Number 459


Joe and Moe


"The Case of the Vanishing Year" is from Flash Comics #88, October 1947. The artwork is by Joe Kubert and the inking by Moe Worthman.

Moe...Who-man? Well, I don't know. Besides this strip, Grand Comics Database lists 14 other known jobs by Moe. It's obvious Moe was a pro, but why "no moe" from him? There could be many jobs by him just unrecognized, or he could have been an artist who spent a very short time in comics.

The story is a time travel story. Scientist Homer Brown loses a year, as does Flash. I thought while reading it, what would I do if I ended up a year ago, January 2008, with knowledge of the whole year until now? I'd probably have bet heavily on Barack Obama to win the U.S. presidency. As I recall a year ago he was quite a longshot. I would have dumped all my stocks before the economy, banks and stock markets tanked.

"Vanishing Year" is a fun story. Even with the talent he showed early on, some of Joe's figures look foreshortened, squatty and squashed. He kept working at it and became one of the best comics artists of all time. In the meantime, inker Moe might not have drawn that many paychecks from DC, but he did a decent job here. Joe and Moe seem to have worked well together.