Golden Age Heroes

WHIZ WILSON and his Futuroscope

2011-01-30T14:55:00.004-05:00

Whiz Wilson appeared in SURE FIRE COMICS v1#1-#3 (there were two #3s/June-Oct 1940) and continued in LIGHTNING COMICS v1#4-v2#4 (Dec 1940-Dec 1941).

from
LIGHTNING COMICS V2#4 (December 1941)
story and art by unknown

Amazing Golden Age Adventure Funnies #2 - DR. MORTAL Preview!

2011-01-20T19:45:00.000-05:00

Time once again for some shameless self-promotion!

AMAZING GOLDEN AGE ADVENTURE FUNNIES #2 is now available!

Featuring six tales from Weird Comics #14 (May 1941):

The Dart & Ace!
Sorceress of Zoom!
The Eagle & Buddy!
Doctor Mortal!
Marga the Panther Woman!
Blast Bennett!

52 pages | full color | $7.99

Check out this preview featuring the complete Dr. Mortal story!

from
AMAZING GOLDEN AGE
ADVENTURE FUNNIES #2 (Winter 2011)
[reprinted from WEIRD COMICS #14 (May 1941)]
story and art by Bert Whitman

ALIAS The SPIDER vs Death's Cold Hand!

2011-01-16T21:08:00.003-05:00

A champion of justice whose weapons are a steel bow and blazing arrows which carry his seal...this is ALIAS The SPIDER...in reality, young Tom Hallaway!

from
CRACK COMICS #16 (September 1941)
stroy and art by Paul Gustavson

ALIAS The SPIDER around the web:

Kalora! It's MARVELO, Monarch of Magicians!!

2010-12-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

Marvelo, Monarch of Magicians was...well, a magician! He had the power to do just about anything that the story required by shouting "Kalora!"

Created by Fred Guardineer (who also created Zatara Master Magician for DC Comics and Tor the Magic Master for Quality, anyone else sense a pattern...?), Marvelo appeared in BIG SHOT COMICS #1-20 (May 1940-Dec 1941), and THE FACE #1 (1941).

from
BIG SHOT COMICS #8 (December 1940)
story by Gardner Fox?; art by Fred Guardineer

YOUNG ROBINHOOD Calls it Quits!!

2010-12-12T19:25:00.001-05:00

There's very little info online for Young Robinhood (often misspelled "Young Robin Hood"). Here's what Public Domian Super Heroes has:

Billy Lackington, son of one New York City's wealthiest men, decides to use his archery skills to fight against the criminals who preyed on the poor. He used his fascination with Robin Hood as his costumed theme. He soon shifted his scope to fighting the Axis powers and crime in general. He recruited a group of local street kids - "Fatso," "Shorty," and "Freckles" - to serve as his "Merry Men." On their second adventure, the Merry Men got codenames, becoming Friar Tucker, Little John, and Big Doc. Doc was killed in action early on, but Friar Tucker and Little John continued to assist Young Robin Hood until their feature was canceled.

Young Robin Hood and his allies operated out of a secret base hidden in Central Park which they built using the money they managed to pool together. They fought villains such as The Crow King and the Veiled Lady.

Young Robinhood debuted in BOY COMICS #3 (April 1942) and ran through issue #32 (February 1947), never to be heard from again...

from
BOY COMICS #9 (April 1943)
story by ?; art by Alan Mandel

SERGEANT SPOOK vs King Tut!

2010-12-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

Sergeant Spook (which apparently was his real name before he died) has a very short and simple secret origin...and it contains a message: Smoking is bad for your health!

One night while working in the police crime laboratory, Sergeant Spook absent-mindedly laid his pipe next to a rack of chemicals. The chemicals exploded, killing the sergeant. Thus began his career as a ghostly crime fighter.

No real super powers (like, say, the Spectre), but although he was invisible to humans, he could still make physical contact with them. He also spent a lot of time hanging with his fellow ghosts in Ghost Town.

