BIG APPLE COMIX "Over and Under"

Here's a fascinating side-by-side comparison...

...of life at the opposite ends of the social and financial spectrums in 1970s NYC!

The left side of the pages is illustrated by Neal Adams, the right side was penciled by Larry Hama and inked by Ralph Reese, both of whom had apprenticed under Wally Wood!

As for who wrote it, well, that's not entirely clear!

It could be the three artists co-wrote the tale (they all have solo writing credits), or any two of the three, or even any one of them..or someone else entirely, like Archie Goodwin, who also contributed to the 1975 one-shot Big Apple Comix!

I'm afraid we'll never know...

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Big Apple Comix

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TARGET COMICS "SpaceHawk and the Concealed Bomber"

In the previous issue of Target Comics, SpaceHawk had been assigned by Uncle Sam himself to...
...but this danger wasn't extraterrestrial, though it looked like it was!
Note: this was published in 1941...before Pearl Harbor...so we weren't at war...yet!
Though their nationality is never specified, these characters are caricatures of Asians...obviously the Japanese, who were invading and occupying neighboring countries in the Pacific!





Written and illustrated by series creator Basil Wolverton, this tale from Novelty Publications's Target Comics V2N2 [#14] (1941) followed a change in concept for the book as all the various series' characters, no matter where or when they took place, became protectors of America from threats from other countries...which were thinly-disguised versions of Germany, Japan, and Italy!

9/11 Comic Stories THE BIG LIE

I admire and respect Rick Veitch as a creative talent...

...but I believe he's way off on what he presents in this one-shot about the fall of the Twin Towers!

The time traveller heads for her husband's office, where he disbelieves she is, in fact, his wife, because she looks older than the woman he left to go to the office this morning...

The tale then devolves to the time traveller detailing how the planes about to crash into the Twin Towers aren't the real reason they collapsed, that explosives were deliberately-planted throughout the buildings!

Ironically, her explanation causes her hubby to disbelieve her...

Published on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, Image's The Big Lie #1 (2011), generated controversy from the start.

USAToday did an interview with Rick that caused a chain-reaction!

HERE's another interview with Veitch right after the book was released in 2011!

Read a couple of reviews and comment threads on them HERE and HERE to see that, even a decade ago, before Don da Con messed the country up, there were still on-line loonies a-plenty!

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Asians in American Comics MILITARY COMICS Blackhawk "Doomed Battalion!"

We presented the Silver Age origin of the Blackhawks' Chinese member, Chop-Chop HERE...

...but it's not the way he originally-joined the team during the Golden Age of Comics!
This is the amazingly politically-incorrect way he debuted back in 1941...

Quick background info:

Blackhawk was the leader of a multi-national team of aviators known as "Blackhawks" who were "black ops" before there was "black ops!

Debuting in the premiere issue of Quality's Military Comics, they quickly became popular enough to receive their own title (which was one of the company's best-sellers) while continuing as Military's cover feature!

The team members were ex-military from most of the Allied countries, including ones who had been conquered by the Axis...but there was no member from Asia, where Japan was rampaging though various countries, facing limited resistance!

So a Chinese national was introduced, albeit one who was running around Europe...

The team flies off, rescues the nurse and her allies, then returns to Blackhawk Island... 

There was one-more page featuring the Blackhawks' newest member...

Chop-Chop became the group's extremely-stereotypical cook/bottle-washer/mechanic/comedy relief, eventually participating in their adventures, sometimes saving their leather-clad butts!

(If you think this portrayal was insulting and disrespectful, you should see how American comics portrayed Asians, like the Japanese, who weren't our allies!)

He became thinner, lost the buck-teeth, and his English improved, but he wasn't given a uniform and plane of his own until the book was sold to DC by Quality when they ceased publication in the late 1950s.

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Blackhawk
(the HTF only novel based on the comic book series)

STAR COMICS Ad-Ventures "Black Advertising Characters"

This was a weird ongoing strip showing characters used for advertising various products (food/soap/cigars/etc)...

...as performers and the audience in a circus!

In this never-reprinted short from Ultem-Centaur's Star Comics V1N03 (1937), we see Aunt Jemima...

..and the Gold Dust Twins, Goldie and Dusty, advertising mascots for a line of soap products!

Due to the rise of the Civil Rights movement and protests and boycotts involving such stereotypical characters, the product line was discontinued 

I'm not sure about the Black chef.

The only ones I'm familiar with are Uncle Ben (who promoted Converted Rice's rice-based products) and Rastus (who was used in Cream of Wheat ads and packaging)!

Interestingly, Aunt Jemima was sexy enough to warrant a Tijuana Bible strip about her...

...but I don't know if any other Black advertising characters had their own appearances in the infamous format!

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Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus

Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow