Number 198

Joe Kubert's Witches Kill At Daylight

Joe Kubert is such an icon in the comics industry not much more need be said of him than has been written in dozens of other articles. I'll just remind everyone that Joe was a prodigy, beginning his comic book career at age 11 (!!) and by his mid-to-late teens was already an established comic book artist.

This story, "Witches Kill At Daylight," from Harvey Comics' All-New Comics #10, September 1944, was done by Kubert, born September 18, 1926, before his 18th birthday. It's one of two stories Kubert had in this issue of All-New.

The art is good, but unpolished, and understandably so due to Kubert's youth. But lots of much older cartoonists weren't drawing as well as Joe at the time. The script doesn't deserve much study; the "witches" of the title are apparently a group of criminals called The Phantom Gang. The hero is a New York detective named Terry Carr.

I looked up All-New Comics #10 in the Grand Comics Database, and data compiler Lou Mougin lists this story as having an unknown penciller and inker. I guess Lou must've missed Joe's signature in the lower left of the splash panel.