Number 1317: “Man’s place is in the kitchen! And that’s just where you’re going!”

In December I showed a story in Pappy’s #1276 from a 1952 issue of Mystery In Space. It’s a gimmicky role-reversal story, about a time when women have taken over the roles typically filled by men. Compare it to this Simon and Kirby Boy Explorers story from 1947, where Amazons capture the boys, their ship’s captain and movie star Stan Bronson (think Van Johnson, top box office star in '47). The women are as tough as men, and approach problems the same way men would, with force and subjugation of the opposite sex.

Besides the usual Kirby art dynamics the story is interesting in the context of the times in which it was produced. It was published the year I was born; the aforementioned Mystery In Space was published the year I started school. I grew up with those attitudes, and at the time I accepted them. Nowadays I feel completely different than I did growing up, and I’m only reminded of those outdated attitudes when I read something like this.

The story was not designed for two parts, but was split anyway, appearing in issues #3 and #4 of Terry and the Pirates from Harvey Comics.