Sergeant Spook debuted in BLUE BOLT COMICS v1 #1 (June 1940) and held a regular spot through v7 #7 (Dec 1946). There were 27 more issues of BLUE BOLT COMICS, and Sergeant Spook made it into 17 of them (v7 #10-v10 #1, Mar 1947-Jul/Aug 1949). He also appeared in DICK COLE #1 (Dec/Jan 1948/49).

from
BLUE BOLT COMICS v1 #10 (March 1941)
story & art by Malcolm Kildale

MINIMIDGET, Man of Mite!

2010-11-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

Minimidget (and girlfriend/sidekick, Ritty) debuted in AMAZING MAN COMICS #5 (Sept 1939, which was the first issue of the series). He held his spot until the next to the last issue of the series, AMAZING MAN COMICS #25 (Dec 1941). He also appeared in all 5 issues of STARS & STRIPES COMICS (#2-6, May-Dec 1941).

Minimidget had an interesting debut: Although he was the headliner of the tale, he had no dialogue and was just used by Dr. Barmell (the mad scientist who created him) to murder people (which he did without showing much remorse). By the end of the story, Minimidget had been killed by a rattrap!

Death being what it is in comics (even in the Golden Age, apparently), Minimidget wasn't dead, just injured ("while on an evil errand for his late master"). The district attorney's office finds Minimidget and Riddy a home with the kindly old lady, Mrs. Kerry. They neglect to mention to Mrs. Kerry (or the readers, ever again) that Minimidget was on a killing spree when he was caught in the trap, but...oh well.

Minimidget and Riddy pretty much lived happily-ever-after, fighting crime and riding around in toy planes, trains and automobiles. Well...until the end of 1941.

from
AMAZING MAN COMICS #21 (March 1941)
story & art by John F. Kolb

The FIGHTING YANK in "The Case of the Extra Nazi Prisoner!"

2010-11-21T16:31:00.001-05:00

The Fighting Yank (Bruce Carter III) meets Baron Karl Mannfred Von Khill, Der Fuehrer's greatest secret agent!!

from
AMERICA'S BEST COMICS #14 (June 1945)
story by Richard Hughes (?); art by ?

Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar - MAYBE

2010-11-20T16:10:00.002-05:00

Update: Zazzle is offering 40% off calendars!
Use code 40CLNDRS2011 at checkout! Ends 11/30/2010.
Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar

The Story, The Drama, The Strife...

Okay...
Earlier this year I was thinking it would be cool to have a calendar of Golden Age heroes. I figured with all the print-on-demand options out there, I'd give it a shot.

I decided to go with Zazzle since I could design the entire page, as opposed to CafePress where they put on any calendar they feel like. I'm just too much of a control junkie! [Although I won't make that mistake again...]

So I finally had it all together and up on Zazzle in May and placed me an order. I got the confirmation email...I couldn't wait to see what it looked like! A bit later I got a second email that said:

We are sorry, but we are unable to process your Zazzle.com order 131-39775797-2721874 due to a conflict with one or more of our acceptable content guidelines.

Your entire order has been cancelled; all of the items in your order will not be shipped.

For these reasons, we were unable to process your original order:

Title: Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar
Product Link: 158648999484715845
Result: Not Approved
Content Issues:
--- Design contains an image or text that is copyrighted.

I sent them an email explaining that the images involved were public domain, and that they had other sellers on Zazzle that were also selling public domain images. The response I got was:

Thank you for reporting a suspected marketplace violation. It's Zazzlers like you that uphold our community ideals to provide a great venue for creativity and originality.

Your submission will be reviewed by our Content Management Team. If we determine that the product is in violation of our policies, it will be removed from the marketplace.

I emailed them back letting them know that first: I hadn't reported any violations because there weren't any, and second: what needed to be done to resolve this "issue."

I never received a response.

I just let it go and pretty much forgot about it.

