45 Years Ago Today

The New Look Batman was launched in Detective Comics #327. I don't think it's any secret that during the Jack Schiff era, Batman had become a little too reliant on gimmick stories. Aliens, weird transformations, and monsters had become all too common.

The problem can be seen in the declining average circulation numbers for Batman as reported in the following issues:

Batman #137 (1960 sales) 502,000
Batman #145 (1961 sales) 485,000
Batman #153 (1962 sales) 410,000

This was a sharp decline relative to the market; Batman went from #6 in sales in 1960 (and 3rd at DC) to #7 (5th at DC) to #10 (8th at DC). Unfortunately, we don't have the 1963-64 figures because they were not reported by DC for most of their magazines, but we must assume that there was not a strong uptrend, or else Schiff would have been retained on the feature (he did continue editing for DC at titles like Blackhawk and Mystery In Space).

So Julius Schwartz was placed in the editor's desk. I am sure that fandom responded with glee, as Schwartz had an excellent track record during the Silver Age, having brought back such famed Golden Age characters (in new incarnations) as the Flash, Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman), as well as the Justice League of America, a modern version of the Justice Society of America. Schwartz brought with him artist Carmine Infantino, whom he put in charge of producing covers for both Tec and Batman. Infantino also began providing interior artwork for every other issue of Detective.

The way the story gets told now, Julie and Carmine saved Batman; there are claims that Batman issues were being returned in large numbers and the New Look was the only thing that kept Batman around long enough for the TV series.

I'm just a little skeptical. First, although the trendline was not good for Batman sales from 1960-62, there were lots of comics DC published that didn't even sell half of what Batman did. Fox and Crow, for example, sold 1/3rd the copies.

DC published their sales figures again in 1965, and Batman was back up to 465,000 copies per issue, from the 410,000 level of 1962, about an 11% increase. Detective was up 15%. But those increases were not all that unusual; comics were surging in popularity during those years (probably due to demographics). G.I. Combat was up 34%, Action Comics up 21%, Adventure Comics up 25%. Jimmy Olsen was up 18% to over 550,000 copies sold per issue.

So how much Schwartz's manning of the editor's desk is responsible for the sales increase in Batman and Detective is unclear. While Schwartz did get rid of the cheesier science fiction elements that had been so common under Schiff, he did not address the other major problem the series faced: the artwork.

Bob Kane apparently had a deal with DC to provide the bulk of the artwork for Batman. As is well-known, Sheldon Moldoff actually did the drawing. Moldoff's work, while serviceable seemed very stale by 1960s standards. Moldoff did all the interior artwork for Batman issues during the New Look and alternated with Infantino on the interior stories for Detective.

And while some of the stories Infantino did were fine, there were also the very oddball ones like these:





And if anything the series got worse when the Batman craze hit, although it's hard to blame that on Schwartz; obviously he had to deal with the fact that loads of kids were buying the magazine looking for the "pow" and "sock" that they saw on TV.

The New Look was an improvement and perhaps with the situation DC faced with Kane's contract about as much as could be expected. Don't get me wrong here; I do think that Julie rescued Batman, but it was later, after the collapse in sales following the cancellation of the TV show. By that point DC had bought out Kane and Schwartz was free to hire the new Batman artists; Irv Novick and Neal Adams, notably.

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Number 494


The Wolf of Cave Canyon


Dell Comics, like the movies, licensed established characters and then did whatever the hell they wanted with them. It's why in this story Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are not ventriloquist dummies sitting on Edgar Bergen's knees, but up and walking around like the British movie, Dead of Night, and its countless imitators.

Dell also had a habit of using the same motifs, crossing over standard themes. "The Wolf of Cave Canyon," could have featured Porky Pig and nephew Cicero, or Andy Panda and Charlie Chicken, or any number of other characters. It's probably because the same writers wrote much of the material for many comics.

For all that, Charlie McCarthy #9, from 1952, is pretty entertaining. It's made better by the artwork of Harvey Eisenberg, and as clichéd as the Western setting and plot are, I still like it. So sue me. Sometimes we old-timers, jaded by reading thousands of comics with every possible theme, plot and setting, forget what it was like to be seven or eight years old, wearing a cowboy hat and boots, with our six-shooters holstered on our hips, reading a story set in the Wild West of someone's imagination.

Another adventure of Charlie McCarthy is featured in Magic Carpet Burn here.

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Single Issue Review: Fox & Crow #35

DC fiddled around with funny animals for most of the Golden and Silver Ages. Unlike Dell, however, they never signed up with a major cartoon shop, so while Dell was publishing (with huge success) Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and several other licensed characters, DC created their own knockoff characters or licensed a few quite a bit less-known cartoon features. Among the former were Flippety and Flop (Sylvester and Tweety knockoff), Nutsy Squirrel and Dodo & the Frog.

