You may think its the Week of 04/04/2020 but here in Doc’s Corner it’s the winter of 1941. More specificly, December 17, 1941. And as I leave my family’s third floor apartment and make my way down the street to watch Old Gus open up the bundles of new comics to put on the shelves of his newsstand, one comic in particular catches my eye. And as bad as I can’t wait to spend my hard earned dime, I know better than to run over and grab it. Old Gus is crabby in the morning and hates when us kids crowd him while he’s putting out stock. Especially in the winter, Old Gus has some arthritis and the cold doesn’t help. Sometimes, if you can be patient and you’re a regular, Old Gus will include a piece of penny candy with your comic purchase! Today being patient is hard because it’s cold and the snow is blowing. The boots I am wearing don’t fit me well and the sooner I have my comic and am back in my warm home reading, the better. My choices are amazing Starman punching out some Egyptian over in Adventure Comics! Nine different stories featured in Crack Comics with the Black Condor headlining! Leading Comics #1, that’s a new one, but it only seems to have 5 stories. World Famous Heroes Magazine with Radisson, Canadian Fur Trapper looks good but just can’t top my final choice. There is just something about Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 that gives me the thumbs up! And so Old Gus gets my dime (damn it, no penny candy today!) and I’m up the flights of stairs like lightning.
UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY #2 QUALITY COMICS
With 4 stories spotlighting the adventures of Uncle Sam and Buddy, I have to say that by far the best story here is War in Kidland. Where Uncle Sam and Buddy discover a pit in a cave that leads to Kidland, an underground city where the children of the Pied Piper story ended up. With all sorts of mythological creatures popping up, its up to Uncle Sam and Buddy to show the kids how to fight back. Done in a different style of art, the more warped visuals make this an interesting adventure for the pair. And while the Uncle Sam stories are worthy my dime, this issue features a few extras that really appeal to me. In the short story, The Villian’s Revolt, is a wonderfully whimsical look at what would happen to the super hero community if the villains stopped being evil. The humor and the Casey at the Bat poem style is wholey original. Plus it’s the image of some of the best known heroes of Quality Comics including Quicksilver, The Ray, and Hercules standing in a breadline is fantastic. We also get a text story of Who Uncle sam is and a very interesting new heroine in an 8 page story. Margo the Magician definately has real potential and I look forward to her next adventure. I give this a 10 out of 10 Grahams.
Moving back into the year 2020 and my quiet little corner, I realize what this comic actually offered the comic reading public even if they didn’t realize it back then. First, although this would be the one and only appearance of Margo the Magician, the concept can easily be seen as an influence in another Father/Daughter team of backward speaking magicians. Also the appearance of a group of Quality heroes would reappear years later in the form of the Freedom Fighters. This one issue held many of the seeds of future comic concepts just waiting to be rediscovered.