John and Will did this one for Real Life Comics #54, dated October 1950. Scanned for comicbookplus by Dave Hayward. The cover for this ish was by Alex Schomburg.
Severin, Elder and BAT MASTERSON (1950)
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More FLASH GORDON Big Little Books
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LONE RANGER Gum Cards Ride Again! (1940)
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Forgotten Stories: Dan Turner in BULLET FROM NOWHERE by Robert Leslie Bellem (1935)
A few days back I found a great surprise in my mailbox (and by this I mean the old-fashioned, nearly-defunct kind that hangs on the front of my house): This premier issue of Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, published way back in January 1942. It was sent, I learned, by a generous gent named Dale Goble, a frequent peruser of this humble blog. Thanks, Gobe!
In honor of the occassion, I'm posting the cover attraction here for all the world to enjoy. "Bullet from Nowhere," like five of other stories in this mag, was reprinted from Spicy Detective (in this case from April 1935). The remaining story, also a Dan Turner yarn, appeared in a 1937 issue of Private Detective Stories.
Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective ran ten issues, each of which contained between six and eight Dan stories. Some of those were reprints from Spicy, but most were new. That title changed to just plain Hollywood Detective, running another 49 issues and finally bowing out as a digest in 1950. Most of those 49 contained between two and five Dan stories, and most also sported an eight-page comic book adventure of Dan.
How many stories does that make? I don't know. It almost broke my brain figuring how many mags he appeared in. I don't know if anyone's ever come up with a definitve number, but it's a big one.
And Dan refuses to die. Since 1981, his tales have been reprinted in hardcover, trade paperback, oversized trade paperback, tiny paperback, chapbook, pulp facsimile and ebook formats. Some of the comic book adventures were reprinted in regular comic books in the '50s, and later in other editions. Eternity comics issued a run of new black and white mags in the '90s. A crummy movie called "Blackmail" was released in 1947, and another film, "The Raven Red Kiss-Off"(which I've yet to see) in 1990.
Shockingly, Dan never had a radio show, and he's yet to have his own TV series. But give him time.
Further reading:
Another Dan Turner story, "Shakedown Sham," is HERE.
I posted a few black and white comic stories HERE.
I've been posting the color comic book stories HERE.
I'll now shut my yap and let you read your Forgotten Story:
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Dan Turner, HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE in Color! "The Poisoned Puppet" (1953)
Sadly, this is likely the last in our Dan Turner in Color series. This one appeared in Crime Smashers #15, from March 1953, which was the final issue of that mag (uploaded to comicbookplus, I should add, by "narfstar"), with the art attributed to Tony Tallarico. One more story appeared, we are told, in Crime Mysteries #8, but that one does not appear on the site, and it ain't likely I'll be able to find (or afford) a copy of my own. If anyone out there has that one, and would care to scan it for us, legions of Turner fans would be mighty thankful!
Meanwhile, I still have many more issues of Hollywood Detective, and will be posting more of Dan's black & white adventures as time rambles on.
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Westerns You MAY Have Missed (1923)
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Pulp Gallery: ARGOSY Goes Native
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AL WILLIAMSON draws the "Demon of Destruction" (1951)
From the very first issue of the ACG comic Forbidden Worlds (Jul-Aug 1951), comes this tale from EC/Flash Gordon great Al Williamson. As for the story . . . eh! You don't care. It's Al Williamson. Thanks to Aratak for scanning this for comicbookplus.
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THE PHANTOM Big Little Books
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FRAZETTA Goes Coo-Coo (1947-48)
Here's another batch of FF's text stories illos, this time from Coo-Coo Comics. These appeared in 1947 and '48. Stay tuned for more.
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Forgotten Books: POST OAKS AND SAND ROUGHS by Robert E. Howard (1990)
As Forgotten Bookers may recall, this journey began with Don Herron's Famous Someday (HERE), which I enjoyed, prompting me to read the L. Sprague de Camp-led biography Dark Valley Destiny (HERE), which I found informative but pompous.
