The Great Comic Book Detectives: A Nearly 70-Year Old Mystery SOLVED!

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

A while back, a reader gave us a mystery that was nearly 70 years old. Thanks to some helpful readers, we solved his mystery! Read on for the details of the mystery and find out which comic book he was looking for.
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The Great Comic Book Detectives – Hidden Profanity in Batman #1?

Typically, this column is for people to send in old comics that they only vaguely remember and we’ll hunt down the comic that they’re talking about, but we’ve decided to mix it up a bit this week.

Today, we are looking at a suggestion a reader made over what might be a hidden piece of profanity in Batman #1. We’ll present what we have and leave it to you folks to weigh in one what you think the deal is (and perhaps some of you have more information that you could lend).

Read on to see what we’re talking about!
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The Great Comic Book Detectives: A Nearly 70-Year Old Mystery

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

This time around, it is a mystery that is nearly 70 years old. Here is the request from a fellow named Malcolm:

Having been evacuated from London during the bombing raids of the last war, my uncle (who lived in Washington) used to send me a small selection of American Comics. I was away for about five years until my eleventh birthday in 1945. I very much enjoyed these comics, although some of them were pretty horrific to my young eyes. Later I developed a long career in Social Work where the most often asked question was ‘Why?’. Although I had worked out many answers to that question it occurred to me one day that part of my motivation lay in a comic that I had read in those early years.

The comic in question was an adventure comic of that time, full of brave wartime heroes but in the middle pages was a story with a ‘moral message’. That was probably in black and white although I think the rest was in colour. The one that came so dramatically into my memory went as follows:

The first scenes showed a regular American lad at his high school sports, winning the race and being hailed as a hero. The second sequence went to the other side of the tracks where a lad was caught stealing. As he was challenged by a cop he ran off and was shot dead. The message was that in those seconds he had run faster than the posh boy. The message was clear!

This issue would probably have been published between about 1942 to 1945.

I have searched every comic shop in the United Kingdom. Now that my family live in Brooklyn I am in America frequently and have spent many days in the archives of the New York Public Library searching for the publication but unfortunately to no avail.

I am stumped myself. So I leave it to you fine readers to see if you can solve the mystery of the nearly 70 year old comic book!

The Great Comic Book Detectives #6

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the latest one, from reader Snapper52…

There was a comic I got from an uncle when I was about 9 and I’ve been trying to find out what it was for years. Google couldn’t help me, so maybe you can!

I believe it was a Justice Society title, it was pretty old and set during a war. The cover had Green Lantern (I think) going crazy or angry, with other JSA members as floating heads around looking at him. Actually, the whole plot of the issue may have been about GL thinking the rest of the team were dead… Wonder Woman, Hawkman and the like were all in it.

The only other details I remember were someone being stabbed with a bayonet (Which scarred me for life at that age, ha.) and a blonde Atom wearing a navy/sailor uniform. I vaguely remember him being able to shrink, which is confusing for me as the JSA Atom couldn’t do that, to the best of my knowledge.

No idea when the comic was from, but it was pretty yellowed.

Hope someone can help!

Here’s one of the rare cases where I already know the answer, but read on to see what it is!
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The Great Comic Book Detectives #5

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the latest one, from reader Jay…

An anthology horror/suspense/mystery comic book from sometime between 1960 and 1966 which featured a story where the main character is being given a ride in a taxi cab that he thinks is being driven by a regular cabbie (the driver is in shadows) but in a very scary panel the “hack” is revealed to be a “monkey-faced” cabbie.

I don’t think it was D.C. or Marvel. Pouring over cover galleries at Grand Comics Database have not jogged my memory. I had this comic.

There is also a story in this issue where a guy is out in the middle of some desert trying to build a skyscraper all by himself. All that is standing is the superstructure.

Any help on identifying the comic would be greatly appreciated.

Make Jay appreciate you, people! Help him out!

And if YOU have a comic book from the past that you want help tracking down, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com

The Great Comic Book Detectives #4

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the latest one, from reader Matt…

I saw the bit about “Great Comic Book Detectives” and I have a mystery comic, although the situation is a bit different. I once saw this image in a message board, and saved it because of the sheer ridiculousness of it, but I have no idea what the source of it is. I can’t recognize the signature, and no one in the message board seems to know where it is from either. Maybe someone out there knows.

The image is clearly by Tim Truman, and it is dated 1997.

I don’t recall, offhand, what comic it is from.

So how about you folks?

