While western comics went out of fashion in the late 1970s here in America, in Italy the genre is not only alive and healthy, but thriving. The top-selling western, and one of the most popular comics in Italy, is the long-running title, Tex. Ongoing since 1948, with current print runs in excess of 200,000 copies per issue, it lasted far longer than even the longest running American western titles, such as DC's Western Comics or Marvel's Kid Colt! At its peak it was selling 700,000 per month! There is actually nothing comparable to this giant in the western genre in the USA and I'm guessing anywhere else. Ironically, the characters in Tex present a far more accurate picture of the true diversity of the Wild West than American western comics ever did. We see Black, Mexican, American Indian, and white cowboys working together, as it was in the real history of the West, but not as most twentieth century media portrayed it. Moreover, these characters are presented respectfully, with some hint at the true depth and complexity of American Indian culture. Racism is not prominent in this Wild West, just as in the real West of America, when it was beyond the borders of the Union, and even up until Jim Crow began to bite, when Black people could start a new life relatively less encumbered by the oppression prevalent in the States.

And these are not small comics, in terms of pages. Not the more modern issues anyway. They're each as long as an American graphic novel! Tex was originally created by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli (writer) and Aurelio Galleppini (artist). I believe the editor, Sergio Bonelli, is quite a celebrity in Italy. Of the dozens of artists who have worked on the book during its 67 year history, only one appears to be American - the great Joe Kubert was the guest artist on Tex Special #15 (I'm getting my information from the Italian Wikipedia at this point!).

Tex Willer is a leader in the Navajo tribe, having married a Navajo woman, Lilyth. So Arizona of the 1880s is the main setting in the original comics, but over the years stories have taken place in surrounding areas such as New Mexico and Texas, and far further afield places like Alaska and Colombia.

Here's a couple of examples that I collected on recent trips to Venice. The first is one that I found in a second hand bookstore. It is a large, 240 page, Tex Annual #27 from 2012. Only the covers are in color, but the interior black and white art is exquisite. The cover and interior art of this one is by Fabio Civitelli, the story by Mauro Boselli. The title of the story literally seems to be "The Ride of the Dead," but it could be more like "The Trail of the Dead.

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Okay, I know the cover of WF #17 really doesn't look like it's going to say anything socially relevant on the inside, but appearances can be deceptive. Besides the main features, this issue included an 8-page Johnny Everyman story dedicated to exposing the plight of African American G.I.'s returning home after World War II to segregation. It is written by Jack Schiff (who wrote about a million public service announcement pages for DC for several decades), with pencils and inks by John Daly (worked on Congo Bill, Robotman, Sub Zero, and a variety of other Golden Age characters).

The first few pages show a segregated African American unit in action on the front line against the Nazis. The story then shifts to the USA, and Ralph, who's an African American soldier from that unit, is home on leave and meeting up with his buddy George outside the munitions plant where George works. Ralph is keen to sit and catch up with George over some food, but Ralph has been away a while and forgotten that eating places are segregated around there.
George and Ralph are in the process of being turned away at a second restaurant, by a waiter who knows he's in the wrong but just claims all the tables are reserved, when Johnny Everyman steps in and makes it impossible for the restaurant to deny them. Ralph is grateful, but it is still a bitter pill to swallow. Without their white-skinned friend coming to their aid, they wouldn't have been allowed to eat there. The real problem hasn't gone away, only temporarily thwarted in this small way. Probably the strongest lines in the story are when Ralph, twice decorated war hero, expresses his frustration:

"Sure I'm a hero! I almost gave up my life to help wipe out fascism. So what? I come back here and I can't even eat a meal where I want to... what's the use?"

