MOON-MAN, Golden Age One-Hit Wonder, in "The Poisoned Children"!

The MOON-MAN made his one and only Golden Age appearance in pre-Marvel Timely Comics' MYSTIC COMICS #5, in early 1941. Sporting a glowing full moon emblem on his chest, the Moon-Man's powers (if any) seem a little vague, aside from breaking and entering  (mostly through windows) and tussling with hoodlums. If nothing else, Moon-Man has an elevated sense of justice, and takes it upon himself to right the wrongs he perceives.

Moon-Man was drawn (and apparently created) by Golden Age great Fred Guardineer, who entered the field of comics in 1937, and two years later contributed to the now famous ACTION COMICS #1 (Superman's debut, of course) with his more well-known creation, ZATARA, the magician.  Guardineers's work appeared in comics published by Quality, Magazine Enterprises, and DC/National until 1955, when he retired from comics. This story of the Moon-Man was his only effort for Marvel.

We can't be certain why Moon-Man never became a regular feature, as it was written and drawn as well or better than most comic stories of the era, and it holds a certain amount of charm even now. See if you find it as odd and humorous as I do!

- Digitally Restored Comic Art -

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MYSTIC COMICS #5, 1941 - cover art by Alex Schomburg

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THE APOCOLYTE'S COMIC COMMENTARY:

I can't help but comment on a few areas of this story that stand out in my opinion.

Where should we start?...ahem...

Sooooo...Moon-Man apparently has no secret identity, huh? This independently wealthy master of many sciences hangs around his luxury penthouse garbed in full superhero regalia, mask, cape and all! Careful, Moon-Man, sitting on your cape wrong could wrinkle it! I bet it gets in the way during those daily bathroom breaks, too! 

Sooo...okay, Moon-Man finds an outrageous crime to avenge, the food-poisoning of orphans! He leaps into action - good thing he was already dressed for crime-fighting. Bursting into the window of Nadia, he shocks her into fainting. Being a red-blooded male, when confronted by a shapely, attractive female lying unconscious before him, Moon-Man does what comes naturally...he grabs her purse! In his defense, it DOES go with his outfit more than hers!

Having snatched Nadia's purse, Moon-Man races back to his hide-out. In this panel, we gain a clue to his background...to be precise: The way Moon-Man became independently wealthy?

He invented the automatic garage door opener...

Moon-Man can't just take the word of the news report about tainted meat...noooo, he has to go smell it for himself! Pheew! Yep, that's some stanky meat, boy!

Now we get to the heart of the crime of the century...This criminal mastermind McGool took the slowest way to become rich ever devised, by purchasing cheaper meat for the orphans, and pocketing the savings! Now, that's not even a crime, that's just wise investing and smart business, aside from the resulting botulism. Now, keep in mind that prices for things in 1941 were considerably less than today, for example: bread was 8 cents a loaf, milk was 34 cents a gallon, gasoline was 19 cents a gallon, and a new house was about $6,900.  So, for McGool to buy 100 pounds of cheap meat and pocket the profit would have made this evil genius about $27.83! That's pure profit, kids! Getting rich the hard way! 

Did you catch this one? This is one of two comic panels that shows Moon-Man's licence plate...Yep, that's the same glowing moon logo that's on his chest! Is that even legal? Try asking the DMV for that nowadays!

Now we witness Moon-Man's incredibly astute and ingenious detective work

Lucky for him McGool is even duller than he is, and leaves the one clue to his whereabouts laying on the floor. I guess there wasn't time to get a neon sign with an arrow...

Wait a minute...I'm not a lawyer, but it's clear that for all the "many sciences" Moon-Man is "master of", the law isn't one of them.

Phew, indeed! Moon-Man manages to leap of off the speeding train onto the jagged boulders hundreds of feet below while carrying the unconcious McGool. Moon-Man lands without a scratch, "No bones broken", but sadly, McGool's lifeless form, suffering massive internal bleeding and virtually every bone pulverized into dust, rests awkwardly upon the rocks.

McGool's corpse is charged with accidental food poisoning. Moon-Man, on the other hand, is charged with speeding, breaking and entering, assault, purse-snatching, indecent exposure (those legs - yeesh!), riding a train without a ticket, coercing a confession, 1st degree murder, and overdue library books.

Ah, the happy ending! Now those orphans will eat good, right Moon-Man?

Nope, with McGool in jail, the orphanage goes bankrupt and closes, forcing all the orphans out onto the street, where they all starve to death. THE END!

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THE DAY BEFORE DOOMSDAY! and DOOMSDAY!

As a young boy, I can recall playing ouside in my yard when suddenly the still of the day was shattered by the thunderous resonance of a massive sonic boom, the tremendous clap of which would rattle the windows of all the houses in the neighborhood. I would look up to see the supersonic jets flying high overhead, contrails and exhaust streaming behind as they would make their way to a nearby military airfield. I can also recall my friends and I riding our bikes to the nearby Nike missile base, where we would often go and play army, using some of the then-abandoned concrete bunkers as our makeshift headquarters and shelter from fantasy 'enemy' gunfire.

