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SUPER-HERO 005 UPDATE: THE HUMAN TORCH 1940
So just what did the Human Torch get up to in 1940?
Well, in Marvel Mystery Comics v1 004 he makes the name Jim Hamond on the fly during a police stop and evidently likes it enough to adopt it as his full-time secret identity. Not sure when he adds the second ‘m’ to make it Hammond. Will report back when he does.
In Marvel Mystery Comics v1 007 the Human Torch, as Jim Hamond, decides to become a police officer and does so with very little fuss.
He does, however, immediately discard the idea of operating as a regular secret identity style super-hero due to the fact that he keeps incinerating his uniforms. Instead, he just goes and tells his senior officers the situation and ends up being deputized as a kind of official vigilante working for the city. He maintains the fiction of being a regular beat cop for a couple of more issues before becoming a full-time Human Torch.
That’s pretty much it for 1940 but thanks to my comic book reading schedule we will be back soon with the 1941 developments in the life of everyone’s favourite android.
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ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 054
Comic book aliens: one of the few inexhaustible resources.
Martians:
Just as Doc Strong and his followers are starting to get the post-apocalyptic, WWII-lasted-a-century world of 2041 sorted out, a bunch of robot-looking Martians show up to ruin things by invading their territory on the Isle of Right. It’s just one thing after another with that year.
Though they are fairly generic hostile invaders, these fellows really distinguish themselves among their class by immediately abandoning whatever plans that they had for Earth in order to indulge in a rager of a party. They want meat and they want booze, in that order and plenty of it. And as a bonus, the fact that the colourists at Blue Ribbon never really settled on a consistent colour scheme for these fellows means that the Party Issue is also the issue in which the Martians all look like they are wearing leopardskin briefs.
Everything works out okay, however. After Doc and his pals are taken back to Mars for judgment by the King of the Martians they learn that he is a mere robot shell built by friendly Earthman Stinky Jones, who is more than happy to lend his subjects’ might to the task of cleaning up the war-ravaged Earth. (Blue Ribbon Comics 007, 1940)
Masters of the Pit:
These inhabitants of the Pit of Horrors aren’t given a lot of characterization, seeing as they are acting as more of an extension of Fantomah’s rough justice than as a functioning society. They live in caves underneath the liminal Jungle and can shape stone with a word and a gesture, and that’s all we really get. (Jungle Comics 007, 1940)
Melubians:
The interesting thing about planet Melubia is the fact that they use gravity control technology to surround their world with hundreds of small artificial satellites on which are built small cities or individual dwellings. The less interesting thing about Melubia is the fact that there are two intelligent species living on it, one of whom (the Melubians) want to overthrow the rule of the other (the unnamed, more humanoid species headed by King Molat). We never really get a sense of whether this is a colonial situation or if the two groups evolved on Melubia in parallel, but either way, time/space traveller Stuart Taylor and his pals are quick to uphold the established power structure and put down the rebellion. (Jumbo Comics 016, 1940)
Mongonians:
The Mongonians, inhabitants of the planet Mongo (but a different Mongo than the Flash Gordon one) are some cool four-armed aliens with an unfortunate streak of paranoid xenophobia running through their society, as can be seen in their interaction with time/space traveller Whiz Wilson when he visits their planet in the year 2300 CE.
It may be that the Mongonians are on to something, however, as they are attacked by hostile inhabitants of the planet Zania just after they toss Whiz – along with two hapless explorers from Earth – into their jail. Everything eventually resolves nicely, as the explorers’ spaceship makes an excellent weapon against the relatively fragile ranks of the Zanian Balloon Corps and peaceful Earth/Mongo relations are established. (Lightning Comics v2 001, 1941)
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 981: IVAN SHARK
(The Funnies 057, 1941)
Ivan Shark is the arch-enemy of Captain Midnight, direct from the Captain Midnight radio show. He is the head of a nationwide network of spies and gangsters dedicated to overthrowing the US government.
The threat of Shark and his organization is so great, in fact, that it is the impetus for the formation of Captain Midnight’s Secret Squadron, and so efficient that he is aware of the clandestine meeting between Midnight and a heavily-disguised FDR that marks the Squadron’s beginning and is able to get there in time to attempt a presidential kidnapping.
