“I left my wallet on the boat!”
Click Comics
H.E. Hoffman (?) (1940?)
It’s rare that I get to read an Australian comic. The last one was an indie comic and it wasn’t very good. So…no publishing date that I found in the comic. Comic Book Plus gives the name, but while it’s under their “Unknown date/1940” list it also says this one-shot anthology came out in 1945. So I’m not really sure what goes on here. So let’s just read the comic.
Dick Weston: Star Reporter by Doug Maxted
I’m questioning the Australian comic because our first hero is from America as he visits England to follow-up on a narcotic ring whose main operation is in London. If this is a one-shot, then why does our crimefighting reporter not get the big boss? Did his adventures continue somewhere else? If you can handle all the accents (the American says “wal” instead of “well”, the cabbie is Cockney to the core), it’s still not very interesting.
Zane The Metal Man by Leonard Starr
I don’t think it’s the same guy who created Thundercats as this is a pen name of a man in 1940s Australia. Harvey Zane is a lab worker who lets a scientist put his brain into a robot body to further the cause of science. He isn’t dying or seeking great power. He just does it for science. I’ve heard worse backstories. Then he goes out an immediately threatens a mobster who fails to kill him (because he’s a brain in a robot now) and then kills himself. An idea with some promise but it doesn’t live up to it. Come on, Australia. Give me some comic I can enjoy.
G. Men Of The Range by Doug Maxted
The title card tells you that this features Big Rick Roland. Rick is a G-Man in the old west…or not old west since the varmints he’s chasing alongside a little boy named Toby (his parents were killed by the same gang and he just found him) has tommy guns? Then again, he gave that child a gun to guard some new friends they come across so he can chase the gang. And you think Bruce Wayne was careless with kids. And Maxted gives us another story that ends with the boss undiscovered as one crook gets taken care of as well as the heavy Texan accents. Is this a trend with this guy?
Johnson & Jones: The Defective Detectives by Leonard Starr: “The Mystery Of Murke Manor”
If this is the comedy story, I don’t find it funny. The two are called to investigate a murder, except there is no murder and it’s just a trick by rival detectives. They find out and the plan is foiled. There, now you don’t have to read it. More really annoying accents.
Pirate Pete by Doug Maxted
Okay, Comic Book Plus, are we sure this is an Australian/New Zealand comic? If so, they certainly aren’t trying to represent the homeland. Now we’re in Plymouth, 1580. A quick search ruled out Massachusetts, so possibly England? Is there an oceanside town in Australia or New Zealand named Plymouth? Anyway, Pete is a young boy who wanted to escape his abusive uncle at the tavern and sneaks aboard a ship. Swiping some food, he causes trouble when the cook falsely accuses someone else and has to save the guy. Then the story ends. Doug, can you ever finish a story?
Uncle Si by Doug Maxted
Yes, these are the only two people working on this comic. Well, at least he finally finished a story. Or rather a series of one-page gags about a guy who is spooked by a talking scale, joins the boy scouts, and gets into trouble trying to help a woman stop her dog from chasing a cat into a China shop.
overall
So that’s two Australian (allegedly) comics I’ve looked at and…I’m not impressed. An Australian comic that takes place everywhere but Australia, jokes that aren’t funny, stories that aren’t properly ended, and concepts not properly realized. I’m frankly disappointed. Do better, Australia!
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