Not to be confused with "Assless Chaps Man" (the alter ego of Brian Barnes), Maskless Axeman was the very first entry in the super cool, but brief "Fantastic Feature Films" anthology back-up filler tales from the earliest days of Novelty's hero-driven, Target Comics. It's a clever concept, as if we just walked into the the theater as a film is starting, --we can even see the backs of the heads from the people seated in front of us. We also get the title card and cast listing highlighting a handful of the same reoccurring actors and actresses, most notably "Orson Black" swiping Lon Chaney's moniker as "The Man of a Thousand Faces." There was around a dozen or so of these created, mostly self-contained, crime driven adventures, with a few based on literary classics like Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels, and of course a few with some downright gruesome great horror overtones like the one in today's post, via the February 1940 issue of Target Comics V1#1 (and listed on GCD as the 666th comic entry, no less!) June Tarpé Mills, one of the first major female comic artists of the Golden era, provided the art for all but two entries, and she does a superb job with the heroes, heavies, and especially the Hollywood-esque hotties, as equally evident in the other story I have featured over at AEET HERE today as well-- check it out after today's blood soaked THOIA story!
