I heard that movie theaters have been getting rowdy lately.
Jumbo Comics #11
Real Adventures Publishing (December/January 1939)
I was going to look at a title I hadn’t seen before, Funny Pages, but only a couple of stories were adventure stories and the comedies didn’t look at that funny. So we’ll jump to this one, which Comic Book Plus is getting from fische. I’m at a point where I have to reread some of these reviews to see if I liked the previous issue enough to continue. These Golden Age anthologies really don’t stick with you, like binge watching a series. That makes it harder for something to stand out, making me realize any heroes we follow today that started back then still being around is nothing short of amazing. And the current comic publishers keep screwing them up with a full length comic. Good going, guys.
Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle by W. Morgan Thomas
A friend of Bob and Sheena’s arrives with his adult daughter…and they will have no impact on the plot. Neither does their goal of bringing a black panther back for a zoo or something, which Sheena is oddly okay with. Not used to that out of jungle heroes. What matters is they’re attacked by another tribe, who has a white leader for some reason. Sheena and her friends are captured except for Bob and the village destroyed. In exchange for their release Sheena volunteers to fight the leader’s dangerous tigresses when such combat was never even show to be an option. Long story in a comic I linked to short, our heroes win and Bob takes the friends back to Loanga while Sheena and the village rebuilds. The story isn’t bad but some of the choices are a bit odd. And next issue Sheena’s going to be grabbed by slavers again. Girl needs a better hobby.
Next is Peter Pupp, I have no idea what’s going on because I don’t remember what happened in the previous installment, and the racist depiction is more than even I can defend with the times. Moving on.
The Hawk by Willis Rensie
Jeremy is kidnapped by pirates and the Hawk has to rescue him, but they’re planning to attack Mantilla and Hawk is conflicted whether or not to take sides. Someone has the answer but we’ll have to wait for next issue to see who and why. I don’t know why they wanted to snag Jeremy, though Hawk does rack up quite the body count until they find out who he is. It was mostly fighting and not bad fighting for the period.
Spencer Steel by Dennis Colbrook
Newly married Spencer considers leaving the police force until one of his old captures breaks out of prison and tries to kill him. They also have time to stick in a murder mystery but I’m not sure the evidence alone would be all that helpful. A little more time and the mystery might have been better but I’ve seen worse. I also like the idea of Nora, Spencer’s new bride, getting drawn into these adventures. If she can stop fainting for a story it might be fun to see. Husband and wife crimefighters weren’t new back then, either.
Stuart Taylor In Weird Stories Of The Supernatural by Curt Davis
Stuart has to rescue the king’s daughter before he’s brought back to the present, ending this story arc. It’s an okay ending though this isn’t a memorable enough story for me to remember how he ended up back there or what he did to this point.
ZX-5: Spies In Action by Major Thorpe
The descendant of Ghengis Khan decides to conquer the world and ZX-5 can only save the world with yellowface. 1939 really was a different world. Also, he saves Genghis II’s daughter and she’s hot for him now…okay. If you can handle the times it’s a decent story. Not great but not terrible. The story is called “The War Of Green Gas” but at no point does anything green, gas or otherwise, matter.
Wilton Of The West by Fred Sande
Wilton deals with cattle rustling mobsters. I have…questions. Why do only the bad guys have cars? Does that mean this isn’t the Old West despite everyone else acting like it is? Had the writer not been to the west since the 1800s? He should have just set it in the Old West and then it might have worked, though our hero seems to spend most of the story getting suckered or captured.
Inspector Dayton: “The Death Drum” by Geo. Thatcher
Oooh, an actual mystery you get to try to solve. When a drum beat is used to hide a gunshot, Dayton needs to find out who killed the band’s singer…and how they did it. It’s actually a pretty good story, though we only get to follow the how clues. The motivation comes out of nowhere.
The Count Of Monte Cristo adapted by Jack Cortez from the Alexandre Dumas novel
Why would a man only referred to as “The Count of Monte Cristo” have his rival’s son kidnapped, pay the ransom, and then move to Paris to befriend the family, including a wife who might recognize him, and show off his great wealth? Beats me. Points for not shoving the entire novel adaptation into one short tale like the last time I saw one of these, but not having read the novel itself I don’t know if it was this rushed as well or if anything was explained in the book by this point. Perhaps we’ll get answers in the next part. If you read the book or read/watched some other adaptation, don’t spoil it for me.
overall
A better outing this issue, with more good or at least interesting stories than last time. Hopefully this will be the trend when we get back to it.
BW Media Spotlight 