The title refers to an old b&w movie called "Gold Diggers of 1938", but I might have the year wrong.

This issue was selected for an AMAZING HEROES piece, circa 1988, devoted to the worst comics ever published. Tapping Tommy defeating Dr. Strange, Valkyrie, and the Hulk with a gas bomb was held up for special ridicule.

I wish I could remember all of the others. One had Lois Lane learning about racism by posing as black (at the end she needs a blood transfusion from a black man); another was a hilarious-sounding giant-robot comic called Neutro, where several pages were spent with the narrator theorizing about the amazing things the robot *might* be able to do, before it finally moves ("He could outrun the fastest leopards [sic]! He could rip up whole battalions with his bare hands!").

Bad comics could be fun, sometimes.

I can think of worse Defenders comics! But i added that gas bomb scene.

The Lois Lane "I Am Curious (Black)!" story is hosted in full here:

http://mutantstarr.blogspot.com/2012/01/they-really-made-that-into-comic.html

Thanks, fnord. At least that one is earnest and sincere, although not the first story for which Kanigher might want to be remembered.

Your life may be enriched by this:

http://offthebeatenpanel.blogspot.com/2011/09/neutro-1-dell-1967.html

If bad people actually tattooed "E V I L" across their fingers, it would be rather considerate, wouldn't it?

Maybe this Tapping Tommy guy and Daddy Long-Legs can work together in a neo-Vaudeville act.

Sometimes fill-ins work, sometimes they don't. This was a good example of when they don't. Tapping Tommy obviously being a ripoff of Fred Astaire, this just has bogus written all over it. This was one of those that I bought brand new in the drug store, read once, and then sold it when I began downsizing my large collection. I didn't care if it compromised the continuity of my Defenders collection -- it had to go!

How hard is it to plot a decent fill-in? Dr. Strange and the Hulk have plenty of enemies that could have been used.

Tapping Tommy? Why?

Yeah, this like epically bad. That Tapping Tommy could take out a team this powerful is ridiculous. But I'm glad you included the gas bomb, because I love how they all keep talking - maybe if you shut your mouths and stopped talking the gas wouldn't knock you out.

But wait, there's more! This was at the time when Valkyrie couldn't fight women, and she can't defend herself against the robots in this story because they're female robots.

I think this is what happens when someone tries to imitate Steve Gerber's particular blend of absurdity and superheroics without understanding Gerber's underlying themes or purpose.