VINTAGE CELEBRITY COMIC BOOKS: JOHN WAYNE ADVENTURE COMICS #31

John Wayne was an American actor who appeared in over one hundred and seventy films throughout his fifty-year career, starting with 'Brown of Harvard' in 1926 and ending with 'The Shootist' in 1976. He was also among the first film stars to appear in his own series of comics.





When the superhero craze waned at the end of the 1940s, comic-book publishers began looking elsewhere for their next cast of characters. Before long, they found suitable replacements in successful film genres, such as the Western film genre, and set their sights on several cinematic cowboys. One of these cowboys was John Wayne, who at the time was deemed an ideal candidate because he was a popular Western hero with a history of success at the box office. John was so popular that Toby Press decided to capitalize on his fame by licensing his likeness and featuring him in a series of fictionalized, action-packed comic-book adventures. What now follows is one of these adventures.

Titled 'The Blue Lightnin' Twins', this six-page story appeared twice in 'John Wayne Adventure Comics', which was an anthology series published by Toby Press that ran from October 1949 to May 1955. The story originally appeared in issue two and was then reprinted in the final installment, issue thirty-one. Due to the moral anti-comics backlash sparked by Dr. Fredric Wertham's book, 'Seduction of the Innocent', and the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, the series was canceled, and just like many independent publishers, Toby had to pull their titles and close down.

The comic-book adventure on display was written by an uncredited author and illustrated by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. Each page has been modified to improve clarity and fit the website's dimensions. To see this comic in its original form, please feel free to click here to visit ComicBookPlus.com.