I don’t know. Might be too late for that girl.
Zip Comics #3
M.L.J. Comics (April, 1940)
It also happens to be the LAST comic of April, 1940 as of this writing. I took the time this “month” to make a list of Golden Age comics I wanted to continue reading. In the old days you could go to the stand, flip through, and decide if you want to buy it. That’s another advantage of paper comics over digital ones. Sure, I’m not buying these. They’re public domain and legally posted for free. I’m still paying in the time it takes to read and review approximately 64 pages at a time, so I’m prioritizing stuff I would have picked up to read willingly.
So far with this anthology collect, and they all were around this time, I’ve been just curious enough to continue. Let’s see whether this gets more readings in the future.
Steel Sterling
So Steel Sterling’s secret identity is his own private investigator twin brother, John. Not the worst idea I’ve heard for a secret identity. Hope nobody knows him from growing up lacking a twin brother. This leads to this story’s pretty girl upset that John isn’t more like Sterling, which is oddly the only forced part of the story. The limits of Steel’s steel-like body make some kind of sense, even if “real science” and “Steel Sterling’s powers” aren’t exactly on speaking terms. You’d almost think this was thought out as he tries to stop Dr. Yar (though Steel knows him by another name) from taking over Brazonia after the girl hires John to find her kidnapped father. It’s a pretty good start.
The Scarlet Avenger: “Death To The Scarlet Avenger” by Harry Shoten & Irv Novick
Texa, queen of the Tribe Of The Hood, tries to keep the Scarlet Avenger from interfering with her plans to steal the US Mint, but kind of ends up getting him involved instead by assuming her superior technology and large size is more than a match for the hero and his allies. That’s a long sentence, and the story ends on a cliffhanger. The science is still kind of funky, but what else is new for these comics? Another good story.
Nevada Jones: The Quick Trigger Man
I’m not sure if that’s a subtitle or the story’s title. Nevada and his Mexican sidekick Little Joe try to stop a group of bloodthirsty Indians…who aren’t really Indians. I don’t mean they aren’t from India, I mean they aren’t Native Americans. Why are they making the attacks? Don’t know. The villain isn’t telegraphed well as another character we meet, the town is now out of a doctor, and the mask doesn’t seem to be helping Jones very much in trying to not be mistaken for an outlaw. That and the poor panel flow make this story rather weak.
Kalthar: The Giant Man Of The Jungle
Kalthar meets a white woman for the first time…or possibly any woman if he’s that confused what a woman is. (No 2026 social commentary, please.) Does his village not have even black women? He helps her and her father with their expedition, but two members of the group are looking to steal their prize for themselves. The attraction between Kalthar and would-be Jane is not done very well and we have more odd panel flow, but the action part of the story is decent enough.
War Eagles: The Devil’s Flying Twins
When Tom and Tim and a British officer named Kermit are captured by the Luftwaffe, the twins manage to escape but Kermit is hurt. So they sneak back in to rescue him. We get that same panel issue (are they even trying to lay these out without the arrows?) but it only happens once. The story is pretty good for what little time they have.
Captain Valor
Valor’s friend gets kidnapped and the kids join him to rescue their dad from Ho Min. They even get a new friend out of the battle. We need the panel arrows one more time. This is getting ridiculous. Otherwise the story was okay. Not great, but serviceable.
Mr. Satan
Still a terrible name for the hero. I’m sure there’s a joke that goes with someone putting out an add to call for Mr. Satan to save their railroad company, but that’s not my style. We get a girl just for our hero to have someone to save, gets tricked by the leader of the gang but has a trick coming of his own, and someone who knows how to layout panels on a page for the first time in the past couple of stories. Character name and forced barely-a-love interest aside this was a rather good one.
Zambini The Miracle Man by Ed Wexler
Our magic man goes up against the other Satan. Apparently Zambini’s magic words come out like Mushmouth from Fat Albert. Also, [SPOILERS] hell freezes over and Satan dies. This was a dumb way to end the book. Sorry, but it just was.
overall
More good than bad this issue, but a few artists needed to figure out panel layout. All said and done, it goes on my continue reading list. Next time we get to May, 1940. Will there be new comics? Wait and see.
