The early 1950s were the top years in comic sales, and this great demand resulted in a lot of excellent books. There was so much good stuff available that sometimes superb new titles that deserved success would come and go before they had a chance to catch on. The following is a brief tribute to four such series that shouldn't have died young.

     Love Mystery #1 (June 1950) from Fawcett was a genre-blender that combined the best elements of crime and romance. From the crime end came gritty realism, a dark attitude, and sustained suspense... and romance gave the tales a character-driven focus that when merged produced novelettes of power and depth. There were two 15-pagers per issue, stories long enough to develop both the plot and the people involved.

     The opening yarn, "The Thing in the Box" is one of the better ones: Space Patrolman Jet Black uses scientific deducion to find and exploit the weakness of an alien invader who threatens to hypnotize the entire solar system. Another winner is "The Harp of Death" in which the bird-men of Jupiter invade Mars using killer flowers as weapons and are headed towards victory until Jet Black receives aid from the alien who carries the harp of death.

     "The Case of the Winking Buddha" starts off promisingly: an office worker arrives to find turmoil following her boss' death in a train accident, and she stumbles into intrigue when she knocks over his telephone and a claim check falls out of the bottom. She redeems the check for a little jade Buddha, not knowing that the dead man's secret is inside and that several of his associates will stop at nothing to get it.

     The company hires a detective to investigate the case, wanting to find the figurine, and he and Alicia are drawn to each other, but she's afraid that he's playing her to get the Buddha. It works pretty well, with only a slight dip near the end when the dick escapes a trap with an unbelievable trick.

     "Terror at Tarn House" is a masterpiece. A rich businessman who has just discovered a 100 grand shortfall in his company accounts is out hunting with a young accountant in the firm when the owner trips and shoots himself dead. The other board members, who are the embezzlers, pin a frame on the accountant, and as he pines on Death Row his wife struggles on his behalf. This one boasts not only a perfectly-engineered "escape" but she also contrives a clever and believable way to get rescued after the board members have her trapped on the day of the execution. Wow!

     "Tam" features art by the able Bob McCarty, and "Buddha" was drawn by old pro Shelly Moldoff.

     Jetta, Teen Age Sweetheart of the 21st Century #6 (February 1953) is the second of three issues of a title that in a better world would still besparking the racks each month. Publisher Standard believed that low-number issues made a title sound unproven so they began all theirs with #5. This is such a seamless and inevitable blend of SF and teen humor, with charming and classic art by Dan DeCarlo, how could it fail?

     The first yarn has Jetta's Neutron High science class on a field trip to a "meteor" that turns out to be quite a little world, one onto which the Earth people venture without protective garb. Miss Gorgon sends the students to find samples of the rare yiffel plant, but instead they discover what seems to be a new species of animal that they "bag", hoping to impress the teacher. But this turns around when the animal is unmasked as an important faculty member. It's a riot.

     In the second story Jetta and girlfriend/rival Hilaria learn the dangers of interplanetary romance in five funny pages. Then comes a zany back-up feature as Zoomer and Atomica time travel back to the 20th Century. The third Jetta tale wraps things up as Arky and Biff are set to let whichever of them scores the most points in that night's space football game be the one to take her to the prom. Biff futzes with Arky's rocket pack, and when the game starts the hapless teen shoots off into the stratosphere and crash lands on a space station. But the attendant is an old Neutron grad, and he fixes the rocket pack and fills Arky with super fuel. He gets back in time to win the game by scoring 176 points in the final two minutes! But then at the prom he starts to have some strange reactions to the fuel...

     House's Monster #2 (1953) was the last issue of this title, and it's fantastic! The Maurice Whitman creepo cover is effective and appropriate. Inside, "The Dark Abysmal" is really good, and Johnny Bell's energetic art makes it even better. A little alien crash-lands his spaceship in a country swimmin' hole, and one of the local boys befriends it, knowing only that it's an affectionate animal. When he takes it to town the peoples' fear and greed makes it grow bigger and more belligerent. After darn-near destroying the town the boy makes a valiant attempt to calm it down before the Air Force bombers arrive...

     A yarn like that is tough to beat, but the other four stories are all pretty fair. "Tiger Kiss" deals with the black magic of the Indian jungle, where a man can be turned into a ferocious beast. "Where the Undead Roam" offers zombies, engaging art by Bill Benulis and Jack Abel, and a spooky ending. Bill Discount does a stylish job illustrating "Kohnoori's Curse, which is otherwise a standard "treasure hunter raids temple and finds trouble" gig. "The Deadman's Chest" is a basic "greedy grandson hastens inheritance but is brought down by the old man's ghost" plot, but even this tale has a little embroidery on it.

     Fiction House was pulling back from the comic book business, and that may have been another reason Monster wasn't continued. They were a big pulp publisher, and the pulps were dying. This was a big factor leading towards the Comics Code/ crash of 1955.

     John Carter of Mars didn't even have his own title except for three issues of Dell's one-shot series of which Four Color #488 (August 1953) is the third. All are adapted straight from Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels: this one is part two of The Gods of Mars, which was first published in 1918. The first Dell issue told how Earth-man John Carter was mysteriously teleported to Mars, where he found himself possessed of strength far beyond that of the Martian people. Burroughs first Mars book came out in 1912—the same year he debuted Tarzan.

     This one starts with John Carter, who has just rescued his wife Dejah Thoris from impending sacrifice by a fanatic cult, trying to rocket out of an attack by a leader of the Black Pirates who they'd fought in part one (in the previous Dell issue). Carter, Dejah, friend Thuvia, and the four-armed green Thark Tars Tarkas are forced to "paraloon" down when the pirate shoots their ship out of the sky. Thurid abducts the two women, and leaves Carter and Tars Tarkas tied up beneath the tentacles of a carnivorous tree. Fortunately Carter's friend, the huge-mawed Martian dog Woola, shows up just in time to chew them to freedom. The chase eventually leads to a domed city at the north pole where an evil tyrant wants to marry Dejah Thoris but first must prove John Carter dead. This almost comes to pass, but Burroughs contrives a turnaround that's magnificently staged.

     In short, it's gorgeous space opera, and the clean contours of Jesse Marsh's art make plenty of graphic music. And Dell's 32-page cover-to cover story is perfect packaging.

     Perhaps there are still some patiently naive souls who scan the racks each month looking for Jetta #8 or a John Carter of Mars #1 that adapts another Burroughs classic with Jesse's art transporting us to the red planet.

Pat Calhoun has been collecting, researching and appreciating comic books since the early 1960s, and is a nationally recognized comic book historian. Pat resides in Santa Rosa, California.