As children, my friends and I had no real concept of the actual dangers posed by the threat of nuclear devastation, as we had been born into this 'cold war', but as yet had felt no effects from it, aside from being trained to "duck and cover"in school, and the weekly air-raid siren tests. Still, to this very day, for all of us who live on the face of the earth, the threat of imminent worldwide nuclear destruction is a constant reality, as it ever has been since the last days at the end of World War II.

Today our enemies are perhaps not so clearly defined as in the 50's and 60's, when the watchword of the day was 'communism', and the enemy that we in the USA most feared was Russia. For younger readers, it may be difficult to relate, but your parents and grandparents had to contend daily with the dark cloud looming omnipresently overhead with the threat of likely nuclear extermination. The Super-Powers were poised in a stalemate stare-down, watching and waiting for the other to flinch as their fingers teased shakily on the big red button. Youngsters were given a whole new vocabulary as words and terms once reserved for the scientific community became more common in daily usage, words such as radiation, strontium 90, fallout, half-life, roentgens, neutrons, gamma and beta rays. Tenets like situational ethics became more predominate in direct correlation to the increasing concerns where human life may be put at risk, especially in consideration of life and death motivations as caused by the imminent fear of death by atomic or nuclear bomb. Fallout shelters were constructed in inestimable numbers throughout the United Staes, Russia, and every other nation with the capabilities to do so. The world was preparing for the apparent inevitable destruction to come, and humanity was grasping at straws in an effort to find ways to somehow survive intact in the face of global obliteration.

That is the era from whence these comic stories were born, the era of the realization of the possibility of actual and complete worldwide destruction. 

This therefore is that day,

THE DAY BEFORE DOOMSDAY!

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Art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers

Originally published in STRANGE TALES # 99, 1962 

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Quick question...

What is the day after "the day before Doomsday"?

What do you call it?...Oh yeah, I know...

DOOMSDAY! 

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Art by Paul Reinman

Originally published in STRANGE TALES # 75, 1960

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Whether by inter-continental ballistic nuclear missiles, or by poisonous gas, or by a plethora of other man-made instruments of mass death, the people of the earth continue to exist in a limbo of impending destruction. The sense of doom is perhaps not so acute as it existed decades ago, and most of humanity dwells in a numb and impervious state of denial when it comes to such dark possibilities. We mostly live with a sense of apathetic ignorance, wrapped in an ever-growing cocoon of complacent and casual continuity of existance, possessing a "so far, so good" attitude. Like Lynn and Walter, the two scientists in the second tale, some find hope in a supernatural Divine Power beyond our human purview, whereas some cling to only what can be seen and heard and felt by natural means alone. If such a Doomsday is in fact coming to us soon, as the banshee of constant media around us wails in it's dire warnings, we can choose to be like scientist Walter and cry "There is no greater power!", and gnash our teeth as we relegate our doomed and useless lives to oblivion. My hope is we would be more like Walter's comrade Lynn, trusting in a greater Wisdom to lead us.

The next time you stand beneath a star-filled sky and look up, or watch the glorious colors of a majestic sunrise or sunset, or witness the birth of a baby, or hold your child in your arms, or look into the eyes of one you love, and feel the beating of your own heart, I hope you will know, just as Lynn, that there exists a supernatural power beyond our full comprehension, greater than we can know in and of ourselves alone. 

Even if these are just corny comic book stories.

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Now clicky-click here and head over to

BLACK 'N' WHITE AND RED ALL OVER

to find out what happens

THE DAY AFTER DOOMSDAY!

THE UGLY MAN - Joe Maneely and Stan Lee

Everybody knows Marvel Comics.

Back in the late 40's and 50's Timely/Marvel was also known by the name ATLAS.

These pre- Marvel-Age Atlas comics are some of the coolest comics of the 50's, because Stan Lee always had wonderful artists in his 'bullpen'. Before Jack Kirby emerged as Marvel's #1 artist in the 60's, Stan Lee's favorite go-to artist was the multi-talented Joe Maneely.

Joe Maneely had a unique artistic style where he developed a beautiful hatching technique for shading his characters. He drew the successful syndicated newspaper comic strip 'MRS. LYONS CUBS', written by Stan Lee. He is perhaps most famous for his wonderfully detailed and historically accurate rendition of THE BLACK KNIGHT. Known for his amazing speed as well as his beautiful detailing, Maneely's work was soon gracing covers for nearly every comic in Atlas' line. His talent allowed him to vary his style to fit several genres without missing a beat, and his art for romance comics was as good as his sports comics, and his westerns, and his science fiction/fantasy, and his humor, and his horror comics...ah yes, his horror comics!

Maneely's eye for details helped him to create some truly incredible horror imagery of the 50's, including one of the all-time greatest pre-code horror covers,

ASTONISHING #30 from 1954.

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Sadly, the world of comic books lost one of it's greatest talents in 1958, when after a night of drinking with companions from the Atlas bullpen, including pal Bill Everett, Joe Maneely was killed in a tragic train accident. He was 32 years old.

From SUSPENSE # 23, 1952, comes our tale from the team of Lee and Maneely, with it's tongue firmly in it's cheek. It's horror with a patented Stan Lee humorous twist ending, drawn with glorious and revolting perfection by the inspiring Joe Maneely.

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For a treat, you can click here and go to THE HORRORS OF IT ALL to see another classic Atlas horror story by another comic book legend, Bill Everett, the cover story from the same issue! Don't miss it!