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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 6:18:12 GMT -5
I never heard of the Mad Hatter! ... He's certainly very goofy looking and an ill-fitting costume I may add here. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 31, 2015 14:50:00 GMT -5
Madame Fatal- Created by Art Pinajian 1st appearance Crack Comics (Quality) # 1 May 1940
Comics first cross-dresser superhero. Richard Stanton is an actor and his family suffers through tragedy. He disappears for 8 years. On his return, he's dressed as a little old lady to fight crime. 21 issues in Crack Comics (where else?). Madame Fatal was a deft fighter with her cane.
Man O' Metal-Created by H.G. (Wonder Woman) Peters 1st appearance Reg'lar Heroic Comics (Eastern Color Printing) #7 July 1941
Pat Dempsey works in a factory and is accidentally caught under a shower of molten steel. In comicbook land, this gives him the superpower to change from ordinary flesh to metal whenever his temperature goes up. He's the anti-Martian Manhunter, always looking for a fife, a lit cigarette, whatever to assume his heroic guise. When Wonder Woman took off and H.G. Peters was swamped with work, Man O'Metal crumbled
Moon Girl-Created by Max Gaines, Gardner Fox & Shelly Moldoff 1st appearance Happy Houlihans (EC) #1 1947
The only costumed hero from EC and owes quite a lot from Wonder Woman. Clair Lune is a princess from an isolated land of warrior women. She goes to America to fight crime and search for her missing boyfriend. She can also mentally command her personal airplane. Her solo book was originally titled Moon Girl and the Prince. It very shortly changed to just Moon Girl, then morphed to Moon Girl Fights Crime. It dropped the super heroics and became more romantically inclined changing its title again to A Moon..A Girl..Romance. A woman has the prerogative to keep changing her mind I guess
Mother Hubbard -Created by Unknown 1st appearance Scoop Comics (Harry Chesler) #1 1941
Mother Hubbard was an ugly old crone- a genuine witch. She had the fling broomstick and peaked hat. A house was a dilapidated shack in the swamps. She had a crystal ball to alert her to evil. 3 adventures of the old lady were told including a tale were she battled a gang of gnomes who stole the eyeballs of children.
Music Master-Created by Stephan Douglas 1st appearance Reg'lar Heroic Comics (Eastern Color Printing) #12 1942
John Wallace was a music teacher. He came in possession of the Pipes Of Death and is now the Music Master. He can disappear within a cloud of musical notes, fly through the air via sound and even use music as a force field, a weapon or a lasso. He disappeared in 1945 heartbroken over the death of the 78 rpm record
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 31, 2015 18:53:15 GMT -5
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 31, 2015 20:40:56 GMT -5
The best Fantomah story is pretty much just a regular awesome Fantomah story. Except for the origin of Zomax. This is one of the most batpoop-crazy origins in all of comics. I couldn't find a legible version of the first part of his origin, but here's the second page. The first page is also TOTALLY NUTS! While hunting, Zomax wounds a lion which mauls him in its death throes. As he struggles to crawl away, he is attacked by a "man-hating elephant" who throws him into a swamp where he is stung and bitten by swarms of gnats. He struggles out of the pool and is attacked by a boa constrictor. After the huge snake breaks several of his ribs, it basically gives him up to the gorilla. This where the second page starts:  |
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 31, 2015 21:12:02 GMT -5
I also love the Vahines, the Tiger Women of Wildwood Mountain. They should make a Fantomah movie (with Angelina Jolie as Fantomah) just so they can adapt the Tiger Women. I can't find an illustration on Google Images (I didn't think anything was that obscure).
The Tiger Women don't just ride tigers. They ride them standing up! It's one of the more fascinating images in the works of Fletcher Hanks. A horde of Tiger Women, riding down from Wildwood Mountain, all perfectly balanced on the shoulders of their tigers! They look like they're surfing. You should see their tomboy haircuts, their tiger-striped mini-skirts and their orange ankle boots! To know them is to love them.
They are no match for Fantomah though!
