Stupid Comics

For the latter half of the 1940s, there was a novelty line of glow in the dark neckties that advertised their fashionably challenged attire in of all things kids comics. Their first couple of ties featured a bunch of letter "V"s on them to celebrate the victory of World War II. Later ties spelled out messages like "Will You Kiss Me In The Dark, Baby?" in an attempt to gain the favor of gullible females who would somehow be airheaded enough to be swept away in this question of romance. Some of the last few ties were specifically done for bachelors who had nothing to lose with a picture of a striptease girl wearing an evening dress in the light but showing just her underwear as it glows in the dark. Probably none of these ties were made with radium like the glowing Ghost Rider masks, otherwise there would have been more single men dying of radiation poisoning. The neckties were first advertised in superhero titles like Black Terror, Blue Beetle, and Silver Streak. Lat

Not to be confused with Michael Myers, The Shape is the first of a trio of features that made their single appearance in the first issue of Charlton Premiere in 1967. Since the Bat-Mania was coming down, the idea of campy superheroes had been taken to the limit at this point. Originally written by Ms. Marvel co-creator Roy Thomas who would eventually become the head editor of Marvel Comics, The Shape's script got rewritten by underground artist Grass Green that most fans of hippie comics would know as the creator of bizarre characters of Xal-Kot the Human Cat and Wildman. Grass Green also provided the artwork for The Shape, and the completed work sat on Charlton's shelf for a while since they couldn't fit it into any of their other humor comics like Go-Go, but it worked perfectly for an anthology of original ideas like Premiere, so it's because of The Shape's off-the-wall sensibility that the series got launched in the first place. It opens up with eccentric scienti

When Charlton decided to have their Charlton Premiere book act as a showcase for new stories and characters, Aquaman writer Steve Skeates turned out a script for a brand-new superhero team within a few days. Granted, the story is only ten pages long, but the one-time trio made the most of their limited screentime in the first issue of this artistic anthology. Bill Montes and Ernie Bache provided the art for this tale of teens versus gangsters. Three frat boys with the nicknames of Creep, Spec, and Swift somehow discover that they can all communicate with each other telepathically. Whether this means they can read the others' minds or merely mentally text message the others are left a mystery, along with how they got these powers in the first place, which is of course just lazy writing. Realizing their newfound abilities, what is best idea they come up with for how to use them? Fighting crime, obviously! Despite how barely useless their one superpower is that they even point out tha

Channeling into the campy brand of superheroes that the mid-60s was soaked in, Charlton Comics began the first issue of the second volume of their anthology, Charlton Premiere with a triple-header. The first volume only went on for a single issue two months prior in Issue #19 of a military title that was renamed after its initial run, Marine War Heroes. Volume 2, Issue #1 debuted the unfathomable Spookman. This supernatural superhero was created by Pat Boyette, a former radio personality and TV anchorman that became a comic artist/writer who also co-created Peacemaker, a controversial crimefighter who inspired Comedian from The Watchmen and recently had his own cable series. Spookman was at first supposed to be named Sandman, but since there was already a DC hero and a Marvel villain with the same name then Spookman became the character's moniker. Aaron Piper runs his own museum of ancient artifacts, one of which is a Malaysian magical staff that can transform him into the secretiv

From 1941-51, a Canadian comic book company named Anglo-American Publishing made a good living reprinting titles from America, specifically Fawcett Comics including Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher. They also created their own line of original characters, few of which got their own comic but were featured in anthologies like Grand Slam or Three Aces. Another feather in their cap was some sweet Golden Age swag in the form of Glo-Crests. These were some of the first glow-in-the-dark stickers ever made, at least of licensed characters, and hopefully didn't cause cancer like other luminescent products of the time because they were soaked in radium. These stickers could absorb light and could be put on clothing as well as being washable. Aside from one of Captain Marvel himself, the rest of sticker catalog included lost heroes like Terry Kane, Dr. Destine, Purple Rider, Red Rover, Commander Steel, as well as the super vehicles of the Hurri-Kane car and the starship of the Crusaders. The c

Fox Feature Syndicate borrowed the idea of combining movie characters and the actors who played them into a composite being. In 1950, they did this with two actors normally featured in costumed fantasy/adventures, both of which were jungle-based characters. The issue both of these fictional offshoots premiered in was Rural Home's Red Circle Comics #4 from 1950 where actors Sabu and Dorothy Lamour got their own segments as jungle adventurers with no real connection to their real-life counterparts. Dorothy Lamour was the Jungle Princess who is your average white girl living in the jungle trying to protect her domain. No backstory is given to how she became the Jungle Princess or if she had a career as an actress before or after this series of cliffhangers, but Dorothy would defend her territory from outlandish villains like winged men, self-proclaimed goddesses, and pesky pirates. This led to getting her own comic book series from Fox later that year of Dorothy Lamour: Jungle Princes