Like Captain Midnight, Ivan Shark has an extensive supporting cast that has been sourced from the radio show and appear as shorthand versions of themselves in the comic, including henchmen Wolf, Fang and Gardo, the latter of whom finally appears in The Funnies 061 after being mentioned in every previous issue.
The greatest of Shark’s minions is his daughter, the amazingly-named Fury Shark. In practice she is just a standard femme fatale espionage type, but she and her father make for a very entertaining evil scheming duo.
Like his foe Captain Midnight, this version of Ivan Shark is but a pale shadow of his radio counterpart, doomed to live out an incomplete story due to the brief duration of the Dell adaptation.
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SUPER HERO FILE 003: CAPTAIN AMERICA
(Captain America Comics 001, 1940)
Captain America! Hitler-Puncher Number One! Quite possibly in the top five of super-heroics’ most well-known origins – a young man, physically unfit for the military but wishing to serve his country, is transformed into a super soldier with a combination of chemicals and radiation. The scientist responsible for this is murdered by an enemy spy rendering the young man a unique hero rather than the first of many. His first act as a hero is to bring the assassin to justice. A classic origin story, and one so well-trodden that my dad probably knows it. The really interesting thing about this origin is all the elements of it that were not there at first but rather accreted over time.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the initial presentation of Captain America’s origin and the ones that would come later is the fact that Steve Rogers is simply not a character in the original. Okay, perhaps that is too far, but there is absolutely none of the stuff with Steve heading in to volunteer and getting turned away, and certainly none of the later addition of him as the downtrodden but good-hearted patriot. He’s merely an emaciated canvas for the doctors to work on – he doesn’t even get a word out until after Erskine is shot.
Not quite as thematically potent, perhaps, but the absence of the Vita-Ray treatment after Steve gets his Super Soldier Formula is very notable when you’re expecting it. Turns out that that isn’t added until the 60s!
The assassination of Dr Erskine and its aftermath play out essentially the same as they always will, though the assassin is eventually specifically said to be electrocuted after crashing into the Vita-Ray machine, which obviously can’t be the case here. Please also note Dr Erskine being called Professor Reinstein here, something that has been given a few different explanations over the years.
Steve Rogers is installed in the US Army as the lowest-ranked Private in history, which might be limiting to an on-the-go young super-hero except for the fact of the vexing conundrum of Camp Lehigh’s location, which places him in close proximity to both East and West Coast locations depending on the needs of the story. Rogers’ immediate superior, the belligerent Sergeant Duffy, has sadly all but disappeared from modern retellings.
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 959: THE INVISIBLE MENACE
(Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)
It’s a story as old as comics and then some: an inventor has come up with a cool superscientific gizmo – in this case an invisibility serum – and no sooner are they done than some gangsters come stiffing around looking to exploit it. This particular gang is headed by an unnamed and trigger-happy fellow who guns down the scientist and then his own men in order to get his mitts on the single available dose of the stuff.
The gangster dubs himself “the Invisible Menace” and this is the only reason I am calling him that instead of “the Invisible Killer” as everyone else in the story including the caption boxes does.
There’s a kind of critical and/or cultural debate over the madness of the main character in HG Wells’ the Invisible Man, over whether the titular character goes mad with the power inherent in being invisible or the process itself has some flaw that warps the human mind. Whichever way you slice it, the Invisible Menace has Invisibility Madness: no sooner does he fade from sight than he is slaughtering people left and right. Not that he wasn’t killing people while he was still visible but at least that was to some purpose. This is just wanton murder.
The big question is: is this guy invisible forever? Neither he nor we ever find out, and frankly it matters quite a lot because it’s going to be pretty difficult to enjoy your riches as an invisible guy if the only other invisible guy anyone has ever heard of is famous for attacking a garden party with a tommy gun.
The question never really gets resolved thanks to one of the great flaws in any invisibility-related plan: that you are still detectable via other senses. Accordingly, the Invisible Menace is stopped at the fangs of the dog hero K-9.
