Sensation Comics #38 review

I’m a bit late with this one, given Sensation Comics #38 was published in December 1944. Then again, it’s just been re-released by DC Comics as a facsimile edition, my copy arrived on Christmas Eve – yes, I bought a physical version, even though I can read it digitally on DC Infinite – so why not give it the same review treatment as a more conventionally ‘new’ comic?

Look at that cover by the great Wonder Woman artist Harry Peter. Diana as Miss Santa Claus is simply adorable, and that thug, well, let’s hope he falls down the chimney.

And it’s actually a pretty accurate representation of the story by Peter and Diana’s other co-creator, William Moulton Marston, which sees the Amazing Amazon aiming to help poor families.

Arriving at Pete and Gertie’s home, Diana meets their mother.

Diana confronts crooked Uncle Joe, but threats to the kids see her agreeing to be tied up in her own magic lasso.

There’s a lot more to the story than this, but you get the idea – it’s that classic Golden Age Wonder Woman blend of crime, social comedy, whimsy and – of course – kink. It’s blooming marvellous. Heck, just seeing Wonder Woman as full of joy as she was created to be puts a massive smile on my face.

Also appearing in this issue are Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, in a fairly typical caper involving a broken bicycle light and a gem laundering racket in a dime store.

It’s typical kid gang fare, with the main distinguishing feature being our trio of heroes’ fondness for putting socks on their heads. The hardboiled dialogue from the unnamed writer is always entertaining, and there’s a lot of zip in the visuals of Frank Harry, who actually draws the boys with kid physiques.

We also get a strip starring the Gay Ghost, in which the spook is rightly alarmed by a wave of anti-religious graffiti on synagogues, churches and other places of worship. A bunch of local boys have fallen under the thrall of a Nazi sympathiser, but Ghost host Charles Collins think the gang’s leader could yet see the error of his ways. Cue a Christmas Carol-style journey to see what could grow from Larry and co’s delinquency.

Of course, Larry learns his lesson and the organisers are brought to justice. It sounds pat but artist Jon Blummer and an unknown writer produce quite the affecting piece.

Also, I learned that the Gay Ghost had the weirdest of sidekicks.

Finally, so far as the comic strips are concerned – I skipped past anything resembling a text piece – we have a Wildcat strip with barely any Wildcat in it. The star is boxer Ted Grant’s manager ‘Stretch’ Skinner, who’s had enough of being the sidekick.

Wildcat pops up a couple of times, such as when he has to explain that Stretch doesn’t know he and Wildcat are the same person, but otherwise this is Stretch’s story.

Written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger and drawn by Joe Gallagher, it’s charming stiff. Having previously come across the lanky ‘detekatiff’ in a Seventies reprint, I have to ask – whatever happened to Stretch Skinner?

Of all the facsimile comics I’ve bought in 2025, this is my favourite, with three of the four featured strips excellent and the other one solid. To varying degrees, each gave me an insight into 1940s US culture, whether it was fashion, speech or just daily life. And being a pre-Comics Code it could hit harder than later comics, for example Wonder Woman meeting a family living with the threat of physical and sexual violence from a relative, and religion and freedom of speech under attack in urban America.

Sensation Comics #38 also has plenty of light to balance the shade, messages of hope that seem especially right at Christmas.

And on that note, I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas. Whether you’re with loved ones, or apart, I wish you all the best for the day, and good things for the season and the year beyond.