Lord Of the Jungle - 002

A few months ago I had posted the first part of a new take on Tarzan. Here is the second part. So far 13 have come out.

Download Lord Of the Jungle 002 here

Enjoy

Venkit

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Craig Yoe from a Restless Grave CONTEST!

Celebrating the birthday of THOIA friend and Chilling Archives / Haunted Horror co-editor Craig Yoe today with an ACE tale from the February 1952 issue of The Hand of Fate #9. Happy Birthday, chum! FYI: After noticing a slightly familiar hairdo in today's story, I actually toyed with the idea of drawing a colorful forelock and goatee on Amos, the lead character in this tale... unfortunately, I ran out of time due to my new work schedule-- BUT maybe some other talented horror freak out there has the fiery urge to do so! Is it CONTEST TIME?! YES, sirs! Pull a panel or sequence from this story and give Amos the Craig Yoe make-over (if you're not sure what Craig looks like just google him!) Feel free to alter dialogue in the word balloons as well-- top 3 entries get a Haunted Horror package! Hurry, contest ends whenever! The winning pieces will be posted here at THOIA. Email all entries to karswell@hotmail.com --and most importantly, have fun! We have big Yoe Books news coming up too, stay tuned!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
XOXOXOX

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Number 1320: It’s George Washington’s birthday, and I cannot tell a lie...

Marvelo, who is here from the first issue of Big Shot Comics (1940), was another in a big crowd of tuxedo-wearing, finger-waggling magicians riding on Mandrake the Magician’s coat-tails, who made magical things happen in early comics. With the magic word, "Kalora!" and some gesturing Marvelo can make an armored car fall apart. And he can bring a statue of George Washington to life, so the granite representation of the first American president can haul a couple of thugs to jail.

The story is drawn by Fred Guardineer of Action Comics’ Zatara fame (another magician). Fred's artwork brings a precision to each figure, vehicle, building, ink line. I believe that based on his artwork he could not turn in a job until every panel appeared just...so...and just right to his exacting eye. Fred left comic books after a point and went to work for the U.S. Post Office, where precise thinking is a necessity in getting thousands of pieces of mail where they’re supposed to go.

And that’s no lie.

And to our first POTUS, happy 281st birthday, George Washington!

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Number 1319: Beany and Cecil and the big blue brute

Jack Bradbury, the cartoonist-animator, drew this story of Beany and Cecil. The characters were originally hand puppets created by Bob Clampett, starring in their own early television show.

You can view a web site devoted to Bradbury’s comic book works at jbrad.org. There's another story from the issue in which today’s tale appears in Pappy’s #1113.

From Dell Four Color comic #414, Beany and Cecil (1952):

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Number 1318: Hanging around with the Black Hood

I haven’t shown a Black Hood story in a year-and-a-half, since Pappy's #1003. Go there and then use the links I’ve scattered about for more Black Hoodiness.

This particular tale, with its violent and morbid splash panel, is from Pep Comics #49 (1944). The issue opens up with an Archie story. Until Archie took over MLJ entirely and the superheroes retired it was common to have violent, graphic stuff next to the relatively benign Archie stories of teenage hijinks.

The “House That Crime Built,” using the gimmick of a house narrating, is drawn by Clem Weisbecker and Pen Shumaker.

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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.

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