Categorized in: Abstract Concepts (Menace), Body (Physical Qualities – Invisibility), Powers (Invisibility)
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MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 085
Welcome to “The Four Characters Least Likely to Return in a Modern Comic” Theatre.
Marvex the Super-Robot:
Marvex the Super-Robot! Created to be a slave by a Fifth Dimensional jerk named Bolo, Marvex rejects his fate, kills Bolo and his associates and accidentally blasts himself to Earth while smashing up Bolo’s lab equipment.
If you’re already aware of who Marvex is then it’s likely because of the Michael Kupperman strip featuring the character during Marvel’s 70th Anniversary run of comics, and indeed, Marvex’ propensities for cartoonish violence, shutting down romance with sudden nudity and receiving twenty dollars all make him a perfect Kupperman character.
Sadly, the nudity and twenty dollar reward system go the way of Marvex’ hair in his second and third appearances, but he never stops yelling about being a robot whenever his companion Clara gets a bit too comfortable around him. (Daring Mystery Comics 003, 1940)
Categorized in: Language (Superlatives – Super), Origins (Extradimensional, Robot), Supranormal Beings (Robots)
the Falcon:
The Falcon is Carl Burgess, assistant district attorney in an unnamed city who is kind of betraying the spirit of his office by meting out vigilante justice when he feels like the legal system isn’t working. Though he is a pretty average costumed vigilante, the Falcon has precisely four interesting things to note. The first is that his name is weirdly close to that of Carl Burgos, the creator of the Human Torch. This might be a coincidence, but still. The second is of course that he is the original Marvel Falcon but by far the least-known of the half dozen or so Marvel characters to share that name.
Like the Eagle, the Falcon is a bit of a fashion plate or at least someone who adjusts his costume on every adventure and for the same reason: a different artist on every one of his appearances.
Finally, the Falcon has been retroactively assigned an accessory based on an assumption, just like his fellow Daring Mystery Comics alum the Fiery Mask and his morning star. In this case, it’s that his suit gives him the ability to glide. I assume that this is because of a stylistic choice on the part of his various illustrators to have him dive down on his enemies like a falcon stooping on prey, because the suit does not come up in his handful of Golden Age appearances. (Daring Mystery Comics 005, 1940)
Categorized in: Animals (Falcons), Day Jobs (Assistant District Attorneys)
Marvel Boy:
Up until about 2012 I’d have confidently said that “Marvel Boy” was one of the most commonly-shared super-hero identities in the Marvel Universe, but it seems that the concept of the legacy identity has gone through a weird mutation in the last decade or so and I am now regularly surprised to find that there are way more Wolverines or Captains America than I had previously imagined. With that in mind, we’ll revise my statement to be that there are more Marvel Boys than you might expect, like Starmans over at DC.
This particular Marvel Boy is the Earthly reincarnation of Hercules, come down from Valhalla (?!) to aid a world threatened by fascism. His human form is named Martin Burns and like a veritable Silver Age Superboy he is born with so much physical strength that he must constantly hold himself back lest he endanger those around him and out himself as something strange and different.
On Martin’s fourteenth birthday a mysterious stranger (who is implicitly the Roman god Jupiter) delivers a package containing his heroic costume to him and then somewhat redundantly also appears in his bedroom to really spell out his whole deal and charge him to uphold democracy etc.
Marvel Boy is super strong, very agile and fast enough to run from New York City to Washington DC and back – carrying three grown men on the first leg of the trip – in the course of a night that also includes the aforementioned visit from Jupiter and busting up two fifth column cells.
Both this Marvel Boy and his successor (coming up in 1942) never returned after making a single appearance, and while I can’t say just why they didn’t have further Golden Age adventures, the lack of a modern appearance for either of them is almost certainly down to the fact that their origins both revolve around a dead Hercules, who is in fact more often than not a very living second- or third-tier hero in the Marvel Universe. They’re also both named Martin Burns for some reason, which means that later handbook writers have felt compelled to differentiate them by giving them middle names based on their creators, making this one Martin Simon Burns.
