Real Life Comics #38

Al Smith rose from the tenements of New York's Lower East Side to become one of America's most beloved public servants, driven by the hardships he witnessed firsthand—from factory fires to child labor to overcrowded slums. This biography traces the "Happy Warrior's" journey through his early years as a fireman and fish-market worker, his crusade for reform in the State Assembly, and his fight for the working people as a four-term governor. His story is one of unwavering loyalty to the common folk who made him who he was.

Jane Froman, a talented singer on the rise, faces a life-altering tragedy when a U.S.O. plane crashes overseas in 1943, leaving her arm and leg severely injured. Determined to reclaim her career despite her injuries, she channels every ounce of courage and willpower to return to the stage, eventually walking unaided and earning recognition for her remarkable comeback. This is the inspiring true story of how one performer's indomitable spirit carried her from a hospital bed back to the spotlight.

Richard Henry Dana began life in a rigid New England schoolroom, where harsh discipline and poor lighting damaged his eyesight, but at nineteen he made a bold decision: to abandon his studies and sail aboard the merchant ship *Pilgrim* as an ordinary sailor. Over two years at sea—rounding Cape Horn, visiting the Sandwich Islands, and racing rival vessels—the frail young man transformed himself from a seasick landlubber into a hardened sailor, gathering the experiences that would become the classic maritime adventure *Two Years Before The Mast*. Upon his return to Cambridge, Dana resolved to chronicle his voyage in a book that would captivate readers for generations to come.

When a repressive Manchu Dynasty stifles progress and freedom in China for centuries, a young physician named Sun Yat-Sen transforms himself into a revolutionary leader, championing three principles of equality and independence across his nation. From his medical practice to countless dangerous missions abroad and at home—dodging spies, escaping kidnappers, and rallying supporters—Sun Yat-Sen becomes the driving force behind China's break from imperial rule. Though power and circumstance would test his vision, his legacy endures as the foundation of the Chinese Republic.

This story traces the remarkable evolution of the telephone from Alexander Graham Bell's first experimental transmission in 1876 through the network's expansion across continents and beneath the oceans. Spanning from that pivotal moment when Bell spoke his famous words to Thomas M. Watson through decades of development—swirling challenges with switchboards, weather, and infrastructure—the story captures how the telephone transformed from a curiosity at the Centennial Exposition into an indispensable technology connecting the world. By 1915, Bell himself celebrates the first transcontinental line, and the network continues spreading as telephone circuits now circle the entire globe.

Haym Salomon never wielded a musket, yet his finances proved as vital to American independence as any general's strategy—when General Washington needed funds to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown, it was this Polish-born broker's fortune and unwavering patriotism that answered the call. From his early days as a secret Son of Liberty to his later work as the government's official broker, Salomon risked everything, sacrificing his wealth and ultimately his health in service to the Revolution he believed in. This is the story of a man whose generosity outlasted his fortune, and whose contribution to the birth of a nation went largely unremembered—until now.

This six-page history chronicles Virginia's journey from its founding at Jamestown in 1607 through the mid-twentieth century, tracing the colony's evolution from a struggling settlement defended against Native American attacks to a birthplace of American independence and democracy. The story follows key moments including the establishment of the House of Burgesses, Virginia's pivotal role in the Revolutionary War under leaders like George Washington and Patrick Henry, the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the state's continued growth into the modern era. It's a sweeping account of how one commonwealth shaped the nation's founding ideals and endured through triumph and tragedy to build its future.