Quality 1941 Week--Hit Comics #13 (Part 2)!!

We're back, and now we get to the REALLY interesting part of Hit Comics #13. Lets start with:

Lion Boy was a 100% Tarzan ripoff, except this kid (whose real name is never revealed) is raised by lions, rather than apes.

We've got a couple of dim bulb hunters in this story, who decide to poison a watering hole, so can just go and collect animal corpses to skin rather than actually do the work of hunting:

But one of Lion Boy's friends warns him...

...so he warns all the animals in the jungle to avoid that water hole...

...and he sets a cunning trap, by having his lion family play dead:

Oohhh, somebody crapped their pants there!!

Best part--Lion Boy riding a lion whilst brandishing a rifle:

Next up is the infamous Red Bee:

I say infamous because, frankly, he was one of the stupider heroes ever. Assistant District Attorney Rick Raleigh wanted to fight crime, so he put on a costume. No powers, but one gimmick: in a hidden pouch on his belt, he kept a trained bee named Michael.

No, I didn't make that up.

In tense situations, he would release Michael to sting crooks, or just distract them, or summon nearby swarms of bees to help out.

Really.

As to our plot this story, apparently milk was a lot harder to come by in 1941:

Milk racketeers?? Oh, yes, because the sabotage:

A milk train?!?

Anyhoo, Red Bee sends out Michael on a mission:

See, it is effective!!

And when the Red Bee needs more help?

See!! Stop mocking him!!

And what, exactly, is the milk racketeers goal?

So, they really thought that no one would be able to tell the difference between milk and "river water whitened with chemicals"??

Red Bee was revived by Roy Thomas in All-Star Squadron, only to be killed off. He showed up as a ghost in Starman and in limbo in Morrison's Animal Man. Later, his grandniece took up the mantle in Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters.

Next up, The Old Witch!!

I was surprised to see a story like this in 1941, because it's one you'd expect from a horror title of the 50s or 60s. Old Witch just told spooky stories to travelers, not unlike the hosts of the later horror comics.

Nothing more to see there. Next up:

Neon's cape is actually the trailing end of his bandana. That is pretty cool!

Who is Neon? Tom Corbet was the last surviving member of his French Foreign Legion outpost. Lost in the desert, he finds a mysterious glowing pool and drinks from it. Voila, he's Neon!!

Hey, look--an autogyro!!

Anyway, Neon gained the power of flight, strength, and...

"Neonic rays." Yup, that's what it said!

Hey, look, a secret evil spy island base in the middle of the Grand Canyon!!

Now, you'd think that if you wanted to keep your base secret, you wouldn't put it out in plain sight in the middle of the biggest tourist attraction in America. I guess that's why I'm not a spy.

As for Neon, he survived, and was actually re-introduced intacty in 2008 in Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters. He had continued to mutate over the years, until he was pretty Dr. Manhattan-like, blue and alien and aloof:

But Lanford Terill, the original Ray, drank from his mystic pool, so he got the powers, and now he's the NEW Neon!!

Next:

G-5 (originally X-5) was a spy tracker working for an unidentified government agency. We never learned his name, and he never appeared outside of the Golden Age.

In this issue, he has to get photographs of Axis agents (hey, an actual reference to the Axis!) who are trying to visas into the US and Britain from "the sole war-free port in Europe," Lisbon. So, basically, sort of Casablanca, except this came out a good six months before that movie.

That's literally our whole story--he just goes around taking pictures!

We do get a nice Bondian fight in the casino, though:

Next: yet another Flash Gordon clone:

Sigh...take one athletic American, one helpless American female, and a nutty scientist, throw 'em onto another planet, and you've got a comic strip, I guess.

But you do have to appreciate the fashions on the planet Urinex (ask your doctor today!):

Our last feature?

Don Glory??

So, he's Glenn Beck on steroids??

Really, I can't tell you much about the dude, except he's a hyper patriot who beat the crap outta no-good spies and fifth columnists while wearing a bitching tie.

Here, he infiltrates a gang of evil-doers:

Hmmm...I wonder what country they're supposed to be from?

