Review- The Owl #1 and 2

The Owl #1 and 2 (Gold Key, cover dates April, 1967- April, 1968)

Writer: Jerry Siegel

Artist: Tom Gill

This was a campy retread of the 1940s Dell series designed to ride the wave of campy Golden Age nostalgia in the wake of the 1966 Batman TV series. I enjoyed the heck out of the complete lack of self awareness combined with absurd, unnecessarily elaborate exploits. Gold Key Comics were always decidedly old fashioned and out of step yet charming, and these are no different. If you were a kid jingling some coins in your hand at the newsstand then this would have been buried by anything Marvel or DC were doing at the time. I guess that it never stood a chance, which is too bad since these were fun reads with solid artwork.

Apparently the character was revived as part of Dynamite's Project Superpowers universe a few years ago. That universe is comprised of public domain Golden Age superheroes who are retooled. There is also a more recent relaunch in inDELLible Comics' All New Popular Comics, another public domain riff.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Old comic books smell great. They should make a candle that smells like rotting pulp paper.