Prehistoric Beast

The third petrifying entry from the April 1954 issue of Web of Evil #13, pencils by Louis Ravielli, and as you have probably guessed by now I am indeed posting the entire issue-- see the final cover story in our next post which kicks off a chilly December-load of shivery spine tinglers. See ya in a few!

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Number 1481: “Bring me his corpse!”

Yesterday was the annual Great American Feast of Thanksgiving, when hundreds of millions of people consume huge amounts of calories: turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, pumpkin pie... Not only did I eat too much, turkeys are loaded with tryptophan, which puts people to sleep...including......me.............zzzzzzz-zzzzzzzzzz

Oh, hey, but we have a post today, don’t we? It’s about artist Bill Draut, who was part of the Simon and Kirby studio when they were doing comics in the late '40s. Draut was a longtime journeyman comic book man, drawing for DC into the '70s, working on various romance, mystery and war titles. His early work showed a fully formed Caniff-style, which was very popular in the forties. According to Lambiek.com, besides his later comic book work Draut also did model sheets for the G.I. Joe TV cartoon show. He died in 1993.

From Headline Comics #27 (1947), Draut does two stories, one a police procedural about a dead gangster, the other a story of a hot wife and a cold husband (real cold, as in dead.)

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Timepiece of Terror

Here's another one from the April 1954 issue of Web of Evil #13 (see the previous Demon Inferno post too.) This is an all 'round good issue with some wild stories, so I'm contemplating posting the entire issue. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst condition comics in my collection, it's heavily water damaged and very brittle, hence why I rarely ever remove it from its bag and board. If you're interested in seeing the remaining two stories let me know, otherwise it's going back into its coffin. Okay, GCD has no artistic credit listed for this one, but there are some definite Jack Cole-esque moments scattered about-- I wonder if he had a hand in this at any point? Anyone got any clues or doubts to throw about?

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Al Plastino and JFK, 50 Years Later

I wrote many years ago about the famed Action #309 issue, where Superman divulges his secret identity to President Kennedy so the later can impersonate him (as Clark Kent) at an event where both Supes and Clark are both expected to appear.  Horrifically for DC, the issue appeared on the newsstands a full month after JFK was assassinated, although (obviously) it had been scripted, drawn and sent to the printers before the events in Dallas.

I also noted that DC had another story featuring JFK in the works at the time, which they had pulled from publication, but after urging from his successor Lyndon Johnson, they published in Superman #170, with this note at the end:

Well, turns out that Al Plastino died on Monday, and there was an additional story:

Controversy arose when the original artwork was found up for auction 50 years later -- not in the library as originally planned. Plastino asked a New York state court to release the name of the person who sent the artwork to auction in an attempt to retrieve the piece and ensure its public display. "I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me. I just want the right thing done here and to be treated fairly," he wrote in a Facebook post to fans. The auction has been removed from the schedule, but the fate of the famous Kennedy comic remains up in the air.

 Further details here:

Plastino believed the artwork was supposed to have been donated to the planned Kennedy Library in Boston 50 years ago, the same year Kennedy was assassinated, according to court documents.

Plastino was surprised to learn recently that it was scheduled for auction on Friday in Beverly Hills, California. Heritage Auctions has since pulled the artwork from this week's sale, said Heritage spokesman Noah Fleisher.

Given that original art comic pages commonly go for hundreds of dollars, and that this particular issue would be regarded as particularly historic (especially with the auction coming near the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination), it would certainly appear that Plastino had a legitimate issue (as might the JFK Memorial Library).  However, the current owner has a defense:

"Heritage policy is not to publicly discuss pending litigation," Fleisher said in a prepared statement. "I can tell you, though, that our consignor bought the artwork at a Sotheby's auction and we withdrew the artwork weeks ago as soon as we learned of the dispute and have returned the item to the consignor." (bolding added for emphasis)

 Kudos to longtime commenter and emailer M Hamilton for finding this.

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Number 1480: Thanksgiving Turkey Award 2013 featuring Shock Gibson

It is time again for our annual award, the Thanksgiving Turkey Award, which is given to the comic book story I think is the most oddball, stupid or awful (or some combination) that I have encountered in the past year. The judgment of what wins the award rests solely on me. You don’t get a say in the matter, so if you don’t agree with me you can tell me, but my decisions are final.

The 2013 Turkey Award story was a clear winner, which I picked out of Speed Comics #8 (1940) this past January. I figured I wouldn’t find a more worthy candidate for the honor of accumulating gobblers than this story of Shock Gibson’s trip to Africa to end the slave trade, wrestle a gorilla, fight a knight from a lost city, build a pyramid single-handed, rescue the sexy queenֹ’s son from some other knights, and reject the queen’s marriage proposal. (We are not told what happened to the former king, the prince’s father.)

The Grand Comics Database gives credit to writers Maurice Rosenfeld and Bill Scott as “Maurice Scott,” (it took two guys to write this?) and art credit to Norman Fallon ?, with that question mark meaning they aren’t sure. Whoever is to blame, it earns a solid three-and-a-half turkeys out of a possible four.

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From latest to earliest, the former Thanksgiving Turkey Awards winners. Just click on the thumbnails:

2012: “Yarmak’s yakety-yak”:

2011: “Andy’s Atomic Adventure”:

2010: “Satanas”:

2009: “The Million Year Monster”:

2008: “The Bride of Jungle Jimmy”:

2007: “The Beyonders”:

2006: “The Flat Man”:

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