In Which "The Big Blow's" Business is as Good as Ever

I know I'm way off in my order of Master Comics, but here's issue #120:

There is just no dignified or non-sexually suggestive way to ride a rocket or a missile, is there?

Anyway, today's story is a complete ripoff of Faust, but it's okay because Freddy Freeman was reading Faust at the beginning of the story and that's just letting you know that they know.  Not that I think anyone in 1951 would give two hoots if the story didn't acknowledge that Faust was the inspiration, but there it is.  And, off we go: 

Did you catch that condition?  Because it's important.  Pay attention.

Hmmmm... I see the devil didn't bother to do anything about his nose.  He should have gone for that: "I want to be younger, and with a nose that is a little less Jughead-esque."

Like I said, the "come to no harm" condition was relevant (and showed remarkable foresight for a guy who was otherwise foolish enough to make a deal with the devil) because it empowered him to carry out the robbery that he really, really wanted to pull off so he would go down in infamy.  Which you had to kind of admire... it's not like he was doing a deathbed repentance so he could go to Heaven or something.  Nope, he lived a jerk and he wanted to be remembered as a jerk.

Where was I?  Oh, yes: "Come to no harm."  Thusly:

Okay, he hit the ground hard enough to normally break bones and nothing.  Got that?

Moving on:

He ran into an electric fence and came to no harm.  Still with me?

Throws himself in front of a train and shrugs it off.  See the pattern?

Then why:

I'm not saying each member of the Marvel Family couldn't hit you VERY hard.  But why did a punch succeed where a train failed?

Read on!

Okay, I hate to get all legalese about this, but does that mean the train conductor wasn't a good person?  And if the devil promised "no harm," he was obliged to spell out that the guy could come to harm.  I think Captain Marvel Jr. deserved a tighter story than this.

The Tom Mix story better have a Random Slap! (tm!) in it.

Ah, that's the stuff.

Check this out:

I was relieved to see on the door that Joe Blow "The Big Blow" did business as a cattle dealer, because I was wondering if we didn't have the first comic series to star a male escort.  Don't act like you weren't thinking it.  You totally were.

See you tomorrow!