Fox & Crow was a licensed series, although I doubt very much that many of the kids reading their comics in the 1950s and 1960s were aware of it:

The cartoon was well received, and another with the same characters was produced, for release six months after the first. In fact, they became the studio's biggest stars ever, easily eclipsing Scrappy. But by then, Tashlin had departed for greener pastures — he was working at Warner Bros., and making a name for himself with such characters as Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. This one was directed by Bob Wickersham, who used the characters in a completely different way. His Fox just wanted to be left alone, but The Crow wouldn't let him; and the gags were done in a more traditional style than the earlier blackouts. Innocent Fox paired with aggressive Crow became the formula for the series, most of which was directed by Wickersham.

DC licensed the characters in the mid-1940s when the cartoon series was still running, and used them as the cover feature for Real Screen Comics and Comic Cavalcade. Ironically, though, by the time Fox & Crow graduated to their own magazine, they were through in Hollywood as their animation studio was sold and the characters quickly ignored by the new company.

They settled in for a very long run by comics standards, with their first issue hitting the stands in early 1952 and their last in early 1968 (at which point they had been DC's only funny animal title for about 7 years). They did suffer the humiliation of seeing their comic taken over by a backup feature (Stanley and His Monster)

As Markstein notes, perhaps the most amazing thing about the Fox and Crow series is that most stories did not feature any other characters. The Fox and Crow were perfect enemies; indeed it is hard to imaging Luthor and Superman battling each other as relentlessly as those two did. Crawford Crow is a lazy, sponging con artist while Fauntleroy Fox is his eternal mark. However, the writers and artist Jim Davis (no, not that Jim Davis) managed to make the Crow entertaining enough and the Fox insufferable enough that there was always a balance. And you could never guarantee whether the Fox would win out in the end or the Crow.

In the first story, we find the Crow miserable as he realizes that he's completely run out of ways to "chisel" the Fox. But he gets inspired when he learns that the Fox is about to inherit $5,000, tomorrow (August 15, 1956 as a calendar reveals). The Crow reaches through the window and rips out the 15th from that calendar, then starts singing a bluesy tune about how there's not going to be a tomorrow.



Asked for evidence, the Crow points to the calendar, where tomorrow's date is indeed missing. This causes him no end of consternation until the Crow reveals that he in fact has tomorrow, so the Fox begs him to give it back. So the Fox cooks him a turkey dinner, and gives him his convertible and $3,000 cash to get tomorrow back. Of course, in the end he realizes he spent $10,000 in cash and other goods to get $5,000; Bernie Madoff could have done better than that.

Running Tally: Fox 0, Crow 1.

Comments: Good start, mediocre ending.

Next up is an ad for the Superman Space Satellite Launcher:



I don't remember the Superman connection, but certainly remember these cool little toys. They really did fly somewhere close to 25 feet high in the air. Kellogg's had a long association with Superman, dating back to their sponsorship of the radio program in the 1940s.

The filler is a strip called Hound and Hare, which also had a long run. The young hound has discovered that manufacturers have created a mechanical hare, which his father promptly purchases. The Hare overhears this and decides to ensure that the hounds continue to chase him. He stuffs himself in their mailbox with a shipping tag and they assume it is their mechanical pal. But when he starts operating, they learn that he's a little trickier than their normal quarry:



After that the Hare sends them into the briar patch and on top of Old Smokey, at which point they are exhausted. They return to find the real mechanical hare in their mailbox, but they assume the mailman just found it and brought it back to them and they mail it back.

Comments: Cute if predictable.

As you can see from the cover, this issue featured the DC 5000 contest. DC was offering lots of prizes including 18 Columbia bicycles with 80 pairs of roller or ice skates for second place. Third prize would probably bring a firestorm of protest today as there were 200 3rd prizes for boys (a football with a kicking tee) and only 120 3rd prizes for girls (a doll named Sweet Sue that according to the accompanying copy can "kneel down to say her prayers").

The contest was to come up with a slogan for DC Comics. Among the suggestions were:



The slogans were to be chosen by a panel of judges, not a random drawing as was typical; I'll have to find out what the winners were and whether they became significant slogans for DC.

The second Fox & Crow story is something of an oddball because they are not antagonists. While experimenting with a chemistry set, the Crow accidentally creates a storm in his tree. He tries to sell an April shower to the Fox, who scoffs, but:



The Fox gets the brilliant idea of growing corn in partnership with the Crow. But predictably, the Crow gets impatient with watering the corn slowly and creates a deluge that washes their profits and homes away in a flood.

Running Talley: Fox 0, Crow 1 (Neither wins this battle).

Comments: Definitely a mediocre effort without the conflict that makes the series so entertaining.

In the third story, the Crow is reading some nursery rhymes when he comes across a famous one:



This inspires a new mooching idea. The Crow offers himself to the Fox as one of the ingredients for the pie (along with lots of other ingredients of course. The Fox agrees and soon has him wrapped up in dough and peas and turnips and carrots and spuds).