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 31, 2015 21:18:23 GMT -5
And then there's this bizarre image:  Nazi paratroopers are invading Brazil and Fantomah uses her formidable powers to grab a bunch of lions from Africa, she floats over them over the Atlantic Ocean and drops them on the paratroopers! Oh, Fletcher Hanks. We hardly knew ye. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 1, 2015 14:35:43 GMT -5
Nelvana Of The Northern Lights-Created by Adrian Dingle 1st appearance Triumph Adventure Comics (HillsboroughStudio) # 1 Aug 1941
When Canada embargoed American made comic books in order to encourage Canadian produced fare, Nelvana was one of the first to hit the stands, their 1st super heroine and preceding Wonder Woman. She embodied the Canadian culture and served as protector of what was then termed The Eskimo people. Flight,invisiblility, telepathy and weather control were among her powers. Aided by her brother who white men could only see as a big dog.
A cult following exists to this day for Nelvana. She seems to be so much better than the pack of characters she shares this book .
Nightmare and Sleepy- Created by Alan Mandel and Dan Barry 1st appearance Clue Comics (Hillman) #1 Jan 1943
Bob White is a travelling professional wrestler. He's got a teenaged manager (?) named Terry. As if thats not to fight about, they don white costumes with no other powers evident to fight crime. After abrief career, the final story changed everything. All of a sudden, Nightmare was a crime fighting genie that smoked a cigar and answered to a private eye
Pat Parker, War Nurse- Created by Jill Elgin 1st appearance Speed Comics (Harvey) # 13 May 1941
Parker was at first a regular English nurse who busted up Nazi spy rings in London under publisher Brookwood. But that publisher went out of business and sold the character to Harvey. Since The Black Cat was a hit, Harvey gave Pat a bare midriff top and mask and the title War Nurse. They forgot to give her any powers. She later formed the all-female Girl Commandos. Pat lasted the course of the war and was last seen in 1946
Professor Supermind And Son- Created by Maurice Kashuba 1st appearance Popular Comics (Dell) # 60 Feb 1941
Old Professor Warren builds a transmitter that sends out super energy. He also builds a TV set to watch his son in action when he's bathed in the super energy. He was so busy with his inventions that he never gave his son a super hero code name.He just sits back at home, watches the TV and annoys his son with constant advice and criticism. And Firestorm thought he had it bad
The Puppeteer-Created by Alec Hope 1st appearance All Top Comics (Fox) #1 1944
Alan Hale had the most patriotic costume in comics. Red,White Blue, Stars and Stripes, V for Victory. He was a professional puppeteer so that became his code name. He did nothing with puppets to fight crime. However he had an eagle named Raven (WTF?) who sometimes couild only squawk and sometimes speaks English. The Puppeteer has a magic pipe organ that, when it plays Beethoven's 5th Symphony , gives him the ability to fly. Truly this is a very bizarre character
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 1, 2015 14:43:38 GMT -5
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 1, 2015 19:57:38 GMT -5
OMG! PAT PARKER, WAR NURSE!
I never heard of her before but she sounds PRETTY AWESOME!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 2, 2015 14:55:13 GMT -5
Rainbow Boy-Created by Unknown 1st appearance Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics (Eastern Color Printing) #14 Sept 1942
jay Watson, boy genius, experiments with light and invents a way to supercharge his body. Any sunlight or bright light gives him the power to fly leaving a rainbow wake. He can also form light fuelrd barriers,shields and bridges. He teamed up quite often with fellow comic hero denizen HydroMan. Rainbow Boy only appeared 9 times until he found a pot of gold up his butt.
The Red Bee-Created by Toni Blum & Charles Nicholas 1st appearance Hit Comics (Quality) #1 July 1940
A favorite of mine. Assistant DA Richard Raleigh decides to fight crime as a costumed hero. Since he inexplicably was able to communicate with bees, he went with the bee motif. He kept bees in his belt and released them when needed. The bees were highly trained and able to understand his commands. He even had a name for his favorite bee, Michael. At times the bees showed an ability to read Richard's mind. I believe Roy Thomas briefly revived him for All Star Squadron. That's bee-ing smart
The Red Torpedo-Created by Henry Carl Kiefer 1st appearance Crack Comics (Quality) #1 May 1940
Jim Lockhart resigns from the military to build his own super torpedo that acts like a sub. He puts on his mask and tights that match the red one-man torpedo and takes to the seas to sink the Axis. For 20 issues, his torpedo shoots energy rays but never actually explodes itself like a torpedo should. He also discovered a lost race of Mermazons lead by their queen Klitra. Of course, this was before the Comic Code was in effect. I'm sure Jim was glad he had his big red torpedo ready for that adventure
Speed Centaur-Created by Martin Kildare 1st appearance Amazing Mystery Funnies (Centaur Publishing) Vol 2 #8) Aug 1939
Move over Comet The Superhorse, this pony half pony had you beat. The only survivor of an earthquake wiping out his kind, Speed moves to the city to fight evil. Super strength, flying and speed were his weapons. He put on a horse head mask to have a secret ID as a regular horse.