Frankly, I think that the fact that the two Marvel Boys have origins that are incompatible with both Marvel Comics continuity and also one another is terrific fodder for comic book storytelling. Both of them should be BRUNG BACK immediately, preferably in a comic that also has Hercules in it. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)
Categorized in: Generica (Boys), Language (Superlatives – Marvels), Origin (Reincarnated God)
the Flying Flame:
The Flying Flame is a red fighter plane flown for the RAF by the two-fisted American pilot Captain Red Ruff, who is also known as the Flying Flame due to his shock of red hair. During his brief comic book career, Ruff battled the Black Ace and ferreted out some spies at an airbase. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)
Categorized in: Activities (Flying), Elements (Fire), Team Membership (RAF)
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CATALOGUE OF WOUNDS 007
The right shoulder: unsung victim of the comics pages.
Captain Battle:
Captain Battle gets a fashionable bullet-creased skull on the docks of San Francisco. (Captain Battle Comics 001, 1941)
the Cloak:
Being shot in the left shoulder is the inciting incident that leads Jeff Cardiff to adopt the Cloak identity in the first place. (Big Shot Comics 015, 1941)
the Face:
Shot in the right shoulder (Big Shot Comics 011, 1941)
Shot in the right shoulder again. (Big Shot Comics 018, 1941)
Shot in the left shoulder, which must have come as a relief. (Big Shot Comics 019, 1941)
the Fox:
Shot in the right shoulder. (Blue Ribbon Comics 012, 1941)
Kaänga:
Shot in the right shoulder. (Jungle Comics 003, 1940)
Marvelo, Monarch of Magicians:
Shot in the right arm. (Big Shot Comics 012, 1941)
In what is probably the most sever non-fatal injury we have seen thus far, Marvelo takes an ape-powered throwing knife to the chest and is just barely alive for the remainder of the comic. (Big Shot Comics 016, 1941)
Skyman:
Skyman is shot in the ever-popular right shoulder, and no wonder: it’s a big ol’ target. (Big Shot Comics 002, 1940)
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 931: THE HEATER
(Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941)
Having so recently weathered the cold-based threat of the Wingers, the US aviation community is now faced with another elemental enemy in the form of the Heater, a mysterious plane that is attacking aircraft with a heat ray. Cloud Curtis, self-appointed defender of the airways, is of course keenly interested in this development.
Unlike the Wingers, the Heater’s motivations are never explored. They could be spies, territorial smugglers, extortionists like their predecessors, any number of things. And yes: despite being a group of at least four men they are called the Heater singular, probably because it is the plane that is being referred to rather than the gang inside of it.
Cloud Curtis’ first attempt to stop the Heater is stymied when they melt the grappling arms right off of his Golden Bullet. This marks the second out of two times that his signature move (grab ahold of a plane and then personally board it and punch everyone out) has been stymied by these uncouth plane gangs.
Thankfully for Curtis and the other denizens of the skies, while he was trading bullets for heat ray blasts his ally Pop Whistler was back at their home base inventing a new type of plastic that not is only heatproof but reflects heat back at its source. Once the Golden Bullet is coated in this material it is a simple matter of engaging the Heater in another dogfight and they are soon treated to a dose of their own incendiary medicine.
Categorized in: Accessories (Aircraft & Rays), Elements (Fire), Murder
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MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 929: THE BEAU
(Silver Streak Comics 010, 1941)
The
Beau is a piratical figure who uses his uncanny resemblance to the
heroic Pirate Prince to take over the latter’s ship and make off with all the treasure he had gathered in order to buy slaves and set them free. Although his motivation seems to be 100% loot and 0% perpetuation of slavery I suppose that we must consider the impact of his theft on others and give him a few more Evil Points for his deeds.
The
Beau makes the interesting decision to adopt a very adversarial and
abusive relationship with the Pirate Prince’s crew, rather than for
instance, playing things cool and making up a believable lie about
taking the treasure to be cleaned. They are therefore quite receptive
when the real Pirate Prince, disguised as the Beau, shows up to challenge his rival to a duel to the death. In conclusion, a bad plan, poorly executed, but I like the name and you know I love a pirate.Categorized in: Fraud (Heroic Impostors), Origin (Villains of the Past), Theft (Piracy)