Johnny launches into a long speech, reminding Ralph of gains that had been made towards eventually establishing racial equality, and encouraging Ralph to have faith that his will come about. It's a tough analysis to take, but it's probably accurate to the way things were in the mid-40s. There would be no overnight changes, only gradual movement in a more positive direction. Hard that a whole section of the population had to continue waiting for the rights that were theirs, and have to endure discrimination and abuse in the mean-time. Not difficult to see why some people might just get fed up with that situation, after how many generations since the Emancipation Proclamation, and take a proactive stance.
I can't say for sure, obviously, that this story is unique, but it's a contender until something similar shows up. Who was DC editor at this time? This isn't revolutionary old EC, but reliably mainstream mom's apple pie DC, taking an admirable very public stance against segregation, even if reluctantly conceding that it wasn't about to end that day. I liked the dedication at the beginning, which set the mood for the whole piece:

"Dedicated to the millions of American Negroes who are doing their share in the armed forces and on the home front, to win the war and usher in a new era of peace and understanding among men".

Not bad for 1945. I wonder if pre-code DC war comics used less of the racist terms referring to Asians in the 1950s than did those of other companies, e.g. Atlas. That would be interesting to find out.

I think this 'scan' was from Joshua Thirteen again, but it looks like it was actually a microfiche originally. I don't happen to have a copy of this one in my collection!

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I like the composition of this cover for Brides Secrets 8 published by Ajax/Farrell. It's a device you see used here and there in romance comics, with the distraught woman large and in the center, surrounded by a halo of dismembered heads whose comments or expressions reflect the situation causing distress. I'm guessing this is a comic book version of something that originated in old movies.

This story's title has a double meaning, referring simultaneously to a bride and a nurse. The young nurse suffers the familiar fainting episode on her first time in the operating theater, but the doctor's harsh response is just the beginning of an ongoing string of severe reprimands he delivers seemingly whenever in contact with Lana. He's involved with the rich daughter of someone senior in the hospital administration, but despite being the target of his scathing comments, Lana finds herself somehow attracted to Dr. Peters. It's then that an old flame, Fran Heath, rekindles his connection with her, and they start seeing each other again. Lana learns to take the Doctor's criticisms in her stride, but at graduation, with him giving the diplomas, it seems he's found one final way to humiliate her. He drops the diploma, but then apologizes and asks her out! She declines, thinking it was just his way of making up for spoiling her graduation. She's already arranged a job in another town and can't wait to get away. The next day she takes the train to her new home, only to find that  Dr. Peters has flown ahead to meet her as she disembarks. He's been in love with her for some time, but kept it under wraps so as not to disturb her studies and her chance of graduating. She can now admit that she also has had feelings for him, and it ends well as all romance stories should!
I don't know who the artist is but I think you'll agree it has some good things going for it. Some panels are particularly nice. Anyone able to give this artist an ID?

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Upon examination, the comic book career of the Archie Comics character Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats is mighty impressive. From her first appearance in 1969 up to the present, she has been a forceful presence in the Archie Universe. Valerie has always been Josie's equal, and often the main protagonist in Josie stories, even in the early days. Archie Comics can been seen over the years since her introduction to have been fairly mute when it comes to outright discussion of race, and their strategy has clearly been to establish diversity through a passive but very present inclusion, with Valerie Smith and then Chuck Clayton being the main vehicles by which they achieved integration. Given that Archie Comics have a heavy, if humorous, focus on romance, it is perhaps surprising that inter-racial relationships weren't in evidence until recently.This post will start with a look at Valerie's first appearance in Josie and the Pussycats 45 (#1), and then bring us up to date with more recent goings on in her fictional life. We pick up the story where Alex Cabot is offering to manage the newly formed group

This is leading up to Valerie's first moment in comics, and the very first appearance of an African American character in Archie Comics. When she does appear it's clear that Archie Comics are onto a winner. She's cute without being over the top. She seamlessly enters the plot line and has been there ever since.

Alex's sister, Alexandra, is continuously green with envy, having wanted to be the star of the group and have it named after her. As it is she has not only failed to be part of the group, but any real hope of her participation has been undone by Valerie's arrival. Alexandra is, however, endowed with some mild witch powers, which she uses again and again to try and upset the Pussycat applecart. Her magic can be nullified by the click of some fingers, and anyway things never seem to go quite how she planned.

Now let's take a look at 21st Century Valerie, in Archie 608 from 2010. The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats are going to tour together. They've agreed on equal billing, but Alex Cabot, thinking he's looking out for his band, has tricked them all into signing a contract that has the Pussycats top of the bill, So when the posters go up.

