Crack Comics - Recurring Features

Recurring Features

• The Clock: moving over from Feature Comics, George Brenner's the Clock was the cover feature of Crack Comics #1, alternating cover appearances with the Black Condor until issue #19. He was a regular feature in the title — usually as the final story in each issue — until his last appearance, in issue #35 (Autumn 1944). The Clock's spot was taken over by Floogy the Fiji, a jungle comics feature which lasted from issue #36 (Winter 1944) until issue #59 (Mar. 1949).
• Black Condor: A mystery man with the power of flight, the character's adventures were originally written by Will Eisner and drawn by Lou Fine. The Black Condor was the lead feature of Crack from issue #1–26, and a regular feature until issue #31 (Oct. 1943).
• Lee Preston of the Red Cross: newspaper strip reprints of Lee Preston, a heroic Red Cross nurse, and her friend Rick Royce, were a feature from issues #1–9 (Jan. 1941), when the strip was replaced by Paul Gustavson's Tor the Magic Master. Jim Slade was a photojournalist whose superhero persona was a backward-speaking magician. This feature lasted from issue #10 (Feb. 1941) until issue #26 (Nov. 1942). Beginning with issue #27 (Jan. 1943), Tor's spot was taken by Alfred Andriola's Captain Triumph. Stories of the merged twins (one alive, one dead) who formed the Golden Age superhero were a recurring item — mostly as the cover feature — through to Crack Comics final issue, #62.
• Alias the Spider: Paul Gustavson's crime-fighting bowman was a regular feature in Crack from issue #1–29 (May 1943), eventually replaced by Bernard Dibble's humor feature Beezy Bumble. Beezy lasted through the rest of Crack Comics' run, ending with issue #62.
• Molly the Model: Bernard Dibble's one-page humor strips were featured in every issue of Crack Comics from #1–62.
• Eric Vale: two-page text stories of the adventuresome pilot of a black plane were a regular feature, only missing a few issues, from #1–50 (Sept. 1947).
• Slap Happy Pappy: created by Quality editor Gill Fox, most of the hillbilly character's humorous one-page strips were done by Jack Cole, and were a regular feature from issues #1–49 (July 1947).
• Madame Fatal: Art Pinajian's cross-dressing detective debuted in issue #1, continuing as a feature until issue #22 (Mar. 1942), when it was replaced by Pen Miller, who came over from National Comics. Klaus Nordling's cartoonist/detective and his "Chinese houseboy Chop Chu" solved crimes and helped the war effort, lasting as a regular feature from issue #23 (May 1942) until issue #60 (May 1949).
• Red Torpedo: Submariner Jim Lockhart, created by Henry Kiefer, first appeared in Crack Comics #1 and was a regular feature until issue #20 (Jan. 1942), when he was replaced by Hack O'Hara. O'Hara was a tough New York taxi driver who used his muscles to take down criminals. Hack's stories, illustrated by Witmer Williams, were featured from #21 (Feb. 1942) through issue #62.
• Space Legion: Vernon Henkel's science fiction adventures starring Rock Braddon and Commander Crosby were a regular feature from issues #1–18 (Nov. 1941), replaced by Henkel's own Don Q. Don was a crime-fighter whose secret identity was a diplomatic courier for the American government. His adventures appeared in issues #19 (Dec. 1941)–26 (Nov. 1942).
• Wizard Wells: Harry Campbell's Wells was a former All-American athlete and a talented inventor who used science to outwit crooks. Wells' sidekicks included Tug, a punch-drunk jack-of-all-trades and Wells' would-be girlfriend Mary Perry. Wells was featured in issues #1–14 (July 1941), when he was replaced by Al McWilliams' Spitfire. The adventures of heroic fighter pilot Tex Adams lasted from issue #15 (Aug. 1941) until issue #27 (Jan. 1943). Spitfire was in turn replaced by Al Stahl's Inkie, who lasted as a feature from #28 (Mar. 1943) until issue #60 (May 1949).
• Rube Goldberg's Side Show: reprints of the cartoonist's newspaper strips were a regular two-page feature in every issue from #1–40 (Winter 1945).
• Jane Arden: Reprints of the popular newspaper strip featuring a spunky gal reporter were a regular Crack Comics feature from issues #1–25 (continuing the tradition of Feature Comics #21-31).
• Ned Brant: a regular feature from issues #1–25 (Sept. 1942), the sports-related stories were syndicated newspaper strip reprints by writer Robert Zuppke and artist Walt Depew.
• Snappy: Arthur Beeman's one-pager humor strips debuted in issue #5 (Sept. 1940), lasting until #26 (Nov. 1942).

Other characters of note who appeared in Crack Comics included Batch Bachelor, Biff Banks, Black Shark, Dewey Drip, Kiki Kelly, and Yankee Guerilla.