Dart Daring Wow Comics #1

When the script says that character is supposed to look like a boy it would be helpful if the artist would avoid making it obvious said character is a girl until the reveal, or at least, the scenes where the hero is still convinced said character is a boy. It boggles the mind how Dart Daring doesn't realize this is a woman as he's freeing her from the tree & even afterward when he asks “him” to remove "his" shirt so Dart can bandage the gorilla.
Did boys in the early 1700's suffer from 'chest mumps' or something?

PDFs of most of Bell Features original comics can be found at the Bell Features Colection if people want to read some "Canadian Whites"*.

* So called by collectors, because most Canadian comics of this time period were printed in B&W.

I've actually read all their Wow Comics and am partway through Dime Comics. I haven't been posting nits though because there are soooooooo manyyyyyyyy...

Most of the creators were young and better artists than writers. There is fun stuff in there though.

Be warned though. Canadian publishers liked torturing their readers with 5 & 6 page text stories. If you thought the 2 page text stories in American comics were a tough slog, you're in for some deep hurting.

It's weird, I don't have trouble reading books that are all text, but coming across a text story in a comic book is like driving along then getting stuck in a muddy section of the road.

I guess reading text just uses different parts of the brain. I find taking a break, then coming back to read the text story makes it easier.

Rex Baxter And Xalanta's Secret Dime Comics #18

NNAN. Adrian Dingle decided to get funny with the Japanese captain's name, Waki Insahedi (whacky in the head ;-) ).

Captain Wonder Triumph Comics #21

In the last panel Captain Wonder is talking to Commissioner Watt on the phone and he says, "Dust out the Black Maria".
Isn't Black Maria a slang term for a hearse rather than a police paddy wagon? I mean, I guess it's possible that Captain Wonder just beat a bunch of gangster's to death with his superpowered fists. It just seems out of character for him though.

Isn't Black Maria a slang term for a hearse rather than a police paddy wagon?

From Wikipedia:

Black Maria, a slang term for a police van used to transport prisoners, originally these were horse drawn and so could take some time to arrive at a crime scene.

Okay, guess I misremembered then.

The Wing Joke Comics #6

The Wing learns of an ambush of a shipment from an aeroplane factory at a specific location. Flying there she is unable to get close and disarm the bombs on the bridge, so she flies up to a Canadian military plane and has the pilot drop a bomb on the bridge.
Wait, what???
The Wing is not anywhere in the military chain of command and I imagine that pilot will suffer some punishment for blowing up a bridge all on the word of a flying bimbo.

Okayyyyyyyyy... Renard is put in charge of plotting the routes used to ship plane parts from the plant to the military. Hermann Weffle learns of information about the route and tells enemy agent Herr Scholtz. At the end it is revealed that Renard and Scholtz are the same person.
Bwha???
Why need Weffle then? Possible scapegoat?

Jerry Lazare was a rather prolific creator at Bell Features with a large number of characters he either created or took over.

And then there were those times he 'borrowed' from others...

The Dreamer Wow Comics #24

Has a costume that resembles the original Green Lantern. At the end of his first adventure says "criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot, I must have a disguise to strike terror into their hearts".


Rabar of Moon Island Wow Comics #29 & 30

The villain is inspired by the book "The World's Most Game" to hunt people.
Well, at least he gave credit here.


Circus Cyclone or the Muddled Mud Opera Commando Comics #15

A ripoff of The Barker story from National Comics #43 (just shorter). The splash page looks like he traced it and made a few changes.

The Saga of Flame Berns Commando Comics #14 & 15.

Part 1 is printed in issue 15. Part 2 is printed in issue 14.

The Invisible Commando Commando Comics #1

Lee Pierce has developed a formula to turn his body invisible, but just his body. So he has to be naked for it to be effective.
Yeahhhhh... as if going into battle wasn't tough enough, imagine going onto a battlefield against armed warriors barefoot, naked and weaponless?

After a few issues the artist started having the clothes disappear without explanation.

In issue 4 Lee discovers, for the first time, that water will turn him visible.
What?

Thunderfist Active Comics #4

Thunderfist is fighting a sea serpent and gets knocked out and sinks into the ocean, coming to outside a lab for mad scientists.
Thunderfist doesn't have superpowers (he uses electrical devices to fly and have explosive punches) so why didn't he drown?

The mad scientists try to stop Thunderfist by using poison gas, so Thunderfist pulls out a gas mask so he can breathe.
Given that he could survive unconscious underwater without a mask I'm amazed he's worried about a little poison gas.

It's kind of interesting. After WWII Canadian comics publishers basically became reprint services for US comics. Bell Features became a reprinter of Archie Comics in Canada and I believe I have discovered the first Archie comic reprinted in Canada by Bell Features...

It's the Chip Pipher story in Active Comics #19.

Yep, the story rips off the Archie story from Pep Comics #30. And not just story points, but actual panels as well.

Very disappointing as Leo Bachle seemed like a good artist & writer, but this one and the Thunderfist story in this issue and the next (both swiped from stories in Superman #18) really makes me wonder how much of his stuff came from stories I haven't read yet.

Only Canadian comic I know of is Captain Canuck.

Oh, you have missed so much...

Impressive. Most impressive.

Looks like I did miss a lot.

Aw, well...