For some reason in September I remembered it again, and since I'd never heard from them, I assumed maybe they had their crack legal team research the term "public domain" and it was all better now. I sent in an order.

And received the same cancellation notice.

This time I asked them specifically what in my calendar was the problem. I actually got a response!:

In this instance, your order contained products with copyright-protected content related to Marvel UK, which cannot be printed without written permission from the rights holder or licensor.

I was like "Marvel UK?" So I emailed them again, again asking for specifics. And, of course, never heard back.

Well, the calendar has never been taken off the marketplace. Why? I have no idea. What I do know is: last week I received an email from Zazzle saying:

You recently sold 1 copy of your product, Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar.

So now I'm all like WTF? I dunno. Apparently I'm the only one to whom they won't sell my calendar. Never seen it. Have no idea of the quality. But if anyone is interested and wants to take the crap shoot that is Zazzle. Give it a go:

Amazing Golden Age Heroes 2011 Calendar

If it works out for you, let me know!!

MAGNO & DAVEY vs. The Cobra!!

2010-11-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a 19-page epic to waste a minute on!!

Magno, the master of magnetism and his young friend Davey, fight bravely as the Cobra, international inciter of evil, strikes at America!

from
SUPER-MYSTERY COMICS vol 2 #4 (October 1941)
story by Bob Turner; art & cover by Jim Mooney

The BLACK CONDOR vs The Ghost Killer!

2010-11-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

While on a safari with his wife and infant son across the bleak steppes of Outer Mongolia, Richard Grey and his expedition were ambushed and murdered by Yakki Raiders, leaving young Richard, Jr. orphaned and alone. A nearby condor took little Dick under her wing and back to her nest.

Growing up, young Grey longed to fly like his brothers and sisters could. He put his keen mind to studying the movement of the wings, the body motions, air currents, balance and levitation. Eventually his determination paid off and he could fly!!

One day, Richard met another human, Father Pierre, who taught him how to speak English. After a year of commuting back and forth between Father Pierre and his condor family, Richard found Pierre near death, having been attacked by Gali-Kan's Raiders. With his final breath, Pierre convinced Richard to go out into the human world and use his power to fight evil.

Failing to stop the plot to kill Senator Thomas Wright, Richard Grey, Jr. used their uncanny resemblance to take Wright's place and began living two lives: as Senator Thomas Wright -- and the Black Condor!

Created by writer Will Eisner and artist Lou Fine, the Black Condor debuted in CRACK COMICS #1 (May 1940) and appeared regularly through issue #31 (Aug 1943). That was the end of his career until he was revived by DC Comics in the 1970s.

from
CRACK COMICS #16 (September 1941)
written by ?; art by Lou Fine

[sorry it's from such a ratty copy, but it's still mostly readable]

The Golden Age MR. MIRACLE!

2010-11-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

Mr. Miracle appeared in CAPTAIN FEARLESS #1-2 (Aug-Sep 1941).

And that's about it. There's no info online that I could really find.

It's interesting to note that he gets knocked out twice (in six pages!), there may be a theme here...

from
HOLYOKE ONE-SHOT #5 (1944)
(originally from CAPTAIN FEARLESS #2)
story and art by ?

The ORACLE in "The Strange Case of Dr. Vantoni!"

2010-11-07T14:18:00.001-05:00

Gifted with strange, prophetic powers, Bob Paxton, alias The Oracle -- pits his strength and unusual mental abilities against crime and evil...

Bob Paxton, a young engineer, was in British Guiana as a technician with the Army Air Force. While searching the jungle for a location for a secret air strip, Bob found a rusty metal cylinder that the Nazis had intended to use as an attack on Columbia Field. A stray Nazi bullet pierced the cylinder and released a gas which knocked Bob into unconsciousness.

The doctors diagnosed Bob as semi-paralyzed, having lost his 5 senses. But while unconscious, Bob had a vision of the Nazis bombing Columbia Field. Suddenly Bob awoke and rushed to Columbia Field to avert the tragedy.

