I’m doing a Kickstarter. It’s for a complete encyclopedia of every comic book hero, super- or normal, who appeared in comic books during their Golden Age, 1939-1945. Nobody’s written such a thing, believe it or not, which is a shame, because comics’ Golden Age is an unrivaled cornucopia of Mad Weirdness. The end result of the Kickstarter will be a website, with copies of the book available as print-on-demand and digital, with 2000+ entries like these three:
American Eagle. Lab assistant Tom Standish is accidentally exposed to a combination of “the serum which underlies the eagle’s strength and buoyancy” and “a weird black ray” from a cathode-tube-projector. The result is superstrength, limited invulnerability, and the power of flight. Standish kills the Nazi agent who he was inadvertently working for, and then is drawn into crime-fighting. He teams up with teenaged Bud Pierce to become the American Eagle and Eaglet. They fight Nazi saboteurs, the Yellow Peril scientist Dr. Amoto and his radio-controlled rocket bombs (which he uses to destroy ships of wounded G.I.s), the cowboy train-robber Red Mask, and a machine which Nazi agents use to bring back the dead (including Blackbeard, a Viking, and a monstrous Neanderthal). The American Eagle appears in stories with titles like “The Secret Gas Weapon and “The White Angels.”
First Appearance: America’s Best Comics #2 (Standard), Sept 1942. 34 appearances, 1942-1946. Created by Richard Hughes and Kin Platt.
Supermouse. “Soupie” the mouse gains Superman-like super-powers by eating super-cheese. He fights Mad Scientists like the cat Professor Zyx, but his arch-enemy is the dastardly rat Terrible Tom, who does things like summon all the criminals in the world so that he could trap and kill Supermouse. (The attempt fails–Supermouse’s super hearing receives Terrible Tom’s message–and Terrible Tom is kicked out of the International Association of Crooks and Bad Men). Supermouse, whose identity is publicly known, has a girlfriend named Annabel. He appears in stories with titles like “Supermouse is Unfair to Villains,” “The World of the Future,” and “The Revolt of the Machines.”
First Appearance: Coo Coo Comics #1 (Standard), Oct 1942. At least 100 appearances, 1942-1958?
Wonderman. Brad Spencer is accidentally exposed to a “sizzling voltage of a secret current.” This gives him superpowers, and he uses his new abilities to become Brad Spencer, Wonderman, and fight crime. He is helped by his girlfriend Carol Paige, who uses a “compensator belt” to travel with and fight alongside Brad. Brad has the ability to become invulnerable (as hard as steel) and has superstrength, and uses a “flame pistol” to kill certain enemies. Wonderman’s main opponents are the Mad Scientist Dr. Voodoo and the alien Immortal Emperor, who have teamed up to invade and conquer Earth. The Emperor’s home planet is “Lilith, the Dark Planet,” which harbors “evil souls after they ave run their gamut of violence and bloodshed on Earth.” When Wonderman goes to Lilith, he finds it full of harpies, Huns, and ghosts. Further superhero/horror adventures follow. Wonderman appears in stories with titles like “The Treasure of the Aztec Princess,” “The Monsters of Dr. Voodoo,” and “Peril on Pluto.”
First Appearance: Complete Book of Comics and Funnies #1 (Standard), 1944. 14 appearances, 1944-1947. Created by Bob Oksner and ?
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