If you missed the last one…
This post is brought to you by Ships of Steel edited by G. W. Thomas a collection of adventure novellas that will appeal to Pulp fans and Space Opera readers. “Rolling Stone” by M. D. Jackson features secret agent Steel as he tries to keep his charge alive as everyone on a luxury liner seems intent on killing her. “The Hidden Heart” by G. W. Thomas returns to Sudana and Zaar from Whispers of Ice and Sand as they deal with a rogue android. T. Neil Thomas’s “Gideon’s Burden” is a Noir Mystery tale as much as it is a story about Jo-Jo Station, a sphere beside the planet Jupiter. jack Mackenzie offers us “The Price of Redemption”, a prequel to his novel The Mask of Eternity. Solis Delacey is not a ship’s captain but a low-ranking cadet. She is pulled into a strange mystery that may lead the galaxy into all-out war.
1941 sees the pinnacle of new robot interest with even more bots than 1939 or 1940. The excitement of the 1939 World’s Fair hasn’t faded yet and comic creators are throwing in robots everywhere. These are the last few months before America will join in World War II and all the comics will become propaganda. (There are even hints of it coming here.) The superheroes still dominate but more space men are finding their way in.
“John Carter and the Robots of Mars” comic strip (1941 to 1943) was written and drawn by John Coleman Burroughs. He and his brother Hulbert did a small number of Pulp stories. JCB did a number of covers for his father’s books as well. For the full run of this comic strip, go here. The robot element in this strip wasn’t strong despite the name.
“Martan the Marvel Man” (Popular Comics #59, January 1941) was written by G. Ellerbrock. Martan is a man from the planet Antaclea. He and his female sidekick, Vana, go to Europe to see the human slaves of the invading robots. The slaves are digging underground poison factories that are safe from bombing. Martan beats a robot into telling him who its ruler is. This turns out to be the Supreme Three. The Antaclean finds and defeats them. The commentary on the War in Europe is quite evident.
“Mandrake the Magician” comic strip reprints (Magic Comics #1, February 1941) As far as I can tell Mandrake didn’t do much with robots except this cover. Further research may prove this wrong. Anybody know?
“The Isle of Right” (Blue Ribbon Comics #9-12, February-May 1941) was written by Joe Blair, a four-parter with Doc Strong and his two pals, Sampson and Alice, going to the Isle of Right. There they encounter Martians, who are robots of a sort, and are captured and taken to the Red Planet. They meet the giant Martian King there before working to return to Earth.
“Hohito’s Robot” (Prize Comics #9, February 1941) may have been written by Fred Guardineer. American scientists are kidnapped by the Japanese to build a giant robot for the Emperor. The magician Voodini destroys it with a spell that reads “Crumble on Robot!” backwards. Voodini bravely declares that the Government can mop the Fascists involved. Voo is a pale imitation of Mandrake, of course.
“Aman the Amazing-Man” (Amazing-Man Comics #21, March 1941) has Aman and Zona take on a masked mystic named The Great Question. The robot only shows up in the final pages, being a giant metal monster. Aman defeats the machine by entering the cabin inside its head. He and Zona have to flee quickly afterwards because the villain has transported to Tibet. He blows up the island that the hero and his girl have left in their plane.
“The Echo” (Detective Comics #49, March 1941) was written by Jack Lehti. Jon the master scientist creates a Frankensteinian robot called The Echo. The robot attacks people and robs banks. Fortunately, the Crimson, a red-caped superhero is here to stop it. After a battle that Crimson loses, he finds a clue that leads to the lab. He punches out the master scientist and gets a hold of the radio transmitter. He tells The Echo to jump off a building to its destruction (which we don’t even get to see!)
“Revolt of the Robots” (Planet Comics #11, March 1941) was written by Starr Gayza (house name). The Martians have a highly mechanical civilization with robots doing all the work. The tin slaves revolt and Mars calls for Flint Baker to save them. He and Mimi fly off to help. The robots capture the spaceman and his gal but Flint uses water to defeat the bots. They rust and the Martians can take back their world. They will work rather than reinstate the robots.
“The Robot Robberies” (Silver Streak Comics #8-14, March-September 1941) Jack Cole wrote and drew most of this seven-parter. Different episodes about the evil Dr. Skinn and his robots verses the inventions of Dickie Dean. The robots vary from ones that look like TikTok of Oz to tiny ones.
