title: "Dead End Animals!"
writer: Joe Samachson
art: Ernie Chua
editor: Joe Orlando
cover: Jim Aparo (signed)
Synopsis:
Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy arrive in the Land of Magic and immediately hear a ruckus at a club called Leo's Pal. They find inside a bunch of animals fighting each other....but these are anthropomorphic creatures, animals that talk and wear clothes. And they're juvenile delinquents! Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy lay into them, but when Stripesy throws a chair at them it turns around and knocks *him* out, instead. The Kid is soon out-numbered and over-powered.
The animals tie them up and leave them. The lion, who seems to be the manager or head counselor, wants to untie the Soldiers but is threatened by a little mouse with big muscles and a bigger ego. The Kid manages to trick him into leaving so that they can free themselves.
They then realize that the chair they were tied on is also alive! When a baseball crashes through the club window, the Kid gets an idea on how to stop the gang of animals. He plants matches and a torch on the kangaroo, then throws another torch into the club. The furniture, furious at the risk of fire, beat the animals because they think they are responsible.
The lion, thinking that the threat of future beatings by the furniture will keep "the boys" on the straight and narrow, ask a whale to take Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy back to Earth.
Commentary:
Commentary:
As explained in the earlier posts about this story, "The Land of Magic" was written in 1945 but was not published until 30 years later!
This story is the goofiest of the bunch, which is saying something when you consider that we've already met Father Time, several constellations, and super-heroes who shrink and grow at will. Of course, this is partially because of all of the chapters this one feels the most dated; who out there knows what "dead end kids" are anymore? And the dialogue! Straight out of a Bowery Boys movie....if you happen to know what that even is.
Ernie Chua (aka Ernie Chan) was just beginning his tenure at DC. He would eventually become the lead artist on Detective Comics and Batman, as well as DC's main cover artist for several years. Here, however, he embraces a more cartoony style, which doesn't really work. His cutesy animals don't look "cutesy" enough, and his people (the Kid and Stripesy) don't look serious enough. The Kid in particular appears to suffer from a enlarged head in most panels! He's supposed to be short (he's a kid, after all) but not a midget!
And his lack of backgrounds and details takes away from the work instead of adding to it; page 5 has almost no backgrounds at all. Silhouettes appear on four of the seven pages. Overall the work looks sloppy and rushed.
Although the final appearance of the Seven Soldiers in Leading Comics #14 (Spring 1945) was the group's last appearance, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy continued to appear in Star-Spangled Comics up through 1948, when their strip was replaced by the Kid's step-sister, Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks.
It was established definitively that these characters are from Earth-2 when the Star-Spangled Kid joined the Justice Society in All-Star Comics #58. He later helped form Infinity, Inc and changed his name to Skyman. Stripesy eventually became the step-father of the female Star-Spangled Kid (revealed in the late, lamented Stars & STRIPE series), who currently goes by the name Star Girl.
Just as a reminder, besides the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, the other Seven Soldiers of Victory were the Crimson Avenger, Green Arrow and Speedy, the Shining Knight, and the Vigilante. Considered an unofficial (honorary?) Soldier was the Crimson Avenger's partner, Wing.
This story is the goofiest of the bunch, which is saying something when you consider that we've already met Father Time, several constellations, and super-heroes who shrink and grow at will. Of course, this is partially because of all of the chapters this one feels the most dated; who out there knows what "dead end kids" are anymore? And the dialogue! Straight out of a Bowery Boys movie....if you happen to know what that even is.
Ernie Chua (aka Ernie Chan) was just beginning his tenure at DC. He would eventually become the lead artist on Detective Comics and Batman, as well as DC's main cover artist for several years. Here, however, he embraces a more cartoony style, which doesn't really work. His cutesy animals don't look "cutesy" enough, and his people (the Kid and Stripesy) don't look serious enough. The Kid in particular appears to suffer from a enlarged head in most panels! He's supposed to be short (he's a kid, after all) but not a midget!
And his lack of backgrounds and details takes away from the work instead of adding to it; page 5 has almost no backgrounds at all. Silhouettes appear on four of the seven pages. Overall the work looks sloppy and rushed.
Although the final appearance of the Seven Soldiers in Leading Comics #14 (Spring 1945) was the group's last appearance, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy continued to appear in Star-Spangled Comics up through 1948, when their strip was replaced by the Kid's step-sister, Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks.
It was established definitively that these characters are from Earth-2 when the Star-Spangled Kid joined the Justice Society in All-Star Comics #58. He later helped form Infinity, Inc and changed his name to Skyman. Stripesy eventually became the step-father of the female Star-Spangled Kid (revealed in the late, lamented Stars & STRIPE series), who currently goes by the name Star Girl.
Just as a reminder, besides the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, the other Seven Soldiers of Victory were the Crimson Avenger, Green Arrow and Speedy, the Shining Knight, and the Vigilante. Considered an unofficial (honorary?) Soldier was the Crimson Avenger's partner, Wing.
This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the six page story here it its entirety, exactly as it appeared in its comic-book form.
Be back tomorrow for Chapter 6 starring The Vigilante!
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