Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Alex Schomburg, Ned Pines
Beyond Alex Schomburg’s Cover in Fighting Yank #23, at Auction
Fighting Yank #23 features an Alex Schomburg cover and a fascinating bit of history from editor and adventurer Charles S. Strong.
Article Summary
- Fighting Yank #23 pairs a classic Alex Schomburg cover with an overlooked interior history link to editor Charles S. Strong.
- Strong’s text story “The Whale Hunters” draws on his Arctic travels, adding unusual real-world texture to Fighting Yank #23.
- The issue’s lead Fighting Yank tale sends Bruce Carter into a northern rescue with Wolf, Julia Storm, and a deadly blizzard.
- With just 71 Universal CGC copies noted and demand rising, Fighting Yank #23 stands out as a scarce Nedor favorite.
Alex Schomburg‘s hooded-vigilante cover is the obvious starting point for Fighting Yank #23, but one of the January 1948 issue’s most interesting connections is tucked into two pages of a text story. Charles S. Strong‘s “The Whale Hunters” follows a boy and a pilot stranded during a flight into the Canadian North. Strong had traveled in Arctic waters himself, including time aboard a whaling ship, according to a newspaper profile of that era. This also gives us a little bit of insight into the make-up of some of the stories in Ned Pines‘ comic book line, such as the Northern survival tale in one of the Fighting Yank stories here, perhaps guided by a little-remembered pulp and comic book editor who had traveled the world.
Charles S. Strong’s Arctic Adventure
A January 25, 1931 profile in the Brooklyn Eagle Magazine described Strong’s Arctic and Scandinavian travels, along with his writing and lecturing. By 1940, his draft registration listed Standard Magazines as his employer, and he was an editor and writer for Ned Pines’ magazine and pulp lines through 1956. He also wrote a number of books based on his travels. In “The Whale Hunters,” Philip Fleming is returning from four years at school in Edmonton to his father’s Hudson’s Bay trading post at Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island. Pilot George Dartmouth takes him north from Cooking Lake, but a fuel-line failure and a damaged pontoon leave them stranded. Spilled gasoline ruins their provisions, and the radio fails to bring help. They need food, a way to repair the aircraft, and to survive long enough to do it.
Northern survival also drives the opening Fighting Yank story, “The Secret of Wolf,” which GCD credits with inks by Graham Ingels and pencils tentatively attributed to Ken Battefield. A gang steals prospector Josh Storm’s gold, leaves him tied in a cabin, and shoots his dog. Wolf survives and leads Bruce Carter, Joan, and Josh’s daughter, Julia, toward the missing man. A blizzard and a deliberately started snowslide turn the search into a rescue that eventually involves Fighting Yank carrying the entire cabin on his back.
The CGC census lists 71 Universal copies, with four at 7.0 and eight higher. Schomburg’s cover is the star attraction here, but Strong’s history makes the entire issue a compelling bit of history. An issue with dramatically increasing demand over recent years, there’s a Fighting Yank #23 (Nedor Publications, 1948) CGC FN/VF 7.0 with cream-to-off-white pages up for auction at the September 24-26, 2026 Comic Books Signature Auction #7469.
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