Comic Book Plus Forum
Comic And Book Related => Comic Talk => Topic started by: BlaqueSaber on March 21, 2010, 11:14:22 PM
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Hi
Admittedly I haven't posted here very much (I'm new) but I'll let you know I'm a participator (I usually carve out time on Sunday's to hit the forums I'm a member of). I have a question for all of you:
Which Protagonists do you feel had a lot more potential and could have starred in many more comics? Now, the discussion is open to any/all characters (I want to learn) but I do have an anterior motive: We're going to run a serialized prose story over at Flashback Universe and I want to make sure I pick a quality character. I've heard that fans of the GA don't particularly care for their characters being completely rebooted and remade (and I can't say that I blame you - I'm going through that right now with Dick Grayson) so we want to show the character respect while putting out quality content.
We'd like a character with some name recognition but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.
I was thinking of LADY LUCK
Smash Comics #42-85
"Nobody suspected that Lady Luck was actually Brenda Banks, a "debutante crime buster bored with social life" who decided to become a "modern lady Robin Hood." Her costume was not that of a traditional comic book vigilante; it looked like something that a Will Eisner femme fatale would wear. It was an emerald green gown, a green hat, and a green silk veil that hung over her face to disguise her identity. She solved blackmail cases, spy cases, kidnappings, and any other cases that came her way. As Brenda Banks, she was in love with Police Chief Hardy Moore; ironically, Moore's job was to bring in Lady Luck."
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Lady_Luck
But I'm open and welcome suggestions...
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Can you use Lady Luck? ???
I thought the character was already tied up by Eisner's estate.
It would be nice to see new material featuring her! ;D
B.
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Zippo has become very popular around here.
Yellowjacket, Green Turtle and Black Dwarf are also good choices
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The character I'd most like to see explored more is the Simon/Kirby-era Blue Bolt, from the first 10 or so issues of that series. (#2 was the first ever collaboration between Simon and Kirby.) Blue Bolt started out as a Flash Gordon kind of hero who crashlanded in an underground world and was given electrical powers by a mad scientist called Dr. Bertoff. Bertoff's kingdom is at war with the Green Sorceress, cruel and beautiful green bikini-clad ruler of an evil empire. The Blue Bolt, of course, falls in love with the Green Sorceress. They then go through a whole series of plots and counterplots, my favorite of which is #5's "War in the Fourth Dimension." The Green Sorceress seeks mystic aid from the demonic-looking Unholy One, who even she fears (his face is never shown). She gains the knowledge to build a portal to the fourth dimension and uses it to invade the Blue Bolt's city. THe Blue Bolt has to fight them in the other dimension, leading to a whole series of bizarre psychedelic visuals and, if I recall correctly, one of the first instances (if not THE first) of Kirby dots! #6, with its proto-MODOK-ish villain Marto, is another great story. Unfortunately we don't have that whole run and much of what we have is in ugly fiche scans, but we have a good sampling of it. I think Titan Books is going to reprint the whole thing in the near future.
After Simon and Kirby left, Blue Bolt left the underground world to join the war effort and turned into a more typical superhero, then into a non-powered adventurer who was still called "Blue Bolt" for some reason. The underground world was never brought back ever again. So there's a whole lot of unused storytelling potential there. Of course, doing Kirby is always tough for anyone who doesn't share his unique imagination (IE, anyone other than Walt Simonson and Grant Morrison on his good days), but it might be worth a try.
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Has the whole arc been reprinted in the Complete Kirby? I have the first issue or two of Complete Kirby and saw some there
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Yes I believe it has, minus the first story which was just Joe Simon. It was also reprinted in an odd, poorly restored edition published by Glenn Danzig of all people. (That was where I first read them.)
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Can you use Lady Luck? ???
I thought the character was already tied up by Eisner's estate.
It would be nice to see new material featuring her! ;D
B.
I kind of thought that anything up here on this site was fair game. Is that not the case?
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Zippo has become very popular around here.
Yellowjacket, Green Turtle and Black Dwarf are also good choices
I've heard of Yellow Jacket, have to give that a try
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The character I'd most like to see explored more is the Simon/Kirby-era Blue Bolt, from the first 10 or so issues of that series. (#2 was the first ever collaboration between Simon and Kirby.) Blue Bolt started out as a Flash Gordon kind of hero who crashlanded in an underground world and was given electrical powers by a mad scientist called Dr. Bertoff. Bertoff's kingdom is at war with the Green Sorceress, cruel and beautiful green bikini-clad ruler of an evil empire. The Blue Bolt, of course, falls in love with the Green Sorceress. They then go through a whole series of plots and counterplots, my favorite of which is #5's "War in the Fourth Dimension." The Green Sorceress seeks mystic aid from the demonic-looking Unholy One, who even she fears (his face is never shown). She gains the knowledge to build a portal to the fourth dimension and uses it to invade the Blue Bolt's city. THe Blue Bolt has to fight them in the other dimension, leading to a whole series of bizarre psychedelic visuals and, if I recall correctly, one of the first instances (if not THE first) of Kirby dots! #6, with its proto-MODOK-ish villain Marto, is another great story. Unfortunately we don't have that whole run and much of what we have isin ugly fiche scans, but we have a good sampling of it. I think Titan Books is going to reprint the whole thing in the near future.
