Black Knight, no. 5
Wielding an ebony blade forged by Merlin, the Black Knight was created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely in this Atlas Comics title, which only ran for five issues. Taking place during the reign of King Arthur, the comic blends medieval romance with ideas more commonly associated with superheroes. When not in the Black Knight armor, the main character masquerades as the cowardly Sir Percy of Scandia. A heroic descendant of this Black Knight character would be introduced in Marvel's <em>The Avengers</em> #48 (1968). The cover of this issue was drawn by Joe Maneely, who died in 1958 at the age of 32. Stan Lee remarked that "he would have been another Jack Kirby . . . the best you could imagine." (Reference: "Joe Maneely," Lambiek Comiclopedia, 30 Jan. 2017. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/maneely_joe.htm )
<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>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=45&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Atlas">Atlas</a>
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Penciler & Inker: Maneely, Joe, 1926-1958
Colorist: Goldberg, Stan
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Forbidden Worlds, no. 42
One of American Comics Group's longest-running titles, <em>Forbidden Worlds</em> featured tales of alien visitors from other planets, time travel, and other strange happenings. Perhaps most notable about this issue is its cover, by ACG artist Ogden Whitney. Whitney would go on to create the character Herbie, sometimes known as the superhero Fat Fury, in the pages of <em>Forbidden Worlds</em>, eventually resulting in the character's own series in the 1960s. As Dan Nadel notes, Whitney developed a curiously familiar yet emblematic art style: "Every boss is bald and plump and chomps a cigar, every businessman looks like Rock Hudson, and every office and home is straight out of the Sears catalog." This makes the strange events on the cover even more uncanny, as they seem to be happening to such typical, ordinary figures. (Reference: Dan Nadel, "Sucker Punch," <em>Bookforum</em> (Feb/Mar 2009). https://www.bookforum.com/print/1505/-3291)
<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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Hughes, Richard E., 1909-1974 (Editor)
Whitney, Ogden, 1918- (Penciler & Inker)
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Lorna, the Jungle Girl, no. 18
This jungle adventure comic features a female version of Tarzan, raised in the African jungle and accompanied by her sidekick, a chimpanzee named Mikki. On this cover, two artist's signatures are visible on a rock, "Colletta and Williamson." Vince Colletta and Al Williamson worked as artists for Atlas Comics in the mid-to-late 1950s, after the implementation of the Comics Code Authority. Catherine Jurca has argued that Edgar Rice Burrough's 1912 <em>Tarzan of the Apes</em> is preoccupied with domesticity. As she argues, Tarzan's major appeal in the novel is his "natural grace as a homemaker," as he transforms the jungle into the symbolic equivalent of a suburb (41). Lorna is similarly committed to maintaining what she describes as "the law of the jungle," which in fact resembles 1950s gender, racial, and social norms. (Reference: Catherine Jurca, <em>White Diaspora: The Suburb and the Twentieth-Century American Novel</em>. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001.)
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Williamson, Al (Penciler)
Colletta, Vince (Penciler & Inker)
Goldberg, Stan (Colorist)
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Nature Boy, no. 3
Even though it is numbered as issue #3, this is the first issue of <em>Nature Boy</em>. Issues #1 and #2 were titled <em>Danny Blaze</em>, and featured stories about a heroic firefighter. Charlton Comics' <em>Nature Boy</em> would last only 3 issues, before changing names again to the children's humor title <em>Li'L Rascal Twins</em>. <em>Nature Boy</em> was written by Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman in the 1930s, and John Buscema, who would become a longtime Marvel Comics artist. In this issue, Nature Boy's origin story is revealed. As a small child, David Crandall is lost at sea during a storm. He is rescued by a group of god-like rulers, who give him powers over sea, wind, fire, earth, love, sky, electricity, and cold. Nature Boy uses his "staggering powers for the triumph of good and right living!"
<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)
Buscema, John (Penciler & Inker)
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Our Fighting Forces, no. 10
This issue of <em>Our Fighting Forces</em> features a cover and story by Charles "Jerry" Grandenetti, one of the iconic war comics artists of the 1950s and 1960s. Indeed, some of Grandenetti's work in the 1960s would be used by Pop Art painter Roy Lichtenstein in his 1962 work Jet Pilot. This issue's "Grenade Pitcher" story puts the reader in the shoes of a World War II soldier, who uses his skill as baseball pitcher to hurl grenades at Nazi tanks. As demonstrated by the dynamic cover here, the story asks the reader to identify with the athletic protagonist. (Reference: "Jerry Grandenetti, 1927-2010," <em>The Comics Reporter</em>. 29 Sept. 2010. http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/jerry_grandenetti_1927_2010/ )
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Ellsworth, Whitney, 1908-1980 (Editor)
Kanigher, Robert (Editor)
Grandenetti, Jerry (Penciler & Inker)
Schnapp, Ira (Letterer)
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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.)
<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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Grenet, Alfred (Editor)
Arnold, Richard (Editor)
Dillin, Dick, 1928-1980 (Penciler & Inker)
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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.)
<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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Delacorte, George T. (George Thomas), 1893-1991 (Editor)
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Robin Hood, no. 3
In the Cooper Collection, there are three Robin Hood series: Charlton's <em>Robin Hood and His Merry Men</em>, Quality's <em>Robin Hood Tales</em>, and this title, Magazine Enterprises' <em>Robin Hood</em>. Along with these titles, Robin Hood also appears on the cover of <em>Brave and Bold</em> #5, yet another comic in the Cooper Collection. While the character of Robin Hood appeared in folk ballads dating back to the 15th century, the version of Robin Hood in 1950s comics owes much to American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle's 1883 book <em>The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood</em>. As Nick Rennison notes, "it is in Pyle's black-and-white illustrations that the outlines of the classic image of Robin Hood begin to emerge. Here is the hero in his forest attire and feathered cap. Here is the lithe and handsome athlete that later appears in the [Douglas] Fairbanks and [Errol] Flynn films. Reproduced time and again, often with additional colouring, Pyles illustrations embedded a particular vision of Robin in the American popular imagination" (117). Drawn by Frank Bolle, Magazine Enterprises' Robin Hood follows in this tradition. (Reference: Nick Rennison, <em>Robin Hood: Myth, History, and Culture</em>. Harpenden: Oldcastle Books, 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>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=45&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+Enterprise">Magazine Enterprise</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=40&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Mar+1956">Mar 1956</a>
Krank, Raymond C. (Editor)
Bolle, Frank (Penciler & Inker)
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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>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=45&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=DC">DC</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=40&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Apr+1956">Apr 1956</a>
Ellsworth, Whitney, 1908-1980 (Editor)
Weisinger, Mort, 1915-1978 (Editor)
Prentice, John, 1920-1999 (Penciler & Inker)
Schnapp, Ira (Letterer)
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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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