{"id":5099,"date":"2026-06-22T11:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/?p=5099"},"modified":"2026-09-27T19:31:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T22:31:28","slug":"media-in-comics-006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/?p=5099","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA IN COMICS 006"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that’s<\/i><\/a> entertainment. <\/p>\n

Magazines<\/b>: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Are magazine titles in comics more likely to be plays on real ones than other forms of media? Perhaps. We’ll just have to see how many variations on Life<\/i> and Time<\/i> we can find over the years. Pretending to work for Living<\/i> has enough cach\u00e9 that it gets these fascists into a secure aircraft plant – how long has it been since magazines were so relevant? (Big Shot Comics 014, 1941)<\/p>\n

Movies<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

I never actually mentioned it in the entry on the Hunchback of Hollywood, but the anti-Nazi movie that incites the story’s action is called The Tyrant<\/i>. Featuring Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sergeant Duffy in minor roles! (Captain America Comics 003, 1941)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog’s boy companion Richy (the Amazing Boy) never seemed to be that impressive to me, but Hollywood disagreed and he was made both the star and subject of a film called Riverfront Richy<\/i> with lots of animal stunts. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

There’s never any real indication of what Scoopin’ Jive<\/i> is about – music seems likely – but it’s such a baffling name for a movie that I must celebrate it (Crackajack Funnies 036, 1941)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Similarly, we never really learn what Wings Aflutter<\/i> is about, other than being a “new Navy Air smash hit” with a terrible name. (Jumbo Comics 034, 1941)<\/p>\n

Theatre<\/b>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Minor super-villain the Black Death<\/a> of course takes his costume and MO from a character in a stage production called The Black Death<\/i>. There’s not quite enough of the play’s plot in the story to know if the fictional Black Death is supposed to be a metaphor or something or some sort of slasher movie killer as it appears. I sincerely hope it’s the latter. (Thrilling Comics 010, 1940)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

One of Professor X’s<\/a> attempts to get Sub-Zero involves attacking him in the audience of a big stage musical that his girlfriend Mary is appearing in as part of the “Living Chandelier”. “George Whyte’s Sandels<\/i>” is a very specific-seeming reference, but I am unable to easily connect it to a show of the era. (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Fuller Spunk, former star of stage and now Holmes-inspired detective, starred in the evocatively-named shows Hector’s Last Gulp<\/i> and The Gripes of Raft.<\/i> (Hyper-Mystery Comics 001, 1940)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Waltz of the Vampires<\/i> is a ballet performance that is narratively used to set off vampire Carlos Hubbelo’s<\/a> bloodlust, but more importantly, it kind of rules? Comic book media is so often a version of something from the real world that it’s always very fun to see something like this that (as far as I can tell) is just a sincere depiction of a vampire ballet. (Blue Ribbon Comics 011, 1941)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that’s entertainment.  Magazines:  Are magazine titles in comics more likely to be plays on real ones than other forms of media? Perhaps. We’ll just have to see how many variations on Life and Time we can find over the years. Pretending to work for Living has enough cach\u00e9 that it gets these fascists into a secure aircraft plant – how long has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,535,320,109,99,1531,2363,24,569,48,204,1995,220,234,203,817,2455],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-14","category-bucky","category-captain-america","category-columbia","category-fiction-house","category-fuller-spunk","category-gabby-scoops","category-marvel-comics","category-media-in-comics","category-mlj","category-mr-justice","category-rang-a-tang-the-wonder-dog","category-skyman","category-standard-better-nedor","category-sub-zero","category-woman-in-red","category-zx-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5100,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5099\/revisions\/5100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}