(Feature Comics 043, 1941) Another example of the classic combination of someone posing as a spooky local legend-figure in order to scare folk away from a valuable area. In this case one Jean Dupre and his mother are trying to use the legend of the giant Black Bat (that they might have just made up) to scare their step sister/ daughter Marie away from the family ranch, which is just lousy with radium ore. It’s a good attempt, foiled by…
(Feature Comics 043, 1941) Another example of the classic combination of someone posing as a spooky local legend-figure in order to scare folk away from a valuable area. In this case one Jean Dupre and his mother are trying to use the legend of the giant Black Bat (that they might have just made up) to scare their step sister/ daughter Marie away from the family ranch, which is just lousy with radium ore. It’s a good attempt, foiled by…
Thinking about this thanks to USA, the Spirit of Old Glory. Will probably add to this as time rolls on: TOP UNHINGED PATRIOTISM –Inherently tied to the Myth of their Nation: USA, the Spirit of Old Glory –Embodies the spirit of their nation: Uncle Sam, John Bull, Captain Britain –Draws power from a symbol of their nation: Liberty Belle, Miss America (Quality) –Obnoxiously talks about patriotism all the time and is a jingoistic xenophobe: Don Glory, the Ghost of Flanders –Inspired…
(Feature Comics 042-048, 1941) USA, the Spirit of Old Glory might just be the most overtly patriotic super-hero concept ever, which is saying something. Especially as she is a Quality Comics character, a company that also featured Uncle Sam (the literal Spirit of America) and Miss America (literally given her powers by the Statue of Liberty) in their roster. USA was originally a little girl who saw Betsy Ross sew the first American flag and was just so friggin’ jazzed about…
(Feature Comics 039-040, 1940-1941) This is a bit of a complicated one. So: “Captain Bruce Blackburn – Counterspy” was a strip that started in Feature Comics 032 in media res with the cover of the titular Captain and his colleague Lieutenant Jackson having been blown. The two then fake their deaths and a government plastic surgeon alters their appearances so that they are virtually identical, thus allowing them to operate as an incredibly efficient spy team with a flawless ability to generate…
(Feature Comics 038-041, 1940-1941) Pretty fond of the Ace of Space. As you can see above he has the fairly common origin of finding an alien spaceship and [getting powers accidentally from alien technology/ getting powers as a reward for helping the alien/ looting the deceased alien/ taking on the dying alien’s mission and technology]. In this case, he has to defend the Earth from invading Slogoms. Also, I demand that you appreciate that cool looking alien. What a cool…
(Feature Comics 032-074, 1940-1943) Eyyy, it’s Zero the Ghost Detective! I have a blanket love of the psychic detective genre and unusually for the Golden Age Zero’s cases almost always end up being actually supernatural as opposed to being a crook in a sheet – the above panels are from a case wherein a bitter old man dies and comes back as a three-fingered ogre to drag the rest of his family into death with him. It’s usually something gruesome…
(Feature Comics 040, 1941) It’s a common enough story in comics: a patriotic scientist (Dr Devlin) develops a bit of cool super-science (a speed serum) and his treacherous (and possibly dangerously Foreign, if his occasional Yoda-isms are any indication) assistant (Karl) appropriates it for criminal purposes. Karl’s real innovation here is that he’s prepared to scale up his operation beyond what a treacherous lab assistant usually does – per the panel caption above he has at least 30 super-fast men…
(Doll Man 001, 1941) I truly love the Black Gondolier, as he is to my mind the Platonic ideal of the kind of crook that every super-hero universe should be crawling with: a guy who gets together some gadgets and works out a little scheme and very briefly becomes the scourge of shipping in New York Harbor. Why’s he got a motorized gondola? No idea! Where did he get his climbing gear? Doesn’t matter! What does matter is that in…
(Doll Man 001, 1941) Just n’ Right is perhaps my favourite forgotten Golden Age super-hero, or at least the one I’ve thought about the most. I’m not sure I can adequately explain why but since he only ever appeared in a single six-page story I can at least present the entire thing to you and note the things that prey on my mind in the wee hours. So: the setup. Justin Wright is a lumberjack and an orphan who has…