It was determined that the Nazi gas had been intended to destroy the 5 senses, but the rusting cylinder had changed its composition and gave Bob a 6th sense!!

Unfortunately, it only worked when he was unconscious. So he ended up getting knocked in the head at least once every adventure. Makes you wonder what his quality of life was like in his later years...

The Oracle debuted in STARTLING COMICS #20 (March 1943) and appeared in issues #21-25, 27, 29-32, and 35-40 (May 1943-July 1946) as well as FIGHTING YANK #11 (March 1945).

from
STARTLING COMICS #37 (January 1946)
story by ?; art by Henry Kiefer?

The FACE! Murder on the 'El' Station!!

2010-11-03T18:04:00.002-04:00

The Face debuted in BIG SHOT COMICS #1 (May 1940) and stuck with the title until the end (BIG SHOT #104 [Aug 1949]). Although he gave up being the Face in issue #63 (Feb 1946) and continued his adventures as just Tony Trent. Along the way he appeared in 4 issues of his own, THE FACE #1 (1941) & 2 (1943) and TONY TRENT #3-4 (1948), as well as SKYMAN #1 (1941) and SPARKY WATTS #1 (1942).

Tony Trent was a radio announcer who got fed up with criminals getting away with their crimes and decided to do something about it. He donned a frightening mask that would startle the thugs with fear just long enough for him to save the day.

from
BIG SHOT COMICS #8 (December 1940)
story by Gardner Fox; art by Mart Bailey

More about the Face:

Happy Halloween!! FRANKENSTEIN meets Doctor Devil!!!

2010-10-31T19:47:00.000-04:00

It's not Halloween with out a little Frankenstein!!!

Frankenstein ("Although Frankenstein is the name of the monster's creator, the creation itself has become known as Frankenstein") finds himself in Hell and teams up with an old Black Owl villain, Doctor Devil!! He'll grant you three wishes if you pull on his tail...

I'm not touching that one.

from
PRIZE COMICS #22 (July 1942)
story & art by Dick Briefer

YARKO the GREAT in the Valley of the Moon!

2010-10-27T15:57:00.001-04:00

In Tibet, Yarko and his sidekick Li Wan traverse blinding blizzards and thunderous avalanches through Devil's Pass to reach the Valley of the Moon. Upon their arrival, they find flowers that bleed human blood growing in molten lava-filled craters...and vampires!!

Ah, the Golden Age...

[I just realized that the last Yarko story I ran was also at Halloween-time. Guess he ran in some supernatural circles!]

from
WONDERWORLD COMICS #6 (October 1939)
story by Will Eisner?; art by Bob Powell?

Attack of the Witch-Master! MARK SWIFT and the TIME RETARDER!

2010-10-24T13:51:00.001-04:00

Halloween Time at GAH continues!! And you can't have Halloween (ish-type) fun without witches!!

Rodney Kent and his pupil, Mark Swift, journey backward in history to old Puritan-land, to find out whether New England witchcraft was legend or not!

From Comic Vine:

An orphan, Mark Swift lived in Greenville with grade school teacher Rodney Kent, however Kent was no ordinary teacher, an inventive fellow he had, with the help and inspiration of young Mr. Swift, built a “time retarder,” a vehicle that looked like a submarine, but instead of traveling though water it traveled though time and space.
Christening the ship The History Express, Kent pronounced "with this time-retarder I won’t just teach history, I’ll show it to you."
Which is just what he did, each story involved the pair taking a look at what Mark Swift happened to be studying.
These were the first comic book characters whose gimmick was time travel, they however would only make it though a hand full of stories before disappearing, and while time travel would remain a staple of the comics, there would not be a time traveling hero in the comics until Rip Hunter: Time Master almost 20 years later.

