Category: Wizard Wells

It’s a very literary day here in Media in Comics Land.

Books:

There are many potential reasons to get into super-science and super-crime, but “reading a get-rich-quick scheme in a book” is one of the better ones, as demonstrated by Wizard Wells foe Mota here and his copy of Cash in Chemistry. (Crack Comics 010, 1941) 

Crime in the Afternoon (A J.J. van Snyde Detective Novel), enjoyed here by Nickolas, henchman to Black Condor foe the Sophisticated Lady. (Crack Comics 010, 1941)

This book, The Ritual, has the cover of a murder mystery or other popular bit of fiction, but seeing as the man reading it is a fanatical leopard-worshipper we must allow for it being something a bit more sinister, such as instructions of conducting a human sacrifice. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

As covered in the Bram Thirla entry, Billy Batson learns about the dos and don’ts of vampire hunting from a book called The Vampire Legend, written by HP Lovecraft. A different Lovecraft, perhaps, or did the regular one go in for a bit more of a reference works-based career in the Fawcett Reality? (Captain Marvel Adventures 001, 1941)

This particular comic adventure involves Darrell “Doll Man” Dane taking exception with the fact that some roughneck are using his local library. While I must decry the classism on display here, I must also begrudgingly acknowledge that Doll Man was right: these guys were learning for all the wrong reasons, specifically as part of a school of crime that the diminutive super-hero later breaks up. 

Titles on display include: The Art of Murder, Famous Crimes, How to Win Friends, Jiu-Jitsu, Right and Wrong and The Way of All Flesh. (Feature Comics 047, 1941)

Comics:

Golden Age comics companies loved to depict their characters reading their own comics, which is why it is not at all unusual that Doiby Dickles here is reading a copy of Flash Comics in an issue of All-American. What is unusual is that rather than describing one of the actual features in Flash, Doiby has apparently been reading some alternate version of the book that exists in the DCU and involves a character named “Colosso.” (All-American Comics 032, 1941)

Magazines:

Though modern depictions of the original Dr Mid-Nite tend to categorize him as a crime novelist, his original job post-blindness was in writing for the crime pulps, and more precisely for Crime and Detective Tales. (All-American Comics 025, 1941)

Freedom Magazine is one of those patriotically-named publications that any good citizen of the 21st Century must immediately suspect of being a cynical way to whitewash fascism, but no, this one seems to be on the up-and-up. They give Les Watts, Radio Amateur a prize for being a cool teen!. (Flash Comics 023, 1941)

Peep Magazine, on the other hand, is merely concerned with the news, and is willing to help out patriotic hero Don Glory to get it. (Hit Comics 011, 1941)

It’s possible that Scoop Magazine is entertainment-focused, as they send a photographer to cover this publicity-stunt party in support of a play by a new writer. A party that inspires the Masked Man’s murder spree! (Batman Comics 008, 1941)

Movie Mag and Screen Stars are just two of the publications covering the meteoric rise of movie star Portia Storme, aka Julie Madison, the former fiance of Bruce Wayne. (Detective Comics 049, 1941)

It’s a very literary day here in Media in Comics Land.

Books:

There are many potential reasons to get into super-science and super-crime, but “reading a get-rich-quick scheme in a book” is one of the better ones, as demonstrated by Wizard Wells foe Mota here and his copy of Cash in Chemistry. (Crack Comics 010, 1941) 

Crime in the Afternoon (A J.J. van Snyde Detective Novel), enjoyed here by Nickolas, henchman to Black Condor foe the Sophisticated Lady. (Crack Comics 010, 1941)

This book, The Ritual, has the cover of a murder mystery or other popular bit of fiction, but seeing as the man reading it is a fanatical leopard-worshipper we must allow for it being something a bit more sinister, such as instructions of conducting a human sacrifice. (Jungle Comics 020, 1941)

As covered in the Bram Thirla entry, Billy Batson learns about the dos and don’ts of vampire hunting from a book called The Vampire Legend, written by HP Lovecraft. A different Lovecraft, perhaps, or did the regular one go in for a bit more of a reference works-based career in the Fawcett Reality? (Captain Marvel Adventures 001, 1941)

This particular comic adventure involves Darrell “Doll Man” Dane taking exception with the fact that some roughneck are using his local library. While I must decry the classism on display here, I must also begrudgingly acknowledge that Doll Man was right: these guys were learning for all the wrong reasons, specifically as part of a school of crime that the diminutive super-hero later breaks up. 

Titles on display include: The Art of Murder, Famous Crimes, How to Win Friends, Jiu-Jitsu, Right and Wrong and The Way of All Flesh. (Feature Comics 047, 1941)

Comics:

Golden Age comics companies loved to depict their characters reading their own comics, which is why it is not at all unusual that Doiby Dickles here is reading a copy of Flash Comics in an issue of All-American. What is unusual is that rather than describing one of the actual features in Flash, Doiby has apparently been reading some alternate version of the book that exists in the DCU and involves a character named “Colosso.” (All-American Comics 032, 1941)

Magazines:

Though modern depictions of the original Dr Mid-Nite tend to categorize him as a crime novelist, his original job post-blindness was in writing for the crime pulps, and more precisely for Crime and Detective Tales. (All-American Comics 025, 1941)

Freedom Magazine is one of those patriotically-named publications that any good citizen of the 21st Century must immediately suspect of being a cynical way to whitewash fascism, but no, this one seems to be on the up-and-up. They give Les Watts, Radio Amateur a prize for being a cool teen!. (Flash Comics 023, 1941)

Peep Magazine, on the other hand, is merely concerned with the news, and is willing to help out patriotic hero Don Glory to get it. (Hit Comics 011, 1941)

It’s possible that Scoop Magazine is entertainment-focused, as they send a photographer to cover this publicity-stunt party in support of a play by a new writer. A party that inspires the Masked Man’s murder spree! (Batman Comics 008, 1941)

Movie Mag and Screen Stars are just two of the publications covering the meteoric rise of movie star Portia Storme, aka Julie Madison, the former fiance of Bruce Wayne. (Detective Comics 049, 1941)