Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Fighting Yank Should Probably Avoid Motor Vehicles for A While...

Dear Ones, at long last, Snatcher Bodies!, the graphic novel penned by Yours Truly and fabulously drawn by Gabe Ostley is now available in hard copy as a 70 page graphic novel.  Check it out!  It's a lighthearted look at the end of the world and.... well, it still makes me laugh when I read it.

Meanwhile, here's an unintentionally sad image if ever there was one:


Considering Archie would end up running everyone out of Pep Comics, the Shield and the Hangman are really being played for suckers there.  Don't be fooled by his boyish charm, fellas!  Archie is going to take that book and kick your keisters to Comic Book Oblivion!



You know, if you find yourself asking that question to a bunch of pre-teen boys, you should probably decline on their behalf. 

Let's take a look at the Fighting Yank from Startling Comics #34.  I've mentioned before how the Yank's ancestor comes around in ever story and bails the Yank out of whatever mess he gets himself into, eliminating any real concern for the protagonist's welfare and cutting any excitement potential down to virtually zero.  

But I noticed that it didn't happen (A), when the Yank gets in a car accident and faceplants into a bridge:



and (B), when the Yank gets run over by a tank:



So, I think I've figured out the system here:  The Yank's ancestor will come to his rescue and save him from any real harm unless said harm is hilarious to look at, in which case the ancestor will simply watch it happen off camera and return when he can appear on the scene without bursting out in laughter.

See you tomorrow!

8 comments:

Patrick McEvoy said...

I'm utterly mystified by "..And me with no priorities!" Not only have I never heard anyone say that while about to be smashed in the face by a bridge, I've never heard that phrase before, period. Did it make any sense in the context of the story, or was the Fighting Yank just babbling in fear at that point?

Erich said...

This is just a guess on my part, but I'm assuming that "priorities" were related to the wartime rationing. Because of rubber shortages, a blown tire would have been very difficult to replace, so he's more worried about the lost tire than about the imminent impact with the bridge. (And that's another way in which he has no priorities.)

MarvelX42 said...

How could they possibly explain the Yanks surviving being ran over by a tank? Did they?

Adam Barnett said...

I didn't understand the "priorities" line, either. Thanks for the explanation! As to the tank, I really don't get that one. Near as I can tell, the cloak made him impervious to harm, but only in that nothing could seem to pierce the cloak. For example, a smack to the head with a pipe would bring him down. However, if that were the case, he should have been squooshed. It makes no sense. But then again, that's the name of the blog ;-)

Patrick McEvoy said...

Thanks for the explanation, Erich - it sounds very plausible.

MarvelX42 said...

Adam, I thought that you were the history expert. :-)

Emily Russell said...

Today, most people realize that it's pointless to suck up to the new boss, because s/he is going to clean house and bring in his/her own people. If things were going fine, they wouldn't have needed to bring in the new guy. Obviously this wasn't as understood back in the forties.

Adam Barnett said...

Well, at the time, Archie wasn't taking over the mag at all. It was mostly just (pretty bad) super-heroics. I think only Archie knew that he'd be running the place at the time they were showing him around ;-)