KISS OF THE COBRA WOMAN

 Or, to be more accurate, The Cobra Girl, even though she doesn't look too "girlish." The credit for her fatal smooches goes to a hidden poison ring.

JUNGLE GALLERY

JUNGLE GALLERY is a new subdepartment of my "Good Art Girls" category, devoted only to "jungle gals" and similar types. From the Fox title ZAGO, JUNGLE PRINCE:

Here's Zago's mate WANA, facing death by robot.

Here's SKREETA, the jungle's first spree killer.

Zago contends not only with a killer mermaid, OONTA, but also a pair of comely twins named Gilda and Milda.

VAMI, sacrificial maiden, one of many Matt Baker white tribeswomen whose fathers and husbands were all black for some reason.

 Trapeze artist CORA dresses up like a jungle girl to kill her husband and frame Zago.

LOTAA kills off her husband and poses as a rain-goddess.

Zago and a jungle boy contend with a bunch of white woman warriors, led by one KTAL, who for some reason are NOT called "amazons."

KIT AND KABOODLE

 In the last years of STARTLING COMICS, the comic launched a pirate feature, THE SEA EAGLE, and the hero's girlfriend "Kit" was noteworthy for getting in the thick of things.

However, in one panel she throws one of the weirdest, off-kilter punches ever seen in a comics story. It's like the artist had no idea how to draw what happens when a fist collides with a face-- if indeed that's what he meant to draw.

PUNCH DRUNK

 I've seen a few Golden Age comics given generic titles based on the name of a starring superhero, as with FLASH COMICS being named for the original FLASH. But Chesler's PUNCH COMICS didn't start running a feature with "punch" in the name until issue #10 (which was actually the fourth issue... don't ask.)

Anyway, the punnily-named PUNCH AND CUTEY starred a stumblebum boxer, Punch O'Malley, and his sister-manager, whose parents had been just as capricious in naming her Cutey. For the remainder of PUNCH's run of eight more issues, the duo got into boxing-related antics. Their difficulties were usually fueled by Punch's desire to get it on with every pretty girl he encountered, and Cutey's determination to keep him from blowing all their money on skanks.

One sequence throws an odd light on the brother-sister relationship. To distract Punch from another conquest, Cutey gets "dolled up" and lures her brother into making a pass at her (because he sees her only from behind), after which she beats him up. Even for the Golden Age, this was pretty weird. The brass knuckles provide a nice touch.

And here's Cutey lambasting her brother for their final installment in issue #19.

AIR HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST

 

Introducing Kitty Kelley, stalwart stewardess. PUNCH COMICS #1.

PITCHING WOOZY

 From PLASTIC MAN #37:

A CESTUS FOR THE REST OF US