Thrilling Comics #68 – Key Highlights
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Publisher: Better Publications (Standard Magazines, Inc.)
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Publication Date: October 1948
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Editor: Ned Pines
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Cover Artist: Alex Schomburg (signed “Xela”)
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Interior Artists: Art Saaf, Ralph Mayo, Frank Frazetta, and George Tuska
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Writers: Arthur Adler, Charles S. Strong, and Oliver Buchanan
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Pages: 52
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Original Cover Price: $0.10
🔥 Key Significance
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Features an impressive lineup of Golden Age artists, including Frank Frazetta, Alex Schomburg, and George Tuska.
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Includes early comic-book artwork by Frank Frazetta, who contributes to both the Kathy feature and the Looie Lazybones humor story.
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Features Princess Pantha, a jungle-adventure character, alongside crime, humor, detective, and adventure material.
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An excellent example of the diverse storytelling found in Standard's Golden Age anthology comics.
📖 Story Highlights
“The Girl Who Kept Faith!” – 10 pages
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Feature: Princess Pantha
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Art: Art Saaf
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Alice McGregor travels into the jungle searching for her fiancé, who is being held captive by Señor Pirahna. Princess Pantha comes to their rescue by tricking Pirahna into jumping into the water.
“Shutterbugs!” – 9 pages
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Feature: Kathy
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Script: Arthur Adler
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Pencils: Ralph Mayo and Frank Frazetta (tentative individual attribution)
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Inks: Frank Frazetta
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Kathy's father encourages her to take up photography, but her daring photographic adventures lead him to smash her camera.
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The story is signed “Mayo + Frazetta,” though the artwork reportedly resembles Frazetta's solo work.
“Everything's Vine!” – 7 pages
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Feature: Looie Lazybones
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Art: Frank Frazetta
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A tomato-growing competition between the Tuzzlewits and the Lazybones gets completely out of hand.
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An amusing background detail: “Fritz loves Carol” is carved into a tree on page three.
“Pantha and the Golden Idol” – 2-page text story
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Script: Charles S. Strong
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Illustration: Art Saaf
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Princess Pantha investigates strange white men who bring a golden statue to the M'Tongo village as a trade offering.
“Too Tough to Live” – 6 pages
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Feature: From Your District Attorney's Files
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Monk Eastman escapes prison by joining the military during World War II, but after the war, his attempts to outsmart the law ultimately lead to his death.
“Thrilling Facts” – 1-page filler
- Short historical paragraphs about the sporting activities of U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, and Herbert Hoover during their youth.
“Hawaiian Boy” – 1-page text story
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Script: Oliver Buchanan
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Illustration: George Tuska
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An adventure text feature featuring Duke Kuluai, Kit McGrath, and Carl Schmidt.
“Death Shocks the City!” – 12 pages
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Feature: The Phantom Detective
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When the district attorney is murdered by a high-voltage current sent through a telephone line, the Phantom Detective goes undercover as Smoke Nolan to uncover the killer.
📌 Additional Details
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The cover features Princess Pantha and is signed by Alex Schomburg as “Xela.”
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The indicia identifies the publisher as Standard Magazines, Inc.
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The Kathy story carries a shared “Mayo + Frazetta” signature, and the precise division of artistic contributions remains uncertain.
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The artwork for “Death Shocks the City!” has not been definitively attributed in the supplied records.
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Several stories were reprinted in the Canadian edition of Thrilling Comics #68.
Collector's Note: Thrilling Comics #68 is a particularly interesting Golden Age anthology, combining Schomburg cover art, early Frazetta contributions, Princess Pantha, and a Phantom Detective adventure. Its diverse lineup makes it a terrific snapshot of the action, humor, and adventure comics of 1948.
