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Detective Comics
- 92 (October 1944) The Hard-Working Hoodlum
- 94 (December 1944) The Ride of the Valkyries
- 95 (January 1945) The Phony Phantoms
- 97 (March 1945) Doubling in Danger
- 98 (April 1945) Sound Effects by Air Wave
- 136 (June 1948) The City of Glass
These best stories of the comic books are preceded by their issue number.
Air Wave
Air Wave was the secret identity of crusading District Attorney Larry Jordon. He did not have super powers per se. Instead, he had invented a series of devices exploiting every aspect of radio. These allowed him to perform astonishing feats. Air Wave had the ability to trace any piece of metal, using radio technology.
Air Wave is a hero in the tradition of Batman: a non-superpowered crime fighter with a mask, costume, secret identity and technological devices used to fight crime. However, Air Wave's devices are so high tech that they sometimes give him the flavor of a true super-hero. The devices, and the abilities that they give Air Wave, function almost as his "powers" in the super-hero sense.
Air Wave's mascot was a parrot named Static, who went with him everywhere, and whose abilities helped him with his cases. This reminds one of Dr. Mid-Nite's pet owl. Static was always uttering transformed versions of popular phrases and clichés. These were often clever twists on these common sayings. In "Air Wave Joins the Underworld" (#93, November 1944), these are referred to as Static's "tangled proverbs".
Air Wave was known by such catch phrases as "The Wizard of Wireless" and "The Magician of Radio". He appeared in Detective Comics from #60 (February 1942) through #137 (July 1948).
Rogues Along the River (#82, December 1943). Writer: Joe Samachson. Art: George Roussos. Air Wave investigates a crime taking place on the local river. This is a routine story. It does take advantage of its aquatic setting to introduce many river and boat elements, which have some charm. It has some wry humorous dialogue from Air Wave in the last panel. Mainly, however, this tale will be remembered as the story in which Air Wave's pet parrot Static offers this warning: "Beware the Tides of March!"
The Hard-Working Hoodlum (1944). Art: George Roussos. An ex-con tries to do everything right as a burglar.
Air Wave runs fast along telephone wires, both in this tale and elsewhere. This resembles a bit the way Jerry Siegel's earlier character, the Spectre, could travel fast within the wires.
George Roussos' work is somewhat similar to that of George Papp. Both artists create outlines of what they are depicting, somewhat schematic and sketchy geometrical patterns. In both, the patterns are vivid, dramatic, and geometrically striking. The creation of mood is key to the success of many Air Wave tales. They are simple stories, ones that evoke nocturnal visions.
The Ride of the Valkyries (1944). Art: George Roussos. Tony the Snob, a classical music loving gangster, tries to rob a museum of modern art. Story full of interesting references to modern culture. Hollywood regularly made films about classical music, trying to bring it to the masses. This story has a bit of the same educational flavor, trying to ensure that the young readers of the magazine get exposed to the world of culture.
There was also a genuine interest in the world of culture by ordinary people in this period. It represented a better life. The story commences with the best way most people had to appreciate classical music in 1944: radio broadcasts. Air Wave is shown as a big fan of Arturo Toscanini, the famed NBC radio conductor, and the opera impresario Zozzini in the story is drawn to look like the real life Toscanini.
The plot also gets the crooks in tuxes, so they can blend in with the culture crowd at the museum. Everyone wanted to be dressed up in evening clothes in this era, even poor people who would never own one.
The Phony Phantoms (1945). Art: George Roussos. Mary Willis is menaced by ghostly voices in her house. Spookiness is a natural for Roussos, whose art tends towards the atmospheric and the nocturnal, in general.
Doubling in Danger (1945). Art: George Roussos. Crooks create a phony version of Air Wave, and try to frame him as a criminal. This was a standard plot in comic books: see the Human Bomb tale, "The Phony Human Bomb" (Police Comics #7, February 1942). Such stories tend to have a moment, both comic and satisfying, in which the hero unmasks his impostor.
Sound Effects by Air Wave (1945). Art: George Roussos. When a gangster falls in love with a nice woman, he tries to scare off her boy friend with sound effects. Sound effects were an important part of radio in this era, as the story explicitly points out. So a story about sound effects was a legitimate part of Air Waves turf as a hero - he specialized in all things radio. As in "The Phony Phantoms" (1945), the story revolves around fake sounds used to frighten people.
The City of Glass (1948). Art: Harris Levy. Crooks flee to the City of Glass, a high tech expo showing an all glass environment, where there are no metal elements for Air Wave to trace. Ingenious story. Both the story's basic premise, and the working out of the plot details, show ingenuity. The story combines logical detective work with scientific concepts.
The story spells out its basic challenge right away: how can Air Wave tackle crooks in such a metal-free environment. Then the tale gradually depicts a number of methods through which Air Wave rises to the challenge. Some of these are explained as they happen, with all details shared immediately with the reader. One method, however, is left as a mystery puzzle for the reader, and not explained till the end of the tale. This gives a variety of story telling strategies for the work.
Expositions of all types were common in the comic books. They figured in such Big Town tales as "Passkey to Big Town" (Big Town #43, January-February 1957) and "Theft of the Billion-Carat Diamond" (Big Town #45, May-June 1957); see also the trade show in the Green Arrow tale "Air Wave Loot" (Adventure #116, May 1947). Expositions were probably popular for several reasons. They resembled museums, always a favorite comic book locale. Expositions are full of the latest high technology, great for creating sf stories. Expositions are virtually small towns or cities, so that characters both good and bad can wander around in them. Expositions were often held in real life in New York City, home of the US comic book industry, so both comics writers and artists would be familiar with them. They also could plausibly be included in super-hero tales, most of which were set in some version of New York City.
Harris Levy's art for the glass city is excellent. He has had to imagine what buildings, furniture and objects might all look like, if they were made out of transparent glass. Much of the design is in the tradition of the comic books' favorite style, Art Deco. The splash shows futuristic towers, of the sort typically found in comic book cities of the future. Buildings have circular flanges and rims, in the Deco tradition. Later in the story, Levy also shows the joins between glass panels: two panels will meet with a circular glass peg linking them up. This circle in two rectangles also makes a pleasing graphic design on his pages.
Air Wave's costume echoes the colors of his parrot, Static: green, yellow and red. Most of Air Wave's costume is green, with yellow trim such as gloves, boots, trunks and the radio ear pieces. These are circular yellow ear covers, which at first resemble the circular ear guards worn by many other comic book heroes. But they have miniature antennae, allowing Air Wave to pick up radio signals. Air Wave's belt is red, the main splash of that bright color on his costume. When Air Wave and Static are shown together, their matching colors echo each other in visually pleasing fashion.