Target Comics
Entry updated 13 January 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1940-1949). Novelty Press Inc. 105 issues. Artists include Nina Albright, Bill Allison, Milt Hammer, Jack Warren and Basil Wolverton. Script writers include Harry Campbell, Ray Gill, Milt Hammer, Don Rico, Mickey Spillane, Jack Warren and Basil Wolverton. Initially 68 pages per issue, usually with 7-8 long strips, a few short strips and a short text story; down to 36 pages with 3-4 long strips, a couple of short strips and a short text story by the end of its run.
Target Comics' strips were a mixed bag of genres, including Westerns, crime, sports, humour and war; but the first 34 issues each had 2-4 sf serials, with sf or fantasy elements occasionally appearing in other strips. However, with the onset of World War Two, that conflict became the comic's focus, with all but the Western being dragooned into the war effort (which weakened the sf strips); when the conflict ended, humour and mundane adventure tales dominated. The comic's standout was Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk, a minor classic; otherwise Manowar and Calling 2R held some interest early on (the latter also having some nice artwork at times), but Target rarely rose above the dull.
Manowar, the White Streak ("Manowar" is dropped from the title after five issues) was introduced in vol 1 #1 when, after a mountain peak appears from a dead South American volcano, an investigating archaeologist is met by Manowar, a humanoid Robot who announces he is "the last of the servants of a dead civilization. Dedicated to mete out justice to those who prey on the weak. The Warmongers" and was built by the "Council of Utopia" (the text stories in vol 1 #5 and vol 1 #6 provide his origin story). He now topples the dictator of "Bolita" and kills the agent of the oil company (who we might infer are American) who control him (see Politics). Manowar's eyes have X-ray vision and fire destructive beams of "high powered electrons" (see Weapons); he can make himself Invisible for brief periods. He initially fights war profiteers across the world, but with the onset of World War Two concentrates on saboteurs and fifth columnists in the USA. In vol 1 #11 he has a plastic surgeon make his face appear human and wears a suit rather than a costume (and so loses any memorable qualities), but in vol 2 #8 he reverts to his original appearance and teams up with the Superhero Red Seal (who has no powers or gadgets); this all proved rather pointless as the serial ended with vol 2 #10.
Also beginning in vol 1 #1 is Calling 2R: here "Skipper", a rich elderly long-haired Scientist, has created an estate called Boysville (presumably a reference to Boy's Town in Omaha), where he trains "unwanted" boys to become wardens ("range riders of today's frontier") to fight for justice (see Children in SF), armed with his advanced Technology. Examples include a Force Field; "cosmetalite", a strong and pliable metal; Gravity control; the "bugoplane", also capable of Space Flight despite being propeller-driven; and a screen that shows thoughts. Plots include attempts to steal his Inventions; stopping attempts to conquer the world; combating General Z, a recurring Villain who wants revenge after being fired by Skipper, and (in vol 2 #2) creating new non-lethal Weapons for the US war effort (specifying to the War Department that these are "created for defence and not to be used for attack"). The strip's last appearance is in vol 2 #3. Spacehawk, who fights crime in space, then protects America, is introduced in vol 1 #5 and lasts until vol 3 #10 (and is discussed in his entry).
Perhaps belatedly, vol 1 #10 brought us The Target, a superhero who wore a target on his chest, thus inclining criminals to shoot there rather than at his unprotected face or legs, as he wears a bulletproof top made of a flexible metal discovered by him (why it covers his arms but not his legs is unclear). He has two friends called the Targeteers who dress up in similar costumes. The trio mainly fight gangsters, saboteurs and the Axis powers, though vol 2 #2 does have a Mad Scientist; vol 2 #5 features Dr Time, a chemist with formulas that can either prolong life or age prematurely; vol 4 #3 has Nazi aeroplane gremlins; and in vol 5 #5 the Germans have a "super volta charger" which harnesses the power of lightning.
A strip called Fantastic Feature Films usually has mundane stories, but in vol 1 #6's "The Blue Zombie" a Scientist's attempt to revive a dead friend instead creates a Zombie; taking a "glass half full" approach, he uses the technique to build a zombie army that defeats the country's dictator, a rare example of a tale treating zombies and their creators positively. From vol 3 #10 to vol 4 #4 the first two books of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726; rev 1735) are serialized in comic form; here he puts out the fire by filling his hat with water. The comic's short text stories include a sf serial by Bob Butts called "The Ghost of Venus", where two space detectives hunt down the space pirate of that name (vol 1 #11-vol 2 #2).
With Spacehawk's final appearance, then shortly after Gulliver's Travels coming to an end, Target Comics' sf/fantasy elements become rare: The Target continues (save for a couple of non-appearances) until vol 9 #5, but largely consists of three men in costume hitting people. Occasional genre elements appear in other series: for example the lead in the humorous strip Al T Tude is sometimes the incompetent superhero, Gooperman, whose motorized hat enables him to fly (see Flying). Scientists occasionally use him as a guinea-pig: in vol 3 #8 they give him a formula to destroy the vitamin in the body they believe makes people good (sure enough, he begins randomly hitting people), and vol 4 #3 has a gas which makes him briefly the strongest man in the world. In vol 8 #2 The Chameleon (so called because he is a master of disguise) battles a Mad Scientist who claims to have discovered how to produce "unlimited power at one central point, and dispensing through small, portable machines far from the main powerhouse ... I can control the world with it." Though the Chameleon voices doubt, the machines do fire deadly Rays. [SP]
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