Chop Chop - Jack Cole's 1950 Blackhawk Back-Up Feature

In 1950, Jack Cole published a consecutive series of three zany short back-up features in Blackhawk (Quality Comics Publications). The stories featured Chop Chop, the comic relief character in the BLACKHAWK line-up. The Chop Chop back-up was a regular feature in the book, and was always at least mind-boggling for it's racist slant on Chinese culture.

These stories came along at a time when Cole began to search around for a new style in 1950-51 (see our postings on ANGLES O'DAY and AUGIE MOORE). His artwork in this short-lived stint is exceptional, and as inventive as ever, such as this panel in which Chop Chop puts his arm through a vibrant sound effect.



The ehtnic dialogue in these stories is quite bizarre and only works some of the time.

The odd writing is saved, however, by the inclusion of a bevy of exotic and beautiful femme fatales. In fact, these three stories are similar to Cole's approach on his 4-6 pager WOOZY WINKS back-up features, in which our portly skirt-chaser oft falls prey to sexy schemers.

In the first story, Woozy -- uh, that is, Chop Chop -- is almost too busy to pursue the sexpot, but manages to get down to business by the end. There's a funny, almost Kurtzman/Mad-style splash panel, and some great figure drawing. Look at Chop Chop's propulsion in the fourth panel on page two.

Blackhawk 31 (June, 1950)

In the next story, we are not only dealing with Chop Chop's broken English, but also the near-halluncinogenic mangling of the language from a Spanish perspective. Consider this baffling statement, from the lovely Paquita: "Of a true, you are past date for full-dress assoosination, my handsome wan!" The running joke here, created eight years before the Castro and the Cuban Revolution, has to do with the instability of bannana republic military dicatorships.

Blackhawk 32 (August, 1950)

The next entry is probably the most sucessful of the three stories. The ethnic dialogue is reduced, and the device of Chop Chop mistakenly concluding he is in a pirate movie is amusing enough. Best of all, is one of Jack Cole's hottest women characters, the sexy and venal pirate leader, Captain Kate. Note the clever visual pun of Chop Chop's name on the poised sword in the spash panel.

Blackhawk 33 (October, 1950)

Augie Moore - Jack Cole's Ode to Average America 1951 (T-Man #1, 1951)

Story presented in this post:
"Augie Moore and the Teen Terrors" (writing, art, and lettering by Jack Cole)
T-Man #1 (September 1951, Quality Comics Publications)

"Augie Moore is an average guy, with average friends, living in an average city." So begins this little-known example of just how great a storyteller in the comics medium Jack Cole had become by 1951.

This story, the only appearance of Mr. A. Moore and the "Teen Terrors," (good name for a band) is very much of a piece with the ANGLES O'DAY stories Jack Cole created in the first nine issues of the Quality title Ken Shannon, from 1951 to 1953 (posted here). In fact, Cole cooked up both of these slices of Americana around the same time, in the late summer of 1951.



Jack Cole had reached a lofty peak by 1950, with such incredible stories as "The Plague of Plastic People" (Plastic Man #22). In 1951, he took a new tack in his comic book career, developing a much more toned down narrative and visual style.

The industry was shifting from superhero books to crime, love, western, war, and funny animal comics for the young set. Comics books became grimly serious in the early 1950's, until Kurtzman's Mad appeared a few years later, (which was of a piece with Cole's work) making it OK for comics to be comical again. It made sense in 1951 for Cole to reach for a marketable new style.

He smoothed out his wild graphic invention, but maintained that pulse of creative energy underneath the surface. Cole carried this low key style through the nine ANGLES O"DAY stories, his work on 11 issues of Quality's Web of Evil book, and here... in this extremely obscure work.

His usual design touches are in play, although in a subdued form. Augie Moore's coat is green with a black pattern, much like Woozy Winks' blouse. Characters bend and twist their bodies comically. And, just as we have in the seventh ANGLES O'DAY story (Ken Shannon #7), Cole delivers an inversion of the crime story, with an ending that peters out into futility and frustration.

One can sense Cole's impending decision to leave comics in this story. It feels a bit tired. Nonetheless, it is also extremely well-crafted. For example, the way Jack Cole lettered the story, with expert use of typography to convey vocal emphasis and speech tics adds a lot to the development of the characters.

Lastly, it should be noted that in just five pages, Cole delivers satire (Augie's fascination with the hack mystery story he is reading), Americana (teens in a soda shop, small town America), action, and comedy. He may have been slowing down in 1951, but this story shows Cole was truly a master of the form!

Speed on Paper (Smash Comics 37, Nov. 1942)

In an earlier Speed On Paper design study, we looked at Jack Cole's unsurpassed ability to inject his characters and stroylines with manic energy. Here is another stellar example, from Smash Comics #37 (November, 1942, Quality Publications).

The story features MIDNIGHT, one of Cole's longest-running characters. Originally designed by Quality publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold as a knock-off of Will Eisner's instantly sucessful THE SPIRIT, the feature very quickly morphed into one of Cole's richest and most unique creations.

This story, Cole's 14th MIDNIGHT episode, is one of my favorites. It is brimming with graphic invention as the characters smash the panel borders and zoom off the page. This 9-page gem respresents perhaps the apex of Jack Cole's invention in putting speed on paper!