Zaza the Mystic, no. 10
Replacing Charlton’s <em>Charlie Chan</em> title with issue #10, <em>Zaza the Mystic</em> would only run for two issues before it was replaced with the horror and suspense title <em>This Magazine Is Haunted</em>. While her title was short lived, Zaza the Mystic did have a unique character profile. As described on the opening page of this issue, Zaza’s identity as a psychic is a disguise: “The crystal ball and tea leaves merely hide Zaza’s startling powers of observation and at times her uncanny ability to predict coming events! It’s not at all magic – just a sharp eye and a keen mind at work at all times!” This issue is the first of only two appearances of Zaza the Mystic, who is no mystic after all.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephen+Neil+Cooper+Synchronic+Comic+Book+Collection%2C+CARCSC-055">Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Comic Book Collection, CARCSC-055</a>
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Fago, Al (Editor)
Nicholas, Charles (Penciler)
D'Agostino, Jon, 1929- (Inker)
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Wonder Woman, no. 81
<span>Wonder Woman was created by the psychologist William Moulton Marston (using the pen name Charles Moulton) and artist Harry G. Peter. Though Marston died in 1947, “Charles Moulton” is still credited as the author of this issue’s Wonder Woman stories, and Peter draws them. As Jill Lepore has documented, Marston created Wonder Woman, with the help of his two domestic partners, to be an explicitly feminist hero. Marston claimed in a 1942 interview that “Wonder Woman . . . is a New Woman. ‘The one outstanding benefit to humanity from the first World War was the great increase in the strength of women—physical, economic, mental,’ he says. ‘Women definitely emerged from a false, haremlike protection and began taking over men’s work. Grealy to their own surprise they discovered that they were potentially as strong as men—in some ways stronger’” (232-233). (Reference: Jill Lepore, <em>The Secret History of Wonder Woman.</em> New York: Vintage, 2015.)</span>
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Ellsworth, Whitney, 1908-1980 (Editor)
Kanigher, Robert (Editor)
Novick, Irv (Penciler & Inker)
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Two-Gun Kid, no. 30
With its striking blue-toned figure, this <em>Two-Gun Kid</em> cover encapsulates what made Atlas Comics artist Joe Maneely the "absolute favorite" of editor and writer Stan Lee. As Sean Howe details, Maneely "was speedy and astonishingly versatile, handling the Dennis the Menace facsimile Melvin the Monster and the western Two-Gun Kid with equal aplomb" (33). In this issue, the "Wildest Cowboy in the Wild West" rides into towns and helps those in need. (Reference: Sean Howe, <em>Marvel Comics: The Untold Story</em>. New York: Harper, 2012.)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephen+Neil+Cooper+Synchronic+Comic+Book+Collection%2C+CARCSC-055">Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Comic Book Collection, CARCSC-055</a>
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Maneely, Joe, 1926-1958 (Penciler & Inker)
Goldberg, Stan (Colorist)
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Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, no. 12
This long-running series blends humor and adventure, as the well-meaning but somewhat inept reporter Jimmy Olsen stumbles into situations, many involving the help of Superman, that lead to stories in Metropolis’ <em>Daily Planet</em> newspaper. As Jonathan Friedmann notes, “the comic book began as a spin-off from the popular <em>Adventures of Superman</em> television series (1952–8), which co-starred Jack Larson as the naive cub reporter” (44). In this issue, Jimmy Olsen performs as a circus clown, visits dinosaurs on Mystic Isle, and, as depicted on the cover, becomes invisible when transported to the fourth dimension. (Reference: Jonathan L. Friedmann, “When Jimmy Blew the Shofar: Midrash and Musical Invective in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen,” <em>Journal of Religion and Popular Culture</em> 28.1 (Spring 2016): 43-53.)
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Schwartz, Julius, 1915-2004 (Editor)
Swan, Curt (Penciler)
Burnley, Ray, 1902-1964 (Inker)
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Strange Adventures, no. 67
A science fiction anthology comic, <em>Strange Adventures</em> features a cover penciled and inked by renowned artists Gil Kane and Joe Giella. The cover telegraphs the issue's opening story, written by John Broome and drawn by the same artistic team, in which a martian arrives on Earth to influence human development, only to realize that humans can innovate on their own. After drawing this conclusion, and in a moment of metacommentary on the science fiction genre, the martian arrives at the editorial office of <em>Strange Adventures</em> to tell his story. Notably, this science fiction comic is the origin point of our Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Collection of Comic Books. The collector Stephen Cooper remembered reading this issue's second story, "Search for a Lost World!," written by science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton, penciled by Sid Greene, and inked by Joe Giella. In Cooper's own words, "I was reading a story about a guy who was getting larger and larger, and still larger, until he grew so incredibly colossal that the enormous planets of the solar system simply passed through him. What? My pea-sized brain struggled with this cosmic-sized vision" (34). Cooper's mind-opening encounter with this comic led him, many years later, to track down this issue of <em>Strange Adventures</em>, and then to track down every title on newsstands at that time in April 1956, "in order to fully recapture the comic book Zeitgeist of that momentous day in my life!" (35). Because of his effort, we can now all look back at this snapshot of comic book and cultural history. (Reference: Steve Cooper, "The Odyssey of a Synchronic Collector," <em>Comic Book Marketplace</em> 67 (March 1999): 32-51.)
