Witty Comics #2 – Key Highlights
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Publisher: Irwin H. Rubin
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Publication Date: 1945
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Cover Artist: H. C. Browner
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Interior Artists: Doodle D. Dumm and other unidentified artists
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Writers: Sophie Freedman (text story); other writers not specified
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Genres: Superhero, Adventure, Crime, Humor, Science Fiction
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Pages: 52
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Original Cover Price: $0.10
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Format: Full Color
🔥 Key Significance
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Features an extensive lineup of superhero, adventure, crime, science-fiction, and humor stories.
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Includes a multi-part Superhero Pioneer adventure involving organized crime, government corruption, and defense-industry racketeering during wartime.
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Features Michael Morgan: The Yankee investigating mysterious deaths at a health resort.
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Includes a science-fiction adventure involving the floating city of Stratosphere Island.
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Contains a cartoon page by Doodle D. Dumm and six illustrated factoids, mostly about animals.
📖 Story Highlights
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Superhero Pioneer – An untitled adventure. Pioneer saves a child nearly run over by members of gangster Braggy's mob, but the criminals escape. Braggy subsequently moves his racket into defense work. Two years later, Pioneer discovers the gang is involved in widespread government and business corruption. Posing as a prospective defense worker, he refuses to pay the criminals for a job.
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Michael Morgan: The Yankee – An untitled mystery adventure. Morgan goes undercover at the Laird health resort on behalf of an insurance company to investigate the mysterious deaths of women who stayed there. Meanwhile, Jane's sister Diana has married Baron Ivan and has fallen ill.
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Dick Royce – An untitled adventure. Royce travels to Africa to arrange for a jungle airstrip, where he discovers New York gangsters attempting to force a missionary to reveal the location of an elephants' graveyard so they can steal the ivory.
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Sir Gallagher – An untitled humor adventure. A wacky young inventor accidentally helps capture a bank robber.
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Steve Hagen – An untitled science-fiction adventure. Residents of Steeltown believe rival Blastville is bombarding them with ancient artifacts, but Steve discovers the objects are coming from the floating city of Stratosphere Island.
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Buttons, Weeny, and Pop – An untitled story in which the family foils a crime and receives a reward thanks to their dog, Buttons.
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Weeny and Pop – An untitled one-page story in which they give away their dog to an attractive redhead.
📌 Additional Features
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Poopsies: Cartoon page written and illustrated by Doodle D. Dumm.
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“Circus Disaster” – Text story written by Sophie Freedman.
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Illustrated Factoids: Six illustrated informational features, mostly focused on animals.
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Additional Dog Feature: The one-page Weeny and Pop story involving the attractive redhead.
This 1945 anthology offers a fascinating assortment of wartime-era storytelling, combining superhero crime-fighting, mystery, jungle adventure, science fiction, and humor. The Pioneer storyline is particularly notable for its focus on defense-industry corruption and organized crime.
