Fawcett always had a unique approach to marketing

Fawcett presented themselves as part of the popular mainstream, comics from the people who brought you Mechanix Illustrated and other fine magazines.

Even as early as the mid-Forties, Fawcett was heading off charges of comics' corrupting influence with its "Editorial Advisory Board."

More Wolverton for your weekend

Fawcett's Ibis came complete with its own parody, Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot. Here's a sample from issue number 5.

A MAD in-joke?

This came out shortly after the debut of Mad. That and the font and the style leave me pretty sure that this cover (which does not match the tone of the rest of the story that follows) is an in-joke directed at some friends at EC.

A pre-EC Bernie Krigstein story

Bernie Krigstein probably has a higher reputation-to-recognized-output ratio of any comics creator. He is remembered almost solely for a handful of stories he did for EC, most notably "Master Race," widely considered the high point of the company's many masterpieces.

But Krigstein's work encompassed more than a handful of publications and while you probably won't find many masterpieces in the pages of magazines like Space Patrol #1 you will find a very good artist who was well on his way to being a great one.

A great line-up (literally)

In addition to being the home of a certain lovable monster, Prize Comics was associated with some of the best artists in the industry, not surprising given that for a number of years it was edited by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Simon, Kirby and the rest of the staff showed up in this cover from the early Fifties.

A Golden Age tale from Gene Colan

One of the pleasures of digging through these mostly forgotten comics of the Forties and Fifties is the chance to see the early work of the artists and writers who would go on to create some of the best stories of the silver age.

's early Fifties story from Gene Colan more than a decade before Iron Man and Dracula.

From Nightmare #10

"Uncle Sam has a green thumb"

From the early Fifties, a patriotic PSA:


From Black Diamond Western #24

Some Wolverton for your weekend

Another adventure with Basil Wolverton's BingBang Buster from Black Diamond Western #25 (1951).

Perils of a badly chosen magic word

From Toonopedia:

Just as Billy Batson gained the power of Captain Marvel (or switched back to Billy) by speaking Shazam's name, Shazam gave Freddy the ability to become Captain Marvel Jr. (or switch back) by speaking Captain Marvel's name. This not only made a superhero of the crippled boy — it also put a very odd and perhaps unique limitation on his power. He couldn't introduce himself to anyone, because as soon as Captain Marvel Jr. said the first two words of his own name, the magic lightning bolt would turn him back into Freddy.

From Captain Marvel Jr. #6

How correspondence schools create unrealistic expectations

For the Washington School of Art. From Weird Horrors #4, 1952

One of the weirdest promotional comics you'll ever see

I honestly don't know which part is strangest:

the anthropomorphic milking machines;

the fate of the non-productive cow;

the porn star name;

or the fact that the same company makes both the good and the bad milkers.