as of today at 11:48 a.m.:
Progress does seem slow, but it takes an average of fifteen minutes to do each entry, so progress doesn’t just seem slow, it is slow. But I’ll get there, eventually.
Companies done:
Ace
Ajax-Farrell
ACG
Avon
Better/Standard/Nedor/Thrilling
Centaur
Chesler
Columbia
Now working on:
Croydon
Entry of the day:
Skyman. Allan (later “Allen”) Turner is orphaned because of “an accident due to faulty material in your father’s airplane.” Allan’s scientist uncle raises him to be a perfect human: a great scientist, All-American fullback, “finest character,” etc. As an adult, Allan declares, “Uncle Peter, there will always be great scientists. I have decided to become better than that. I shall be a scientist-policeman, who will use his powers to prevent and overcome crime.” When his uncle passes, Allan uses the money he receives to become the crime-fighting vigilante Skyman. He has no superpowers, but he is a great inventor–among other things, he discovers the secret to atomic power by himself–and he wields the “stasimatic gun,” which can “halt the blood processes of the body – or stop them altogether!” Skyman also pilots the high tech airplane called the Wing. The Wing is boomerang shaped and flies by the power of the Earth’s smagnetic poles. It can achieve speeds of 800 mph and hover, allowing Skyman to descend on a cable. Skymen fights ordinary criminals, saboteurs (such as the Red Signet), Mad Scientists (in “The Death Lenses of Count Alexis”), cursed idols, Soviet scientists, Emma the Spy Queen, The Gremlin, and Nazis on the moon. Skyman is assisted by Fawn, who has a Lois Lane-like relationship with Turner (who poses as a thoughtless playboy) and Skyman.
First Appearance: Big Shot Comics #1 (Columbia), May 1940. 125 appearances, 1940-1949. Created by Gardner Fox and Ogden Whitney.