Alex's trickery is exposed in the discussion with the promoter, and it's all sorted out amicably between everybody.

More than 40 years after Valerie's introduction, we have the first inter-racial romance in Archie Comics! I think Archie Comics have to be commended. They have never resorted to blaxploitation. Their African American characters promote a wholesome image, and once diversity was introduced, the company maintained it with a high profile. Once they made that move they never looked back, and its been all positive. For those of you who are hanging on the edge of your seat, here's a bit of what happened in the next ish - starting with the cover, which suggests this romance could end in heartbreak, but it doesn't turn out exactly like it looks. Archie 609 begins with the two bands on the tour. At the end of the set, Archie and Josie sing the song he and Valerie wrote, and this becomes a prompt for both to reflect on the relationship that has developed between them.

So although the next issue gets into a totally different plot line, maybe there will be more on Valerie and Archie in the future. On reflection, it seems to me that the company just can't go all the way and have Archie marry Valerie, even a few years down the road. He's America's favorite teen, and despite the myriad of clones produced by practically every other company in comics over the decades, he's beaten off all the competition and he's still there. If the company produced a series about Archie's future married life (would he and his wife then become a clone of Blondie and Dagwood?), as they did with the two dreams in which Archie married Betty and then instead Veronica, but in Archie 'real life', might it then spoil the uncertainty that has been a driving force in the series since the 40s - will it be Veronica or Betty who wins Archie in the end? It would make all that rivalry pointless for the reader, because we'd know, from the series about Archie's future, who he ends up marrying, even if it's Valerie instead of either of them. So just how far Archie Comics are prepared to go with this Valerie relationship is difficult to predict. From Betty's reaction in this story it does seem that she actually cares more for Archie than does Veronica, to whom Archie is perhaps something of a desirable trophy.

What is also really interesting to me is that this story is actually a romance. It has no sex in it. It's cute, sweet, and innocent, but from what I can gather it was a real hit with the fans. It does suggest that there is, still, or again, a market for romance comics that don't get dirty. Exactly who the audience for Archie is nowadays would be very interesting to find out. For me, this has raised a lot of questions about what's happening in comics.

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You'll have to forgive my ignorance but it is only just recently that I learned of the character that appears, by some accounts, to have been the first Black hero in comics. He was created by someone who signed his name as George West, and originally appeared  in newspapers running Syndicated Features comics strips in 1936. These strips were subsequently collected and reprinted in Best Comics published by Pines (Standard) beginning in November 1939, and lasting for only four issues. Note the landscape format, very unusual in comics.

That hero was the enigmatic Red Mask. Now if you have never encountered The Red Mask, as I hadn't until a few days ago, you may well be puzzled by the above cover of Best Comics #2. This is the only issue available online in the Digital Comic Museum, but considering its rarity, we should consider ourselves very fortunate that the DCM has even one. According to the Gerber Comics Photojournal scarcity index, between 21 and 50 copies are estimated to exist of issues #1 and #4, and there are no more than between 11 and 20 copies of #2 or #3 (these figures obtained from Michelle Nolan's 'Niche' on the CGC website and also from eBay).What you see on this cover of #2 above is The Red Mask depicted as a white person protecting a white female (Nina) and a young white male (Danny) from hostile native tribesmen. However, the character is most definitely intended to be Black, as evidenced by the cover of Best Comics #1 and by the strips themselves. Unfortunately there is some visual racist stereotyping of the Black native people in this comic.

The cover of Best Comics #1 is featured on Comic Vine and the Grand Comics Database, and if you go to either of those websites using the links provided, you will see that The Red Mask is most definitely a Black person. A complete understanding of this important comic is elusive, however, not just because of its rarity. The fact is that some of the pages have panels in which The Red Mask is colored white, sometimes as sort of half black, and in the majority that I can find he looks Black. As comic strip expert Allan Holtz points out, The Red Mask has wavy, non-African hair. Only 26 episodes of the strip were ever published, with the story left hanging, so we'll never know for sure what was going to be the eventual outcome. Holtz thinks that The Red Mask was most likely the white guy, Jason Armitage, who went missing a year previously, and whom the other white people in the story are searching for. Holtz's explanation for The Red Mask being black is that he has been in the jungle for a while and developed a deep tan.

