Number 1230: Gonna yo-ho-ho once mo’

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day, and usually I post a tale of the Jolly Roger on this date. I missed it last year, but made up for it in other ways. So far this year I've posted at least a couple of stories of the boundin' main.

But I reserved today for the Hawk, a series from Jumbo Comics, which has a bounty of piratical patois in the speech: “Cast an eye at th’ bilge rat kickin' yonder! Fair winds fer yer last voyage, Captain Hawk!” “Ye devils! If ye've killed ‘im I’ll...’ “Cap'n Claw...Cap'n Claw! Avast! Lashed on to me sword th’ wench ‘as!’ And that's just the dialogue in one panel. The whole story is like that.

That's a Fiction House comic book, though, mateys. That and a comely wench, this'n in short-shorts (Arrrrrrrrh!) and of course the saucy lass be tied up. I knew that splash panel’d have ye clutchin’ ’ard at yer belayin' pin, eh, me bucko? Kinky, yarr.

(All right, and that will be all the pirate talk I'll be talking today.)

Enjoy this saltwater saga, drawn by Robert Webb, from Jumbo Comics #102 (1947):

Hawk and the Dove #6

As the 1960s drew to a close, DC was under continuing financial pressure to raise prices due to inflation. As a result, many titles were discontinued in 1969: Angel and the Ape, Atom and Hawkman, Bat-Lash, Captain Action, Beware the Creeper, Metal Men, Secret Six, Spectre, Windy and Willy and the Hawk and the Dove. In fact this was the final issue for the title. Ditko and Skeates, the original creative team on the title were gone by this time; according to the GCD this issue was both scripted and drawn by Gil Kane, with inks by John Celardo. As the story begins, Hank and Don discover that their father being beaten by a hood, who apparently intended to kidnap him. Don stays with Dad while Hank impetuously chases the mugger, giving Kane the opportunity to do what he does best:

Smek? Unfortunately, the creep is tougher than he looks and he gets away. The next day, the boys arrive home from school to find that he's returned, and this time he managed to abduct Pops:

The lads try to track down the kidnapper in their own ways; Hank beats up hoods in an effort to find out who had it in for the judge, while Don does some detective work:

Both of them come to the conclusion that their dad has been kidnapped by the son of a man that the judge had sentenced to prison. Sure enough:

They don't really have much trouble kayoing the guy and rescuing their father, who of course kvetches about the danger they put him in:

The story ends on an ominous note:

As mentioned before, this was the final issue of the Hawk and the Dove. They made semi-regular appearances in Teen Titans for the next few years.

Hatchet Man / Insane / Night People

THOIA heads off for a much needed vacation (and we're taking the color with us), but we leave you with a beheading black and white Eugene Hughes triple feature! We're not exactly sure where "The Hatchet Man" and "The Night People" originated, (though both were reprinted decades later in Ghoul Tales as well as the Tales too Terrible to Tell series), while "Insane" was originally presented in the July 1954 issue of Weird Chills #1 --rounded out with some saucy vintage ads I've been meaning to use forever. See ya in one week!

Number 1229: The Black Cat uses her ninth life

The Black Cat, really movie star Linda Turner, lasted a bit longer than many other costumed characters of the 1940s and into the ’50s, but eventually her time came to an end. This is the last issue of her regular series. There's a full-page announcement that next issue would have mystery stories, and so began the lifespan of Black Cat Mystery, one of the premier horror comics of the pre-Code era.

Not long ago I said there was just something about a girl in a cat suit*...and so it was with Black Cat. It was a cute strip, well drawn by Lee Elias. Linda was a beautiful girl, and she had a partner, Kitten, who was a young boy. A boy called...Kitten?** At least Linda called him Kit some of the time.

I'm also showing a short story with Linda and her “boyfriend” Rick. I'm not sure about that question he asks of Linda in the splash panel, “Got your tonsils oiled?” Sounds dirty to me.

From Black Cat Comics #29 (1951):

 *Check out Tigra, who advertised a Belgian cigarette brand of the same name:

**Another Golden Age hero, Cat-Man, had a girl sidekick named Kitten.