Welcome to the Goldcomics.com Forums: Blue Ribbon #1

There must have been something in the air in 1939, because in that year, a great burst of creativity occurred in American popular culture. One could easily see it on the newstands, in the movie theaters, and hear it in the music. On the music front, this was the year that such bandleaders as Count Basie, Artie Shaw, and Glenn Miller made their first impacts on the record charts and on the concert stage. In the theaters, this was the year that so many films we now consider classics were released. Those include such classics as GONE WITH THE WIND, GUNGA DIN, WURTHERING HEIGHTS, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE ROARING TWENTIES, and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON among many others. And on the newstands, such classic superheroes as The Batman, The Sandman, The Hour-Man, The Spectre, The Flash, The Hawkman, The Flame, The Blue Beetle, The Green Mask, Samson, The Fantom of the Fair, Amazing Man, The Eye, The Doll Man, The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner, The Angel, and Captain Marvel were being introduced. And Superman was about to get his own book.

It was in this hothouse enviorment of creativity that pulp publishers Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater (the heads of Columbia Publications) decided to launch a comic magazine line. For the first title to be launched under their new MLJ Magazines imprint, they named their first title after the highest award to be won at a state fair, the blue ribbon. Thus that September, BLUE RIBBON COMICS #1 (cover dated November, 1939) was let loose upon the world. Although the artwork may come off looking a little stiff and crude by today's standards, one must read this book with the mindset of one who saw it on the newstands back in 1939. And here's what was in this pioneering issue:

RANG-A-TANG; The strip got off to a good start with this story that introduced comics' answer to the legendary Rin-Tin-Tin and his master, detective Hy Speed. Rang-A-Tang would go on to appear in all 22 issues of BLUE RIBBON.

DAN HASTINGS; An interesting little science fiction strip in the FLASH GORDON mold. Although the artwork comes off looking a little more like Clarence Gray's work on BRICK BRADFORD.

BUCK STACY, BURK OF THE BRINY, and VILLAGE OF MISSING MEN; An interesting group of featurettes that helped add variety to this first issue. With the BURK OF THE BRINY bearing the best artwork.

FOXY GRANDPA (not to be confused with Carl Schultze's comic strip of the early 1900's), IMA SLOOTH, KING KOLE'S KOURT; Some funny little strips from the pen of Jack Cole.

SUGAR, HONEY, AND HUGGIN'; BOODINI: A couple of OK strips, but not my cup of Earl Grey in the humor department..

LITTLE NEMO; Probably the most offbeat story in this book. Here Winsor McCay Jr. takes his father's legendary creation into the realms of science fiction. It comes off remindng one of a cross between Winsor McCay Sr's classic LITTLE NEMO pages and Dick Calkins' BUCK ROGERS pages.

CRIME ON THE RUN; THE Must Read Story of this book. This story could have easily appeared in the pages of the later CRIME DOES NOT PAY or GANG BUSTERS or could easily have been used in an episode of such TV series as DRAGNET, RACKET SQUAD or the current LAW & ORDER. And Jack Cole did an excellent job on the artwork. His art on this story was only a short step away from his later work on THE COMET.

For a first issue, BLUE RIBBON didn't do too badly, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. It would get better as time went on with the introduction of such features as CORPORAL COLLINS, BOB PHANTOM, THE FOX, MR. JUSTICE, INFERNO, and CAPTAIN FLAG. Aand MLJ would follow it up in the coming three months with the debut issues of TOP-NOTCH COMICS, PEP COMICS, and ZIP COMICS. And this was just the beginning!

Shawn, keep up the good work and KEEP EM' FLYING!!!!!!

Edited by kelso (Wed Feb 08 2006 12:06 AM)