Feature Comics #77

(April 1944)

["Where the overgrown hulks of size and strength may blunder..."] (Table of Contents)

The Doll Man / comic story / 13 pages (report information)

Script:

?

Pencils:

?

Inks:

?

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

superhero

Characters:

Doll Man [Darrel Dane]; Midge [Martha Roberts] (introduction as heroine); William Bramber (broker, death); Bramber's butler; Joe Bramber (Bramber's nephew); Mr. Spelvin (villain, Bramber family attorney); Sabina (villain, Joe's girl)

Synopsis:

Secretly, both Darrel and Martha wish to partner up in the tiny mite's adventures, and, somehow, the simultaneous wishing unlocks a shared super-power which shrinks both of them. Both of them read a news article about three members of the Bramber family dying mysteriously in the garden of their ancestral home, and decide to investigate.

Reprints:

• in Men of Mystery Comics (AC, 1999 series) #93 (2014) (in black and white)

Indexer Notes

This is the first time Martha Roberts gains the power to shrink to tiny size, adopting the heroic name Midge. Later on, she will become Doll Girl.

["This is the tightest town in the circuit..."] (Table of Contents)

Big Top / comic story / 2 pages (report information)

Script:

Bernard Dibble

Pencils:

Bernard Dibble

Inks:

Bernard Dibble

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor

["Mickey has refused to give Uncle Phil any information..."] (Table of Contents)

Mickey Finn / comic story / 4 pages (report information)

Script:

Lank Leonard

Pencils:

Lank Leonard

Inks:

Lank Leonard

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor

Reprints:

• strip reprints

["The winnah!"] (Table of Contents)

Blimpy / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script:

?

Pencils:

Jack Cole

Inks:

Jack Cole

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor

Characters:

Blimpy [aka Rufus Rastas Sassafrass O'Brain]

Indexer Notes

Writer revision from Jack Cole to ? by Craig Delich 2014-1-16, per the Who's Who, which indicates that Cole never wrote this strip.

["So far this week..."] (Table of Contents)

Lala Palooza / comic story / 3 pages (report information)

Script:

Bernard Dibble

Pencils:

Bernard Dibble

Inks:

Bernard Dibble

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor

["The great annual Ice Carnival was to be full of surprises..."] (Table of Contents)

Swing Sisson / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script:

Vernon Henkel

Pencils:

Vernon Henkel

Inks:

Vernon Henkel

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor; detective-mystery

Characters:

Swing Sisson

["A contest has been arranged..."] (Table of Contents)

Poison Ivy / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script:

Gill Fox

Pencils:

Gill Fox

Inks:

Gill Fox

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

humor

Characters:

Poison Ivy

["Captain Spin Shaw, crack Navy pilot, has been assigned..."] (Table of Contents)

Spin Shaw / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script:

?

Pencils:

?

Inks:

?

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

aviation

Characters:

Spin Shaw [Capt. S. R. "Spin" Shaw]

The Captain Is a Beast (Table of Contents)

Perry Scott / text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script:

?

Letters:

typeset

Genre:

adventure

["Hear ye! Hear ye!"] (Table of Contents)

Perky / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script:

Sid Lazarus

Pencils:

Sid Lazarus

Inks:

Sid Lazarus

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

fantasy-supernatural

Characters:

Perky

Sunken Treasure!! (Table of Contents)

Rusty Ryan and The Boyville Brigadiers / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script:

?

Pencils:

Mort Leav

Inks:

?

Colors:

?

Letters:

?

Genre:

adventure; children; spy

Characters:

Rusty Ryan; The Boyville Brigadiers [Pierpont Lee; Alababa]; Captain Cooper (death); Miss Cooper; group of pirates (villains)

Synopsis:

Rusty gets half a map of a sunken treasure from a dying sea captain that shows the latitude and longitude of the Black Pirate Treasure, but not the location. Rusty has to beat a group of pirates to the Captain's daughter who may be able to tell where the location of the treasure is.

Reprints:

• in Men of Mystery Comics (AC, 1999 series) #93 (2014) (in black and white)

Keywords:

Eastern Hotel; Howalla

Indexer Notes

Originally credited to Ed Dobrotka, but this is Mort Leav, with his large hands, lively figures and a special crouching way of running, with thighs lifted high. Dobrotka samples from Superman in Action Comics #69 have no resemblance to these Rusty Ryan stories. Both artists are credited on this feature, but all credited to Dobrotka have to be by Mort Leav.

The Who's Who indicates that Dobrotka did draw this strip in 1944.

The Who's Who indicates that Leav did pencils only on this feature.