Some people are very sensitive to fashion criticism.
Miracle Comics #2
Hillman-Curl, Inc (March, 1940)
The fact that I had to look over the first issue’s review just to remember if it was worth reading tells you how memorable it wasn’t. Apparently the early stories were good and the comic got worse as it went along. The review was neutral enough to give it another chance, but I’m not holding my breath. The problem here was the same with video games in the 1980s and even media today. There was so much out there that the potential to be mediocre to garbage was high as a result. The last issue was mediocre. Let’s see what happens with this one.
Sky Wizard: Master Of Space by Emile C. Schurmacher
To prove my point, they open by recapping the first issue and I swear I only remember parts of what they’re saying. And only because I see it there. Apparently the bad guys are stubborn because they still want his plane plans. They try trashing Sky Wizard’s inflatable floating island, but that fails. The kids just happen to end up in their grasp so they can take the island, but our hero and his attendant manage to beat them. Now they’re headed to the Unholy One’s place to get the kids’ dad back…and somehow he thinks he can trade his minions for him. You underestimate how evil a guy who calls himself the Unholy One really is, SW. This one spends more time showing off Sky Wizard’s gadgets than doing anything important.
K-7: The Famous Radio Character
A scientist has created a thermite bomb and bad spies want it for their country. They’re not even the Nazi stand-ins we’ve seen. They’re just bad guys without a harsh accent. Also, K7 knows how to break a hypnotic trance. The hypnotism bit is the only thing that isn’t just generic about this story. Breaking the hypnosis is K7’s only contribution to the story.
Dash Dixon: “Spies Without Eyes”
This must have been one of the comics that made Frederick Wertham convinced comics hated eyes like George Lucas hated hands. (Or at least I’d say that if ever actually read a comic.) While checking over a bad guy lair, Dash and the police commissioner find a man with his eyes removed, and he’s still alive. And yet Dash immediately assumes it’s the culprit who needs help, and it turns out he does, or he’s not the culprit. There is a dude name “Eyes” because he has two light-up glass eyes (why?) and wants him to do bad things for him after his father was turned blind refusing. It just feels a bit much, and then it ends short as Dash easily catches Eyes. Also he had goons named Snitch and Fingers, and Snitch also snitches on Eyes. There’s good ideas but it just didn’t blend well for me, due only partly to the time they had.
The Scorpion by Carl Sherman
I remind you this Scorpion is just some guy that fights the criminal underworld. This time he stumbles upon a singer making some odd withdrawls from the bank and ends up saving the real singer from a fake and the bad guys slowly draining his fortune. This could have been a really interesting story if it didn’t have to cram everything into so few pages. There’s no time to really make it a good story.
Blanda: Queen Of The Jungle
She’s so “blanda” that I don’t remember anything even after the recap. So she’s a white girl raised by African warriors, falls for a white hunter, so the warriors kicked him out of the area. A rival for power tries to raise a mutiny but the hunter comes back with the gorillas that was leading him out, and the gorillas punish the revolters. Blanda demands the white “god” be allowed to stay and rule with her. I think I’ll stick with Sheena. I can see why she’s the jungle girl that survived in culture and Blanda wasn’t.
“One Minute To Live”
Not sure why it’s called that because it’s not tied to the story. A sailing ship captain goes to rescue their boss, but has to kidnap his own crew to do it because they’re sure he’s dead. Spoiler: he isn’t and it’s a good thing they showed up. This might make a good movie plot, but with what little time they have here there’s no time to really push the dramatic potential.
Dusty Doyle: The Circus Cyclone
A cruel elephant trainer ends up accidentally releasing a gorilla and pays for his treatment. When the gorilla kidnaps one of the lady performers, Dusty the acrobat comes up with a way to restrain him and save the girl. This actually fits in the alloted time and gives us a good story. Comic Book Plus says this is his last appearance, which is kind of a shame as it’s the first story I honestly enjoyed.
Pinkie Parker: The Kid Cop by Jack Alderman: “Hot Soup”
Our final story for the issue. Pinkie and his detective friend are captured by criminals when the detective tries to stop their robbery. They’re tossed out but manage to catch a train and catch the baddies. It’s a bland story to end on.
overall
It’s not a terrible comic, but it’s just very basic more often than not. The Sky Wizard story ends in the next issue or two and I’m kind of curious to see how it ends. Beyond that I don’t know if I’ll continue the comic.
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