Wait until he finds out what kind of club this actually is.
Science Comics #2
Fox Publications, Inc. (March, 1940)
Back to the Golden Age craziness. The previous issue I was kind of neutral on. Hopefully this issue will provide a more thorough entertaining reading experience…but considering none of these characters are even discussed in the public domain circles I travel (which is admittedly one Facebook group), there has to be a reason they never became popular.
The Eagle by Lester Raye
Hey those of you who complain about Superman’s trunks, dig this guy. Trunks is all he has on besides a mask that easily shows his face and his flying wings. He was a cartoonist in the first issue, wasn’t he? You’d think he could come up with a better costume, but the artist of this comic couldn’t. Someone is shooting down mail planes, but we’ll have to guess why. The Eagle stops their operation and unknowingly messes with a couple of hunters. A better costume and this could be a decent comic. The story fits the runtime, though a few more panels might have given us a definitive why.
Dynamo by Harold Weber
Looks like they changed Electro’s name in this issue. I wonder if he’ll have a new name each issue? The G-Men apparently were willing to let any yahoo in a costume join in the investigation of stolen gold, and laugh at him when he’s tricked by the bad guys. So he covers the villains in gold. Appropriate response? Actually, no. What the hell, man?
Cosmic Carson by Michael Griffith
Aliens force an exploration ship to crashland on their planet…just to be jerks, I guess. The leader of the “skull-men” (aptly named) wants to give them a slow torturous death, so he’s rather sadistic. Another story lacking motive beyond “we’re evil” but otherwise a decent short adventure for what they have. We also have another character stripped to their underwear. You’re welcome, ladies.
Perisphere Payne by Arnold Haney
His parently clearly hated him. So did whoever had this comic before it was scanned because there were huge holes on the last page. As for the story: villains have a secret base on the moon to use to take over a fueling station as part of their plan for universal conquest. Right. It was a simpler future back then. At least it counts as motivation. So Perisphere and his team blow it up. Meh story, really.
Marga The Panther Woman by James T. Royal
I hope that’s not supposed to be her in the splash page because that ain’t no “beautiful white girl”. Nope, it’s a he, an Ethiopian trying to give Perisphere a run at “worse name of the comic”. Uchunko wants to conquer the world with his animal army and wants to marry Marga because she’s the protagonist. I think, since Ted does some serious fighting. Marga does have to rescue him at one point, I guess. Animal lovers are going to hate this one, but it’s okay. They stuck a ray in there just to be science and force the plane down. A lot of shared themes in this comic.
Dr. Doom (not that one) by Richard Crater
The mad scientist manages to kidnap a ship full of passengers for his shrink ray experiments. Jan and Wanda easily walk into a trap because they’re idiots, and Doom makes them fight mosquitos…yes, you read that right. Mosquitos, who appear to be larger than normal. To his credit, I guess, he does free and restore Jan and the passengers when they win. Then they knock him out and all leave him chained to the wall. Will he escape? Probably. Chen Chiang wouldn’t blink twice at this, and that other Doctor Doom is disappointed. I know I was by this story.
Navy Jones by Frank Pensley
The prime minister raises an army and takes over the city. Navy rescues the royal family before the king blows the city up. Don’t worry, some of the good pre-Silurian (old school, not the Neo Who version) escaped the attack and they can rebuild. A whole underwater city. Well, I guess they built one in the first place. We’ll see how long that takes. Story is okay but doesn’t really take the time to make it interesting.
overall
Better than last issue. Some of the stories were pretty good, so I’ll check out the next issue. Maybe someone will buy the Eagle a real costume by then and Dynamo will stick to one name.
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