Dark Valley Destiny made heavy use of Howard's autobiographal novel, Post Oaks and Sand Roughs, which de Camp called "unpublished and unpublishable." Back in the '70s, when I had Howardmania, Post Oaks sounded the Holy Grail of Howard scholarship. I wanted badly to read it, and it was frustrating that every scrap of his unfinished fiction and juvenalia was finding its way into print, but Post Oaks was reserved for the privileged few.
Dark Valley Destiny renewed that interest, and I was pleased to discover Post Oaks had finally been published in 1990. But there were only 850 copies, and now commands at least $145. So I went the cheap route, getting it through InterLibrary Loan, and finally got to see what I'd been missing.
First off, as de Camp and others in the know intimated, it's a ridiculously bad novel. So bad, in fact, that much of it bored me - something I'd have thought impossible from REH. The book was written early in his career -circa 1928 - but he had already proven himself as a storyteller. So why did he make absolutely no effort to fashion a plot?
What he did, it seems, was to sit down and bang out a very thinly disguised memoir of his life at the time. The only thing that makes it a novel is that he wrote in third person, casting himself as "Steve Costigan." The focus is on his struggles to break into the writing game, the jobs he endured until making it, and his up and down relationship with friends he rarely saw. He simply wrote what happened, in the order it happened, and went into great detail about how it made him feel.
What "Steve" feels is mostly anger and resentment (at editors, townspeople, interlopers, employers, imaginary enemies, his friends, society and the universe in general) with occassional ecstacies brought on by sales of stories or drinking bouts with his friends (when he's not mad at them). That's it. Nothing really important happens. In the last twenty pages, he tacked on a scene of fictitious wish fulfillment - in which he calls his boss a "son of a whore" and punches him repeatedly in the face, to the horror of his fellow employees. "Steve" then boards a bus out of town, saying he's going "to Hell." Sadly, bad as that scene is, it's the best in the book.
Of course, to folks interested in Howard's career and character, there's plenty here of interest. We're led step by step through his early submissions, rejections and sales, and privy to his highs and lows. And it's always clear what he's talking about. Weird Tales, for example, is called Bizarre Stories, and "The Shadow Kingdom" is "The Phantom Empire."
One of the more interesting aspects of the book is what's missing: his mother. Though we know she was the central figure in Howard's life (and death), she gets hardly a mention here. We're told in an offhand manner that she paid for his board at college, financed a trip to New Orleans, bought him clothes and objected to his playing football, but she never appears onstage, and there's no mention of his attachmnent or devotion to her. It's as if realized there was something unnatural in that relationship, making the subject taboo.
One surprising angle is Howard's candid critigue of his the character and behavior of his two closest friends. At points, his evaluation is so brutal that had the book been published, those friendships would have been destroyed.
The biggest surprise, though, is that "Steve" is perfectly self-aware that his behavior and attitudes are antisocial and often bizarre. Even as he's ranting about imagined slights and lurking enemies (things we're told REH took very seriously), his stand-in knows they're not real, and doesn't blame people for thinking he's crazy. "Steve" even knows that his autobiographical novel (yes, he's writing one too) will never sell, because it's not the sort of thing anyone would want to read.
Which brings us to the biggest mystery of all - why the heck did Howard write this thing? He had to know it had no chance of being published. Why didn't he just write a memoir, instead of framing it as a novel? Was it somehow cathartic to record what was going on in his life? He could have done that with a diary. It's almost as if he knew he'd be famous someday, and wanted to leave a revealing document for posterity. If that was his goal, I suppose he succeeded.
Though Howard's addictive and often poetic style occassionally shows through, Post Oaks and Sand Roughs is not a pleasant read. But there's still enough of interest to make it required reading for Howard fanatics, or former fanatics like me. It deserves to be back in print, at least as an ebook.
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MICKEY SPILLANE'S Mike Danger in "Murder at the Burlesque" (1954)
Some time back I posted Mickey Spillane's first Mike Danger story (HERE), preceded by the earlier Mike Lancer adventre (HERE). Legend has it that Spillane wrote the two Danger stories back in 1946, and when they failed to see print, changed his hero's name to Hammer and wrote I, the Jury. Long after he'd hit the big time, the comic book publisher decided to run the Danger tales. This one appeared in Crime Detector #4, from July 1954, and was scanned for comicbookplus by the JVJ Archive, for which we are duly grateful. The guys who posted it wonder if the art may be by Sam Burlockoff.
