Master Comics #79 (May 1947- Captain Marvel Jr.)

Captain Marvel Jr.

In this story we see that Freddy is the president of the newsboy club. The crippled newsboy is president, at least, by CMJ #48-239. (April 1947) the month before this issue. Justice is the Fawcett universe is an amazing thing. Cliff, the bad boy of this yarn, commits two acts of attempted murder, destroys private property and threatens bodily harm with a firearm to young boys and yet he is given only a very light sentence. This is one of those stories about an idyllic all-boy outing--a picnic/journey that is disrupted by the bad guy who is later redeemed. These sorts of boy stories are so foreign to the spirit of 21st century comics they seem to have taken place on another planet, definitely a more civil and congenial time.

Master Comics #78 (April 1947- Radar)

Radar

By the time this story was written World War II (the war against Fascism) had been over with -- for almost two years. In March 1946 former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill give his famous "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri sounding a warning to the West of aggressive expansionist Soviet Communism. Communism was rapidly replacing the Axis as a threat to international peace. It seems as if the Fawcett editors were still worried about Fascism more than Soviet style communism. Interestingly Radar is an international policeman more connected to the United Nations than the United States.

That aside it seems strange that the former dictator of Turania would expose himself to the dangers of personally kidnapping the new President Borra rather than assigning the job to his henchmen. Also using a gun silencer to kill Borra instead of kidnapping him only to kill him later seems a more efficient way to deal with the problem. It is interesting that Radar has a partner to work with, Officer Chang. This gives someone for Radar to talk with and provides a multi-racial element to the story.

Master Comics #78 (April 1947-Corny Cobb)

As mentioned previously the artist of this strip used perspective to add some depth to his mostly linear drawing style. Page two which shows the two protagonists in their law office shows perspective used in odd angles which gives the pages rather flunky and disorienting feel. Also note panel three has a silhouette panel which one of the very few "spotting of blacks" in the entire four pages. Perhaps this was an intentional mirroring the frivolous, silly nature of the subject matter.

It should also be noted the text story "Wrong Number" is by John Broome who later wrote some of the best Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern stories. This brings up the intriguing possibility that Broome may have written some of the Captain Marvel Jr. stories of this period.

Master Comics #78 (April 1947- Nyoka)

This Nyoka tale takes the jungle girl to the wilds of Australia in search of that continent's exotic animals. She is accompanied by the aptly named Professor Skatterbrane and has a series of comedic encounters while trying to capture various local fauna. Skatterbrane has no real use as a intellectual--a perfect stereotype of a forgetful and bumbling academic. Skatterbrane does redeem himself by masking the villain allowing Nyoka to administrator the knock out blow. Except for the encounter with Killer King and the liberation of the gold mine's discoverer this story is played for laughs.

Master Comics #78 (April 1947- Bulletman)

Perhaps the main importance of this story is that Bulletgirl becomes the star of the show by rescuing Bulletman. The premise that Bulletman and Bulletgirl coming to the same conclusion about the street repair and the steamroller isn't too far fetched as husband and wives often think the same things (albeit Jim and Susan are not yet married but are partners nonetheless). Perhaps the major problem has to do with them not confiding their suspicions with one another. The artwork is very simple yet tells the story very well. The use of perspective is employed the effectively through the story. The comment by Jim on page one regarding the Hopalong Cassidy movie is a good reminder to the reader of Hoppy's Fawcett comic book adventures as well as his B movie Westerns.