Today in Comics History, June 14: Check is bursting with delicious fruit flavor

from "The Statues of Doom" in Marvel Mystery Comics #32 (Marvel/Timely, June 1942), pencils (and script and inks?) by Carl Burgos

Today in Comics History, May 18: Happy birthday, Bill Everett!

Born on this day in 1917: comics writer and artist Bill Everett, creator of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner and Hydroman; co-creator of Daredevil, Simon Garth the Zombie, Moondragon, Stingray, Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Battlin' Jack Murdock, Namorita, and more!


from Fantastic Four Annual #7 (Marvel, November 1969)

Today in Comics History, April 18: Happy birthday, Carl Burgos!

Born on this day in 1916: Carl Burgos, writer, artist, and creator of the Original Human Torch (who, with the Sub-Mariner and Captain America, became the foundation of the Marvel Universe)!


"Carl Burgos' Hot Idea [The Story of the Human Torch!]" in The Human Torch (1940 series) #2 (Marvel/Timely, Fall 1940), script and art by Carl Burgos

Today in Comics History, March 15: Y'know, if I were named Julius Caesar in modern days, I'd just go into my panic room all day on March 15

from "Murders from the Past" in Marvel Mystery Comics #85 (Marvel/Timely, February 1948), pencils by Mike Sekowsky (?)

And now, a public service announcement from everyone except Captain America.

By popular demand*, here's the full page that featured the header image I'm using today:


Contest ad from Marvel Mystery Comics #27 (January 1942)
*The phrase "by popular demand" is used here in the same way that Walt Disney's Comics and Stories used to use it, meaning "hey, look at this old piece we had lying around in inventory!"

Comics Within Comics Week, Day 4: Punch Hitler for Me

Panel from Invaders #5 (March 1976), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler and Dick Ayers, inks by Jim Mooney, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza



Held by Toro: Marvel Mystery Comics #4 (February 1940), cover art by Alex Schomburg


Held by Bucky: Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), cover art by Jack Kirby


On table: Young Allies #1 (Summer 1941), cover art by Jack Kirby and Syd Shores




There's no direct analogues to these panels in Captain America Comics #1, I'm sorry to say.

Really, Doc Wertham couldn't come along fast enough

Panels from "Electro, The Marvel of the Age" in Marvel Mystery Comics #10 (August 1940), art by Steve Dahlman

Is Electro creepy enough for you, kids? Why not check out his real-life counterpart?




You'll all remember the ro-but uprising of '57 when these once-kindly and obedient metal men rose up against us, destroyed our civilization, and became our masters. All hail the Robot Regime! All hail their Thousand Year Reign! All hail Electro, The Marvel of the Age!



Panels from "Electro, The Marvel of the Age" in Marvel Mystery Comics #5 (March 1940), art by Steve Dahlman

P.S. Please send robot-destroying help!

Tomorrow night: Elektro the Robutler!

Eh, what the heck...let's poke some more fun at Namor, okay?

Okay, get this, now: Namor is wandering through Manhattan, not wearing anything but a trenchcoat and his special, created-by-Atlantean super-science pressure-sensitive Speedos. Normally if a guy's strolling on the upper west side dressed like that, you're gonna call the cop on the beat and have him arrested as a flasher. But Mister McKenzie strolls up, calm as a clam, to one of the posh CPW residences , knocks as bold as can be on the front door, where he's greeted by a butler on his day off from a P. G. Wodehouse book:


Panels from Marvel Mystery Comics #3 (January 1940), script and art by Bill Everett



We immediately discover this butler's name is Pinkerton...





...which can only mean one thing: Sub-Mariner has wandered into Madame's Place:










Anyway, that fire. Just like an Ellery Queen mystery, let me pause for a moment to let you attempt to figure out the solution to the mystery. (Ignore the screaming burning woman for a while; she'll wait while we examine all the clues.) You've seen everything Namor has, and you know all of Namor's special superhuman powers, right? So surely you know how he will save this damsel in dis dress! Go ahead...match wits with Namor McKenzie...and see if you can find out...how he duz it!



Got the answer yet? Let's see if it matches Namor's clever plan of action!:





I...I did not expect that. Ummmm. What did we just see, comic book?





Oh, that familiar old cliché Subbie trick! Why, I do believe we've seen him, in hundreds of comic book appearances, repel excess water from his pores. That certainly comes in handy every time he fights Johnny Storm, and, if, say, the Secret Invasion had not been by Skrulls but instead by those aliens from Signs, why, we'd all be bowing down before Lord Namor, king of America, instead of our pal Norman Osborn.

Just in case you missed it, Pinkerton asks Sub-Mariner to explain just what happened two panels ago:





To which Namor replies with his usual tact and grace:





So. Namor. Can flash-flood through his skin upon application of extreme heat.

I so wish Roy Thomas had restored that power!