Mark Swift and the Time Retarder appeared in SLAM-BANG COMICS #1-7 (Mar-Sep 1940) before making a final appearance in MASTER COMICS #7 (Oct 1940).
And then they were history...

from
SLAM-BANG COMICS #5 (July 1940)
writer & artist unknown

It's rather humorous that the colonials are all ready to jail the girl as a witch, but don't seem to have an issue with a couple of guys appearing out of thin air in a giant metal contraption. Nothing witchcraft-y about that!

Vampire Madness with CAPTAIN MARVEL and The WIZARD!

2010-10-20T18:15:00.002-04:00

Woo Hoo! It's that time of year for some Halloween(ish-type) stories. LOL. Okay, they're just stories with vampires and stuff like that. But, whatever...

When I first came back (a couple weeks ago), I decided that this time around I was only going to post original scans. Not that you couldn't necessarily find the stories elsewhere online, only that I wasn't going to "borrow" scans from other sites, just post my own.

Today I'm breaking that rule. Mostly because I had already had these ready for my 13 Days of Halloween theme back in 2008, and since they were still on my computer, I decided to use them. But also because I may not always have a story that fits a holiday theme, so there may be exceptions occasionally. Both these stories (and the complete associated issues) are available at Golden Age Comics Downloads.

First up: Captain Marvel battles The Scarlet Vampire!!!

[This is the point where I usually give a little back story on the featured hero. But if you don't know who Captain Marvel is...let me just suggest Google.]

from
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #140 (January 1943)
story by Otto Binder; art by C. C. Beck

The Wizard debuted in TOP-NOTCH COMICS #1 (Dec 1939) and resided there until issue #27 (May 1942), after which the title became TOP-NOTCH LAUGH COMICS. He also co-headlined the series SHIELD-WIZARD COMICS #1-13 (Summer 1940-Spring 1944).

From Wikipedia: His real name is Blane Whitney, a man of great intelligence. At first, the Wizard did not possess superpowers but was merely a man with great physical and mental prowess. He eventually exhibited super-strength and great mental powers, including a "photographic mind," enabling him to see scenes far away from him, hypnosis, and telepathy. He also started consuming capsules containing a secret formula that replenished his super-strength.

In his early appearances, the Wizard wore a tuxedo and cape, thus he was similar in appearance to Mandrake the Magician. At first, his cape and mask were white. His costume was eventually simplified into blue tights with red trunks, cape, and mask. This costume made him invulnerable.

Kinda looks like he can fly, too.

from
TOP-NOTCH COMICS #14 (April 1941)
story by Harry Shorten?; art by Al Camy?

Amazing Golden Age Adventure Funnies #1 - Golden Age DAREDEVIL Preview!

2010-10-17T12:16:00.008-04:00

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I'm doing it anyway:

There are lots of places where you can download or go online and read Golden Age comics (like here, for example). But some people, like me, like to hold comics in their hands and read them. And there are companies that do Golden Age reprints, but they are usually in black and white. It's cool to be able to read stories you may not find elsewhere, but they were meant to be read in color.

So, utilizing the wonderful world of print-on-demand, I decided to do it myself. The first issue of my 52-page full-color AMAZING GOLDEN AGE ADVENTURE FUNNIES features characters appearing in Project: Superpowers:

The Black Terror from America's Best Comics #14 (July 1945)
Captain Future from Startling Comics #37 (January 1946)
The Golden Age Daredevil from Daredevil Comics #28 (January 1945)
Dynamic Man from Dynamic Comics #15 (July 1945)
The Flame from Wonderworld Comics #25 (May 1941)
Plus Yankee Boy in a 1-page text story from Yankee Comics #4 (March 1942)
And a gallery of covers from the original comics!!

Special thanks to Ka-Blam for printing it, IndyPlanet for carrying it and Ka-Blam/IndyPlanet co-founder Barry Gregory for naming it his Pick of the Week!!

