“Dicky in the Magic Forest” by Louis Golden was a comic strip that ran for 17 issues of Zip Comics. Golden, who is pretty much forgotten, wrote and drew all the segments. The strip began in issue #10 (January 1941) and ran to issue #26 (May 1942). Zip Comics was an MLJ Magazines, best known for the Archie Comics line. The lead of Zip Comics was the superhero, Steel Sterling, who appeared on every cover. Dicky and the other characters like Nevada Jones, Red Reagan and War Eagles never got the cover.
I selected “Dicky in the Magic Forest” because it exists in a strange middle period between fairy tales and the cute fantasy of the Land of Harvey. That forest of dragons, witches, ghosts and monsters that Casper, Wendy and other Harvey characters inhabits is very much a later rendition of Dicky’s forest realm. The 1941 version of this vast forest of fantasy was created before the Comics Code of 1956, so it still has the violence of the original fairy tales. As a darker world of monsters, it will appeal to fans of Sword & Sorcery comics. Crom the Barbarian, the first true S&S comic is still nine years away.
Dicky is the typical cardboard cut-out of a hero that most fairy tales use. He is likable and kind but brave and determined as well. (He is no Conan the Barbarian, so don’t expect that.) Dicky goes into the forest, as all brave or foolish explorers do, to find magical items. These exist in the woods, just lying around. Their existence is never really explained. It is a magic forest after all.
Dicky has a knack for finding them, especially just before they will be useful. Some examples are a witch’s broom that flies when you say “whisk”, a whip that cuts anything, a watch that reverses time so you can avoid your mistakes and tragedies, slippers that make you run really fast, gloves that make you an invincible fighter, a paint set that creates what you paint, wish-giving items and a flower that when you sniff it allows you to breathe underwater.
Young Dicky is going to need these things because the forest is full of really dangerous monsters. There are dragons, river monsters, giants and worst of all, witches, who want nothing more than to eat little boys. (All these creatures would get cutesy versions in the Land of Harvey, where artists like Ernie Colon make them menacing and darling at the same time. L. Golden is a far less skilled artist but his work has a grotesqueness to it that I like. His giants remind me a little of the titans in Attack on Titan with their asymmetrical bodies.) Of course, despite the pre-Code violence, Dicky and his pals (yes, he gets pals) are never really in much danger. For example, when Dicky is thrown into a soup pot by a witch he has his underwater breathing to keep him alive. He enjoys a nice warm swim in the pot before cutting the witch’s head of with the whip.
Dicky faces off against several witches. These ladies straight from 1939’s The Wizard of Oz don’t have flying monkeys but black cats always ride on the back of their brooms.
Dicky gets himself a broom and this allows him to fly all over the forest, looking for more magic items.
Dicky also fights a lot of giants. He takes this one on so he can free his father who is a slave of the monster. Later Dicky and his dad return to free the others held in bondage.
Flying around the forest can be dangerous. Dragons are everywhere. Dicky races against one of these beasts in a scene that will be familiar to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fans.
Being able to breathe underwater, Dicky has to face a couple of fishy foes.
More Goblet of Fire similarities, Dicky goes to his version of the Tri-Wizard Cup. He has a showdown for the crown of top wizard against Mr. Magico. Dicky uses his gloves to take out Magico’s robot.
As the comic progressed, the stories stopped being self-contained episodes and were three-part continuing tales. Dicky takes on an evil cult and stopped the Medusa. Unlike the Medusa of myth, this one didn’t turn people to stone but started forest fires with the fire-breathing snakes on its head.
This opener lists some of Dicky’s magic items on the side.
In the end, Dicky doesn’t settle down. The comic simply disappeared from Zip Comics. The seventeen episodes are a fun read today with only one very overt example of 1940s racism. (A common problem with older comics.) What these adventures of Dicky and his magical items remind me most of is the 1963-66 The Mighty Hercules cartoons that have a very similar format. In each cartoon, Hercules and his centaur sidekick Newton, face off against a new magical item or creature.
All these comics are available free at DCM.