However, I am inclined to believe that The Red Mask was intended to be the Black person he was portrayed as. The story is not necessarily set in Africa. We are told the setting is "the South Seas," and the action seems to be taking place initially on an island, Kaukura. So the fact that The Red Mask's hair is not African-looking isn't necessarily a problem. I also think that the explanation for the change in coloration of The Red Mask's skin on the covers of Best Comics #2, #3, & #4, and on the interior pages, were down to an inexperienced and/or uninformed colorist. After all, over 20 years later the same kind of error happened with the cover of Marvel's Sgt. Fury #1 - Gabriel Jones, the African American Howling Commando was depicted with white skin on that cover by mistake. Racist reactions to Best Comics could also have been the reason why a deliberate change in the Red Mask's color was made on the covers of the books after issue #1, and also on some interior pages.

The earliest episode of The Red Mask newspaper strip that's available in color on the internet is #6, which is posted on Allan Holtz's blog, The Stripper's Guide. This would have been reprinted in Best Comics #1, which had episodes 1 through 7. Best Comics #2 has episodes 8 through 13, and one can speculate that the remaining 13 episodes were split between issues #3 (probably episodes 14 through 20) and #4 (probably episodes 21 through 26). Since The Red Mask was the main feature in Best Comics, and the strip had ceased publication in newspapers prior to Best Comics reprinting them, one has to conclude that Pines/Standard had no intention of publishing more than 4 issues, that is, unless they had another main feature ready to take its place but the sales weren't good enough to justify continuing. Allan Holtz has the last episode, #26, on his blog, along with black and white microfiche images of episodes #1 and #2, as well as a color image of episode #20. Episodes 8 through 13

The story seems to be that Colonel Trent, along with Robert Fear and some other men, as well as Nina and Danny, came on the Colonel's yacht in search of Jason Armitage, who disappeared in the area a year before. The Red Mask is really Maui, chief of a native tribe. I can see why Allan Holtz thinks that ultimately we would have found out that Maui/The Red Mask is in fact Jason Armitage. Then there's the mysterious Grotto of Jewels, lair of the Sacred Monster. The action in the above pages seems to be occurring on two fronts: inland with The Red Mask's tribe, and with the 'Coastal Tribe,' who have captured the Colonel and the others.

Similarities with The Phantom, which also debuted in newspapers in 1936, have been noted, but of course The Phantom is still going strong today, and he is most definitely a white man. The Red Mask has slipped into obscurity until recently. We'll likely never know the truth behind the story of The Red Mask, but there is certainly a case for him being the first Black hero in comics!

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"The Love Goddess" (July 1975) is an eight page Demetrio story set in the motion picture industry. Richard Wharton and his wife Eliza (you don't need me to tell you this is a thinly veiled reference to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) have fought throughout their stormy marriage. Wendy, a young actress, gets swept away with the fantasy of marrying Richard as he romances her in front of his wife, and proposes they wed after he divorces Eliza. Having been warned by Steve Romano (who is seriously in love with Wendy) that Richard is just using her to annoy his wife, and that Wendy is the latest in a string of girls who all thought things would be different with them, Wendy forges ahead with the relationship with Richard, despite the awkward fact that he is married. It's public knowledge that Richard and Eliza aren't getting along, so apparently this justifies, in Wendy's mind, her being the 'other woman' in Richard's infidelity.

What Wendy really can't grasp is that Richard is still going through his mid-life crisis - he's moving towards/into old age and he's in big time denial about the natural aging process as it applies to his physical body. Being an actor he's used to adopting different personae, so he slips easily into playing the still young mature guy. Don't you love the way Demetrio draws Eliza's and Wendy's hair? And who is the colorist on these Demetrio stories? Nice job!