Here's a preview: the complete Daredevil story!

from
AMAZING GOLDEN AGE
ADVENTURE FUNNIES #1 (Fall 2010)
[reprinted from DAREDEVIL COMICS #28 (January 1945)]
story by Charles Biro; art by Norman Maurer

You can check out my (currently lame) Terrific Comics website, too! But there's nothing there that isn't here. :)

DR. FROST and the Kidnapping Ring!!

2010-10-13T16:50:00.001-04:00

From The Golden Age Hero Directory: Hailing from the great arctic north, Doctor Frost can fire beams of cold from his hands and envelop himself in a sheath of ice so thick that it can withstand strong explosions. But he doesn't exclusively rely on his cold powers; he is a good scrapper in his own right. However, the good doctor isn't invincible; a powerful blow to the head can knock him out.

Dr. Frost debuted in Prize Comics #7 (December 1940) and appeared in every issue through #34 (September 1943), at which point he faded into obscurity.

from
PRIZE COMICS #30 (April 1943)
story by ?; art by Maurice Gutwirth

The MASQUERADER!

2010-10-10T22:43:00.007-04:00

It's really hard to find information on The Masquerader online (his real name is Hank Smith!). GCD lists him as having 4 appearances (A-1 COMICS #3, 7, 8 & 10). It also says the genre is "crime drama." So he's probably only wearing a costume in this story because it's a costume party and not because he's a costumed heroic-type.

I don't care. Close enough for me. ;)

from
A-1 COMICS #10 (1947)
writer and artist unknown

Break time...

2009-03-01T16:47:00.004-05:00

Oh goodness, I'm burned out.

I set myself a goal to put up 26 stories, A-Z, during the month of February. That gave me 2 skip days in case I fell behind, which I used. I had no idea what a task it would be. And it was tasking.

So now Golden Age Heroes is going on a small hiatus. Probably about a month. Maybe less, maybe a little more.

But I'll be back.

Just need a bit of a rest...

ZANZIBAR smashes the opium ring!

2009-02-28T17:17:00.003-05:00

Zanzibar the Magician appeared in every issue of MYSTERY MEN COMICS (#1-31, Aug 1939-Feb 1942). He also dropped by for appearances in GREEN MASK #2 (Fall 1940), REX DEXTER OF MARS #1 (Fall 1940), BLUE BEETLE #5 (Jan/Feb 1941) and THE FLAME #5-6 (Jun-Aug 1941).

Zanzibar was a magician. Not much different from Zatara, Zambini, Yardi, Marvo, etc...

4 pages. Beginning, middle, end. How many issues do you think this story would run if it were being written today? :-P

from
MYSTERY MEN COMICS #3 (October 1939)
story by ?; art by George Tuska
from Golden Age Comics Downloads

YANK and DOODLE vs the sinister Limping Man!

2009-02-27T18:09:00.003-05:00

Yank and Doodle appeared in PRIZE COMICS #13-68 (Aug 1941-Feb/Mar 1948).

Twins Rick and Dick Walters weren't old enough to join the Army, so they decided to become superheroes. Apparently, they also had super-strength and invulnerability when they were near each other, but that doesn't seem to play much in this story.

I'm not sure which was which. Wikipedia says Rick was Yank and Dick was Doodle. International Hero says it was the other way around. Toonopedia and Public Domain Super Heroes don't even bother.

from
PRIZE COMICS #30 (April 1943)
story by ?; art by Maurice Gutwirth
cover by either Jack Binder or Dick Briefer

X of the UNDERGROUND!

2009-02-26T18:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, so X isn't really a super-type hero, but you try finding a golden-age hero with an "x" in their name, let alone one that starts with an "x"!

X of the Underground traipsed around MILITARY COMICS #8-13 (Mar-Nov 1942). X was a resistance fighter opposing the Axis powers in Paris during World War II.

from
MILITARY COMICS #11 (August 1942)
story by ?; art by Lee Ames
from Golden Age Comics Downloads