The Gay Artist for the Catholic Schoolboy Comic Book

A Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact was a Catholic comic book, published every two weeks during the school year from 1946 to 1972, meant to be given away at parochial schools.  Its main emphasis was religion and patriotism (since American Catholics in those days were often stereotyped as anti-American, in the pocket of the Pope).

But there were lots of humor and adventure stories, too -- sports, jungle adventures, pirates -- which made for some odd juxtapositions:

"Get to Know the Sacraments" oddly juxtaposed with "El Vaquero the Cowpunching Bear."

The history of the Canadian Mounted Police juxtaposed with "But Aunt Eileen, does modern life help to destroy true values?"

My favorite juxtaposition is from the November 19, 1959 issue.  "Tarcisius Protects the Holy of Holies," an adaption of the novel Fabiola by Cardinal Wiseman.  Tarcisius was a twelve-year old boy who was trying to save the Blessed Sacrament from desecration, when an irate crowd beat him to death.

How'd you like to read that over your Corn Flakes in the morning?

Next was a humorous story about ice hockey.

Many stories were drawn by Reed Crandall (1917-1982), a Golden Age comic book artist who also drew such superheroes as the Ray, Dollman, Blackhawk and Ka'anga Lord of the Jungle, and invented Firebrand, a muscleman in an invisible shirt.

Why invisible?  So you can perv on his pecs, duh!

He also drew E.C. Horror, the Flash Gordon comic strip, and a series of illustrations for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan books.

 His beautifully detailed drawings of muscular men inspired a generation of beefcake artists, including Frank Franzetta and Boris Vallejo.

After Crandall graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1939, he moved to New York with his mother and sister to seek work in the fledgling comic industry.  Eventually they moved back to Wichita, and Crandall lived by himself, a "confirmed bachelor," for many years.  He died in 1982.

"Confirmed bachelor," right.

I imagine that George A. Pflaum, the publisher of the Treasure Chest, never realized that one of his chief contributors was a gay man.

See also: Felix Beauperin: French theatrical actor has some queer codes and a nice c*ck, but has he appeared in anything I can stream?

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Link to the n*de photos

 Every morning I check the standard teen idol and celebrity websites for profile and tv review ideas.  Sometimes interesting photos pop up of guys who I've already profiled:

Jensen Gehring, who played a gay singer on Nickelodeon.

Polish femme boy Aleks Kurdzielewicz

  Ethan Wacker of Bizaardvark, who vanished into corporate but still posts many photos surrounded by hot guys.

Alfie Williams , who always surrounds himself with LGBTQ buds, at a ball game with Ryder Allen, who played a femme boy in Parker.

Previously he went to the Spider-Man movie with three probably-gay guys.  I figured that his date was Recker Eans, but could it have been Ryder?  

Sometimes the photo is of the wrong guy.  I wanted to profile Brett Pierce, who appeared in The Real O'Neals, Stuck in the Middle, and A Million Little Things.  The n*de dude on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends is another Brett Pierce.

Or he's not an actor at all.  Andrew Kusovchih (n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) appeared on AZMen, which is supposed to be about nude celebrities, but he's an influenceer with no acting roles.

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Reacher Episode 4.1: Federal corruption, a gay-subtext sidekick, a lethal library, and The Girl. With Reach backside and Indonesian d*cks

  

Reacher, on Amazon Prime, stars the hunky gay ally Alan Ritchson as a drifter with a tragic past who helps the helpless, sort of like the Lone Ranger, but with more angst. There aren't any identified gay characters -- Amazon is not known for its inclusivity -- but I've found gay subtexts in several episodes, so I'm reviewing Episode 4.1 (2026).  At least Reach Boy will take his shirt off.

Link to the n*de photos

Scene 1: Reacher is on a subway, eating a cheese steak (so you know he's in Philadelphia). He cruises a mousy-looking middle-aged man. Into ratboys, Reacher?  No, he's using his Sherlock Holmes skills to figure out the home country, job, and psychological profile of the other passengers.  For instance, that woman crying and muttering to herself, her hands inside a blue purse: a suicide bomber!

He approaches and tries to talk her down, but she keeps crying and tells him to leave.  The train jolts, and she pulls out a gun.  Reacher thought it was a bomb. 

"I can help.  I was a cop before I became a drifter."

 "No one can help me now." She shoots!  Why do that on a subway?  

Scene 2: Reacher is interviewed by two detectives. The Bad Cop claims that they're going to arrest him for murder, but he realizes that they're just stalling.  Good Cop: "The feds are coming down from DC to ask you some questions, if you wouldn't mind sticking around."

