Don't Mess with Moon Maiden

 

cover artist unknown

A few months ago, I reviewed another issue of Ben Bowie and His Mountain Men, arguing (as I have in the past) that it is one of the most consistently entertaining and well-written comic books ever published.

If one book might give Ben Bowie a run for his money in this area, it would be Dell's Indian Chief. If you read through multiple issues of that book, you will also find great art giving life to exciting, well-told stories.

Today, we'll look at a story from Indian Chief #3 (July-Sept. 1951). "White Wolf Trails the Pack" has a script by Gaylord De Bois and art by Alberto Giolitti, two pros who knew how to bring graphic storytelling to life. 

The 16-page tale is not formally divided into two parts, but it is built on two consecutive events that parallel each both overtly and thematically. We begin with White Wolf, who has been trapping small animals, heading out to hunt a dear. His wife Moon Maiden stays near their home to do some fishing.

As he leaves, there is a single panel that shows that the two people love each other and have a strong relationship. I enjoy the way this is done so effectively and succinctly without slowing down the pacing of what is, after all, an adventure story.

White Wolf begins trailing a wolf pack as the pack tracks a deer. He manages to bag the deer before the wolves can get to it, then has to fight the wolves to defend his kill. I'm showing just one panel from this sequence, but the battle lasts for several pages and Giolitti's art makes it look magnificent. White Wolf ends up not just with meat, but with a half-dozen wolf pelts. 

In the meantime, though, men from another tribe loot White Wolf's home of its furs, then find Moon Maiden. She tries to run and puts up a fight when they catch her, but she's eventually captured.

Here's where the next part of the story nicely parallels the first part. Just as White Wolf had trailed a wolf pack, now he has to trail a pack of human wolves and also fight them single-handed. He catches up with them that night, takes out a sentry, and attacks. One again, I'm showing you just one panel of an extended, wonderfully illustrated action sequence.

As you can see from the above panel, Moon Maiden takes a proactive part in the fight, so White Wolf isn't completely on his own as he was in the previous battle. The bad guys are killed, captured or run off. White Wolf and Moon Maiden get their stuff back and force the captured Abeneki to haul it all back to their home. 

Many stories in Indian Chief stress the strength of a loving family or a community that works together. I wrote a review of a story from the book's tenth issue a few years ago that also involved a husband going all out to rescue his wife. (That story, by the way, was unique in its own way and not a re-write of "White Wolf Trails the Pack.") So, in the end, if a married couple appears in Indian Chief, you just want to leave them alone. 

You can read today's story online HERE.

Next week, we'll visit with Hawkman and we'll learn that it's a bad idea to actually put on an ancient mask found on Mount Olympus.