Gene Phillips's Blog, page 7

MONSTER MASHUPS #116

 After posting on a random issue of MIGHTY SAMSON here, I've read more issues and get the strong impression (so far) that the creators had from the first a plan to offer young boy readers lots of "mutant monster mashups," often with peculiar names. At some point, publisher Gold Key invited readers to make up their own monsters and send them in for GK to print. This proved a smart strategy to fascinate middle-school monster-lovers, and it paid off in giving SAMSON a reasonably healthy run for the...

RAR #89: JOHN DEERFOOT

 

I found John Deerfoot totally by accident, selecting a random issue of G.I. COMBAT (November 1958). The story by Bill Finger is nothing special, but the protagonist does precede series characters Johnny Cloud (1960) and Little Sure Shot (1963), the latter being a member of Sergeant Rock's "Easy Company." Deerfoot has nothing to do with Rock's long-lived unit, for evidently the name was in use by DC writers before Rock himself appeared in 1959. In fact, the Wiki article on "Easy Company" alleges...

RAR #88: CHARLIE WHITE WING

 

 In RAR #16, I gave an example of a 1940s story in which American Indians had to be stigmatized because they had grievances against the U.S. government. But by the 1970s no one reading or writing comics would have doubted that the tribes' many grievances were justified. Thus BRAVE AND BOLD #121 (1975) pits the team of Batman and the Metal Men against a team of aggrieved "redskins" who extort the government for concessions by taking over a train stocked with such prized government documents as t...

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 In some of my posts on the crossover subject, I've noted that I didn't consider a work a crossover if a famous icon appeared only as a conventionally dead person. Thus DRACULA'S DAUGHTER is not a crossover simply due to the presence of Dracula as a slain corpse, because in that form the vampire has no agency. If he was seen doing only one thing before he perished, as happens with Fu Manchu in DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON, Dracula would have agency. (Parenthetically, DRACULA'S DAUGHTER is a charisma-c...

RAR #87: INJUN JONES

 Injun Jones, a white kid raised to maturity by an Indian tribe, hung out in the pages of ACG's BLAZING WEST title for a while. The name sounds a bit inspired by Mark Twain's "Injun Joe" character in TOM SAWYER. I bet he was more consistent than the Apache Kid about maintaining his "redskin" appearance with the use of "warpaint."             

 

RAR #86: THE FROZEN GHOST

 

"The Frozen Ghost" was first the title of a old Lon Chaney Jr mystery flick, but here the name is a literal ghost of an Indian, turned into a frost-demon by the Indians' "god of winter." Only a courageous white guy, armed with Indian magic, can descend into the Frozen Ghost's icy lake and destroy the fell spectre. 

RAR #85: LITTLE CLOUD

 

After the tribe of the juvenile medicine man gives succor to a gang of white outlaws, the evildoers slaughter the Indians. But they come back, possibly due to Little Cloud's powers, and wreak vengeance. The leader gets a non-supernatural punishment in the form of the old "shrinking rawhide" trick.  

MONSTER MASHUPS #115

 There's no story in OUT OF THE NIGHT #4 (1952) that corresponds to this cover, apparently depicting a battle between a witch (note the broomstick) and a winged demon. But since it's Frank Frazetta, who would complain?                                                                                               

    

RAR #84: MOONSTALKER

 Moonstalker is a noble villain who tries to kill people with explosive arrows. He first appears in the 1994 ZORRO series being rescued from a whipping by the title hero. He then pauses in the midst of the action to interrogate Zorro to find out why the hero rescued him. A possible anticipation of the popular "white savior" canard of the 2000s?               

    

RAR #83: JOHN RUNNING BEAR

 If this "pilot" for space-series SEEKER 3000 had launched, possibly the Indian Guy in the multi-culti crew would have got something more to do than just pose on the closing page.