Apparently this issue Blue Beetle takes the kids on a ride with a Mike Mannigan parade balloon. Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen in this comic.
The Blue Beetle #39
Fox Feature Syndicate (Fall, 1945)
I’m sorry to keep ending these weeks on a low note. I want to get through these to get to the Charlton ones, and every now and then there is a decent issue. Still, on the plus side the O’Brine Twins are gone. Scared to see what’s replacing it. I’m just saying don’t be surprised if I eventually leave this run and go to the Charlton comics. Remember, “Yesterday’s” Comics are comic I bought or would have bought were I able at the time. I’m not sure any of the Fox Feature’s second run would fall into that category. We still have that “Invaders From Saturn” nonsense after all.
Okay, let’s start by seeing if he’s still endangering kids who have to apologize to their classmates their story was so lame.
The Tall Story
This issue we’re doxxing Mary Louise Dillon of Colorado and Henry Harold Reilly of Sacramento. Why doesn’t Blue Beetle save time and grab two kids from the same state? Why include their middle name? Why give their full address? Why do the kids on the cover look like the ones from last issue? These will never be answered. Our story starts with Mike Mannigan once again looking to lock up the Blue Beetle…only he appears to be the only cop who wants to do so. Even the horses are laughing at them because the horses talk in this comic. (Doctor Who was right after all. This raises so many questions.) There’s also a bit where we almost have Joan learning Dan’s secret identity. Does any of this matter to the story?
Okay, apparently Mike’s nonsense does. In hopes of getting Blue Beetle at last, he takes an experimental growth pill (you know what I mean) but it turns him into a big balloon. Apparently it also inflates you. Long story short, the bad guys steal the pills after an intended antidote turns Mike normal and then into a deflated balloon and shrinks Blue Beetle. The kids and Joan…do absolutely nothing of interest. I’m starting to think the publisher didn’t check to see if the writer could pull these kind of stories off before coming up with this program. I have nothing against a contest where kids get to be in an issue of their favorite superhero but this was not thought out.
Joan Mason: Reporter> “The Killer Ghost”
Hey, it’s a good story. A bit short but it doesn’t feel rushed as Joan and Mike visit a theater that’s reopening next to a rival theater. Then a supposed ghost warns them away before committing murder. I won’t spoil anything else but there’s at least one story worth reading in this issue.
The Threat From Saturn part 5: “Adventure Of The Sacred Elephant”
And then there’s this continuing nonsense. Apparently the cliffhanger was Mike about to ram into the car Blue Beetle was bringing Gloat and Saturnia in. They use the distraction to escape because the suffering of reading this story will not end. Gloat’s latest plan is to cause a panic at a baby elephant christening at the zoo by grabbing a cult’s sacred white elephant and putting it on display so the cult will go on a mad murder spree. Where are you coming up with these lame plot, Otis? (That’s the writer’s pen name.) On the plus side this looks like the last chapter. The Saturn invaders drown themselves and I just looked ahead on the Grand Comics Database to the next issue and no sign of this series. Maybe it’s finally done?
Joy Family by Hal George
Our replacement attempt at comedy fails like the rest of them. The father takes the kids to the circus but between eating snacks and riding the roller coaster he’s the only one to have fun…until he gets sick. Yeah, we’ll be ignoring this series as well.
The odd thing is what this comic ends on: an advertisement for Mechanix Illustrated featuring not any of Fox Feature’s characters but the original Marvel Family: Captain (Shazam) Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and even Hoppy The Marvel Bunny. They’re characters from a rival publisher. What are they doing here?
So there IS a good story this issue. It’s just Joan Mason’s solo adventure.
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