If you didn't get enough of the 'ol Grimm Ghost Doctor in our last post, here he comes again, --only this time he's a Ghost Spotter! (Don't ask, I have no idea what the what.) Anywho, it also seems the scribbled "by Dan Weaver" name in the splashes is actually Rudy Palais! Who would've guessed that in a million years? Not me, I mean, seriously, nobody's sweatin' hard enough in any of these panels despite a truly hair raisin' horror specter and some pulse-pounding attractive dames! So here we go again, this one's originally from the Winter 1943-'44 issue of War Victory Adventures #3, but I found it reprinted in the March 1944 issue of Bomber Comics #1.
"Let go of my wrists, you fool ghost!" My new favorite quote. These Grimm tales are fun. Keep 'em coming.
ReplyDeleteI like them sneaking in that "I never drink... wine" line. But why was the fake Countess described as a zombie? Problems with the V-word?
ReplyDeleteFirst thought: the insurance company is never going to believe a ghost stole your car keys.
ReplyDeleteSecond thought: so far, Grimm is zero for two as far as using his "ghost disintegrator" goes. Seems like it might be useful if didn't keep losing it, though I also was under some impression that ghosts aren't terribly integrated to begin with.
I've seen this one before, somewhere, but can't remember where! And, yes, I'll be that guy, why does the skeleton ghost have T&A, even though it's skeletal otherwise? The answer is, of course, the artist was entertaining himself!
ReplyDeleteI love how, because the tales are short, that Grimm just stumbles into everything. He's hanging out at some quant pub and boom, another case, and then he just integrates himself into the lives of the people in the story. He literally barges in! And hasn't he been in enough cases to know a zombie when he sees on? He built a ghost disintegrator, build a zombie detector!
I love 40 comics and their last panel explanation drop, probably the same reason I'm a doctor who fan!
These are a ton of fun, silly, full of big ideas and quick execution, and really dynamic art for the mid 40s.
This is a wild title. Twice in a row now, Grimm has hastened off to dispatch a ghost, only to find himself squarely in league with the heels once that ghost is revealed to be the sympathetic character busy haunting the wicked villain. Eventually Grimm solves the case by surviving until the plot is over, when the victorious spirit can fill us all in on what's really been going on. Is the whole series like this? It totally plays as a parody, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteAlso really digging the cover of War Victory Adventures #3. I'm going to have to look up some of these Captain Cross stories. The idea of a masked doctor avengering around behind the enemy lines is, ah, hard to quite fathom.
Though I suppose it is possible, I don't think the 'T&A' was for self-titillation. I think it's more likely the artist felt like he just had to give the thing obvious female signifiers. I once read a female artist--I can't remember who--complaining about that with funny animals, using Arlene from Garfield with her weird human lips as an example.
ReplyDeleteSure, male and female skeletons don't look different to the bulk of us, just like male and female cats don't look different to the bulk of us, but clearly some artists aren't OK with that and go to bizarre lengths to amend the visuals.
"...Arlene from Garfield with her weird human lips..."
ReplyDeleteAnd Yogi Bear's girlfriend who wears a skirt but is topless.
I'm never able to figure that one out.