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Mickey Spillane's Second MIKE DANGER Story -FIXED- !!!
OK, this is embarrassing. I screwed up yesterday, posting the tenth page of this story twice and missing the eleventh. And I had no clue until Kenneth Fuchs spotted the mistake and alerted me on Facebook. (Thank you, sir!) Anyway, I'm reposting the entire story, this time will all the right pages (I hope). And I mean I really hope, because I triple-checked, and if I screwed up again I'm ready for the funny farm.
Some time back I posted Mickey Spillane's first Mike Danger story (HERE), preceded by the earlier Mike Lancer adventre (HERE). Legend has it that Spillane wrote the two Danger stories back in 1946, and when they failed to see print, changed his hero's name to Hammer and wrote I, the Jury. Long after he'd hit the big time, the comic book publisher decided to run the Danger tales. This one appeared in Crime Detector #4, from July 1954, and was scanned for comicbookplus by the JVJ Archive, for which we are duly grateful. The guys who posted it wonder if the art may be by Sam Burlockoff.
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Pulp Gallery: THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE
1933
1938
1936
1933
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STEVE DITKO on "The Enchanted Planet" (1959)
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SHADOW COMICS 76, 77, 78 & 79 (1947)
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More Mort Künstler Sweat Mag Art
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Forgotten Books: ONE WHO WALKS ALONE: Robert E. Howard, the Final Years by Novalyne Price Ellis (1986)
The two became friends when she took a teaching job at the high school in Cross Plains, Texas in August 1934, and spent a lot of time together until July of the next year, when he found out she was dating his friend Truett Vinson. But their friendship continued, albeit less frequently, until he shot himself in June 1936.
Novalyne was not only a wannabe writer and a pretty smart cookie, she was a hardcore diarist, and kept detailed notes of her conversations with folks she found interesting. And lucky for us, at this time in her life "Bob" Howard was the most interesting person she knew.
Novalyne and Bob had been introduced a year earlier by Howard's friend Trevis Clyde Smith, whom she was then dating. As a published writer, Bob was a rare animal in that part of Texas, and she was eager to further their acquaintance.
Novalyne Price
That's what One Who Walks Alone is about - Novalyne getting to know REH on a deeper, more personal and more intellectual level than anyone else who ever lived, with the possible - but not proable - exception of his mother.
The book reads like a diary, appearing to be a blow-by-blow account of every meeting the two had (and there were a lot of them) over the final year and half of his life.
Though they occassionally dined out or went to movies in nearby towns, most of their dates were spent driving around the countryside, giving Bob, as he called it, a chance to "shoot his mouth off." They talked a lot about writing - his, hers and that of others. A lot of that talk was about Weird Tales and Conan, and the way they both felt about them. But their discussions ranged far beyond that, into Texas history, ancient history, politics, religion, social injustice and human nature. They also talked about family and friends, with particular emphasis on Howard's peculiar preoccupation with his mother. And thanks to Novalyne's habit of recording those conversations almost word-for-word in her diary, we get to be right there in the car with them.
Two of Howard's favorite subjects on these rides were "Jenghiz" Khan and Alexander the Great. He seems to have been very knowledgable about both, and it made me wish he written stories about them.
But this book is more than just eavesdropping on conversations. As the months roll on, we come to know REH in ways impossible in Dark Valley Destiny (HERE), in Post Oaks and Sand Roughs (HERE) or in any of his fiction, letters, or the reams of material written by scholars and fans.
One Who Walks Alone is a showcase for the many phases of his personality. We see him when he's witty and charming, sensitive, generous and caring. We see him excited, elated, playful, optimistic, and even singing "Blue Moon." And then there are those other times, when he's moody, depressed, vengeful, belligerent, mean-spirited and damning the world to hell. And then, after one of darker moods, we see him chastened and remorseful.
Novalyne, it should be noted, always saw life sunny side up, leading to many contentious discussions.
The rarer of two portraits he had taken at her request. The hat was also at her request, hiding the short-cropped hair she didn't like
We also see Howard interacting with other people - engrossed in discussions of the Civil War and stories of witchcraft with Novalyne's mother, or talking to old men on street corners in search of story material. At the same time, we see him avoiding common social interaction like meeting her friends or attending parties.