Spider Queen-Created by Else Lisau 1st appearance The Eagle (Fox) #2 Sept 1941
She wore a blue and red costume. She was mistrusted by the authorities. She was highly gifted in the sciences. She invented bracelets that shot out webbing. She sued Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and the case is still slowly winding its way through the courts. She's Spider Queen , and even though she only lasted 3 issues, she will defeat the Disney Corporation and live like a true Queen
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 2, 2015 15:01:12 GMT -5
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 2, 2015 18:44:12 GMT -5
I hope it's OK for me to link to this. The Freedom Fighters, and how they grewIt's an essay I wrote some years ago and it mentions the Red Bee and the Red Torpedo. (I love the Red Bee too, Ish. He never gets a break!) |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 2, 2015 18:57:23 GMT -5
I hope it's OK for me to link to this. The Freedom Fighters, and how they grewIt's an essay I wrote some years ago and it mentions the Red Bee and the Red Torpedo. (I love the Red Bee too, Ish. He never gets a break!) Beaten to death in All-Star Squadron too, right? |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 22:56:17 GMT -5
OMG! PAT PARKER, WAR NURSE! I never heard of her before but she sounds PRETTY AWESOME!  She has that Wonder Woman look - the White (with the Black Cross) Headdress that resemble a tiara and her red boots! |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 3, 2015 17:42:41 GMT -5
Lets wave bye bye to those wacky golden age heroes. The silver age will be upcoming and weird, head scratching concepts for super heroes were rarely seen there due to the sophistication of the audience. Or maybe not Stardust The Super-Wizard-Created by Fletcher Hanks 1st appearance Fantastic Comics (Fox) #1 Dec 1939 He looked like another Superman imitator but he was so much more. In his 1st appearance news broadcasts announced that Stardust is on his way to Earth to clean-up spys and racketeers. The announcer intones that he's invulnerable, can turn invisible or as bright as the sun, flies, super strong- in fact he has about every super power one can imagine. Don't know who or how this radio announcer knew whats coming. Upon his arrival, Stardust loved to mete out justice nastier than even the Spectre in the 1970s . He just enjoyed dishing out poetic justice punishments. He condemns a gang of thieves to a planet made of diamond, except the sun never comes out and its always pitch dark. Traitors are turned to rats, crooks are suspended in midair so Stardust can smash into them at super-speed. What he does to Mastermind De Structo is something even I can not describe for fearing being kicked off this forum Hoosier X, our resident Fletcher Hanks connoisseur might have some further info to impart of importance Vagabond Prince-Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby 1st appearance Black Cat # 7 (Harvey) Aug/Sept 1947 The Vagabond Prince looked like a doorman. He had a teen partner that looked like doorman Jr. He had a third partner that dressed like a court jester. Ned Oaks wrote greeting cards and lived in a tenement. I guess having a doorman was a sign of sucess for him and used that for his non-super powered career. He also spoke with some crazy dialogue which would make one think that it was Jack Kirby that was doing all the writing Zippo-Created by Pierce Rice 1st appearance Clue Comics (Hillman) #1 Jan 1943 Joe Blair part investigator and part inventor donned these mechanical wheels on his feet and powered them with a compressed air engine. He could go up to 65 MPH. Look out hoodlums , here I come. As long as there are no bumps on the road. And there never was. And so he was able to stay upright for a few adventures. Be on the look out for the Silver Age next which, according to this book (not me) ranged from 1950-1969. I will probably dispense with less background info unless the character is really obscure and impart more opinions if I personally experienced their regretfulness     |
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