“Iron Jaw Revealed” (Silver Streak Comics #9-10, April-May 1941) was written and drawn by Bob Wood. A two-parter featuring a robot villain named Iron Jaw. The Silver Streak defeats him by throwing him off a building.
“The Robot Terror” (Miracle Comics #4, March 1941) was written by Emile C. Shurmacher. Another giant robot invasion and this time Sky Wizard and his trusty sidekick, Keeshan, are on the job. The villain proves to be a foreign leader with an army of bots. Sky Wizard wins out by superior flying ability and electricity. The evil foreigner dies at the hands of his own bots.
“The Rampaging Robot” (Blue Bolt #11, April 1941) was written and drawn by Bob Davis. This story has a giant robot that is driven by men inside, making it a robot suit really. Dick Cole gets inside the suit and cleans up on the villains.
“The Photography Lesson” (Blue Bolt #11, April 1941) has Eddie teaching Frankie Stein, his robot pal, how photography works. This one was drawn by Harold S. DeLay who did the illustrations for the Conan story “Red Nails” back in 1936. He was one of many Pulp illustrators who also did comics (along with Vincent Napoli, Joseph Doolin, John Forte Jr. and Virgil Finlay.)
“Cover” (Action Comics #36, May 1941) If Mandrake can have a robot cover without a story, why not Superman?
“He Rubs Out Crime” (Doc Savage Comics #4, May 1941) has two scientists create two different robots. One chooses to send his mechanical man to destroy a yacht. The other, the inventor of Trix, sends his robot to defeat the other. A crime story with bots.
“The Iron Ghost” (The Shadow Comics #10-11, May-July 1941) was a two-parter for a series character who didn’t catch on. Perhaps because though he was a robot, he didn’t really look much like one. Frank Reed and his pal, Barney, set the robot against foreign villains (who look quite familiar). The robot destroys their tanks and airplanes. Again, joining World War II seems inevitable here.
“Quest For the Black Diamond” (Cat-Man #3, July 1941) has the Great Borcia unleash a giant robot against humankind. Dr. Diamond possesses a magical black diamond that turns him into a superman. He punches the nuts and bolts out of the robot.
“The Black Ray” (Adventure Comics #65, August 1941) has Dr. Dark build a killer bot named Giganto. Hourman takes him out with some conveniently found acid. Hourman is a sadly forgotten Golden Age hero who was as big as other DC stars like Green Lantern back in 1941.
“The Space Legion” (Crack Comics #15, August 1941) has scientist, Alexis Yakor, build a giant robot after he is declared insane. Rock Braddon of the Space Legion comes to arrest him but has to fight the bot first. First, he tries with his spaceship but later blows up monster and creator. Vern Henkel’s art on this one is classic.
“Spacehawk and the Mountain Lair of Dr. Gore” (Target Comics #19, September 10941) was written and drawn by Basil Wolverton. Spacehawk builds a rocketship and fills it with robots. Dr. Gore steals the craft but has to deal with the mechanical men. They are controlled by telepathy. Two conflicting mental commands causes the bots to collapse. Spacehawk gets his ship back through the usual punch-up.
“Dr. Weerd and the Metal Monster” (Star Spangled Comics #1, October 1941) was written by Jerry Siegel. When a giant robot goes on a rampage it is up to the Star-Spangled Kid and his pal, Stripesy, to take out the oddly book-shaped bot. The robot’s creator, Dr. Weerd, fails when the Kid sprays the robot with chemicals that rust the monster into defeat. Dr. Weerd is an odd-looking character as well, resembling a Weird Tales illustration by Lee Brown Coye.
“The Black Knight” (More Fun Comics #73, November 1941) was written by Mort Weisinger. Johnny Quick deals with a rampaging suit of armor by frying its robotic parts with electricity. This may or may not be the first suit of armor to house a robot story. The trope will become a cliche in years to come. Mort had been the editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories but would go on to be a big editor at DC.
Conclusion
Not much innovation in 1941. The mad scientist with the killer robot prevails. This shouldn’t be too surprising as this was the year that Max Fleischer gave us “The Mechanical Monsters” the Superman cartoon. We see the same scenario here, mad inventor uses robots to steal jewels. Robots defeated and crook captured. In many ways, this is the peak of the robot craze for the next post will cover four years. Tin robots are no longer a novelty but just part of the comic book storytelling tool box. (Oddly, over in the Pulps, Isaac Asimov is creating the Three Laws of Robots. Comic book readers might not have noticed.)
Next 1942-1946
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