Most of us know, if only by reputation, the usual suspect list of famous old comic strips. But the wonderful thing is, for every one of those there was a full dozen of others you’ve probably never heard of, which have disappeared without a trace. Which is why we owe a profound ‘thank you’ to the Golden Age comic book for providing us ample evidence strips like Hap Hopper, Foreign Correspondent ever existed.

In 1947 St. John published five issues of Comics Revue, each issue featured a single comic strip from the United Features Syndicate. Ella Cinders and Gordo are probably obscure enough for most of you but me being me, I naturally go for the really obscure ones, ones I never expected to ever actually get the chance to read. Like Iron Vic (the superhero turned baseball player, don’t worry, I’ll get around to him) and, Hap Hopper.

Launching in 1940 Hap Hopper was a fairly conventional strip about a two-fisted reporter who had to deal with editor Rushmore Newes and girlfriend Holly Woode (puns are fun) along with the usual compliment of crooks and spies. It was written by William Laas and drawn by Jack Sparling, who’s best known for his, um, distinctive art style on such 60′s comic books as Pirana and The Secret Six. Sparling left the strip in 1942 (though some sources say ’43) and was replaced by Al Plastino, so I can not say with any confidence who exactly drew the sequence reprinted here.

Maybe it’s just me but it sure seems like Hap was supposed to look more than a little like actor Van Johnson; I mean, check out the elevation on that puffy pompadour of his.