Number 1560: The Miracle Zombies

Alex Blum, born in 1889, was nearly 50 when he began his comic book career in the late 1930s. Blum was a portrait painter during the Great Depression. That career “evaporated,” as described in his Wikipedia biography. To struggling artists of that time the comic book business must’ve looked pretty good.  Good even with low page rates and oftentimes sweatshop conditions: rooms full of artists and drawing boards cranking out reams of pages for a burgeoning industry. Blum was a true journeyman artist. He lasted in comics for several years. I most closely associate him with Classics Illustrated, where I first saw his name.

(Blum was also the father of Eisner-Iger writer Toni Blum, with whom Eisner had a relationship at one time as recounted in fictional form in The Dreamery.)

This story, drawn by Blum, is yet another magician character, Dr. Miracle. Every anthology comic had to have at least one imitation Mandrake, wand-waving or finger-wiggling, casting magic spells against evil. Dr. Miracle can even conjure up the “White Forces of Good,” which sounds racist, and in context of the teaser panel at the head of this post I believe it is.

The main reason I’m showing the story is because it has zombies. I like zombies, even in magic stories. From Champ Comics #23 (1942):

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Number 1234: Faux Fawcett

This is number three of four postings this week from Fawcett comics. But these are Fawcett comics not published by Fawcett.

Fawcett licensed their comics for publication in other countries, including the UK. This story comes from an issue of Captain Midnight, #100 to the British, but reprinted from the American Captain Midnight #50 (1947). I like the crisp black line printing, which I prefer to the usual sloppy Fawcett print jobs (see Monday's posting for a couple of good examples).

I know little about the character. I know Captain Midnight was an aviator, a popular radio programme (spelling in honor of our British cousins-in-comics), and later a TV show, with reruns retitled Jet Jackson. According to some things I've read, the comic book version was different than the mainstream version. Someone with more familiarity with the character will probably have to confirm that.

The story is credited to William Woolfolk for the script, and Leonard Frank for the artwork.

When Fawcett folded their comic book line in 1953 — a combination of losing the lawsuit brought by DC for copyright infringement on Superman by Captain Marvel, and too many comic book titles flooding the stands — they sold some of their titles and non-Marvel characters to others. This story is the first issue of Danger and Adventure #22 (1954), actually #1, but continued from This Magazine is Haunted. Charlton, who bought the rights, published an Ibis the Invincible as well as Nyoka the Jungle Girl story in this issue. It was the only Ibis story reprinted by Charlton in this title, which lasted another few issues before being cancelled. I don't know If they continued Ibis somewhere else, or just left him standing with his Ibistick in his hand.

“The Viking Horde” is an old story, reprinted from Whiz Comics #45 (1943), identified by the GCD as being drawn by old-timer Alex Blum, although probably in collaboration with an unknown inker.

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