So the Fox plunks him in the oven and they have a running conversation about how things are going. Eventually the Crow asks for a spoon so he can stir things up a bit. Of course we all know that he's probably using it to eat up all the pie. Eventually the pie is finished and out pops the blackbird to sing a little ditty. The Fox kicks him out and returns to the pie, only to find that there's nothing there but the empty pie shell.

Running Talley: Fox 0, Crow 2.

Comments: Good beginning but in the middle you can't help wondering how the Crow isn't being killed by the heat of the oven, which does indeed cook the pie crust. But of course this was quite common in cartoons. You could easily see the story going the other way--with the Crow bravely talking about how hot it's getting and how he hopes that the Fox is going to enjoy this dinner as the Fox gets more and more upset.

Overall comments: I really like this series, but unfortunately I picked a below-average issue to review here. A lot of Fox & Crow gags depend on the willingness to suspend disbelief; this is easier when the Crow is dressed up in a silly disguise and we're supposed to accept that Fauntleroy can't figure it out.

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Trivia Quiz #21 Answers

1. Who was Tyrannus' mortal enemy?

Tyrannus' mortal enemy was the Mole Man:


2. Match these Marvel villains up with their respective partners in crime: The Cobra, The Masked Marauder and the Ringmaster.

The Cobra teamed on several occasions with Mr Hyde, while the Masked Marauder had a couple teamups with the Gladiator. And the Ringmaster had his Circus of Crime: The Flying Gambonos, the Human Cannonball, the Clown and Princess Python.

3. Spiderman battled two female heroines in the Silver Age, but only one female villainess. Name all three.

Well the heroines I had in mind were Medusa and the Black Widow, although Dan quite rightly noted that Spidey was involved in brief skirmishes that involved Sue Storm of the FF and the Wasp. As for the only villainess, it was the afore-mentioned Princess Python, in ASM #22.

4. When Matt Murdock was suspected by Foggy and Karen of being Daredevil, who did he claim was really the Man Without Fear?

Matt made up a twin brother named Mike Murdock, and for a couple of years Mike would periodically show up at the office (when Matt was not around of course) to flirt with Karen and tease Foggy about his weight. It is, without a doubt, one of the oddest secret identity dodges of the entire Silver Age.

5. In what comic and issue # did Johnny Romita first draw Spiderman?

JR drew Peter/Spidey in Daredevil #16, with a May 1966 cover date. He moved over to Amazing Spiderman with #39, cover dated August 1966.

Chris Johnson of I believe in Batmite got #3 and #5 right. Dan of Nashville Beat got #2-5 right; only #1 tripped him up. The Hulk did battle Tyrannus at times, but he also allied with him against the Mole Man, who was trying to keep Tyrannus away from the Fountain of Youth. Michael Rebain answered 1 & 2 right and got parts of 3 and 4.

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Number 493


Harpy in Central Park


Ace Comics' The Beyond #15, "Harpy in Central Park" is pretty plain in its meaning. A woman who turns into a mythological being, a harpy, uses sex to get her victims, to "snatch men's souls." In the first page one horny guy is looking for a pickup, and is, luckily for him, beaten out by the harpy's victim.

A couple of years after this Ace story appeared, Carl Barks drew "The Golden Fleecing" for Uncle Scrooge #12, and quoting him from 1989's Gladstone Album #19, Barks said, "I almost had to eat those 32 pages of drawings. . .It seems that Harpy or Harpie is an obscure nickname for a streetwalker. I managed to save the story by renaming the old girls LARKIES."

No such dilemma as to what a harpy is existed for the editors at Ace Comics. There is even a noxious odor that accompanies the harpy, and I don't even want to speculate about that. Artist unknown.

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The Non-Gay Way of Artificial Resuscitation

As demonstrated by the Hulk on Rick Jones:



Not the recommended technique.

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Number 492


Origin of Crimebuster


Chuck Chandler, Crimebuster, had his origin reprinted in Boy Comics #30, 1946. It was originally published in Boy Comics #3, in 1941. Grand Comics Database gives Charles Biro the credit for writing and drawing.

I probably don't need to point out the anachronistic naked guy with fig leaf, swinging the sword, on the splash page. I'll also direct you to the last panel of page 10, which shows Chuck in an embrace with his mother. She says, "Darling, how you've grown. Kiss me again." Holy Oedipus.

The action stops in the middle of the story so Chuck can buy a mistreated monkey from Chico Marx.

Crimebuster's costume is a hockey uniform with a cape. A few years later the cape was dropped, even the Crimebuster persona was dropped, but this story shows how Chuck came to be so sartorially unusual.

Despite what it says after the last panel, Iron Jaw was brought back to Boy Comics, even earning his own strip. Of all of Biro's creations, Iron Jaw is probably one of the most interesting.

Biro was an interesting guy in his own right. Here's a text page with photo of Biro from this same issue of Boy Comics, telling us that Biro is really interested in boys!

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