Seven Seas Comics - a PS Artbooks Collection

PS Artbooks has been collecting a lot of great Golden Age stuff for a while.  I have the Phantom Lady books they put out, and I've also recently bought the Senorita Rio books they have published.  Happened across this book in an issue of Previews some months back, and even though it is a "softee" (paperback) collection (I have only gotten all hardcover to this point), I ordered it, because I had never heard of the comic, nor of its lead character, "South Sea Girl."  Being a fan of female-led comics, I obviously could not pass up this one.  But I quickly discovered, once I started reading it, that Seven Seas Comics had a lot more than just "South Sea Girl" to offer!

Unfortunately, this softee collection did not have any introduction or other preface that provides any information about the comics, so I was forced to go online and find out what I could about Seven Seas Comics.  This six-issue series was published by Universal Phoenix Features (owned by Samuel "Jerry" Iger) and ran from 1946 to 1947.  The comic featured stories by some rather big named Golden Age greats, such as Matt Baker, Thorne Stevenson, and others, and the first two issues featured eight stories, including a prose story, and a "Salty Stuff" page that gave readers info on nautical knowledge, from the use of flags for communication among ships to how to tie various knots to the meaning of different colored lights, etc.  By issue three, however, the number of stories were reduced, and by the end of the series, there were just five stories in each issue. However, several of the regular features continued throughout the series, including my two favorites: "South Sea Girl" and "Tugboat Tessie."

"South Sea Girl" was originally drawn (and written?) by Matt Baker, a Golden Age artist who is probably best known for his work on Phantom Lady, when that character was taken over to Fox Comics back in the '40s, as well as all of the Canteen Kate comics.  It has been alleged that South Sea Girl, whose name is Alani, was inspired by actress Dorothy Lamour, who starred in a number of South Sea Island films back in the late '30s and early '40s (see, South Sea Girl in Seven Seas Comics).  As stated in the introduction text box of that first issue, Alani is the ruler and protector of the Vanishing Isles, a small group of islands in the South Seas that is "shrouded by whispering mists" and, for the most part, hidden from the prying eyes of mankind.  Each story, Alani faces off against invaders - whether it be poachers, Hollywood executives, pirates, or even murderous criminals - and each time Alani proves to be more than any of these man (or women!) can handle.  The stories are relegated to the end of the first several issues, but clearly it must have been a hit with comic readers, because starting with the fourth issue, "South Sea Girl" became the lead story for those last three issues.  Although Matt Baker signs off on the first several stories, the final tales are credited to "Thorne Stevenson," and it seems there are conflicting thoughts from online sources, as some thing Stevenson is simply a pseudonym for Baker, while others indicate Stevenson is actually Manning Lee Stokes, who wrote the stories, while Baker continued to provide art, albeit uncredited.  I supposed at this late date, we will likely never know for sure...

"Tugboat Tessie" was something of a unique character (at least to me).  Tessie is a tough-as-nails, working woman who runs her own tugboat business with her daughter, Melody (who is the real beauty of the strip). Tessie is always vying for business against Bill Jetty, a veteran tug boat sailor who is always stealing her business.  The stories are humorous, as Jetty ultimately falls into trouble, and Tessie and Melody have to bail him out, ultimately scoring the job (and the pay that goes with it!).  What I find interesting is that Tessie has plenty of meat on her bones, is an older woman, is not pretty by any means - and yet, she is not only the lead character in the stories, but the hero of every story!  Melody, the beautiful blond daughter, is the bombshell all the boys are after, but she has no interest in any of them - her only interest is in helping her mother run a successful business and often times jumping into the water to save a man who has fallen overboard.  The stories definitely turn the tables on the standard "damsel in distress" trope, as these stories all feature MEN in distress!  They are all a joy to read, and they definitely made me chuckle more than once or twice.  The stories are credited to Lee Stoken, who I found online to actually be Manning Lee Stokes, who authored the stories, while Matt Baker provided the art.  Funny how the two features I liked most in this comics are authored and drawn by the same creators!