"Ok, if you bring me a cheese steak." 

Left: Reacher in his underwear modeling days.

Another problem; He saw four other passengers in the subway car, but they only found three.  What happened to Ratboy? 

While he's waiting, we meet the victim's brother Jacob, still in shock.

Scene 3: Three feds arrive. He surmises that they're the B-team, roused from their beds to interview the last person to speak to the dead woman.  They won't tell him their agency or their names, so he calls them Snap (Jason Diaz, top photo), Crackle (Michael Gaty, left), and Pop.  The mascots of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.  Is that still around?

Left: Michael Gaty is gay in real life, but his character doesn't say anything identifiable.

They accuse Reacher of treason, and asked if he received anything from the victim. Nope.  

"Are you sure you didn't receive something, and hide it, planning to come back later?"

Nope.  "What are you so concerned about/"

They won't say, so he leaves.

But he's not done.  Two more guys get out of their car, speaking Indonesian (Armando Alera, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends, and Joe Labelle).  They ask  if she gave him anything. 

"No."

"Did you give the flash drive to the police?"  Didn't you hear what he just said?

They attack, so he clobbers them and walks away.

Scene 4: Jacob (Chris Marquette), the victim's brother, is in the coffee shop across the street. Reacher approaches him. 

"My adopted sister couldn't have done that, because she was a happy person.  She loved her job (Human Resources at an Army base), she loved her son (football star at Temple). Everything was perfect."  Hint: the important part is "adopted."

Reach asks if she had any enemies?  No -- the father of her son left when she got pregnant, then died in a car crash.  "I helped raise Ben."

You don't mention a wife and kids, Jake Baby.  For a 40-year old man, that's a clear queer code.

Son Ben doesn't know about his mother yet, since Jacob can't get ahold of him.  He's not answering his phone.  Well, it's only about 6:00 am.  He's probably still asleep.

Ben, played by Denis Wong (the one wearing clothes),  will appear in Episodes 2-4.  Looks like an ongoing story arc this season.

While they talk, the background song is "Morning, Noon, and Night," by Joe Turner:

Sit down baby, let's have a little drink
Love you, pretty baby, morning, noon, and night.

Come on, Reach, the guy just lost his sister.  This is not the right time to ask him out.

The Indonesians are back, so Reacher buys the flash drive of a coffee shop patron.  "You wait here and try to get in touch with your nephew.  I'll be back in 90 minutes.

There's a n*de Indonesian dude on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries in the world, with over 60 ethnic groups. mostly Austronesian (Javanese, Sundanese).  98% are Muslim.  The Indonesian language is a lingua franca formed from a standardized Malay. 

English: Get on your knees

Malay: Berlutut

Indonesian: Berlutut-lah

English: I have a big one

Malay: Saya mem-punyai zakar yang besar

Indonesian: Saya punya zakar yang besar

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Josh Henderson plays bad boys, gets tied up, but is too small or fundamentalist for n*de photos. With Vartan and Hutcherson to make up for it

  

I don't know what to think about Josh Henderson's whitebread name, generic handsomeness, and mildly muscular physique.  You can feel the privilege radiating out from his self-assured high-school jock smirk.  I don't know if I want to kiss him or slap him.

Link to the n*de photos

Or tie him up.  You know he'd make a good b*ndage bottom (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

According to his IMDB biography, Josh was born in...ugh...Texas, and grew up in Oklahoma.

His career started shortly after he graduated from Tulsa Memorial High School in 2000, on the talent show Popstars. This gained him a record contract, but the company went bankrupt before his record could be released.

So it was on to guest spots on Maybe Its Me and Do Over, and a starring role in the second season of  One on One (2002-03): A a sportscaster named Flex overprotects his teenage daughter, and disapproves of her relationship with the son of his hated rival.  Guess who plays the son.

Leeches (2003) is one of David DeCoteau's "gay people don't exist, but here are some guys hugging in their underwear" movies.  (They also get tied up and attacked by leeches.)

Josh's next major role was in Season 3 of Desperate Housewives (2006-07).  He played Austin McCann, the bad boy nephew of Edie Britt. He moves in with his fun-loving aunt and starts a relationship with the girl-next-door Julie, but an affair with a neighbor leads to a breakup, and he leaves Wisteria Lane forever. But Julie isn't exactly chaste: she goes on to have an affair with a married man, and gets (censored) after a  hookup with a friend (Charlie Carver, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

In Step Up (2006), Channing Tatum (n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) plays a juvenile delinquent who becomes a dancer and meets The Girl, but she still has feelings for her ex-boyfriend. Guess who.

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