Red Ted McKenna was back as the main bad guy in BIG BANG COMICS #29, but the real focus of the main story, Knight of the Living Dead Part 2, was a character called the Spook who never appeared in the first part.
It turns out that Monroe Willis, the young boy that the Knight Watchman met in sewer during the previous issue wasn’t a friend of Red Ted’s, but of the Spook. An old man with white skin and a long white beard, the Spook was a former crime-fighter who had fallen on hard times.
The Spook was also the person who discovered Red Ted just after the mob had beaten, stabbed and shot him in the face. The Spook took Ted’s dying body to an underground physician known as the Doctor, who experimented on the almost-cadaver, who recovered in a few days, breaking loose of his restraints and eating the other corpses the Doc had been experimenting on. The Ted went out looking for revenge, in what the papers were calling “cannibal killings”.
Afraid that Red Ted may have overheard Monroe talking about his home at the Wertham Orphanage, the Knight Watchman brings the boy to stay safely with his own mentor, Reid Randall (the original KW).
Meanwhile, the Spook pays a visit to the Doctor in search of Red Ted. Unfortunately, the Doc injects something into the Spook that knocks him out. The Doctor is in cahoots with Ted! Also unfortunately, that is where Part 2 ends – – and the story will be continued, but not until BB #32.
Knight of the Living Dead Part 2 was once again written and penciled by Chris Ecker, and the inking duties this time were split between Jeff Newman and Jim Brozman. Big Bang Comics #29 was published in January of 2000 by Image Comics.
Next up in this issue is a Golden Age Knight Watchman story looking very much like it dates back to 1938. Written by myself, with dead-on ghosted art by John Thompson is “The Pink Feather Mystery,” purportedly the Knight Watchman’s first appearance.
In the story, Midway City’s wealthiest men are killing themselves by jumping out of skyscraper windows or roofs, leaving suicide notes claiming that they lost their money gambling. The Purple Paladin stops one such attempt and comes away with a pink feather that the victim insisted could make him fly.
The Knight Watchman’s investigation takes him to the Flamingo club, where, in his Reid Randall secret identity, he meets the owner, Pinkerton Fleming. That night, Fleming arrives at at Reid’s apartment, sprays him with a secret gas spray and hands him a pink feather. After the millionaire opens his safe, the Pink Flamingo tells Reid to fly away and he jumps out the window.
Minutes later the Knight Watchman swings through the window and subdues the villain, actually punching him out the window. Luckily, Pinky survived and returned for many more stories.
The third story in BB #29 is a slightly creepy 1950-ish horror story titled “The Discovery.” It is narrated by the Spaceman From the Dead, who tells the tale of three struggling scientists on the verge of a major breakthrough in rocket fuel technology. Unfortunately, one of the three gets greedy and kills another for the credit and glory. The third scientist walks in on the killer and manages to shoots him. The third scientist, Professor Thompson makes sure that the first victim, Dr. Higgenboth, gets the credit for the discovery and that his family shares in the monetary success. Unfortunately for Thompson, one night Higgenboth’s corpse pays him a visit and kills him out of gratitude. Strong emotions in the walking dead! The story was written by Kirk Uhlmann, with art by Jeff Wood.
Last up in the issue is a missing chapter from the History of Big Bang Comics, called “Who Is The Spook?” It details the comic book history of the mysterious Spook from the lead story in the issue,
full of lots of covers and art from his faux history by wonderful artists Mark Lewis, Jeff Weigel, Tim Stiles, Glenn Whitmore and Andrew Sheppard.
“Who Is The Spook?” is a lot of fun and helps provide a background for the Spook, who was seen for the first time in this issue. According to the info, he was originally a hard-boiled detective named Rod Flynt who starred in pulp magazines. Flynt eventually got married and readers hated the new light romantic style so the creator killed the characters off in a chemical vat.
The character was revived as the Spook, with deathly white skin, eventually moving from the pulps to slick magazines and then comic books. Very much a pastiche of the Spirit, the artists had fun with their splash panels and he made a nice background character and somewhat of a mentor for the original Knight Watchman.
Back issues for most Big Bang’s are available for purchase for $3 at our back issue store:
https://bigbangcomics.com/products-page/comic-books/image-comics/
Gary Carlson
8/28/2021
Big Bang Comics and all related characters are © and TM Gary Carlson and Chris Ecker. Knight Watchman is a registered trademark of Gary Carlson and Chris Ecker. Spaceman From the Dead is copyright Kirk Uhlmann.
