Number 1480: Thanksgiving Turkey Award 2013 featuring Shock Gibson

It is time again for our annual award, the Thanksgiving Turkey Award, which is given to the comic book story I think is the most oddball, stupid or awful (or some combination) that I have encountered in the past year. The judgment of what wins the award rests solely on me. You don’t get a say in the matter, so if you don’t agree with me you can tell me, but my decisions are final.

The 2013 Turkey Award story was a clear winner, which I picked out of Speed Comics #8 (1940) this past January. I figured I wouldn’t find a more worthy candidate for the honor of accumulating gobblers than this story of Shock Gibson’s trip to Africa to end the slave trade, wrestle a gorilla, fight a knight from a lost city, build a pyramid single-handed, rescue the sexy queenֹ’s son from some other knights, and reject the queen’s marriage proposal. (We are not told what happened to the former king, the prince’s father.)

The Grand Comics Database gives credit to writers Maurice Rosenfeld and Bill Scott as “Maurice Scott,” (it took two guys to write this?) and art credit to Norman Fallon ?, with that question mark meaning they aren’t sure. Whoever is to blame, it earns a solid three-and-a-half turkeys out of a possible four.

*********** 

From latest to earliest, the former Thanksgiving Turkey Awards winners. Just click on the thumbnails:

2012: “Yarmak’s yakety-yak”:

2011: “Andy’s Atomic Adventure”:

2010: “Satanas”:

2009: “The Million Year Monster”:

2008: “The Bride of Jungle Jimmy”:

2007: “The Beyonders”:

2006: “The Flat Man”:

More about →

Number 1261: “. . . with the speed of protons — America's protector!”

As I promised yesterday, here is a later, better drawn version of Shock Gibson than the crudely done origin from Speed Comics #1.

Bob Fujitani was always one of the slicker illustrators in comics, and worked on a variety of features for several companies. He worked in comics virtually his whole career.

In this story, from Speed Comics #41, published by Harvey Comics in late 1945 with a cover date of January, 1946, World War II still raged several months after it ended in the real world. That was the problem of comics drawn well in advance of their on-sale dates, and even affected some newspaper comic strips, which were drawn many weeks or even months before their publication. The Japanese are still undefeated and still treacherous, even co-opting the Hindu god, “Vishnu,” for their nefarious ends. Just another culture crime by comic book publishers, for whom religious deities not common in the United States were often portrayed in some insulting fashion.

 Vishnu

My apologies to those who may be offended.

In the story Shock Gibson's name is not Charles Gibson, as in the origin story, but Robert Gibson. He has dropped the odd-looking helmet and put on a mask. I don't know why someone didn't put together that Shock Gibson and Corporal Bob Gibson were the same person.

I've also included the Heritage Auction scans of the original art for “The God of Steel.”

More about →

Number 1260: The Human Dynamo!

Charles “Shock” Gibson was born in this story from Speed Comics #1 (1939), one of those wildly improbable origins found in superhero comic books. A splash of chemicals, a bolt of lightning, and ZAP! Charles becomes superhero Shock Gibson, the human dynamo.

Shock's colleague, Dr. Blitzer, who witnesses Shock's new abilities, tells him he has “the strength of a thousand men!” Being a clean-cut American scientist of the fair play persuasion, Shock decides to use his powers for good, instead of for bagging chicks (I made up that last part). Anyway, his first adventure, 25 pages worth, moves like the comic book's title promises. Shock chases villains who are in an airplane, bounding his way across America to the Rocky Mountains. There he encounters a mad scientist. The scientist produces some zombies, but such zombies as you and I have not before seen.

I've mentioned before how the standards for comic book artwork changed rapidly from these early days, after the field exploded in popularity in the wake of Superman's success. A few years later Shock joined the military and was fighting the Japanese, and had artwork much elevated from his origin. Tomorrow I'll show you a story where Shock has a different costume (no sharkfin helmet, but an added mask), and the advantage of art by the terrific Bob Fujitani.

More about →