Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A Fedora, Despite Its Jaunty Appearance, Provides Little Protection from Firearms


The Hangman story in Pep Comics #31 introduced the Hunter... because as much as we'd like to see it happen, he couldn't fight Captain Swastika in every issue.  But much like the not-so-good Captain, the Hunter's choice of battle gear left a little somethin'-somethin' to be desired:


No, it's not the helmet.  If Captain Swastika can wear a fedora, the horned helmet here makes at least as much sense.  It's the loincloth.  What kind of protection do you get when you're fighting someone from a loincloth?  I believe a loincloth is what you wear when you are lost in the jungle or on a deserted island and you literally have nothing else you could be wearing.  Off to the Costume Hall of Shame with you, Hunter!

And yes, he was very similar to the Spider-Man foe, Kraven the Hunter, who would appear a good 20 years later.  Everything old is new again!

Speaking of which, check out the Violinist from Pep Comics #31!:


Any comic nerdlinger worth their salt sees the similarities between this guy and the Fiddler, who befuddled the Flash for dang near 60 years before meeting his maker in the Villains United series:


... but you know what?  The Violinist, despite having the ability to physically control people via his fiddlin' (although it seemed to be limited to paralyzing his targets) like the Fiddler, the Violinist appeared at least three years before the Fiddler started annoying the Flash.

And no, that cover isn't from the Fiddler's first appearance, but it's pretty cool, so I used it.

Hey!  Let's check in on Don Davis, Espionage Ace!


Oh, well.  Better luck next time, Don!

See you tomorrow!


6 comments:

MarvelX42 said...

It's probably not a good idea to hold a gun like that if you are going to smack someone over the head with it. You might just blow your hand off.

Gummboote said...

Had the artist of that Flash cover ever actually seen a violin?

Gummboote said...

Come to that, the Violinist's instrument looks more like a banjo.

Buzz said...

oops. Turns out I am not worth my salt.

I will say this, though. I'm less concerned with the ability of a loin cloth to protect that bad guy than its ability to protect anyone and everyone else from making visual or physical contact with it's hidden treasures.

Smurfswacker said...

A guitarist once told me he enjoyed counting the strings on guitars in comics and cartoons...there almost never were six. At least these violins have four strings (though The Violinist's may have three; it's hard to tell if the line is a string or the instrument's neck.

MarvelX42 said...

Being that, most of the time, in cartoons the people have less fingers than people in real life, it would stand to reason, that there would be less strings on a guitar.