“Yesterday’s” Comic> Amazing Man Comics #5

Some people cannot eat dinner like a normal person.

Amazing Man Comics #5

Comic Corporation Of America (September, 1939)

This is actually the first issue. While I couldn’t find confirmation but based on history, I’m betting this is another case of a comic taking over the numbering from a different periodical due to weird issues with the postal service when it comes to magazine distribution. I don’t know why this happened back then, but I don’t know why today’s post office has to send a package my dad ordered via stopping in five different states, two of which are in the wrong direction.

If you follow the link for this one, as of this writing the only copy Comic Book Plus has is a combination of scans and fische images. It might be a pain to read.

[read along with me here]

The Amazing Man by W.B. Everett

Aman was trained by the council of seven in Tibet. Why they chose a white kid? It’s 1939. Given the knowledge and skills to fight evil, as well as a formula that allows him to turn invisible, which creates a green mist because 1939 science worked that way, he doesn’t know one of his trainers is looking to make him evil, which won’t come up in this story. Instead, Aman uses “even in the 1930s I can’t believe this flew” powers to uncover who was responsible for train sabotage. Frankly the origin was more interesting that his first case because of those powers and guesswork even 1960s Batman couldn’t follow.

The Catman by Tarpé Hills

Speaking of Batman…this isn’t a superhero story. Instead a man gets out of prison, taking the rap for some theft that left his partners rich, but they let his wife die penniless in the gutter. Now the man is back, with an interesting method of having his former partners die in revenge. I don’t see this method working in every story, and hearing about the old lady’s pussy(cat) reminds me of Mrs. Slocomb from Are You Being Served?, a British comedy I saw on PBS. It’s an okay story on its own, but I don’t see how or why he’ll be coming back “in an early issue”.

Jack Rhodes: “River Subs” by Riley

Rhodes is sent to investigate subs, part of a smuggling operation. The story is short so there isn’t much to say except that Rhodes tricks them into walking straight into a trap. It’s serviceable but an extra page or two might have benefitted it.

The Iron Skull by Carl Burgos

Actually, our hero seems to be called The Skull and has already been doing his crimefighting. His focus is science-related crimes, like the killer robots being used to terrorize the city for money. I wonder if we’ll get an origin for him? He has a metal skull and fists and can use a make-up kit to impersonate people. That’s an interesting skill set, but I’m curious to see what they do with it. The narration has to move the story forward a bit more than it should, but otherwise rather good.

“The Congo War Drum” by Paul Gustavson

Looks like we’re getting one of those serialized stories. Jungle Patrol officer Sandy Thorne is so good at his job that the locals are scared of him. A bit of gin helps them find the courage to capture three white people to burn them at the stake. Why? Is it tied to the gin? Can Sandy and his servant Labu (why not an equal partner of the white guy–oh right, 1939) survive? We’ll have to find out next time. It’s an interesting start. If there are more issues to follow it will be curious to see how long this goes and how it ends.

Minimidget The Miniature Man by John F. Kolb

Yes, our hero is an action figure sized man thanks to a mad scientist. At least he had a pretty also shrunken girl named Kitty by his side if he can’t do the size-changing thing. However, he’s not a hero and Kitty is superfluous, given that our miniature man is under the control of the scientist as he uses them to get revenge on his brother, then on the heirs who aren’t him. It’s an interesting little story, though the villain ends up doing himself in.

Chuck Hardy: “The Land Beneath The Sea” by Franklyn Thomas

Chuck and his fellow diver Jerry (not usually how I’ve seen the female version of Jerry spelled, but I have seen Geri) go diving when a surprise volcano eruption sends them into a subterranean world where they get superstrength from the lower air pressure…which is another example of how science worked in 1939. It’s a fair adventure.

Man, there’s a lot of these in this comic.

Slim Bradley: Forest Ranger> “Mystery Of The Kidnapped Heir” by Dick Hayes

A search for a kidnapped boy is waylaid by a forest fire. Plenty of action in running from the fire, one quick fight, and not a lot of firefighting, and that could be why the story just kind of exists, even though the two events turn out to be connected.

Mighty Man by Martin Filchock

Claim jumpers think a prospector has found a legendary lost mine, but he actually found a lost land where everything is giant-sized, including the man who saves our prospector and his scientist friend from the jumpers. Then he decides to travel with them to the outside world to fight evil, because that’s also how 1939 rolled. I’m not sure if this is the Old West or what someone in New York thought the west was still like (I’ve seen both in these comics) but I’m kind of neutral on this thankfully last story.

overall

This was a lot to get through. There’s also a text story with our title character, so at least he got more than one story in this comic. There are some good stories and some meh stories. I may give future issues a look when they come up.