TEX'S BACK-ISSUE QUEST 2.0 EPISODE 17

It's Saturday!!

     I am here, checking in, screaming, "WHAT'S UP?!" to all my friends! 

     I hope you all are doing well, living large and just having a great weekend! TEX is fine as wine, and ready to cowboy up with another episode of TEX'S BACK-ISSUE QUEST, where I show you some gems from my collection and give you a little history to help inform your own collecting habits (if you want). 

    Let's saddle this here horse!

It's my copy of Captain Marvel Adventures #48, published in 1945 by Fawcett Comics. This comic features the final appearance of Steamboat, Billy Batson's African-American valet, a character based on the racist stereotypes of the time. Here's a taste of Steamboat (not from my comic, simply pulled from the internet), try not to avert your eyes:

YIKES.

Billy even got in on the act himself:

As you can see in these panels pulled from Whiz Comics #12, published in 1941, bad stereotypes were not taboo in the offices of Fawcett Comics. But a change was on the horizon. In 1942, Fawcett created some rules for their comics:

As you can see, rule #7 stated that, "No comics shall use dialects and devices to indicate ridicule or intolerance of racial groups," which leads us to NOT-SO-FUN FACT #1...

NOT-SO-FUN FACT: Despite the published rules above, Steamboat, and his ridiculous dialect continued to appear in the pages of Captain Marvel Adventures until issue #48 (pictured comic) in 1945, three years after these rules were distributed throughout the Fawcett offices.

You can read more about this and other great comics-related info at Comic Book Legends Revealed.

No need to get upset, it's all a part of comic book history, a part we should share, and not forget...Lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.

Stay tuned! And please share this site with your friends and family by word of mouth, or even on social media. Thanks for reading!!