Number 1401: Blackhawk and Torchy

These two stories are from the next to last issue of Modern Comics. The title had changed from Military Comics, and it was in issue #1 that Blackhawk was born of World War II. The character and his gang survived the war, and became international troubleshooters and soldiers of fortune. [SPOILER ALERT: The Blackhawks also came up against plots where some fantastic trickery is involved, including this one where a spaceship and creatures from outer space are faked. Stories like these ignore the costs of such deception, which include creating and building, and in this one, the technology involved in making functioning robots with built-in microfilm cameras. Even if such a plot were to work the end result could not be worth what has been put into it. We accept the ridiculous flim-flam because it's a comic book. Just sayin'. END OF SPOILER] The artists are unknown to the Grand Comics Database, but William Woolfolk gets the nod for the script.

I’m also including the Torchy story from the issue. It’s drawn by Gill Fox. Torchy is fooled by an antique word and comedy results. The word, “gaiters,” I didn’t know, and I spend a lot of time with my nose in old books. See, comics can be educational as well as entertaining.

From Modern Comics #101 (1950):

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Number 1362: Funky Funnies: Torrid Torchy!

This is the second day of our Funky Funnies theme week. Today we light our internal fires with Torchy.

Torchy, who may be the sexiest female character to come out of the golden age of comics, began her career as a filler in Quality Comics’ Doll Man, then earned her own book in 1949. Gill Fox, a master cartoonist who could work in a variety of styles, did a terrific job interpreting Bill Ward’s original vision of the statuesque blonde, and today I’m showing you the first story from Torchy #1 (1949), drawn by Fox.

Putting aside the obvious sexism represented by Torchy (who was drawn to attract young male readers, including servicemen), who do you think drew a sexier Torchy, Bill Ward,  or was Fox’s Torchy “foxier”? (One female reader told me Ward’s Torchy “looked like a hooker.” That’s one opinion.) I have a love comic story by Ward coming up soon where we see again Ward's very sexy, slinky women. Should you need evidence, if you’ve never seen Ward’s work, if you have seen it and need reminding, or if you just want to ogle Ward’s beauties, click on the picture below for a Pussycat story he did in the sixties, along with a forties Torchy story reprinted in black and white in the nineties. Warning: lingerie panels abound. No more than you’ll see in the average Victoria’s Secret catalog, but I thought I’d let you know what you’re in for.

Click on the picture for Pussycat and Torchy:

From the Hairy Green Eyeball blog, Pussycat #1 in its entirety!

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Number 1299: Carrying a Torchy

This is the third of our Funky Funnies postings, funny comic book stories from the Golden Age.

Bill Ward (1919-1998) was a very fine cartoonist with an extra-special talent for drawing beautiful women. It was his bread-and-butter for over five decades. When Ward had a character such as Torchy to draw he made her the focus of the panel. The men he drew in those strips, and what must be thousands of gag cartoons done over several decades, just didn't get the attention the girls did. Of course they didn't! We don't look at Torchy to see guys. We want to see beautiful, bosomy, long-stemmed girls strutting proudly in shoes that would cripple most women. (Even when she's getting a treatment at a spa, as in this tall tale, she's wearing stilettos.) No matter that this story is from a long time ago — 1947 — Torchy is as modern in her sexiness as she was when Ward did his lovingly rendered drawings of her.

From Modern Comics #58 (1947):

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