Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Chesler, golden age

Lady Satan Saves Churchill & FDR in Bulls-Eye Comics #11, at Auction

After a brief pause, the Harry "A" Chesler comic book line returned to comics in 1944 with Bulls-Eye Comics #11 featuring Lady Satan.

Harry "A" Chesler's Dynamic Publications comic book publishing line would be paused in 1942 due to low sales (per War Production Board records).  In 1943, Chesler would package digest-sized comic books for publisher Remington Morse, but by 1944, the comic book industry vet was ready to jump into the business on his own again (Historian Ken Quattro's account of this matter is a must-read).  Bulls-Eye Comics #11 is one of the initial attempts of that 1944 re-entry.  The only issue of the title, the reasoning behind the issue #11 designation is unknown, but the contents of this obscure Chesler issue are stand-out reprints from the earlier Chesler/Dynamic line-up, including artwork and cover by George Tuska.  A tough and historically unusual Chesler from an interesting period in the publisher's history, there's a CGC 3.5 copy of Bulls-Eye Comics #11 (Harry 'A' Chesler, 1944) up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions.

Lady Satan was initially a masked, costumed spy working against the Nazis who had first appeared in Dynamic Comics #2.  The Bulls-Eye Comics #11 story is from Dynamic Comics #3, and has Lady Satan saving Churchill and FDR from a Nazi assassin.  The Nazis had intercepted details of a meeting between Churchill, FDR, and the leader of the free French forces.  Lady Satan was able to overhear the instructions for this plan, which included sending an assassin in disguise to do the deed.  Faking her own death to escape Nazi guards, Lady Satan is able to stop and kill the assassin at the last second.

After World War II, Lady Satan would return in 1946 in Red Seal Comics #17, 18, 20, 21 with a mastery of black magic and battling paranormal entities both real and hoaxed.  Bulls-Eye Comics #11 also features Yankee Doodle Jones and K-9 by Charles Sultan, King Kile's Kourt by Joe Beck, Johnny Rebel by George Tuska, Mother Hubbard by Bill Madden, and Green Knight by Al Plastino.

Although the Bulls-Eye Comics title would not go anywhere from here, Chesler's restart did take hold for 1944-1946, after which some titles were continued by Canadian publisher Superior (who also had inroads into the U.S. market). Bulls-Eye Comics represents an interesting turning point in Chesler's history, and there's a CGC 3.5 copy of Bulls-Eye Comics #11 (Harry 'A' Chesler, 1944) up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions.

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