Extra! #1

Credits:
Cover dated March/April 1955
Cover by Johnny Craig

"Dateline: Cayo Ramono, Cuba!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Camera!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Colin Dawkins
"Holiday for MacDuff" - Art by Reed Crandall/Story by ???
"Dateline: Key West!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig

Extra! is the second of the six New Direction titles that I've covered on this blog. This one featured the adventures of newspaper reporters and photographers, who often got heavily involved in the action themselves as this issue shows. Overall, like EC's other New Direction titles, Extra! just couldn't compare to those that came out in the New Trend. All of the stories here are average adventure stories at best, and from a story standpoint aren't good enough to warrant any high praise. Overall the artwork is fairly strong though. Johnny Craig was my favorite EC artist and he got 2 stories per issue here (and was editor for the comic's entire run). While EC's line was almost entirely anthology stories, Extra! features a number of recurring characters who are introduced here including Keith Michaels, Vicki, Patrick MacDonald and Slick Rampart.

"Dateline: Cayo Romano, Cuba!" - Reporter Keith Michaels is heading towards Cuba but is late, worrying his boss, Editor Patrick MacDonald as well as his secretary Vicki. Keith and Vicki depart on a plane, having heard that a munitions firm owner, Henry Gavell (a former Nazi) has dissappeared. Upon arriving in Cuba, Keith finds that Gavell has been taken prisoner. Keith is able to rescue Gavell and escape with him, but thinks that it was all an act and takes Gavell captive. This is proven when Gavell reveals he knows Keith's name, despite him not saying it.

"Camera!" - Slick Rampart, a cameraman heads to a conference in Geneva to take pictures of a General May. While there, he spots that another cameraman is carrying an odd camera that he doesn't switch the film for. Rampart follows the man and goes inside his home while he's away. There he realizes that the camera is actually a gun. He is encountered by some thugs on the way out whom he manages to beat off. Rampart sneaks a regular camera back into the man's house. The next day he spots him trying to take a picture of the general and realizes that the man was trying to assassinate him. The criminal is taken captive and pulls out a regular gun, but Rampart shoots him with the camera-gun.

"Holiday for MacDuff" - A Scottish reporter named MacDuff heads down for vacation on the island of Christian. There he hears gunshots going off and bursts inside a house where he sees Dr. Karona and his daughter. Karona has been shot. MacDuff decides to helps out the daughter, Wilhelmina, despite local law enforcement not trusting him. Wilhelmina tells MacDuff that Karona was hiding away from enemy agents while working for his government on a Tinnium project. MacDuff and Wilhelmina escape from their guard and MacDuff finds the man who shot Karona. They do battle on  his boat and MacDuff comes out on top. Wilhelmina convinces MacDuff to keep things a secret by kissing him.

"Dateline: Key West!" - Keith Michaels and Vicki head to Key West where Keith hopes to get some spear fishing in. They attend a party that night where they meet the head of the Miami World Press Service, Mr. Edson. He introduces them to his daughter Nancy and her fiance Rod. The next day, Keith and Vicki go out spearfishing and Keith spots a body in the water. He brings it up and Mr. Edson reveals the body belonged to a private investigator he had looking into Rod. Keith convinces Rod and Nancy to come out spearfishing with him and Vicki. They head to the area where Keith found the body, which he has left there. He has Rod come underwater with him where the 2 do battle, with Keith knocking him out. Once he brings Rod to the surface Nancy admits that Rod was into Narcotics and was blackmailing her. Upon coming to Rod confesses to the murder, and Keith & Vicki decide to enjoy the rest of their time off.

Two-Fisted Tales #36

Credits:
Cover dated January 1954
Cover by John Severin

"Gunfire!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Colin Dawkins
"Battle!" - Art by Reed Crandall/Story by Colin Dawkins
"Justice!" - Art by John Severin/Story by John Severin & Colin Dawkins
"Dangerous Man!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Colin Dawkins

This issue was the first of "The New" Two-Fisted Tales. Following the end of the Korean War, EC made changes to its war comics by cancelling Frontline Combat entirely and changing Two-Fisted Tales back to more of an adventure comic (which was the original intent of the comic before the start of the Korean war). This was also due to Kurtzman's increasing need to focus on Mad. While Kurtzman remained credited as editor, he stopped writing each story as he did in the past (and in fact had no more writing credits the rest of the run). A new writer, Colin Dawkins was brought aboard who wrote the vast majority of the stories for the next year of the comic. John Severin also became the dominant artist, and had a part in the artwork of every story for the next three issues following this one. Severin had become for all intents and purposes the editor of the comic at this point, even though it wasn't credited that way. I didn't particularly like the format change, especially the fact that nearly every story was drawn by John Severin. There just wasn't enough variety and EC must have agreed as there was another stylistic change for the final 2 issues

"Gunfire!" - At a town in the old west, four criminals rob a bank and murder the martial, Ben Slaughter. Ben's son, Jack, witnesses his death, and the man with a scar across his left cheek that killed him. Jack is sent back east by his aunt and uncle. A few years pass and Jack returns. Jack meets back up again with his aunt and uncle after encountering some criminals. Jack's uncle thinks he's in hiding. Jack tells his uncle he's been hired to go after a man named Regan, the toughest gunhand in town. Jack successfully kills Regan's colleagues when they come after him after demanding Regan shave his beard. His men dead. Regan does so, showing the scar across his left cheek. Jack reveals Regan is actually a criminal named Bill Guthrie who has a warrant on him and he was assigned to go after him by a Stockmen's Association. A old west fashioned decent story to kick off the new format in Two-Fisted Tales, albeit being a bit predictable with the ending.

"Battle!" - This story takes place in 55 B.C., and features Emperor Claudius Caesar leading the Roman troops to Britain. Caesar's troops sneak through the swamp at night and battle against the British troops, led by a man named Caractacus. The Romans are very successful due to the Elephants and Nubian tribesmen within their ranks. This story is based on a passage from Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

"Justice!" - A trio of men kill a native american man in order to steal his horse. One of the victim's tribemates spots what has happened. He returns to the tribe which demands war, but he insists that justice be served instead. The tribesmen put the corpse of the victim across the railroad tracks in a white man's clothes, causing the train to stop. Once it does, the native americans force themselves on the train and make it to head into the nearby fort. There they search for the trio of murders, killing those who get in the way. As soon as they kill the three, the attack is stopped and they leave. The native americans in this story don't kill everyone, but they still kill a bunch of people (half of those in the fort per the final panel), including many innocents in their attempts for 'justice', so it was still quite the brutal killing spree.

"Dangerous Man!" - A man comes to see someone named E.J. Coffey, aka "Ruby Ed". telling him he has a picture of Hee-Chin, a member of Red China's Intelligence Corps. Along the way however, he loses the picture and is shot, dying soon after being brought into Ruby Ed's house. Ruby Ed recalls a book in a nearby museum having a picture of Hee-Chin, so he heads there. He meets the curator, who is revealed to be a subordinate of Hee-Chin when Ruby Ed finds the book. The two battle with swords, with Ruby Ed coming out on top. As a result, Hee-Chin is apprehended. This story was the first appearance of Ruby Ed, who would appear in a number of Severin-drawn stories in Two Fisted Tales during the remainder of its run. Ruby Ed was one of the very few non-Ghoulunatic recurring characters that appeared during the New Trend. This is an average story at best, with a rather drawn out sword battle taking up much of the second half of the story.