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Ellsworth, Whitney, 1908-1980 (Editor)
Schwartz, Julius, 1915-2004 (Editor)
Kane, Gil (Penciler)
Giella, Joe (Inker)
Schnapp, Ira (Colorist)
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Showcase, no. 1
The first issue of DC's <em>Showcase</em> introduces "Fireman Farrell" in three stories written by Arnold Drake and drawn by John Prentice. While Fireman Farrell would appear periodically in later DC Comics titles, <em>Showcase</em> is today best remembered for its fourth issue in October 1956. That issue introduces Barry Allen as the Flash. The new version of the Flash in that issue is widely thought of as the beginning of the "Silver Age" of comics, in which superhero stories, and not firefighting tales, become synonymous with comic books in the United States.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephen+Neil+Cooper+Synchronic+Comic+Book+Collection%2C+CARCSC-055">Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Comic Book Collection, CARCSC-055</a>
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Ellsworth, Whitney, 1908-1980 (Editor)
Weisinger, Mort, 1915-1978 (Editor)
Prentice, John, 1920-1999 (Penciler & Inker)
Schnapp, Ira (Letterer)
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Rin Tin Tin, no. 12
While the original Rin Tin Tin appeared in over two dozen films in the 1920s and early 1930s, the war hero dog’s legacy continued in the 1950s in the television show <em>The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin</em> and in this Dell Comics series. In this issue, Rin Tin Tin travels on a boat along the West coast of Canada, accompanied by Captain Red Johnson and boy companion Mukluk. In her biography of the celebrity dog, Susan Orlean describes what he has meant in popular culture: “Rin Tin Tin has always been more than a dog. He was an idea and an ideal—a hero who was also a friend, a fighter who was also a caretaker, a mute genius, a companionable loner. He was one dog and many dogs, a real animal and an invented character, a pet as well as an international celebrity. He was born in 1918 and he never died” (3). (Reference: Susan Orelan, <em>Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend</em>. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011.)
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Delacorte, George T. (George Thomas), 1893-1991 (Editor)
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Plastic Man, no. 61
Quality Comics' <em>Plastic Man</em> series would only last for three more issues. In late 1956, the publisher would go out of business and sell its characters and titles to DC Comics. This issue contains all reprinted stories, from earlier issues of the title. One of them, in particular, a ghost story titled "Woozy," was modified from its original version to conform to the rules of Comics Code Authority. A cluster of ghoulish ghosts on the story's title page was replaced with a cartoonish human face, no more creepy skulls or bulging eyeballs. The final story in this issue was drawn by Plastic Man's creator, the artist Jack Cole. As Art Spiegelman has claimed, Cole's Plastic Man and his infinite ability to move through space "literally embodied the comic book form: its exuberant energy, its boyishness, and its only partially sublimated sexuality" (38). (Reference: Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd, <em>Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits!</em> New York: Chronicle, 2001.)
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Grenet, Alfred (Editor)
Arnold, Richard (Editor)
Dillin, Dick, 1928-1980 (Penciler & Inker)
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Paul Terry's Adventures of Mighty Mouse, no. 129
Paul Terry created Mighty Mouse as one of the many characters in his Terrytoons Studio. Mighty Mouse stories featured the caped hero saving the day and foiling the plans of diabolical villains. Those stories are accompanied in this comic by other featuring Terrytoons Studio characters such as Dimwit Dog, Dinky Duck, and the magpies Heckle and Jeckle.
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Pat Sullivan's Felix the Cat, no. 70
Felix the Cat first appeared in animated films in 1919. Produced by the Pat Sullivan studio and drawn by Otto Messmer, Felix the Cat has been a mainstay of popular culture since that moment, and began appearing in a syndicated newspaper comic strip in 1923. As Nicholas Sammond has argued, Felix borrowed directly from the conventions of minstrelsy and vaudeville performance, from the cat's facial expressions and movements to the world in which his adventures take place: "It was nowhere and everywhere, ephemeral and immanent" (117). (Reference: Nicholas Sammond, <em>Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation</em>. Durham: Duke UP, 2015.)
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Harvey, Leon H. (Leon Harvey), 1901- (Editor)
Oriolo, Joe (Penciler)
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