Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Archie Meets The Punisher--The Golden Age Version

As the DC Borg Empire is assimilating the "Red Circle" heroes, perhaps we should note just how...hmmm, let's say bloodthirsty the costumed adventurers from the House That Archie Built were.

In Pep Comics #1 (1940), we're introduced to the Comet. In typical Golden Age fashion, we don't start out with an entire origin story, or even origin pages. Geoff Johns would drag this out to a 12-issue miniseries, but we get the full skinny on the Comet in the first four panels!!

Perhaps he should have taken the name 'Dr. Embolism'Ah, Golden Age Science...

Don't cross the streams!!
Sir, Scott Summers' lawyer is on line 1...
Keep reading, and see the danger it will cause in good hands!What a delightfully low key, silly origin. And look who our creator is:

No Plastic man style silliness here...Why, then, we must be in for a daffily fun caper here, right?

Hahahaha, you poor naive fools. Get ready for a Frank Castle-fest.

Granted, the Comet is up against a pretty vile group of gangsters:

We also inadvertantly cause a plague, but what the hell, right?But he gives them a stern warning:

Yes, because homeless gangsters are so much more likely to turn to goodHowever, if they were smart, they wouldn't be criminals. So when Comet catches one of them back in the typhoid business:

You don't need to keep witnesses alive to turn on their accomplices when you're going to kill the accomplices, too!YOW!!!

And when he catches up to the deceased's comrades?

Sir, Scott Summers' lawyer is still holding...
Insert joke about Comet cleansing crime...DOUBLE YOW!!!

And when he finds the secret mastermind?

You just know he's not going to clean up the 'splat' that guy makesTRIPLE YOW!!!!

No wonder we had that crossover--the Punisher fits in just fine in this universe...

Lesson: don't mess with scientists, I guess....


1 comment:

Scott said...

Not too surprising that it's Cole -- remember, he wrote the "Icepick-in-the-Eye" story that got EC in trouble with Wertham... And he used to do cartoons for Playboy. The guy was an all-around cartoon guy. :)