Number 1484: Viking Prince by the crown prince of comic artists

The Viking Prince feature, which ran in The Brave and the Bold for the first two dozen issues in the mid-to-late fifties, is a collaboration between Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. I believe the Viking Prince was a version of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, although the comic book character was original enough in his own right. Being written by Kanigher in the Comics Code era meant that the blood and thunder was not in violent battles between humans, but often with supernatural entities, like the living giant stone statue in “The Secret of Odin’s Cup!” Kubert’s art on the story is superb.

From The Brave and the Bold #20 (1958):

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Number 1441: “You in a Heap of trouble, boy!”

In 1971 I bought Skywald’s black and white Psycho #2, which had the origin of the Heap, drawn by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, and written by Chuck McNaughton. You can read that version in this 2010 posting at the Diversions of the Groovy Kind blog.

Surprisingly, a few months later along came a Comics Code-approved 25¢ color comic called The Heap #1,with the lead story drawn by Tom Sutton and Jack Abel, and written by former DC editor and writer Robert Kanigher! Both stories showed how the Heap was created from a plane wreck into some chemicals, but the stories surrounding the origin were different. The color Heap was the only issue, although its indicia claimed it to be a bi-monthly. Artistically, the character is drawn a bit differently: this version of the Heap, unlike the black and white version, does not have the long lolling tongue hanging out of the creature’s mouth. That might have been too gross for the Code, or maybe just the artist.

Knowledgeable fans know that the Heap was also a shambling monstrosity from the old Airboy Comics, and also a classic Mad comic book story by the one-and-only Will Elder. I'm sorry I can't show you the whole hilarious story featuring the Heap, “Outer Sanctum” from Mad #5, but here’s the Kurtzman-Elder version of...HEAP!

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Number 1238: Sea Devils sing-a-long with Circe

I was disappointed when artist Russ Heath left Sea Devils after issue #10. He and editor/writer Robert Kanigher had created the characters for Showcase, and after a brief tryout the regular series began in 1961. Heath, one of my favorite artists of all time, was the reason I bought and read the comic book.

This story, from Sea Devils #3 (1962), is one that sticks out in my mind from my original reading. In my adolescent eyes Circe was pretty hot, Comics Code or not. Wouldn’t you love to own the original art for the splash page or cover?

Something I like about Kanigher’s comics is that girls and women figure in, not just as eye candy but significant characters. Judy is a strong and resourceful woman, and of course the jocks she swims around with don’t appreciate her enough.

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Number 1214: Russ Heath's “Devil Dinosaur”

Last Friday in Pappy's #1211 I showed a story the late Joe Kubert drew when he was in his teens, and today a Russ Heath story, drawn in 1967. I link Heath and Kubert in my mind, if only because they shared space for so long in DC's war comics. But also because I love Heath for the same reasons I love Kubert: mastery of the comic art form, and one hell of a great storyteller.

Star Spangled War Stories finds Heath doing another dinosaur tale for editor/writer Bob Kanigher. For several years at DC it wasn't enough for American GI's in World War II to fight tenacious enemies like the Germans and Japanese...they also had to fight dinosaurs. At the time I thought it was just hokum, but nowadays I see it in a different light. In the words of Bob Dylan, “I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.” At my current age I'm just right mentally for the stuff I was too mature for at twenty.

The Tyrannosaurus on the cover and splash page is a big red dino, like the big red Devil Dinosaur that ten years later Jack Kirby drew for Marvel. The resemblance ends there, though. While at one point I might have scoffed at a red dinosaur, now I'm not so sure. Some recent news I read said that T. Rex might have had feathers, which could mean he may have had various bright colors to attract a female. Just imagine T. Rex showing off for Tee Hee Rex!

From Star Spangled War Stories #132 (1967):

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