The Great Comic Book Detectives #3

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the third one, courtesy of reader Corey…

Growing up in the ’70s, my political worldview was heavily shaped by three comic influences: Doonesbury (specifically, the collections of Watergate-era strips, since I’m a bit too young to remember Watergate first-hand); Li’l Abner (specifically, one late Sunday strip in which Li’l Abner defines “detente” to Daisy Mae); and — Richie Rich.

One Richie Rich comic in particular, which I’m hoping someone can help me identify, since my original copy is long lost.

The story in question opens with Richie & co. in crashing their airplane in a generic Southeast Asian setting. As they crawl from the wreckage, two guerillas leap out of the jungle, waving rifles. One of them shouts, “Die, insurgent pig-dogs!” His companion, however, grabs his arm and says, “No, wait! This week, *we’re* the insurgent pig-dogs. *They’re* the resurgent swine!” “Are you sure?” “Positive!”

And they both charge, shouting, “Die, resurgent swine!”

I don’t remember the rest of the story, I’m afraid. But, despite not being sure what a “pig-dog” was (much less “insurgent” and “resurgent”), the idea that the sides in a civil war might not be exactly clear cut made a deep impression — to the point where even today, whenever I hear the news from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc., I often wonder who the insurgents and resurgents are this week. [Smile]

I’d guess this book came out between 1974 and 1976, since that was my “Harvey Comics Heyday”; and given the clear Viet Nam influence, early seems more likely than later.

Any thoughts?…

Let’s help him out, folks!

And if YOU have a comic book from the past that you want help tracking down, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com

The Great Comic Book Detectives #2

Here’s the bit. You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the second one, courtesy of reader Steve…

This comic would be from the late 1980s, possibly even 1990 or so. It was an anthology-type comic. Predominantly horror, as I recall. In black & white and color, I think. DC’s Wasteland jumps immediately to mind, but I’m not entirely sure these stories appeared in that series.

One of the stories had a cute little mouse (rabbit?) stuck in the snow outside of a building. The animal was crying about not being able to get inside.

The next story began with a full page drawing of a man’s face. This man looks extremely worried as he has small tubes (almost like stitches) covering his mouth. These shadow figures are narrating the story, saying how the bitter taste in his mouth is normal, and that he could try to scream or ‘you can simply…swallow.’

The last story involved two men. One guy is a computer geek who has invented a device to put his consciousness inside a computer. The other guy watches as this man puts the device on his head and beams his mind into the hard drive. The other guy listens as the computer geek tells of what he sees inside the computer. He stumbles into the mainframe for the local fire department (something like that). The other guy watches in horror as the computer geek’s physical body bursts into flames and burns to ash. The man in the computer knows something is wrong, but the other guy doesn’t tell him what’s happening . He simply unplugs the computer because he didn’t want to listen to the screams when the guy tried to port back to a body that wasn’t there.

Any help at all would be much appreciated. I’d love to track down the original issue, at least just to compare my memory of the story with the real thing!

Let’s help him out, folks!

And if YOU have a comic book from the past that you want help tracking down, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com

The Great Comic Book Detectives #1

Here’s a new blog bit!

You, the readers, send in descriptions of comics that you remember vague details from the past and either I, or one of the readers of the piece will use detective work to figure out what comic you’re talking about!

Here’s the first one, from reader Larry:

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s I read a story in a comic book that I’ve been looking for ever since, without, as yet, any luck.

The story: Setting is somewhere in the Old West. The main character is down on his luck, nearly destitute (don’t remember the reason for his unfortunate situation). He hungers for a better life. Somehow he comes into possession of a strange gold medallion (might have been given to him by a mysterious character, I seem to vaguely remember). From then on he becomes a gunfighter, he never looses as long as he’s wearing the medallion when the fight goes down. He becomes rich and famous, women hanging all over him, plenty of whiskey, etc.

Then one day he is challenged to a gunfight and he forgets to wear the medallion. He’s killed, and if I remember all right, the victor finds the medallion among the slain main character’s possessions and takes it for his own, to embark on his own marvelous and ultimately ill-fated career as a gunfighter.

Probably the story appeared in a comic book published some time in the 1970s, although conceivably it could have been as early as the late 1960s or as late as the early 1980s. Probably a DC or a Marvel, since those where the publishers I mostly bought, but I guess it could have been anything. Horror comics were (and are) my favorite, so it might have appeared in an issue of HOM, HOS, Unexpected, Ghosts, Secrets of Sinister House, etc. Then again, I seem to have a vague recollection that I was surprised the story appeared in the type of comic book it was in, whatever that was. I don’t know, what I related of the story above is all I’m most certain of.

Let’s help him out, folks!

And if YOU have a comic book from the past that you want help tracking down, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com