Adventure 78 – Manhunter meets Sandman (on the cover)

In the 1940s crossovers were very rare, except on covers.  Batman and Superman would regularly hang out on the covers of World’s Finest Comics for well over a decade before meeting in the interior pages.  Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman had fun on the covers of Comic Cavalcade without ever meeting in the stories inside.

So it’s likely that readers of this issue were not surprised that Manhunter and Sandman met only on the cover of Adventure 78 (Sept 42), and that their interior stories had no connection to the image.

 

Manhunter faces off against the Tiger, a murderer with a taste for striped suits, in his story.

As with most Manhunter stories, this is simple and straightforward.  Putting the killer in a striped suit is almost daring for this series.

But with Kirby at the helm, even the simplest action becomes dramatic and dynamic.

 

Sandman’s adventure is a little more complex. though there is no use of dreams in this tale of Magno, a phony escape artist who uses his elaborate routines as a cover for his gang to commit robberies.

And while both of these stories have really enjoyable art, neither would actually have merited being included in my blog had the two heroes not been featured on the cover.

Adventure 75 – Manhunter in a kiss-and-run, and Sandman vs Thor (almost)

Is that really Thor that Sandman and Sandy are fighting on the cover of Adventure 75 (June 42)?  I’ll tell you, but first we discuss Manhunter.  That whole order-of-stories-in-the-issue thing.

 

Manhunter’s mask is really silvery in this story, which pits him against a gang lead by Mr. Meek, but really its about a femme fatale.

Paul Kirk is the victim of a kiss and run, which is just an opportunity for a female thief to plant some jewels on him.  As with most Manhunter stories, there is little characterization and no supporting cast, just Paul in action.

Even though the girl lies to him and sets him up, she is not a killer, and so Manhunter allows her to go free at the end of the story, maybe hoping for another kiss.  No such luck.

 

Jack Kirby’s interest in Thor manifests itself in this classic story.  The Norse thunder god is running rampant in the streets, and Sandman and Sandy don’t quite know what to make of it.

He isn’t the real thunder god, just a thief and con-artist known as “Fairytales” Fenton, which is not a really menacing name for a burly criminal, but ok.  Even a fake Thor makes for dynamic visuals.

The “Villain from Valhalla” (as he is referred to in the story’s title) returns in the pages of All-Star Squadron, with a magical hammer (though not Mjolnir) that makes him more of a threat.  And Kirby would draw more stories featuring Thor for some other comic book company later on.

Adventure 74 – Starman goes animal, Hourman gets a new partner, Manhunter gets a mask and Sandman plays chess

Sandman returns as the cover feature of the book with Adventure 74 (May 42), but is not the lead feature, and I’m just obsessive enough that I need to cover the stories in the order in which they appear, so….

Starman has to deal with another mad scientist, Ivan Karoff, who has developed a machine that transforms men into the animal they most resemble, using them as pawns to commit crimes.   Starman is sent out on the case, but makes a delightful mistake.

Starman believes he is rescuing a woman from a werewolf created by Karoff, but in fact has simply stumbled across a film shoot.

He does manage to find the bad guy, though he gets captured. Karoff stupidly decides to subject the hero to the machine.

All that does is bring out the lion in Starman.  We also get a sense of the unused potential of the gravity rod, as it is capable of easily transforming Starman back to human.

Karoff himself winds up subjected to his ray, which transforms him into a pig.

 

 

As previously mentioned, Jimmy Martin no longer appears in the Hourman series.  Thorndyke informs Rex Tyler of this, apparently knowing his identity already, which none of the other Minute Men did.

As well, it had previously been established that Thorndyke and Jimmy were brothers, yet issue 75 informs us that Thorndyke’s last name is Tomkins, which is very unusual if he is the younger brother of Jimmy Martin, so perhaps there is more going on here, with the mother taking off with one of her sons and leaving the other behind.  Did Jimmy and Thorndyke have different fathers?  It’s all very suspicious.

Anyway, with Hourman and Thorndyke both buzzing on Miraclo, they track down thieves Bugs Manders and Gimpty Gowan, getting captured and trussed up for their efforts.  It takes them longer than the hour of power that they have, and Hourman has to bluff his way through the final battle, which is sort of impressive, considering the withdrawl he must be experiencing.

 

 

Simon and Kirby refine the Mnahunter outfit, giving Pauk Kirk a blue mask as he joins a society party scavenger hunt.  A romantic rivalry at the party is to be decided by the outcome of the hunt, which leads one of the men to rig the hunt, so his rival has to track down and capture a notorious killer.

Paul dons his newly masked outfit and does the boy’s work for him, apprehending Crusher Burns, thus winning the boy the shallow girl who wanted the men to compete for her.

 

 

Sandman and Sandy face off against a genius, Hiran Gaunt, who has turned to crime simply for the mental challenge.  This is a man who can deduce the combination of a safe, so he really has an amazing brain.

Playing on his pride, Sandman sets up a chess-playing computer, which is really a machine with Sandy stuffed inside of it, as a lure to draw him out.

Then it’s simply a matter of trailing him and beating up his gang.  Good art on this one, but the dream element does not come into play at all.

Adventure 73 – Simon and Kirby Manhunter begins, and Hourman uses the Miraclo Ray on a child

Dropping the name Paul Kirk from the title, Simon and Kirby took over the Manhunter series, which was covered featured for the first time in Adventure 73, April 1942.

An old police buddy, Donovan, who had not previously appeared in the series, asks Paul for help against a dramatically costumed killer, the Buzzard.

When the Buzzard kills Donovan, Paul loses his cool and decides that wearing a red skin tight outfit would be the proper way to mourn his friend, and hunt down his killer.

 

Without too much difficulty, he tracks down, defeats and unmasks the Buzzard.  Much later continuity would tie this all in with the Manhunters, but there is no trace of any extra layers here.

There is really nothing more to this.  No deeper origin or meaning for the costume.  The face is not yet masked, as it would come to be.  But the series is still far more readable with Simon and Kirby on it.

 

Minute-Man Martin gets his name and picture in the logo, as he and Hourman deal with Professor Q, a crime boss with a clear love of radio game shows, as he communicates with his associates and victims in that fashion.

 

Hourman uses the Miraclo ray on Jimmy this time.  Hard to tell whether it would be better to bring Jimmy into battle with or without the body-altering ray.  The countdown timer effect is used again.

 

Professor Q is defeated,and Jimmy never appears again.  In the following issue, we are told that he and his mother went “on a trip.”  Likely she took her irradiated son for medical help, though her disappearance makes me suspect Rex did some covering of his tracks, and maybe his basement should be dug up.

Adventure 58 – Paul Kirk, Manhunter debuts

Paul Kirk, Manhunter begins in Adventure 58, January 1941, showing little of what would make this character endure for decades.

In this story Paul Kirk is a freelancer who nevertheless is at the call of the police.  When he learns that the gang behind an armoured car heist are travelling by train, the police allow him to board the train and apprehend the criminals all on his own.

The art is as uninspired as the story, and would remain so over the next few issues, as Paul hunts down thieves and killers, until Kirby worked his magic on the series.