Now, you'd think with a tie like that, it would be obvious that he wasn't really looking to betray America. But you know Nazis--they're dumb like that. So...

And he finds a unique way to incapacitate some of them:

To catch the rest of the gang? He hops into the bitchingest car ever:

Oh, yeah!!

So that's it for Hit Comics #13. Tune in tomorrow for more from 1941!!

Quality 1941 Week--Hit Comics #13 (Part 1)!!

It's back--the pilgrimage that just won't stop, as Quality 1941 Week continues here at Slay Monstrobot!!

Today we're going to delve into another of Quality's fine publications, Hit Comics #13!!

Who's that nearly naked guy on the cover? Why, it's...

Of course, given that his existence in Greek mythology makes him public domain (until Congress decides to extend copyright some more), it's no surprise that comic books jumped on the Hercules idea for some easy stories. In fact, even though it's only 1941, this is the 3rd comic Hercules, after Timely and Archie had one.

But this guy is not the mythic Herc. He's just a guy named Joe Hercules who grew up "in the North woods" who was incredibly strong. After trying to find fame as a circus strongman, he read a Doll Man comic book (!) and was inspired to become a crimefighter. So he walked the Earth--nearly naked--and lived a David Banner style of life.

In this episode, he comes across some river pirates trying to steal the furs from a trapper's houseboat on the mighty Mississippi. Herc Smash!!

Then, believe it or not, Hercules just decides to loll around on the top of the houseboat:

He then falls asleep, and starts to dream:

Red turkey feather??

Anyway, we then proceed to have a 5-page dream sequence--5 pages out of a 9 page story!!--when he dreams what it would have been like to work the river back in ye olden days!!

Yeah, because Mark Twain dressed exactly like that in his riverboat days...

Anyway, he eventually is woken up, and alerted that maybe he should stop napping and start fighting crime!!

And in a brawl with the pirates mob, the touch him in a very uncomfortable place:

PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!!! DC owns you now, Herc, and the rule is you must at least cover your legs!!

He (nakedly) rousts the pirates...

Given that DC had more than one of their own Herculeses (Herculi?), Joe never made it into the modern DC Universe with the rest of the quality characters. He did appear in the Elseworlds The Golden Age, and he was mentioned in issues of Starman.

Next up?

Lady At Law??

Hello, lady!!

Betty Bates is a defense attorney--no powers--but she gets into the worst scrapes. Take, for example, Jake the gangster, who's a little bit miffed that his lawyer couldn't get his brother Joe out of jail:

OWW!!

They trick Betty into coming over, and hold her prisoner until she gets Joe acquitted!

It's not clear if it's because Joe is really, really guilty, she's throwing the case, or she's a bad lawyer, but:

They're gonna take her out and shoot her:

But she knows how to use a car as a weapon:

After a spirited chase, they catch her and throw her off a dam...or do they?

With the bad guys finally caught, we learn why lady lawyers are so effective:

They can handle the pressure!!

Next:

The Strange Twins were British identical twins who were separated at birth--Rodney Strange, kidnapped by Chinese gangsters, became a Tong leader, while Douglas Strange became a Scotland Yard detective!! After Doug does a prison stretch for a crime Rodney committed (eyewitness identification!), they later meet and reconcile, traveling the world together.

This issue, they're heading for America, and the US papers show what we think of the Brits:

"Usual British reserve," eh?

Well, a London gangster is hiding out in San Francisco, and wants revenge on Rodney for betraying him...but damn, they nab the wrong twin!!

Rodney has to try to pass himself off as a policeman...

...Doug gets beat up...

...but it all works out in the end!

Next, more boxing!!

Who???

They're really best buds, but they're always brawling with each other. And when they end up in a boxing match:

On shore leave, Swab encounters a mysterious man looking to recruit him:

And surprise, they same thing happened to Bob!!

Oh, you silly Nazis!! The guys trash the spies...

...accidentally hit each other...

...and they start brawling again, until...

Oh, you crazy military personnel!!

Tune in later this morning for more from Hit Comics #13--and SPOILER ALERT--the best stuff is in that second half of the book!!