We've been randomly looking at the spookier sides of Fiction House's wild, WINGS COMICS war series throughout the month of March, and this Suicide Smith (and the Air Commanders) on a cursed island entry from the February 1948 issue of Wings Comics #90 fits our THOIA bill nicely. Smith was one of the longest running back-up characters from this series, and today's post features great art by precode fan fave, John Celardo too, loadin' every page with fast paced adventure, a few tricky horror overtones, plus gorgeously illustrated ladies to really spice up the action. Also, if you ever wondered what the silhouette of a bad guy getting smooshed by a giant boulder looks like, well then --you came to the right island!
2 comments:
The art on this is excellent. The perspective, the people, the planes and ships, the skeletons, there's so much this artist renders and all of it is well drafted. I like how our hero is square jawed and all the villains are rat faced; sure it's a little bit overdone but it's an adventure comic and it works for the format.
"Jeepers" girl page 4, panel 1.
The good girl art in this is really front and center. It's amazing the number of times breasts are the foreground element! Everybody wears a tight dress, everybody has fabulous legs and there's nearly a broke back pose on page 3.
"Not now, please!" Real men know when there is punching to be had and there's no time for pleasure! Ah, action comics!
The plan making the panel border on page 2 is great.
"Suicide" Smith, that name is asking for trouble!
Philosophically speaking, is she really a Jeepers Girl if she's not actually dead?
I like the art here and also noted the interesting panel design at the bottom of page two. It actually creates dead space, something I'm often critical of. But it works pretty well anyway. Though, I'll note that if the goal of sequential art is that the mechanics disappear into the storytelling--like film editing is supposed to do--these panels do not pass that bar.
On the topic of exoticizing along racial lines, this story has some of the weirdest supposedly ESL dialog I've seen in a while: "This one shall pursue," "thin ones," "yonder," "thy"? I sort of think the idea of watering down the racism by mixing-up some weird catchall alienation is a kind of attractive idea, but I can't make myself believe that was the impetus here.
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