And then there's the way he dresses, another reflection of his moods. On their first dates, he's wearing an old shirt, wrinkled high-water brown pants and high-button shoes. This outfit, he explains, leaves him free to fight or run when attacked by his enemies. With Novalyne's gentle prodding, he is soon seen in a sharp suit, tie and fedora. As as their relationship begins crumbles, he grows a frito bandito mustache and wears a sombero (complete with little balls danging from the brim), a red bandana and black high-water pants.
Theirs wasnt' much of a romance, though REH seemed to consider it one, and it was certainly the closest he ever came. Only one kiss on the lips is recorded, and that comes far too late, when he knows he's lost her. At various times, early and late, Novalyne thinks she might be in love with him, but realizes a marriage would not work. His mood swings were probably part of that, but the main factor was the third person in the relationship - his mother.
Novalyne has reason to resent Ma Howard from Day One, and things go downhill from there. Though they only come face to face a few times, and barely exchange a word, the animosity is always present. And Bob does not respond well to Novalyne's comments on the subject. He gets defensive, then angry, and finally just pouts.
This self-portrait substituted for a signature on one of the later letters he wrote her.
Followed by this exchange:
"I'm required to give up anything and do whatever she needs to have done." He pounded the steering wheel.
"Not your life. A man's work is his life."
Bob slammed the car onto a sandy side road, speeded up until we were in the midst of farm country away from the highway. He threw on the brakes so fast, I almost fell out of my seat. He grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip. "What's work? A man can do any kind of work." He sounded deserate. "Work is not worth a damn, unless you work for somebody you love. All my life I've loved and needed her. I'm losing her. I know that. Damn it to hell, I know that. I want to live. You hear that?" He shook me, and it angered me. "I want to live! I want a woman to love, a woman to share my life and believe in me, to want me and love me. Don't you know that? My God, my God. Can't you see that? I want to live and to love."
I panicked. I thought of Truett. No matter what happened in the future between Truett and me, I loved him in a way I could never love Bob. I was frighted at the intensity of Bob's emotion, and I said the foolish thing.
"Well, shave your mustache and maybe you'll find one."
"My God, you say a thing like that when everything has crashed around me? He grabbed both my arms and pulled me to him. "If you don't love me, say so, damn it. I know you loved me once. Is it over?"
He held me so tight, and kissed me so hard, I felt miserable and frightened. I tried to push away from him.
"Bob," I gasped. "Your work. I do believe in you. I know you're brilliant, and you've got a great talent." I was rattling, talking as I would have to an upset student who needed encouragement. "I want to see you make something of that talent. I dont' want your work to be interfered with. I'm glad you've stopped writing for Weird Tales. They didn't pay you anyway, and you're better than that. Much better than that. You--"
"Are you in love with Truett?" he insisted, harshly. "I want to know. I've got to know. If it's Truett you love, say it. Say it, damn it."
"I don't love anybody," I said, half crying. "Not anybody at all."
His arms went suddenly slack, and I moved away from him.
Novalyne then tells him she's going to Baton Rouge for the summer, to study at LSU. She goes, and isn't there long before letters come from Cross Plains, informing her of his suicide. The rumor on campus is that he killed himself over her, which she denies, but she's distraught because she thinks she could have prented it. Could she really?
From this reading, it seems a good bet, but only if she'd really loved him and said so. It's too damn bad she didn't.
The book was filmed in 1996 as "The Whole Wide World," starring Rene Zellwiger and Vincent D'Onofrio, hence the inappropriate dust jacket on later editions. I've yet to see the movie, but will.
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Read it here: BORIS KARLOFF in "Mr. Wong, Detective" (1939)
This 3-part adaptation appeared in issues 41-43 of Popular Comics back in 1939, the year after the movie came out. It was scanned for comicbookplus by clarkkent54321, dsdaboss and tilliban, in that order. Thanks, guys. The art is credited to Jim Gary, who did a nice job on Boris.
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YouTube Theater: THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924)
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More Pages to Explore .....