Other characters who appeared within the run are Captain Cutlass by "Jonathan Lee" (who, big surprise, turns out to actually be yet another pseudonym for Manning Lee Stokes), The Ol' Skipper by Ruth Roche under the name "Rod" Roche, Harbor Patrol by (you guessed it!) Manning Lee Stokes, and Sagas of the Seas: Authentic Adventures (which stories remain uncredited, although there is speculation that Robert Webb may have provided the art).  Of these, the Captain Cutlass and Harbor Patrol stories are very readable - the Cutlass tales about pirates on the high seas, while the Patrol tales are about the police working to keep the docks safe from criminals.  The Ol' Skipper is about a retired sailor who tells some pretty tall tales that usually result in some benefit to him or the person to whom he's sharing the story.  I wouldn't say they are spectacular, but they are cute for what they are.  The Sagas of the Seas are - well, in one word - boring!  I did not find any of them interesting in the least.  Then there are the comedy strips, "Tall Stories" (which later changed to "Tall Tales") and "Marty and the Mermaid," neither of which I really enjoyed.  I've never been much of a fan of "funny comics," so these stories I pretty much skipped.

What bothered me most about the collection, though, is the fact that issue 3 is not included.  There is no explanation or apparent reason why this collection only includes issues 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.  They went to the trouble of reproducing not only the glossy paper for the covers, including the ads on the inside front cover and the inside and outside back covers, yet they left out an entire issue.  I do realize the stories are not serialized, so the missing issue does not mean I actually missed out on a part to an on-going serial; yet, it does mean I do not have the entire series, with is rather disappointing.  Perhaps PS Artbooks was unable to locate a complete copy of the issue for purposes of reproducing it, or perhaps there was something in the issue that was not yet in public domain, I honestly have no idea.  When I did a search for information on Seven Seas Comics online, I found a number of sites that listed individual issues, but found very few sites that provided more detailed information about the series as a whole.  One website (Seven Seas Comics) did give a bit of background for the creation and intention of the series, so that was something, at least.  

Overall, the five issues I read in this collection were worth the purchase.  It still amazes me how easily these creators of the Golden Age were able to tell complete stories in just 5 to 8 pages, while today's creators can't seem to complete a story in less than 4 to 6 issues!  It's a shame we didn't get more stories of South Seas Girl and Tugboat Tessie, but I suppose they were characters of their time, and there they shall forever remain.

RATING:  8 self-center Hollywood starlets out of 10 for good, clean comic stories that prove (to me, at least!) just how much better the stories and art of yester-year are compared to today's comics.

Senorita Rio - Volume One (a Golden Age Classic)

Ah, the joys of the Golden Age of comic books.  Back in the early days of comic books, there were a plethora of choices for the young fans of comics - from westerns to superheroes to science fiction to war stories to adventure stories to crime/detective stories - just about every genre one can imagine was depicted in comic form.   While I am familiar with most of the superhero titles from back in the '30s and 40s, I am still learning just how little I know about the various other genres that were being published at that time.  Thankfully, PS Artbooks has been offering fans like me a chance to delve into those various other books from back in the day.  Not so long ago, I purchased and read the two volumes of Phantom Lady that PS Artbooks published, collecting the various stories of the original Phantom Lady published by Quality Comics and Fox Feature Publications (as well as later by All-Top Comics and Ajax-Farrell Publications).  I was already familiar with the character from DC Comics (who acquired her when they purchased the Quality characters), so it was interesting to see those pre-DC stories.  So, I've kept an eye on the PS Artbooks offered through Previews, and when I saw a solicit for a new collection of stories starring "Senorita Rio," well, I knew I had to give it a try.

Senorita Rio is the code-name for actress turned secret agent, Rita Farrar (not to be confused with the actress turned weird superhero, Rita Farr, who became Elasti-Girl in the Doom Patrol over at DC Comics).  Senorita Rio first appeared in an eight-page story in Fight Comics #19 (cover dated June 1942), published by Fiction House.  From what I can find online, the character appeared in quite a number of issues of Fight Comics, starting with issue 19 through issue 68, then making her final appearances in issues 70 and 71.  The page-count for the stories varied, starting at eight pages, then increasing to ten pages, then reducing back to nine pages (and that is just within the first sixteen stories represented in PS Artbooks first volume of Senorita Rio).  According to the introduction to this collection, Senorita Rio is one of the first female and Latin characters in American comics, and she is the first female character to appear on the cover of Fight Comics.  (NOTE - Wonder Woman made her debut over at DC Comics in October 1941 in All-Star Comics #8, so it was a little less than a year later that Senorita Rio made her debut in Fight Comics #19 in June 1942).  Thus, this character plays an important role in comic book history!

