The Fab Four: The Four
Comrades
Here they are, fresh from their tour of, well, nowhere,
The Four Comrades! Direct from the pages of
Startling Comics
No. 16 these fresh faced fab four fought (ah, fergettit) a valiant struggle
against threats to America.
Startling, of course, was a Nedor (published
by Ned Pines, who also produced the Better-Standard-Thrilling line of pulps)
workhorse, featuring The Fighting Yank, Captain Future and Mystico. The good
Captain was lifted (at least in name) from the Edmund Hamilton tales from
the
Startling Stories pulp and his own prose magazine titled
Captain
Future. That's right. As in "The Return of Captain Future", the cover
from which our mascot Hoohah! Robot is taken (see cover page to this issue).
The Yank started a few months earlier in
Startling No. 10.
So, by 1942 with the emergence of kid costumed heroes,
led off by the great Bucky Barnes from
Captain America Comics, soon
joined by kid groups like Timely's Young Allies and Tough Kid Squad, Nedor
searched the grade schools for new juvenile champs.
The entry, The Four Comrades (this was at a time when
"comrade" was not considered a dirty Commie), was the story of juvenile boxing
champ Buzz Brandon, Irish street urchines Pudge O'Conner and Tip Adams and
boy inventor Tommy Tomkins. Similarly to the Black Terror, whose costume
was left over from a party, the kids decide to use theatrical suits. For
Pudge and Tip, at least, the clothing was of a lot better quality then they
were waring, not thread-bare and and raggedy. "Wowie! Ain't I the berries,"
says Tip, or Pudge. In their costumes you can't tell them apart by appearance
or speech, sort of the Gildenstern and Rosenkrantz of the comics.
The strip is by Maurice Gutwirth. who worked for everybody
during the Golden Age. For Ace he produced Buckskin, Magno, Marvo, Sky Smith
and Vulcan. At MLJ/Archie he worked on Bentley of Scotland Yard and the Silver
Fox. Other strips he worked for Better-Standard included American Eagle,
Jimmy Cole, Lucky Lawrence, Real Life and Sgt. Bull King. For Centaur he
did Doc Doyle, Jim Comes Through and Lucky Doyle. At Charlton he drew for
This Magazine Is Haunted. For Chesler he drew Sky Menace; did Jim Dolan and
Capt. Venture for Fawcett, etc., etc. He even worked for Timely, drawing Captain
America in the late 1940s, plus The Falcon, The Human Torch, The Laughing
Mask in
Daring Mystery No. 2, and so on.
So who's crazy enought to reprint
one this long-lost origin story from an obscure and scarce comic? Hoohah!
that's who! Anmyway, enough blather. The links to the pages are below. Have
at it!
