, which is what it has been drawn as for the last three appearances.

And finally, the crooks are caught in what looks like a scene straight from a Three Stooges short.

So once again we have a fairly pedestrian tale of the Blue Beetle taking out some crooks. I'm still not seeing what made the character so popular, but somebody must have: this is the Beetle's first 5-page story, an increase of 25% (unlike the entire Tr*mp administration, I can do simple percentages) over of his previous tales. I guess he really is moving up in the world.

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THE FINAL APPEARANCE OF DYNAMITE THOR

From BLUE BEETLE COMICS (vol. 1) #8 (August, 1941) comes the final story featuring Dynamite Thor, the character who replaced the earlier her, Thor - God of Thunder.

The story is presented again using the in-house name of Wright Lincoln as the byline, accompanied by yet another noticeable change in the art style. And Dynamite Thor has ditched his yellow cape after only one appearance (in the previous story).

Once more, Peter Thor finds a way to rudely ditch his fiancée, Glenda Grant, for an excuse to put on his superhero duds to become Dynamite Thor. And look: now he has a "T" emblazoned on his chest.

Now here it looks like a page is missing from the story, because Dynamite Thor goes from running toward the old mansion to suddenly being menaced by a goon with a gun. The story was probably trimmed to fit in the space left in the book, and the editors probably thought that the readers wouldn't notice or car.

It's good to see that Dynamite Thor is still using explosive farts to propel himself into the sky.

Even though he is out of "dynamite pills," the writer still found a way for Dynamite Thor to end the villains by blowing up everything.

And there you have it: Dynamite Thor's shortest adventure yet.

Tragically for Glenda and Peter, that "...in the next issue" caption in the last panel is wrong. The characters would never be seen again.

Instead, the following issue of BLUE BEETLE COMICS carried a new feature, The Gorilla, which really needs to be seen to be believed.

Dynamite Thor has slipped into the public domain, and I understand some publishers have used the character in recent years. I wish them better luck than Fox Publications had with the original.