Our sultry secret agent was created by none other than Nick Cardy (who comic fans will recognize as the artist of the the original Aquaman series in the early '60s and all 43 issues of Teen Titans series back in the late '60s).  Cardy provided the art for the first eleven stories, from June 1942 through December 1943.  He both pencilled and inked the first nine stories, while Art Saaf provided the inks on the last two tales drawn by Cardy.  The stories were signed as "N. Viscardi," which was his real last name (later shortened to simply Cardy for his professional work).  When Cardy left, the art was taken over by Arnold HIcks, and then Alex Blum, and the Lily Renee.  The writing of the stories are credited to "Morgan Hawkins" (although the first tale indicates it is "by Joe Hawkins"), but this does not necessarily appear to be a real person.  I find conflicting information when I research the name - some websites credit Nick Cardy as the author of the Senorita Rio stories under the Hawkins pen name, while other sites credit Max Elkan as the real name for Morgan Hawkins.  I suppose this is a mystery lost in time...

The stories are very fast-paced (which they would need to be, since they are only eight to ten pages in length!) and pretty much follow the same format - Senorita Rio received a mission to stop a German / Nazi operation, she heads out to a South American location, she gets captured or kidnapped, and she escapes and defeats whatever operations the Germans / Nazis are up to and saves the day.  While the stories are pretty simple and straight-forward, they are enjoyable in the fact that the men in these tales greatly underestimate Rio's ingenuity and skills.  She's a sharpshooter and excellent hand-to-hand fighter, and her feminine wiles beguile many a lusting man.  She is also quite handy with a knife, for in the August 1944 issue (#33), Rio manages to take down a wild jaguar who is ready to attack a fellow agent!

 

A number of male supporting characters do end up getting killed or severely injured in the stories, but Senorita Rio manages to escape them unscathed and triumphant, reinforcing the idea that good always overcomes evil, although not always without a cost.  And since these stories were published during a time that the United States was at war, it is likely they were written to encourage the youngsters reading them that good would eventually overcome the evil of the Nazi menace.  Rio's stories extended well beyond the end of World War II, so I am curious to see what kind of adventures the sultry spy went on after the war ended.

Readers who hope to see the first story tell the origin of this mysterious spy will be disappointed - there is no lengthy origin story, such as those depicted in today's comics; rather, Senorita Rio's origins are told gradually throughout those initial stories, with small tidbits dropped here and there that readers will have to put together.  The second panel on page 3 of that first story provides probably the largest part of her tale, with a small newspaper article telling how motion picture actress Rita Farrar leapt to her death while traveling by ship to Rio de Janeiro for the opening of her latest film.  The snippet says the actress was depressed following the death of her fiance at Pearl Harbor.  Otherwise, readers never actually see how Rita Farrar becomes Senorita Rio - instead, readers are simply thrown into the action of Rio's latest adventure (it is clearly not her first), wherein she assumes the identity of a countess in order to steal some forged papers that could destroy relations between the U.S. and Brazil. 

One thing I love about this collection is that it includes four pages of house ads that Fiction House published to advertise their new character.  "Sing a song of sudden death..." headlines one ad - - "Senorita Rio ... svelte, daring ex-Hollywood starlet turned U.S. Secret Agent..." describes another - - "Senorita Rio ... daring, glamorous U.S. spy queen, fights the tarantula web of axis treachery" advertises another - - "Senorita Rio: The World's Most Devastating Secret Agent! Nightmre of Axis Operators ... Toast of Latin America's Gay Caballeros!!" exclaims the fourth!  The only thing missing from this collection are the covers to each of the issues in which Senorita Rio appears.  Even though she may not have appeared on the actual cover, it would have been nice to see the covers for these issues.

As a final note - Senorita Rio (Rita Farrar) first appeared in June 1942.  Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr) of the Doom Patrol over at DC Comics did not appear until June 1963 in My Greatest Adventure #80, some twenty years later.  It must be more than a simple coincidence that the characters have similar names (Rita Farrar / Rita Farr); both characters have the same career (actress / actress); and both characters were in a foreign country when their lives changed (South America / Africa).  This makes one wonder if perhaps Arnold Drake, who created Elasti-Girl, was a fan of Senorita Rio and his creation was an homage to the earlier character...

RATING:  9 white gods of Inca legend out of 10 for some wonderfully action-packed stories featuring a strong, sexy female lead!