Is This Cole? Uncle Sam Quarterly #1

Hello Friends. It’s time once again for another installment of IS THIS COLE (imagine booming announcer voice echoing in stadium).

In today’s installment, we look at Uncle Sam Quarterly #1 (Autumn, 1941).

This super cool comic was packaged by the Eisner-Iger studio and is the work of many talented hands, including Will Eisner, Lou Fine, and – quite likely – Jack Cole.

Overstreet’s lists Jack Cole as one of the artists on this book. However, the stories in the book are uncredited and I can find no definitive source for which pages might be by Jack Cole.

A close scrutiny reveals a short sequence, 2-pages of which appear to be written and drawn by Jack Cole.

The story begins, as do all the stories in this stylish book, with a super-cool splash page (not by Cole).

 
The next two pages could possibly be the work of a rushed Jack Cole. The art resembles very much the work he was doing in 1940-41, such as his SILVER STREAK and MIDNIGHT stories.


The third page (above) looks the  most like the work of Jack Cole of any of the pages in this comic book. Panel 5 is a classic physical pose that only Cole drew. And, of course, Cole loved to draw flames, as we have observed many times in this blog.

The last page of this story is an awkward, but nonetheless impressive two-page spread, rare for comics in  this day and age. Could this be the work of Cole? I’ve looked at this a page a lot, and I simply cannot tell. It is a little awkward for Cole, but then again, it’s a challenging subject. The ambition of the layout matches Cole’s exuberance of this time period. If it is by Cole, it would be, as far as I know, his only double-page spread.



It's unusual it is to see Cole work on just part of a story. He typically made his own comics start to finish, which is part of makes his body of work stand out in comics.

Perhaps Jack Cole's work on the two pages of this story was a "try out" job for the Eisner-Iger studio. Cole would go on to do a lot of work for this studio, which was closely connected with Quality Comics. Cole not only ghosted the studio's main character, THE SPIRIT, but he also contributed material to Crack Comics and Military Comics, both of which were published by Quality but packaged by Eisner-Iger.

What do you think, dear readers? IS THIS COLE?

Midnight Episode 4 (second run): Slipping Out of the Superhero Genre

 

Story this post:

The Old Lighthouse Keeper
Story and art by Jack Cole
(Possible assist by Alex Kotzky)

Smash Comics #71
June, 1947
Quality Comics

Left: cover by Jack Cole

 

The first Midnight stories in 1941-42 by Jack Cole were imbued with the trappings of the super-hero genre. Much like Batman (and unlike The Spirit, his intended template), Midnight swung from building to building, used fantastic weapons, and seemed to have at least above average punching power.

In Jack Cole’s second run on the series, starting in 1947, his Midnight was less a super-hero than a quasi private detective. The vacuum gun and other great weapons went the way of the dodo.

In “The Old Lighthouse Keeper,” we see Cole putting considerable effort into a densely plotted, Agatha Christie style murder story set in a lighthouse. Much like the twisted stairs leading to the blazing lamp at the top of the lighthouse, Cole’s story takes many turns as Midnight eventually shines the light of truth on the mystery.

This story foreshadows the turn hero comics would take into genre stories. Cole himself would be delivering moody, atmospheric horror-mysteries very similar to this 1947 story in 1952-54. This story’s biggest flaw is that it is too tame… too restrained. In 1949-52, Cole would take a huge leap by creating stories in this form that embrace the Dark Weird as only Cole could.

Page 7 deserves particular attention, with a Herriman-like page layout and unique use of sound effects as art elements.

 

Woozy Winks: Four Stories From 1952– Fire, Water, Girls and Suicide

Many issues of the Plastic Man title ran short 4-7 page Woozy Winks stories. Jack Cole appears to have written and drawn about half of these stories, the rest being created by other artists including Bart Tumey, Bill Ward, and Alex Kotzky.

Here’s a quivering quartet of 4-page Woozy stories that display flashes of the genius of Jack Cole.

Overall, the Woozy stories work as lighter fare in the Plastic Man books. Many of the stories have 3 tiers instead of 4, making them breezier. The writing is less complex and bizarre than the Jack Cole PLASTIC MAN stories in the same books. However, even in a light-hearted back-up filler story, Jack Cole could not keep his personal darkness at bay.

Plastic Man #34 (March 1952)

In 1952, Jack Cole changed his art style. Like many comic book artists of that time, Cole moved from a cartoony, screwball style to a more realistic and sober visual approach. This is especially evident in his Angles O’Day stories.

You can see that style in these stories, as well. Cole has a new way of drawing faces and bodies that represents a sort of toned-down caricature style.

Check out the corkscrew-tailed balloon in the splash panel – a sure “tell” that the story comes from the constantly inventive mind of Jack Cole.

Many of the Woozy stories featured Jack Cole babes, usually lusted after and chased relentlessly by the little fat man. In this story, Cole gives Woozy a girlfriend for this one story, but she is as goofy-looking as Woozy!

 

 

Plastic Man #35 (May 1952)

From his earliest days in comics, Jack Cole loved to draw water and fire. The third panel on page one, with the erupting, orgasmic geyser is an image Cole drew over and over in his work, usually as eruption volcanoes or spewing flasks. As are the gracefully waving flames. The middle tier on page two is a particularly great sequence, and contains another “eruption” image.

   

 

Plastic Man #37 (Sept 1952)

Girls, girls, girls! And water again. Cole also loved textile patterns. Woozy’s striped, comically old-fashioned swimsuit works the same visual magic as the prison-striped uniforms of Cole’s early 1940’s Death Patrol stories. But most of all, Woozy in this story resembles Cole’s other great super-hero satire: Burp the Twerp. Check out how Cole letters the word “darrrrling” in the splash panel speech balloon, with shrinking R’s. Wow.  Always growing, Cole began to capture dialects and expressive intonations by varying the size, boldness, and slant of letters in his dialogue ballons.

 

 

Plastic Man #38 (November 1952)

 This 4-page wonder presents us with yet another comically attempted suicide, a device that Cole – who killed himself in 1958 – disturbingly worked into a great many of his comic book stories. In this story, Woozy suffers extreme mood swings and has to find a reason to live. The script almost works as a philosophical search by the author to find an argument for continuing or ending one’s own existence. Did I say the Woozy stories are fun to read? Gulp!