The long awaited Bloodshot crossover begins…on Crisis On Earth Prime or Super-Team Family or something. Not here.
The Blue Beetle #26
Holyoke Publishing (October, 1943)
This issue has two Blue Beetle stories bookending the comic and he hosts an activity page. I guess that’s the best you can hope for in the Golden Age. That and all the stories be good but that’s become a crapshoot. Maybe that’s why they did anthologies back then, in the hopes that enough stories would be worth the price?
Who knows. Let’s begin.
The Blue Beetle: “Death Stalks Democracy” by Zac H. Gabel
Ah, crap! Spunky’s back. I defend Scrappy-Doo and I don’t like this kid. Oddly he doesn’t put on his blackmail-obtained superhero gear. He does however still end up in the thick of the action, even at times when he shouldn’t. The story finds Nazis using an old embassy of a (fictional) country that joined their side to hide out, trying to force the representative of another country to also join them. The opening is kind of confusing. At first I thought they were showing someone being forced into neutrality by anti-war Americans but I don’t know what was going on in that panel. Otherwise the story has some decent action and there are times when Spunky’s presence was useful. Plus he didn’t become a superhero sidekick with his own suit and using his nickname as his superhero name. Yes, it bugs me that Bucky Barnes did the same thing. Decent enough opener for this issue.
Ali Baba (no title or credits)
Ali’s wife is back, and undergoing yet another redesign. WHY does he keep going back to her? When Ali, the Swami, and Murhad hide in the time machine from her latest rampage she sends them into the future TO GET RID OF ALI! Because time as depicted in this story would make the Doctor’s head explode trying to process it, the future is King Arthur’s land ruled by an evil Merlin, with our heroes and a new friend captured by Merlin’s 1940s style police officers, ending the story on a cliffhanger. Why is this story?
Patton
Like it says, a history of George S. Patton. It kind of jumps all over the place during his life, his various wars, and his then current battle against Mussolini’s forces in Italy. Otherwise it’s an okay story. Kind of a shame they just used blank space to illustrate his potty mouth instead of the usual @#$%$# stuff though.
Drop Towers by Bruce Bard
The comic is called Drop Towers but the character is called Prop Powers. Somebody goofed somewhere. As any astue comic fan can figure out, the guy named after a part of the airplane is a fighter pilot. He’s being sent to bomb a Nazi battleship but Nazi fighter planes attack the airfield, so Prop has to get his plane out of the battlezone and take it to the Nazi ship. Most of the time Prop has nobody to talk to, but he won’t shut up. I think he used have the expressions of the period by the time the comic was done, but it’s a nice little short story.
Sergeant “CH” Czech Hero Flier by writer Edith Wieselthier and art by Geo Tunkle
A woman writing a 1940s war comic? But they were all sexist back then, weren’t they? Anyway, they’re calling the hero of this supposedly true story Charles Havlicek (CH for short) instead of his real name because his family is still under Nazi oppression and they don’t want them found in retaliation. That’s nice of them. CH and his fellow RAF fliers are sent to take out their own Nazi battleship, but they run into trouble with anti-aircraft guns from the other boats after sinking it. CH nearly dies when his plane is shot down and his parachute fails to open but he survives and according to the text joined his squadron in another attack the next day. Believable? That’s up to you. Not a bad story though.
Crime Reporter: “The Case Of The Red Rose Killer”
Detectives are hunting for a serial killer who leaves a red rose as a calling card. When the killer goofs up the cops are able to arrest him. I’m sorry, possible as it might be in the real world his motivation is a weak part of the story and there are some lettering errors in the final panel. It’s a fair story at best and the motive issue may just be me.
The Disappearing Wreck by writer Ruth Peecock and artist Geo Tunkel
Two college kids find it curious that a wrecked ship appeared so close so soon and decide to investigate. They end up mixed up in a Japanese plan to use a fake wreck attached to their submarine to lure the enemy into a trap. Also one of their friends turns out to be a traitor. It’s an okay story though there is a segment I couldn’t tell what was going on. Did one of the sailor fire ray blasts from his palms?
Blue Beetle (no title or creators noted)
Dan is sent to France to rescue a female agent, and apparently he doesn’t mind letting her see his face without the mask. I’m also wondering if his boss knows he’s the Blue Beetle. He gets her out of France, the end. It’s not a thrilling story and a rather bland one to end the issue on.
There was more enjoyable than unenjoyable in this one, not counting the lame gag pages and I didn’t read the text story because this is a comic review and I only have so much time in my life. So at least this is better than most of the Holyoke produced issues.
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