Is it just me, or is “the Champ” wearing lipstick?
Champion Comics #2
Worth Publishing Company (December, 1939)
Why start on issue #2? Apparently the comic did, just like Whiz Comics, the debut of the original Captain Marvel, Billy Batson. According to the Grand Comics Database there are rumors of a #1 created just for a promotional giveaway and there’s a copywrite for it (which would be expired by now, which means Comic Book Plus could have that up as well) but there’s no sign of it. So for all intents and purposes this is the first issue.
The Champ
The title character for the anthology, which in a text story is explained as it originally being an insult until he lived up to the name. Like Daredevil. This story is a proper introduction to the Champ as he knocks out a bully, is told he no longer has to take his special food and just eat healthy now (so why introduce it), wins the big football game, exposes the trio who tried to sabotage it, and has every other girl on campus swooning over him before his mentor calls him to Chicago for help. Ladies, this is what a Gary Stu looks like and he’s boring. He only get stunned by a chair so the villains can get away for a teased future appearance. Outside of watching crooked gamblers suffer, there’s nothing to this comic.
Neptina: Queen Of The Deep
Our title woman doesn’t show up until the last panel. Instead it’s all about Brad Flescher, naval diver investigating odd submarine sinkings. With his special underwater suit with a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (wonder if that will catch on with a really memorable name or acronym), Brad finds fish men raiding one of the subs and is kidnapped. However, he is a guest and after being given new stuff to live underwater without the suit (but with a new fishbowl helmet to breathe underwater with), is introduced to a beautiful woman we only know is Neptina because of the title panel. It’s a lot of set-up but we do see Brad fight a shark and an eel. Not sure where this story is going.
The Blazing Scarab
After a lame comedy detective that unfortunately puts in another appearance, we get an actual adventure. An archeologist and his 1930s racist black stereotype partner Snowball are looking for a temple but the guy they go to for help tries to attack them. When they get there and dig out the temple the workers flee and all they find is a scarab that transports them to the same room they’re in, but something’s different. I wish I cared what. It’s more setup with some action but not much else beyond that.
Swingtime Sweetie
Our heroine sneaks off to a jitterbug dance with her boyfriend, finds her dad is also in the contest, heroine and boyfriend win, and they sneak home to find mom also snuck out to win a contest. Comic Book Plus claims this is the only appearance and I won’t miss it. It might have been funny back then but it’s dated today and all the lingo makes me think of “how do you do, fellow kids”.
“Jungleman”
I was wondering when I was going to reach the Tarzan knockoffs. Bad guys use an expedition to find a place to hide stolen treasure. A girl and her French official would-be boyfriend are unaware of this as they try to shoot a snake heading for one of their supposed friends and another misunderstands, shooting him. The girl is saved by Jungleman and puts her in the care of his white tiger while they boyfriend and her father try to find her. When there is dialog it’s in a clear balloon, but luckily the selected colors mean I can still read the text. Not that it’s very interesting to read.
Liberty Lads
Two boys go out hunting, but stumble upon redcoats (this is during the Revolutionary War). One has to save the other and then sees the redcoats kill the spy they were after. They also saw him hide some important papers for General Lafayette and decide to deliver the papers themselves. The Indians are not going to live up to “modern sensibilities” but this is really old times, and they were new to English, plus he saves the kids’ lives. The two black stereotypes however I’m not as able to defend. This is not a story that holds up even if you aren’t “woke” because it’s not very interesting.
The Clan Of MacPhattish
The tag is “When Scottsmen becomes bums, that’s not news. But when bums becomes Scottsmen, that’s news.” Anyone else see that as insulting? Three bums dress up as Scottish stereotypes for a job. It seems like every story is continued next issue except the comedy ones. Fine if you’re interested in picking up the next issue, but so far none of the stories have done that, not even the undersea story.
The Adventures Of Billy Handy
Our last story has a writer’s name but I can’t really read it and the Grand Comic Database is giving him a different name. Probably translating another pen name. Bill is referred to as a seagoing Robin Hood, joined by his orphaned cousin Pug (I hope that’s a nickname for the kid’s sake) and a West Indian man named Marco, who is referred to as a “West Indian Negro”. I wonder if he’s magic? Anyway, our heroes (?) are shark fishing as the story opens with one of the shark’s stomachs containing tied wrists without a person attached, but the hands are holding a treasure map. I’d make a joke considering our hero’s name but he knows something’s fishy, a pun I can live with. This leads the pair into a treasure hunt, but are the villains behind the tied hands finished off?
overall
Wish I cared. In fact I don’t care about any of these stories. The underwater story is the closest I come to being interested and it’s not enough to make me “pick up” the next issue. The comic is rebranded Champ Comics in issue #11 if you decide to check it out. As for me, I’ll be leaving this one on the virtual racks in the future.
BW Media Spotlight 