Despite the obvious chemistry between herself and Steve, Wendy continues to be carried along by her infatuation with the illusion that Richard presents. But as Steve predicted, Eliza won't allow it to go too far, although she is not exactly the bitch about it that we'd been led to expect. Instead she gives Wendy a fairly good shove in the right direction by setting up a rendezvous for her with Steve, after first counteracting the spell that her husband had cast over the younger woman by letting her see him without his props. What was she thinking? Really! And she knows it - she was bewildered by Richard's charm and status, but now she has all the facts she sees which side her bread is buttered on. Yes that young, handsome man Steve, who adores her so, will make a much more appropriate lover and father for her future children. Age gaps can be okay, but this one wasn't right, not by a long way. And Wendy should have known better than to go messing with a married man. Does she really want the reputation that goes with that? I don't think so.

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therains-manga - EC's March-April 1953 issue of Weird Fantasy includes a 7-page story titled "Judgment Day", written by Al Feldstein, drawn and inked by Joe Orlando, and colored by Marie Severin. EC subsequently reprinted the story in Incredible Science Fiction 33 (Jan-Feb 1956) to fill in for an Angelo Torres alien planet jungle story that was rejected by the Code.

This (in my opinion) masterpiece of graphic storytelling takes the reader to a future other-world setting, in which humans have advanced beyond the solar system and out into the stars. This planet is one they have seeded with an artificial life form, and a representative of the human race, Tarlton, arrives to inspect the society that has evolved, to see if it is ready to join the Galactic Republic. As Tarlton is shown round, Feldstein uses the scenario as an allegory of the segregated society prevalent in the United States at that time. There are orange and blue robots, and facilities are designated accordingly. The blue robots are the ones that live on the other side of the tracks, and are denied the privileges accorded to the orange robots. Tarlton sees what he needs to see, and points out the flaws in the status quo that have developed in this civilization, citing these as the reason that this robot society is not yet qualified to move to a higher level of existence. The scene in the assembly plant is particularly poignant. That panel on page 6, where Tarlton likens the 'educator' to the family, environment, and societal institutions on Earth that condition a young person to look upon themselves and their relationship with the rest of society in a particular way, is stuff we teach undergraduates and graduates in 'Human Behavior and the Social Environment'. Who says EC didn't really mean Educational Comics!? I'll let the story say the rest for itself.

Again, though, this is EC making a bold statement against the situation that existed in society at that time due to the derailing of the intent of Emancipation Proclamation. The class prejudiced and racist structures in society that impose unequal opportunity for the poor, amongst whom minority groups, including African Americans, are over-represented, remain somewhat effective today, despite official desegregation. And while many, many more people today, especially young people, are free of the attitudes that support this inequality, they may not be the ones with the economic power to effect deep changes to the institutional racism that is still embedded in our society.

That said, I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the United States remains arguably the most advanced nation in addressing and overcoming this problem. We have what appears to be the most diverse society on Earth, and so problems like this have come to the fore first in our country. I'd say that where the US has trodden, others have yet to follow. Observe the inter-racial violence that has been erupting recently on the streets of the UK. Other countries in Europe have also been experiencing huge influxes of immigrants from their old colonies, and there are massive adjustment problems as a result. This EC story may have been revolutionary for America in 1953, but the fact that it existed here at all says a lot. I don't think there is anything even nearly equivalent to this in early 1950s British comics (although I would welcome correction on this point) - Britain was still a virtually monochrome society in 1953 and so was barely beginning to address the issue of racial integration. Demeaning images of non-whites were acceptable, perhaps not even thought about then as inappropriate. When I was a kid in England, golliwogs were standard in children's books, as toys, and even as collectible figures behind the label on your jar of marmalade. So putting it in perspective, it was that constitutional principle of freedom that allowed EC to publish this story in the first place (and why one can argue that the Comics Code was kind of unconstitutional), even though the climate of the times may not have been very much in tune with EC's stance on segregation and racism. But because reformers are allowed to speak out, change can eventually occur, and hopefully we haven't lost sight of that. I wonder if I'll live to see the time that Earth is ready for it's 'judgment day'.

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