Number 1577: Samson, tearin' down the house

Samson is the Old Testament hero, done here in a non-biblical style for Fox Features’ Fantastic Comics #1, 1939. We are only reminded of the Samson of the Bible by his long hair, and that he has a tendency to tear down buildings. This is the first Samson story. without an origin. It just drops him into the modern-day action of a would-be world conqueror plot.

The character was updated by the Eisner-Iger Studio, which provided the ready-made contents for publisher Victor Fox. The page style with large, open panels, and minimal dialogue, also has those annoying captions — which sit at the bottom of the panels and describe to us what we have just seen in the picture — the plague (non-biblical)  of many early Golden Age comics.

The story is credited to “Alec Boon,” a pseudonym for artist Alex Blum.

My favorite panel is on the last page, where Samson, dressed only in furry shorts and sandals, fights off a bunch of guys in futuristic costumes with antennae coming out of their headgear. Samson challenges them with, “Come on you barbarians!”

My scans come from a reprinting of the story in Samson #1 (1940):

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Number 1553: Rex Dexter redux

What to think of this? Last October I showed you the lead story from Fox’s 1940 one-shot, Rex Dexter of Mars #1. You can read it by clicking on the thumbnail at the bottom of the page. That story, showing Rex returning to Earth from his home on Mars, appears to have been created especially for the book. It is followed immediately in that publication by a reprint of the very first Rex Dexter story from Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939). It also is a story of Rex Dexter coming to Earth for the first time from his home on Mars. The two stories coincide with that, but in details vary. So I repeat my question of what to think of this, even going back nearly 75 years to kids buying the book and encountering what seem to be two origin stories in a row with differences in the details. Anyone who is big on consistency and continuity may be a bit confused.

I’m showing that reprint, plus another reprint from the issue of the Rex Dexter story from Mystery Men Comics #4 (1940). The second story has Rex and his galpal Cynde encountering a villain, grandly named Lord Marvel, on a planet, Ursis, The first story has Rex encountering a villain with the excellent moniker of Boris Thorax, who is somehow able to get planet Tarsis to hit our planet.

Stories written and drawn by Dick Briefer.

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Here is the story I posted last October. Just click on the thumbnail:

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Number 1529: “Twisting” Dickens...Green Mask and the boy pickpockets

Not long ago I showed a science fiction story that was inspired by Robinson Crusoe, and here is a superhero/crime-fighter story of the Green Mask and a Fagin-like criminal (Spelled “Fakin” or “Faken” depending on the panel) right out of Dickens’ Oliver Twist. I always say if you’re going to swipe, swipe from the best.

Green Mask was a short-lived superhero (1939 to 1942) from Fox Features. According to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia.com, the character was drawn by Walter Frehm (spelled phonetically as “Frame” in the splash panel.) Also according to Toonopedia, Frehm went on to draw Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. His cartooning style on Green Mask was pleasing, but reminiscent of a style of an earlier era. He died in 1995 at age 89.

From Mystery Men Comics #3 (1939):

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Number 1528: Phantom Lady “just doodly do it...”

I googled the lyrics the chorus girls are singing on page 6 of this Phantom Lady story, and came up with a 1924 song called “Doodle-Doo-Doo” sung by Eddie Cantor. Isn’t the Internet amazing?*

The story is also amazing, if not for the plot but for the Matt Baker pretty girl artwork. For you connoisseurs of such things there is a lingerie panel and also a panel of Phantom Lady tied up. I, being a comic book historian, am more interested in the story in its historic context and avert my eyes at such pandering to the pin-up crowd of the 1940s. (Ha. You are right not to believe that. The great thing about this sort of artwork is that it looks just as sexy as it did when it was drawn 66 years ago.)

From Phantom Lady #16 (1948):

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*I also found a YouTube video of Eddie Cantor singing the other song on the page, “I Faw Down and Go Boom”.

Here's another Phantom Lady story, with a bonus Blue Beetle story, I showed in 2011:

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