KING SOLOMON'S MINES: The Funny Book - Part 2 - Conclusion! (1950)

Our story began here yesterday. If you haven't read it yet, click HERE. Now here's THE END. (This week's regularly scheduled Hammett Herald-Tribune will appear tomorrow!)

SAMAR the Tarzan Wannabe by Rafael Astarita (1942)

As noted previously, I'm an admirer of the comic art of Rafael Astarita. Am I maybe a little influenced by my great admiration for the works of Rafael Sabatini and Rafael DeSoto? It's not impossible. Anyway, I posted a fine noirish tale by him HERE, and a seagoing adventure story HERE.

Samar made his debut back in May 1940 in Feature Comics #32. In that first appearance, his hair was black, but before the next issue he'd bleached it blond, probably due to threats from his famous neighbor in the next-door jungle. Samar was depicted by various artists until Rafael finally got a shot at him here in issue 58, dated July 1942. He did three more, I believe, and you'll likely see another here soon. Thanks once again to comicbookplus for the scans.

"Capt'n Courage" by RAFAEL ASTARITA (1951)

Some time back I posted a tale featuring the very cool art of Rafael Astarita (that's HERE). Here's another one, from White Princess of the Jungle #1, back in July 1951. Thanks to "movielover" for sticking it up on comicbookplus. I've a feeling we'll be seeing Mr. Astarita again. Capt'n Courage, despite the odd spelling, is no doubt one of the many illustrious ancestors of Cap'n Bob Napier. 

America's Ace Sleuth: INSPECTOR DAYTON by Rafael Astarita (1942)

Until I started trolling Comic Book Plus (.com), I had never heard of Rafael Astarita. Now I'm a fan. Astarita worked for Jerry Iger's shop in the '40s, producing a lot of fine work for Fiction House mags. Inspector Dayton appeared in more than sixty issues of Jumbo Comics, with several different artists at the helm, but Astarita's work on series produced some of the best noir art I've yet to see in comics. This one is from issue 43, dated Sept.1942, and was scanned by "Snard."