Angola in the Comics #11: Thrilling Comics #1

Here's a treat - I get to combine two of my favourite things: the nation of Angola and the super hero team the Justice Society of America! I've blogged about the Justice Society of America (JSA) a few times in the past, but very briefly, they were DC Comics' premiere super hero team in the 1940s, the precursors to the Justice League of America.

In 1999, DC ran a mini-event called "The Justice Society Returns!" which ran through a series of interconnected one-shots. After this event, the new ongoing series JSA began. You might assume these two publishing events are connected, but you'd be wrong; "The Justice Society Returns!" stories were set during the team's 1940s continuity and penned by a series of writers & artists other than those responsible for JSA; JSA was set in contemporary continuity with a new Justice Society team comprised of various surviving heroes of the 40s joined by successors to various dead or retired members.

What concerns us is the comic book Thrilling Comics #1 by writer Chuck Dixon and the amazing artist Russ Heath (who passed away last year). Each of these one-shots teamed up two different Justice Society members, in this instance Hawkman and Wildcat. The one-shots were named in honour of 1940s comic book series, although the 1940s Thrilling Comics were not published by DC Comics.

Anyway, the story--"No More Tomorrows"--is set entirely in Angola and opens in the year 1945 as a Nazi patrol out in the bush are attacked by Hawkman and Wildcat. And of course, if you know anything about which African countries participated in World War II you'd be wondering why there are Nazis in Angola, considering it was pretty far from German control and that Portugal remained neutral throughout World War II. Patience, we'll get there.

Hawkman and Wildcat easily beat the Nazis, interrogate them about their leader, then move on, unaware two other figures are trailing them (we'll later learn who they are and can only wonder why they didn't reveal their presence to their fellow heroes immediately). Flying over herds of elephants and antelope, Hawkman finds an immense crater with a transmitter tower built in its center. Hawkman is shot at by a German plane and falls to the earth.

Back with the captured Nazis, night has fallen but Wildcat remains where he is, waiting for Hawkman to return. He is, after all, just a decent prizefighter who wears tights. All of a sudden Tigress leaps out of the tall grass and threatens him, but Manhunter appears and makes Tigress back off, explaining Wildcat is on their side. No idea why they waited until nightfall to have this conversation, but these are the rules of drama. Both Tigress and Manhunter are rather complicated characters and neither are members of the Justice Society; Tigress actually debuted post-war as a Wildcat villain, but was later retconned to have been a heroine during the war, and likewise made an ally of Manhunter. As to Manhunter, DC has published so, so, many versions of the character - this one is Paul Kirk, an authentic 1940s DC super hero. There wasn't much to him back in the 40s - he was simply a former big game hunter who fought crime. Considering his background, Angola isn't such an unusual place for him to turn up at.

Wildcat brings Tigress & Manhunter up to speed on the overarching plot: there's a godlike villain called Stalker who fought the Justice Society and empowered seven of his agents, whom he dispatched around the world. Justice Society comics of the 1940s would usually feature the team splitting up into solo adventures to stop the henchman of their adversary, then meet up together at the finale to face the main villain - which is actually what's happening in this mini-event. Anyway, Wildcat & Hawkman are in Angola to find one of Stalker's men.

Meanwhile, Stalker's lackey has captured Hawkman and explains why they're in Angola: "The 'neutral' government here was kind enough to allow myself and my 'security' force to build this installation." Okay, that explains the 'why'. The lackey shows Hawkman a massive drilling machine he designed to bore deep into the earth "to the rich oil pool lying miles beneath the continent. A deposit equal to all the world's known reserves." Which, sure enough, post-war Angola did discover they had a massive amount of oil & gas (although mostly in Cabinda). Hawkman notes this oil supply would be pretty valuable to the Nazis, but that's not why they're drilling: the lackey intends to ignite the oil field and "erase Africa from the map." Which, once you say it aloud, sure sounds stupid. No matter how much oil & gas is down there, I can't imagine the explosion would wipe even Angola off the map, much less the entire continent! It's a pity this is the villain's big plan, 'cause it's dumb comic book science - but maybe it was intentionally dumb in the way so many 1940s comic books were. I mean, who would ever write a story about a super-villain trying to destroy the North American continent by lighting a match underneath Texas?

Hawkman wonders what the lackey's Nazi allies think about this plan. "They think we're prospecting for oil," the lackey (who desperately needs a name) tells Hawkman. This is why his explanation was done in English. Hawkman wonders why he was left alive, to which the lackey answers he needed bait to draw out Hawkman's allies. On cue, Wildcat, Tigress and Manhunter burst in, Wildcat and Manhunter both brandishing guns. And Tigress? She's got spunk and very nasty nails; they might even break a person's skin! The lackey is unimpressed; he obtained super powers from Stalker and wanted to test them out on super-powered enemies. The lackey transforms into a giant gooey purple monster. Whereupon, Tigress turns and runs away. Good instincts!

