“Actually, she owes me money.”
Big Shot Comics #1
Columbia Comics Corporation (May, 1940)
Just when I thought the list was finalized for a while, here comes a new company with a new comic. This is one I never heard of before, so it should be interesting. And we have Charlie Chan back. Figured he’d show up eventually. There was a time he got licensed a lot, I guess. Interestingly, I think the only time he was played by a Chinese man was Keye Luke in Hanna-Barbera’s The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan. That was a cartoon. But enough padding. Let’s see what this comic has to offer and see whether we go on past this issue.
[Read along with me here or here]
The Skyman by Paul Dean
Using his unique plane and “statsimatic” gun, the Skyman takes on a gang of saboteurs led by the Red Signet, who is trying to get the US into the war. It’s always funny seeing these stories of heroes trying to keep us out of World War II knowing the 180° turn to come. We don’t know if this is another foreign power hoping to wipe us out or take over the world under Hitler’s nose. This comic also likes to make sure we know Skyman isn’t killing these guys. “This parachute will make sure you live. By the way, my ray gun doesn’t kill; it just restricts your blood flow for an hour”…which doesn’t sound all that healthy to a guy who almost died from a blood clot that did the same thing. It’s a pretty good start, and next issue, if we get there, should reveal his origin.
Joe Palooka by Ham Fisher
Did this comic start in a different comic? We’re starting as some woman is claiming to be Joe’s wife, upsetting her fiance and his girlfriend. Believing it’s true (something about a motorcycle accident, so hope you have better luck figuring it out), he runs off and becomes a hobo, getting attacked because he has money. Injured they go to some old medicine woman in a cabin (not Native American, one of those bush people stereotypes of the period) while Joe’s friends try to find him and the fake wife refuses to see anybody but him. Will he survive? Wish I cared. The heavy accents were bad enough but this comedy of errors is lacking in the “comedy” department. So do most of the comedy strips in these comics, which is why I’m ignoring them, but they’re trying to be funny.
The Face by Michael Blake
So the Great Depression was still in aftermath mode, and someone is trying to take advantage of the relief funds for themselves. To stop him, radio reporter Tony Trent adopts his guise of The Face, wearing a mask so form-fitting it looks like his actual face…and it is uuuugggggly! An interesting hero idea, I guess. The story’s okay, so we’ll see where that goes.
Tom Kerry: District Attorney
We have another DA who takes the fight to the crooks and apparently warrants weren’t invented yet. Kerry wants to take down a fur thief known as “The Weasel”. What follows is light on story but heavy on action. The cabbie may be my favorite character, but the story, for what it is, is still a fun read.
Marvelo: Monarch Of Magicians by Fred Guardineer
Ah, the days when you could write for numerous comic companies instead of exclusively one at a time. Fred gets around, and brings us the other obligatory for Golden Age comics, the occult hero who is overpowered thanks to magic. It’s the usual gig. He messes with crooks oddly accepting the magic shenanigans until George Washington’s statue takes them to jail and they start melting…this story makes no sense, but it’s kind of amazing in how stupid it is.
Charlie Chan: “The Murder Of Norda Noll” by Alfred Andriola
Nice we get to see Charlie in a comic I may actually come back to, especially with the story ending on a cliffhanger. On the way to Hollywood, Chan and his friends from the Feature Comics reviews are drawn into the mysterious death of an actress on the set of a spy picture, a replacement for one that got sick. A foreign spy ring claims responsibility, but we’ll have to wait for next issue to see how a dead cat is involved. (We can at least guess it died from what made the first actress sick.)
Rocky Ryan: World Adventurer
Oh, right. The obligatory guy who just goes looking for adventures around the world. Bhangi Si is on the warpath, and Rocky just got away from him to warn British soldiers in India. Apparently wanting to help fight is very white of him. Make of that what you will, and that’s not a typo. It’s also not the only questionable thing in the story. Casual racism? Odd convenience? Religious ignorance? A kid with no last name that becomes Rocky’s ward? It’s all there and I could have done without it.
Spy-Master by Mart Bailey
It’s a codename, not a superhero name like Spy Smasher. Jeff Cardiff is just that good at his job, and when military security isn’t he’ll need to be. The bad guys stole a new ray gun they want to sell and Jeff has to get it back. No, we never had a ray gun, so that’s oddly sci-fi in a very low key action story. It’s not a very strong one to end on.
overall
There’s more good here than bad, so I’ll keep an eye on this comic.
