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For as long as I have visited this site and reviewed books on it, I have long wondered what the rest of Pep Comics #42 was like. And that was due to the fact that only 2 stories - the Archie and Captain Commando stories - were scanned and posted. I often wondered if the Shield and Hangman stories were either missing from Shawn's copy or were just too horrible to post on the site. But thanks to 143ksk for scanning a copy of that book and sending the scans to Shawn, I've finally got a chance to read this book and review it. So without further adieu, here's what I thought of PEP COMICS #42 (cover dated September, 1943);

1. "Diamonds of Death" (THE SHIELD); For starters, here's what happens when you mix the Shield and Dusty with a doll in a red dress and hat, a zoot-suited crook named Drape-Shape, a tommy-gun wielding cellist named Maestro, and a fortune in diamonds. Mix all of this together with some great artwork by one Mr. Irving Novick and you've got the fast paced story that gets this book off to a flying start. Watch for a scene involving another gangster and another "doll in a red dress and hat".

2. "Knights of the Road (THE HANGMAN); Bob Fujitani follows up the opening Shield story with this tale. Here the Hangman prevents a lynching of an innocent man and stumbles onto a clue that could unmask the real killer. Watch for a pre-CSI use of forensic science by the Hangman in this tale.

3. "Archie the Jockey" (ARCHIE); Here's what happens when our favorite red-headed teenager finds himself mistaken for an equestrian and finds himself being coaxed into becoming a jockey for Mr. Lodge in the first part of a two-part story. Here Harry Sahle and Janice "Ginger" Valleau deliver the goods on the artwork.

4. "Hitler's Dream" (CAPTAIN COMMANDO AND THE BOY SOLDIERS); In a very offbeat tale, Old Schickelsgruber ends up dreaming that he is put on trial by Abraham Lincoln and confronts Captain Commando only to wake and end up confronting the good Captain and ends up getting a well deserved black eye from Captain Commando. In between, we get a story involving an attempt to destroy a Commando base by the Nazis. Irv Novick once again delivers the goods in this offbeat tale that taps in to what Simon and Kirby were doing in their SANDMAN stories from this period.

LIL' CHIEF BUGABOO, CATFISH JOE, MARCO LOCO; Good strips but not my cup of tea in the humor department.

So what's my verdict on Pep #42? It comes of as one fo the better issues of Pep during the period when it became MLJ's strongest title by default. And the Shield and Hangman stories were well worth the wait I had to endure to finally read them.

Shawn, Keep up the good work and KEEP'EM FLYING!!!!!! And thank you 143ksk for scanning this book and sending the scans to Shawn. Keep 'Em Flying Guys!

Edited by kelso (Thu Jan 26 2006 08:38 PM)