Mr. Muscles!

Mr. Muscles from 1956 was another creation by Jerry Siegel. This time he gives us another abnormally strong hero, the "World's Most Perfect Man" it says so right on the cover of the first issue drawn by Maurice Whitman. Mr. Muscles is a man named Brett Carson who gained his perfect form by pure strength of will when he chose to overcome polio. The perfect specimen is assisted in the comic stories by Kid Muscles, and there is even a two-page Miss Muscles story included in this issue, thus making this yet again an attempt to evoke the classic Marvel Family. In the first issue Mr. Muscles confronts an evil zookeeper and his critters as well as a crooked wrestler. Kid Muscles gets a solo story as well. The art in this first issue seems to be by Bill Fraccio. 

To read the comic book follow this link. 

Our heroes return in a second installment, this time with scripts by Siegel and art by Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia. Mr. Muscles cleans up a crooked carnival, takes on the mob and their predatory protection schemes, punches his way through a rigged boxing plot, saves steeplejacks from danger and battles the Abominable Snowman, who turns out to be a red-headed bearded guy, more Viking than ape. Kid Muscles helps out but Miss Muscles doesn't show up. The Mr. Muscles comic had taken over the numbering of Blue Beetle which itself had taken over the numbering of the vintage series The Thing. 

To read the comic book follow this link. 

Like Nature Boy, Mr. Muscles rates an entry in The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris. 

Rip Off

 

Boy Hero Of The Revolutionary War!

Jerry Drummer was a short-lived little series published by Charlton in the summer of 1957. It features scripts by the ubiquitous Joe Gill (most likely) and artwork by Maurice Whitman. Whitman drew all three covers for the issues as well as the majority of the interior artwork. Other artists under the auspices of editor Al Fago also dipped in as well. The series tells the story of several key battles in the Revolutionary War through the eyes of a young and eager youngster. To read the first of the three issues, which in the grand Charlton tradition is numbered ten (continuing the numbering of the classic Simon and Kirby comic Foxhole among others) go to this link. 

To read issue eleven of Jerry Drummer go to this link. 

And to read the third and final issue of the short run go to this link. 

On the semiquincentennial (won't get to use that word again anytime soon) anniversary of the United States of America, it's good to think of what the country aspires to be in its founding documents as opposed to the less than glorious reality of the present day. I'm sad that this national holiday is sullied by attempts of fascists to destroy what they pretend to idolize, but fending off such threats, both foreign and domestic is the duty of every citizen. And that recognition of duty to the country and the world is well worth celebrating. Let this anniversary mark the beginning of a new era of struggle to reclaim and expand freedoms for all citizens of this potentially great nation. 

Rip Off