More cream rises from the milky depths of the Golden Age! Red Roberts, the Electro Man: It’s unclear what Red Roberts’ actual job is, but he is a guy who Knows Too Much about the corruption in the unnamed city he lives in and so he is framed for murder and fast-tracked to the electric chair. Luckily for Roberts, this is a comic book universe and being an innocent person sentenced to be executed via the electric chair means that…
(Rocket Comics 002, 1940) “Rocket Riley, Prince of the Planets” was the namesake strip of Rocket Comics, about lab assistant and pilot Rocket Riley, his boss and amazing hair-haver Professor Sterling and Sterling’s daughter/ Riley’s fiance Griselda. While preparing for an official unveiling of Professor Sterling’s new interplanetary rocket ship, the trio are accosted by spy Kurt von Stengle and his hireling and the whole bunch of them end up accidentally blasting off in the out-of control rocket. After a…
(Rocket Comics 001, 1940) The Steel Shark has a couple of distinctive notes right off the bat. Firstly, he is part of the elite society of villains who star in their own series and secondly that series is set in the far future world of the year 1960 CE, for no particular reason as far as I can tell. Indeed, I suspect that the people working on the strip did not themselves remember that is was set in the future…
(Prize Comics 006, 1940) It’s a regular day in Mongol-dominated New-New York City of the year 1982 CE: the people are oppressed in various ways and Power Nelson is around to help them solve some but not all of their problems. Suddenly! A space capsule lands and disgorges a trio of rampaging robots! This is a perfect task for Power Nelson to handle as it it a short-term solution to an immediate problem but very importantly does not require and…
(Prize Comics 005, 1940) Having defeated the mad Racko over the course of three adventures, Jupiter and his pal Jim Johnson are ready for some variety in their lives. Well, too bad, because Racko’s brother Murdo is out for revenge! His first move, kidnap Racko’s former victim and Jim’s current girlfriend Joan and put her in a test tube in her underwear. ASIDE: I had been operating under the assumption that Racko was a last name but now I have…
(Prize Comics 005, 1940) Comic book features with the villain as the lead were one of the rarer subgenres of the Golden Age, and so I must note that this is our third instance of one with a monster-maker as the lead. Fun! We first encounter Dr Dekkar here after he has advertised for an assistant and thus brought one Diane Clark to his laboratory-castle on the English moors. There’s a part of me that wants to get very critical…
(Prize Comics 005, 1940) Late in his first incarnation, Power Nelson makes the acquaintance of Zora Doone, agent of the Interplanetary Red Cross, and the two form a very horny-but-chaste relationship. At her behest, Nelson takes a break from not freeing the people of Earth from the tyrannical rule of Seng I to investigate conditions on planet Ato, where humans are ruled… BY APES! Yes, it’s a good old fashioned Planet of the Apes situation on Ato. Humans are treated…
(Prize Comics 004, 1940) The year is 1982! The world languishes under the heel of a global dictatorship, and the economy is tanking – presumably the Mongols were running a war economy that failed to stand up to the post-world-conquering peace. Emperor Seng I offers nothing but empty promises to his subjects, until Power Nelson, as committed as ever to working within the system, bursts in and strongarms him into making… real promises? Frankly, this is Power Nelson at his…
(Prize Comics 002, 1940) Though he went unnamed in his first appearance, this tonsured fellow is Racko, alien magic man Jupiter’s most enduring foe at a whopping three encounters. Racko’s first outing involved a classic pyramid scheme structure as he sent mutated green humans with horn noses out into the New York streets to kidnap more humans to turn into more minions, and so on until he controlled the world. Ironically, this might be a slightly more ethical version of…
(Planet Comics 008, 1940) Once again an adventure begins that most classic sci-fi way: Buzz Crandall and his gal pal Sandra are noodling around in space when they run smack into something, in this case a crystal sphere that houses the secret headquarters of Sophus, the Mad Philosopher. I couldn’t tell you what school of philosophy Sophus subscribes to, but it’s one with an intellectual framework that encompasses a) turning other humanoids into mist and keeping them in bottles and…