Number 853

Interplanetary mailman meets the Tough-tails

This is a good story to follow up Monday's Basil Wolverton "Spacehawk." I've been wanting to share this story with you for a long time. The artwork is unique, stylized. It's credited to Munson Paddock and is so far the only example of Paddock's work I've seen. It's from Speed Comics #9, 1940. When looking at this frenetic tale "speed" seems the operative word.

It's another story where the rights of an indigenous society are ignored and the idea of white people taking what they want is taken for granted. The closest thing I can liken it to is the sort of craziness from Fletcher Hanks, only better drawn. Mars Mason himself isn't a Flash Gordon or typical comic book space adventurer type. He's an "interplanetary mailman"!

Paddock had a familiarity with design, geometric shapes, and art deco. According to Lambiek.net Paddock, who worked under several pseudonyms including Cecelia Munson and Lyle Ford, was born in 1886, and was another of those old-time artists who joined in the comic book revolution early in the history of the industry, but well into his own career. He died in 1970.