Slam Bang Comics
Entry updated 28 April 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1940). Fawcett Publications Inc. 7 issues. Artists include Jack Binder, Gus Ricca, Hal Sharp and Mike Suchorsky. Scriptwriters include Jack Cole, Mort Weisinger and apparently Manly Wade Wellman (see below). 68 pages, with seven long strips and a short text story each issue; plus short gag, fiction or non-fiction pieces as filler. The strips feature a mixed bag of genres including war, Western and crime-fighting; but some are sf or Fantasy.
Mark Swift and the Time Retarder concerns a Time Machine built by grade school teacher Rodney Kent in his spare time: he uses it to Time Travel with his orphan companion Mark Swift to witness history (see History in SF). Their first trip is to North America in 940 CE where they witness "a horde of screeching savage redskins" attacking the newly arrived Vikings. Most are wiped out, but a Viking Princess and Eric, her beloved, are captured, along with Rodney and Mark. Eric is locked in a cage of "vicious eagles", but as he still has his sword they are readily disposed of, so a dragon is now set on him, but he slays it, tames its mate and sees off the Native Americans. Other destinations include the Crusades (#2) and Ancient Egypt (#4) – in the latter Rodney stands up to evil Queen Hatasu and she sees the error of her ways. In #5 they go to Puritan New England to find out whether the stories of witchcraft were true: they are, though the witches seem mainly male. It is acknowledged innocent people were persecuted in witch trials ("I don't believe so pretty a girl is guilty of so awful a crime" says Rodney). The witches summon the Devil from a fire, but Rodney pours a bucket of water onto the flames. In #6 the pair help Alexander the Great defeat the Persian King, Darius.
The first Diamond Jack tale does not show our hero's origin, but simply tells us he is "in possession of a miraculous diamond given him by an old magician, becomes physically strong and mentally beyond all ordinary mortals", then gets on with the story. In #1 the ring enables him to capture bullets in his hand and turn them into flowers, cure the mortally wounded and conjure up a sword to slay a dragon (created by a witch hired by the gangsters he is chasing). In #3 Jack faces The Green Devil, "Master of the Dead Men" (see Zombies) who lives on Death Island; when Jack sails to confront him, the Green Devil uses Technology in the form of his "Cloptic Ray ... a machine that controls the action of the ocean"; he also has the "ray crystal" (which looks like a crystal ball) which he says disrupts all forms of Magic save his own – but it turns out Jack's ring is also exempt, and the Green Devil is turned into a book. In #4 we learn Jack's diamond was once the eye of an evil god (see Gods and Demons): its worshippers want it back, so have the god possesses its statue, which then drives in its spiked-wheeled car to confront Jack. #5 has giant vampire bats beholden to Maria, Queen of the Vampires who wishes to convert the entire world: she manages to take Jack's ring and make him a vampire (which involves him growing a small pair of wings on his back) – though as the ring can only do good, when she later uses it on him his humanity is restored. #6 has the Sky Demon, who lives on a plateau atop an immensely tall tower: he turns Jack into a statue and then hands out guns to his winged apes so they can slaughter all humanity the next day. But that night, before going to bed, the Sky Demon takes off his magic cloak and the spell holding Jack is broken. In #7 Jack accompanies a professor whose map locates a Lost World whose inhabitants, the Tarvans (see Lost Races), burnt a witch a million years ago: she responded by cursing them with Immortality – now they can only die if a green dragon is destroyed. On arrival Jack and the professor are captured by the Tarvans whose Queen orders them sacrificed to the dragon: Jack kills it and the people turn to dust "they are all happy in death" the professor assures him.
Lee Granger Jungle King is a Scientist-explorer whose plain crashes in Africa and he befriends the local pygmies (who start out black, but from #5 are white). Though there are some Tarzan elements his use of science means he is not just another copy: he Uplifts a lion ("this lion will be almost human"), giving it the power of speech and naming it Eric; the pygmies' spears are charged with electricity so they explode on hitting their target. In #3 winged djinns appear (see Supernatural Creatures) and Lee builds his own Flying device – only to be captured; but a woman he had rescued earlier straps a spare on to Eric and flies on him to save Lee. #4 has a fight with a giant gorilla. #6 has the area invaded by driver ants the size of dogs, ruled by a young woman: "I was lost as a child and reared by the ants", though that does not explain her antennae. All seems lost until Kate Bond, who Lee had met earlier, reappears, frees him and shoots the Queen, whose ants then die with her: Kate explains that "her thoughts gave them motion". The Lee Granger strips were drawn by Jack Binder and, according to the Grand Comics Database, written by Manly Wade Wellman: "Script credit from Bob Hughes, through textual analysis: excessive use of passive voice and run on sentences held together by ellipses." The other strip with sf elements is Hurricane Hansen, a "two-fisted Yankee sea adventurer" who, when Britain declares war on Kazilia, joins their navy (presumably a reference to US citizens who joined the British armed forces before the US entry into World War Two) and quickly rises to the rank of Captain. His adventures are largely mundane, but he sometimes uses a "specially constructed one-man submarine" and also has a "radio controlled aerial torpedo". In #5 the Kazilians use flying submarines and in #6 a floating fortress.
The Mark Swift and the Time Retarder tales have not worn well, not helped by the time travellers always automatically siding with the Europeans whenever there is a confrontation with non-Europeans. In #2, arriving to see the Crusaders are outnumbered by the attacking Saracens, Rodney leaves the time machine and starts firing his pistol ("Taste this lead Moslem"). #1 does provide the unusual experience of Vikings being portrayed as victims: the matter of their being invaders and the Native Americans defending their lands not being broached. Diamond Jack suffers from being over-powered and having some of the worst banter, though the stories have their entertaining moments. Lee Granger Jungle King suffers from the usual problems with the era's portrayal of Africans (see Race in SF), though it is not the worst example. However, the portrayal of women is unusually strong (see Women in SF): twice Lee is saved by the dynamic intervention of a woman (different each time), and on the second occasion (#5) she analyses the problem which Lee has failed to handle and acts successfully to resolve it (see Feminism). The Hurricane Hansen stories are largely forgettable. [SP]
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