But if you think about it, there's a potential drawback: Kid has to somehow know which historical/mythological figure would best be able to help resolve the problem he's facing.
Otherwise, you might get a situation like we face in this issue's splash panel:
Our story begins when Kid is just too dang lazy to study...
Meanwhile, they stumble upon some goons about to ambush a lovely young couple:
Sure, he looks completely different than the last time Kid called upon him. You could attribute that to a different artist, but the fanboy-who-overcomplicates-everything in me likes to believe that Kid just summoned Samson from a different point in his life. No-Prize me!!
Also, we've got to give kudos to the writers--who would have believed that they could go nine stories without repeating a summons? No easy way out for these hard-working scribes!
Finally, perhaps this is a testament to Kid's education. He's what, 10 or 12? But he always seems to know what character to summon for which situation. Until later in this story...
Meanwhile, Samson kicks some ass...
But Samson was a little overenthusiastic...
But the henchman gets away, and steals their car!!
Anyway, a trumped up survey makes it look like the courts will rule in Skink's favor in the land swindle:
Well, it turns out that George did indeed start out as a professional surveyor, and a particularly successful one! Thanks for teaching me something new, Kid Eternity!
George backs up the story of the good guys--and come on, what court is going to rule against George Washington?
Hyer beats down the henchman, but boss Skink decides to blow things up good!
In a 40-years-of-hindsight-and no-pressure-of-actually-having-to-rescue-someone mode, I could suggest that Kid should have summoned, oh, Poseidon? Thetis?
And given that Kid knows all sorts of pretty damn obscure historical stuff--obscure to me, at least, 70-some years later--there must have been some famous fireman or rescue guy he could have called.
But then again, that's the point of the story--Kid should have a freakin' rolodex in his head of people to call in almost every situation. But he's been neglecting his studies!! Shame on him!!
To his credit, though, Kid doesn't dwell on his failure--he leaps right in personally to try and rescue Mrs. Adams:
But how did he show up?
But what of the Adams' rapidly burning fortune?
And so Kid leaves--and hits the books!!
So, after 9 stories, the roster is:
| Achilles | 1 |
| Antony, Marc | 1 |
| Barry's father | 1 |
| Blackhawk | 1 |
| Columbus | 1 |
| Corbett, Jim | 1 |
| Don Quixote | 1 |
| Griffiths, Albert | 1 |
| Hercules | 1 |
| Hickok, Wild Bill | 1 |
| Holmes, Sherlock | 1 |
| Houdini | 1 |
| Hyer, Tom | 1 |
| Jeffries, Jim | 1 |
| King Arthur | 1 |
| Leander | 1 |
| Mercury | 2 |
| Murphy, Charles | 1 |
| Napoleon | 1 |
| Noah | 1 |
| Nobody | 1 |
| Pheidippides | 1 |
| Plastic Man | 1 |
| Robin Hood | 1 |
| Samson | 2 |
| Solomon | 1 |
| Sullivan, John L. | 1 |
| Thurston, Howard | 1 |
| Vercingetorix | 1 |
| Washington, George | 1 |
| Zbyzko, Stanislaus | 1 |
Don't worry, there will plenty more repeaters in the near future!
Next: There's gold in them thar hills, and the Kid takes requests!
From Hit Comics #33 (1944)
Shady capitalists alliteratively named after lizards:
ReplyDelete1) Gordon Gecko
2) Sam Skink
3) Murph Monitor
4) Frank Fiji banded iguana