Golden Age idol--Snowman?? Snowman???

Even I have to admit--some characters from the Golden Age, well, aren't ripe for revival. Some are too boring or derivative. Some are just such products of their time they couldn't be successfully transplanted to the future without changing so much about them they stopped being the characters you liked in the first place.

And some are just so freaky odd that you suspect LSD was introduced several years earlier than the official history suggests:

Yes, Snowman. Someone took Spooky The Tuff Little Ghost, merged him with Popeye, and stuck the result in a snowman come to life. And no, it's not just the cover:

Hey, wait a minute!!

Yup, that Frank Frazetta. This was his first published work. GCD says that John Giunta penciled and Frazetta inked. Other sources say it was the opposite. Regardless, this was a 15 year old getting a chance to convert his homemade comic into a "real" comic story, and that boy would go on to become a legendary artist.

But that doesn't mean that Snowman wasn't damn odd. We start on an island of "cutthroats and desperadoes," as they decide to exile one of their own because he's just too dang evil, even for them:


The place they choose to dump Fang, though, is a also a place where a bunch of natives are worshiping a snowman statue.

Well, Fang uses his power to "create imaginary monsters" to bedevil the tribe...

...and they cry out to their deity...

...who answers those prayers?!?!?!?!

In fact, he's quite the violent savior:

This is just soo weird, ain't it? Seeing a character who looks like he belongs in a Harvey comic killing savages with a tomahawk and causing carnage? Wait, there's more:


Even though it's the "real world," Snowman still behaves like a "cartoon character":

And when Fang captures him and throws him to the crocodiles (above the Arctic circle???), he can quip with the best of the action heroes:

And the final showdown with Fang is just mind-blowingly bizarre, an uncomfortable juxtaposition of funny animal pictures and Arnold Schwarzenegger violence:




So, with Fang defeated, will our hero go back to being just a statue?? Nope...

That's the final panel, and the final appearance ever of Snowman. Who knows where he got to, or if he's still alive.

(Don't worry, though--those natives found someone else to worship):

Anyway, we shouldn't be too harsh on the silliness: if any of our creations as 15 year olds showed up, they'd look pretty goofy, too. Kudos to Frank Frazetta for getting the break to get his published.

But to revive Snowman today? I don't think so. How about you, Ryan?

Seacrest out!!

Snowman appeared in the numberless Tally-Ho Comics (1944).