Finally on the cover again…and creepy as heck!
The (New) Blue Beetle #22
Holyoke Publishing Company (June, 1943)
Yes, the Blue Beetle is back on the cover of his own comic. Shocking, I know. Still only two bookend stories, not counting the one page gag strips I don’t cover. That might seem weird to you since I (try to) do a one page gag strip every week but there are so many stories to review that I need something to keep me from doing nothing else all day. Advantage to the 22 page comics I grew up with.
The Blue Beetle: “The Case Of The Transformation” by Sylvan H. Stein (writer) and Chas. M. Quinlan (artist/editor)
Well, I guess Dan’s entered the war. A few different superheroes did but that’s not the weirdest part of the story by a mile. You want war propaganda in action? Dan decides to quit the police force and join US intelligence. He and a fellow former cop recruit, Bill Dailey, are sent to Germany because of their past experience…as police officers. The two part on their separate missions, as Dan is sent to infiltrate Hitler’s place. He eventually does so as the Blue Beetle and learns a secret about Hitler…he’s literally the devil! I have…questions, even knowing this is propaganda. Then again, I always have questions when the paranormal enters the Blue Beetle’s adventures. He also fulfills a promise to Bill and sends him Hitler’s mustache…which given the Nazis really want the Blue Beetle makes Bill suspicious. Nice going, Dan. Yeah, he gets to punch Hitler and there’s a cameo from Mike Madigan (sadly we don’t know what Joan thinks but no Sparky Spunky this time) and you have to wonder if the coincidence that the Blue Beetle is fighting Nazi’s now just after Dan left the force for US intelligence isn’t going to raise suspicion back but we’ll see where this concept goes. Meanwhile, it’s an okay story.
Ali Baba (no credits or title given)
He’s back and so is his wife, played by a new actress with a new character model for some reason. She nags Ali and his faithful mule Muhrad away to join a merchant ship because apparently she’s not rich enough or something. Ali had a number of adventures after he and Muhrad get lost at sea but for some reason wants to get back to his wife. I don’t get it, either. It’s another comedic (allegedly) retelling of a story from Arabian Knights and I’m guessing they didn’t get American comics over there or I’m not sure they’d help us against the Nazis, which according to the wartime show The Rat Patrol my dad’s been watching they apparently did.
Crime Reporter: “Beware…This Woman Is Death”
A story that opens with a splash page of a woman’s head and two also disembodied hands pointing guns at the reader. Wonder what Wertham would have made out of that? It opens with Big Mike Dolan being murdered before going into flashback. Dolan is approached by a woman the comic only calls Kay, who wants to join up. Too bad her old partner treats their robberies like a relationship and offs Dolan. I have to wonder where the rest of his gang was during that last robbery, why she did the job she planned with the one guy with Dolan instead, and a bunch of other questions that won’t be answered. Nice plot but terrible follow through.
Wing Lee, Boy Patriot Of China: chapter 2 by Jack Alderman
The pilot from chapter 1 is Bill Anderson, who has joined Wing and his Boy Patriots. They come across a Chinese kid shot by the Japanese army as he escaped the concentration camp, but luckily it was a fatal wound. He tells Bill that Bill’s father is a prisoner in the camp…somehow…and Wing comes up with a plan to rescue them…that includes the Flying Tigers popping up out of nowhere for no narrative reason. It’s still weird reading about evil Japanese and good Chinese given that I live in 2023 where the reverse is true, but that’s life for you. It’s a decent story and no racial stereotypes except for one kid who barely matters to the story.
Young Guerilla Girl Fighter
A 17-year-old Russian is being interviewed after escaping the Nazis and tells of how she was captured and escaped, helped by an American pilot she hopes to marry when she’s legal. It’s an interesting tale. Not bad but not exactly exciting.
Parachute Nurse
Our fighter mentioned that a number of young Russian women were becoming guerilla fighters and parachute nurses, and this next story obviously focuses on the latter. It’s four panel pages of a lot of exposition as to what a parachute nurse is and a few bits of information about our nurse in particular to explain why she’s so good at what she does. I’m not impressed.
The Blue Beetle: “A Holiday With Death” by Chas. M. Quinlan
Mike and Joan get to make at least one more appearance. With Dan coming home on vacation (after one mission?) it’s bad timing that Bug-Eyes Bailey is out on parole since he wants revenge on Dan for sending him to prison. Sure the parole board couldn’t possibly be that dumb, Mike and Joan start a campaign to expose corruption on the board, but when Bailey decide to silence them the Blue Beetle comes back just in time to save them. I’m not sure if this was a leftover story they retooled or what, but maybe they should have led with this. Blue Beetle does mention ripping Hitler’s mustache off in the previous story, so that was surprising continuity. Personally I wouldn’t mind if we went back to Central City (what they’re calling it this issue…I’m not even trusting the name of Joan’s paper due to how inconsistent the city’s name is) now and then to see how they’re doing, provided they don’t use up one of Dan’s adventures.
Overall this is a mixed comic. Some okay stories but nothing really cool or really terrible. It’s serviceable, which I’m starting to think is the best we’re getting from Holyoke. And a comic where Hitler is revealed to be Satan being called serviceable may well be a negative review in itself.
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