Thursday 26 March 2015

The Art of Wall Diving - Fire Extinguishers

Fire extinguishers are a common sight but sometimes people take the trouble to make them look a little more interesting. (With thanks to Assured Fire and Security. Go here and scroll down to see some non-diving examples).





 

Saturday 21 March 2015

Three of a Kind - The Hardy Boys

Here are three covers from The Secret of Pirates Hill which was number 36 in the long-running Hardy Boys series.





The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe, have been having adventures since 1927. Created by Edward Stratemeyer of book-packaging firm The Stratemeyer Syndicate, various ghost-writers have all worked under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.

The Secret of Pirates Hill was written in 1956 by John Almquist with a revised version by Priscilla Baker-Carr appearing in 1972 as the early books were updated.
 

Wednesday 11 March 2015

The Archie of Diving - Mad House

Archie's Mad House was first published in 1959 and initially featured the regular Archie characters in stories that were a bit wackier than normal. From issue 19 the regulars were dropped and monsters, space stories and parodies of popular culture came to the fore.

Issue 22 from 1962 is significant because it introduced the character of  Sabrina, the Teen-age Witch. Created by writer George Gladir and Art of Diving favourite Dan DeCarlo, Sabrina's debut features one panel that caught my eye...



In the same issue, Gladir and DeCarlo also presented The Romances of Marcia the Mermaid. (Click on the images for larger scans).


After rejecting the advances of a shark called Mark and having her heart broken by Max the Life Guard, Marcia has sworn off boys forever when...




Don't you love a happy ending?!

As a bonus, here's the cover to Mad House Annual number two from 1964. Despite the hair colour, I don't think that's supposed to be Archie on the cover. I'm not sure who the artist is but I'm going to guess at Bob White. Updated 18/9/23: The Grand Comics Database suggests Samm Schwartz as a possible penciller.