Hawkman orders Wildcat & Manhunter to switch off the drill while he fights the gooey monster, grabbing a rifle to slash at the monster's tentacles with its bayonet, then hurls it into the monster's eye (which is strange, actually - the Comics Code Authority was still around to police this comic in 1999 and they usually censored eye injuries; eye injuries happened a few times in 1940s comics though).

While Wildcat & Manhunter destroy the drill with grenades, Tigress returns to the fight sporting a flamethrower and saves Hawkman by burning up the monster. The drill's destruction causes a big explosion which collapses the tunnels (but doesn't blow up the continent of Africa, in case you were worried). The four heroes escape the destruction and meet up with the mystical hero Doctor Occult (also not a member of the Justice Society) to be transported to the next chapter of the story. But for us, this is where we end.

Thoughts: How do you manage to set a story in Angola (or anywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa) and not depict a single black person?

It's interesting to see Angola as the scene of the story and that Dixon had enough on the ball to know the country was neutral during the conflict. It seems as though the nation was chosen because of the oil & gas supply. Angola is seldom depicted in North American comic books, much less as the setting of a historical story.

Dixon succeeded at the extremely challenging task of writing Wildcat in a way which didn't bring out my snark; however, the real props belong to Russ Heath, who turned in the sort of lush art he was renowned for.

• +1 estrelas for correct use of an Angolan natural resource (oil)
• +1 estrelas for correct use of Angolan wildlife (elephants, antelope, lions)
• +1 estrelas for correct historical information about Angola's neutrality during World War II

TOTAL SCORE: TRÊS ESTRELAS!

Rest in Peace Russ Heath

Russ Heath died three days ago, 91 years of age. He was one of the last few remaining artists who worked on Atlas Comics in the 1950s and Atlas, as my blog archives will bear out, is a passion of mine.

Heath's earliest art is barely recognizable with his eventual style but he did find his footing extremely quickly. From the 1950s to the 2010s, he had an immensely well-honed style with very clean lines but plenty of detail. As an artist who worked for the major comic book publishers, his style of realism wasn't a terrific fit for the kind of super hero comics which overwhelmed the industry from the 1960s onwards but the few times he did delve into super heroes he made it work.

Heath is going to be best-remembered for his war comics work (particulary DC's Sgt. Rock) but I enjoyed his Atlas horror comics the most. His art had a way of appearing light and almost humorous about ghastly subject matter, but when the time came to convey something horrific on the panel, he always came through. The above from "On with the Dance" (Menace #2, 1953) was the first of his horror stories I read and remains a personal favourite; from then on, I always paid close attention to any story bearing his signature.

I've only made one trip to San Diego Comic-Con (and I probably won't ever go back) and was present at the 2009 SDCC ceremony where Heath was presented with the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame award; it was easily the highlight of the entire Eisner ceremony. After his name was announced, Heath took a very long time to shuffle up to the podium, accept the honour, and with little more than a terse 'thank you' departed. I visited his booth the following day to congratulate him on the honour and to purchase one of his prints, which he autographed for me.

With 60+ years of comic book art credits to his name, Heath has left behind an enormous legacy. Among that legacy are several pages of original comic art which is now in possession of my employers, the University of Calgary Archives & Special Collections. Heath is going to be remembered.

I Love Atlas Comics#11: "Dance of Death"

Today's Atlas tale is 1951's "Dance of Death" from Suspense#10, drawn by Russ Heath...which means beautiful, utterly gorgeous artwork!

Our protagonist is one Eddie Baxter, an ambitious competitive dancer who hopes to win a contest on Broadway which would kickstart his Hollywood career. Unfortunately, he can't find a female dancer partner who meets his exacting standards. Finally, he notices an advertisement in the newspaper:

Thus, Eddie seeks out Marla and she proves to be quite the looker.

In fact, Marla has more than looks - she has moves too! But she seems to be hiding some sort of mysterious secret...

Eddie feels he's found more than just a winning dance partner - as days of rehearsing commence he tries to strike up social encounters with Marla as well. However, while Marla is happy to spend the day with him, she always parts ways before evening.

Eddie happens to notice Marla doesn't sunburn; she claims she has a very good skin lotion.

As the day of the contest nears, another dancer suggests Marla has a boyfriend and she'll stand him up. However, Marla comes through for Eddie, arriving on time for the contest, marking the first time Eddie has seen Marla in the evening. They go on to win the contest, just as Eddie hoped. However, Marla won't stop dancing! She dances Eddie right out of the theater and into the darkness. Her secret finally comes out...

Marla finally explains she was killed by Ando, who claimed she was full of "intrigue." Marla doesn't believe this, maintaining she's an innocent woman who just wants a dance partner...someone she can dance with for an eternity. She's chosen Eddie as that partner.

It's interesting to note Marla moves about during daylight hours with no ill effects, which is contrary to most vampire stories, but wasn't exactly "codified" back in '51. Protagonists in early Atlas horror stories usually possess a flaw which causes them to "earn" their deaths (because the protagonists nearly always die); in Eddie's case, his being picky about dance partners is the flaw...otherwise, he's an innocent victim. Or, despite his declaration of "doomed!" perhaps he made out all right by becoming a dancing vampire. In which case...it's a happy ending!