After Simon and Kirby left, Blue Bolt left the underground world to join the war effort and turned into a more typical superhero, then into a non-powered adventurer who was still called "Blue Bolt" for some reason. The underground world was never brought back ever again. So there's a whole lot of unused storytelling potential there. Of course, doing Kirby is always tough for anyone who doesn't share his unique imagination (IE, anyone other than Walt Simonson and Grant Morrison on his good days), but it might be worth a try.
I'll check into it, thank you for participating
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I kind of thought that anything up here on this site was fair game. Is that not the case?
Not so -- one should not think of "anything up here on this site" as fair game. What if I decided to publish a new comic book using Quality's Plastic Man -- I might even go as far as titling the book Plastic-Man. DC will sue me out of existence.
Okay, I might be a bit burnt around the edges, but I then decide to use a lesser known character; introducing Black Condor!!! DC will sue me out of existence.
Growing smarter from my mistakes, I return to the market with Captain Marvel!!! DC & Marvel sue me out of existence.
The rub is not in a public domain comic book -- and I am talking public domain comic book, not public domain comic book character -- the rub is in the public domain comic book that contains a comic book character on which someone else maintains a trademark.
You could start a new Duke of Darkness title, but you had better not start a new Marvel Family title.
Take a look at how AC Comics addresses such issues, or Erik Larsen's Next Project. You will note that even Superpowers ::spit:: has sought trademark protection for their own unique version of well known public domain characters. I can put out a book called "Red Old Nick"* and feature my own version of Lev Gleason's Daredevil, and there would be little that could be done about it because the base character is in the public domain; my version would be different than Superpowers' :::spit:: version, Erik Larsen's version, and AC Comics' version.
B.
*'Red Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved.
'Bloody Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved.
'Scarlet Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved; also! ;D All mine!! ::buwahahha:: ;D
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You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it. Wouldn't be the same, though.
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You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it. Wouldn't be the same, though.
Well, BIG BANG comics did create their own version called "Protoplasman" who appears in "Policeman Comics" :)
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sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.
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Same for Daredevil and others whose names have been usurped. As long as the customer can't POSSIBLY confuse your product for something from DC or Marvel, you're OK. Slap the words "Lev Gleason's" in front of "Daredevil," and CYA!
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You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it.
This needs to be done just for the hell of it. :D Also, his gangster name could be El Diablo. :)
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"Eel" Ortega. Called that because he's sickly and always "feeling eel!"
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sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.
This is how I understood things as well. As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok. Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.
What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)? Then you've got your own character.
A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans? I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts :). This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.
What do you guy's think?
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sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.
This is how I understood things as well. As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok. Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.
What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)? Then you've got your own character.
A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans? I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts :). This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.
What do you guy's think?
As cliched as it sounds - you can't please everybody. If you try, you end up with pabulum. Some people are going to want stories that read like they were made in the Golden Age, others aren't.
From what little I know, you would legally be able to tell stories about their nephew, or dog, or cousin .. whatever you want.
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I think the 1950s character Captain Flash has a lot of potential. Following him, I'd go with the Black Owl , the Owl, and Nedor's Grim Reaper.
Centaur's Amazing Man with his adversary the Great Question has loads of potential, if the company had just lasted a few more years.
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@BlaqueSaber
Warning!Newbie's opinion! ;D
I see nothing wrong in making new characters.Original characters are easily accessed through this site, and since they are PD, probably from all over the net - if not now, then some day.Getting that Golden Age feel to comics is, in my opinion, more rewarding than trying to revive specific characters at all costs - no matter what you do, you will piss someone off with reboot. :D
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B.) Is this ok from the fans? I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts :). This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.
What do you guy's think?
I think that your main focus should be creating something which YOU can be proud of, that tells a story YOU want to tell. Once you start thinking "is somebody else going to have a problem if I do that with this character?", then there's the possibility that you'll shy away from potentially good storylines & other creative ideas because you won't want to rock the boat and "disappoint" somebody. You are the one putting the effort into it, so the only question you should be focusing on is "Is this the best work I'm capable of producing?"
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sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.
This is how I understood things as well. As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok. Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.
What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)? Then you've got your own character.
A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans? I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts :). This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.
What do you guy's think?
You guys could never go as far as Superpowers ::spit:: in offending. ;D
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DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.
No word what DC will do with the characters.
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DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.
No word what DC will do with the characters.
It is too bad that more people didn't get turned on to The Web -- it really is a great book and The Hangman backup feature is on par with the old Spectre run in the 1970s Adventure Comics.
The Shield -- good riddance to total crap.
B.
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DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.
No word what DC will do with the characters.
Too bad, I wish they would put all the books into one and make a red circle quarterly and give it a bit more time.
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B.) Is this ok from the fans? I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts :). This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.
What do you guy's think?
I think that your main focus should be creating something which YOU can be proud of, that tells a story YOU want to tell. Once you start thinking "is somebody else going to have a problem if I do that with this character?", then there's the possibility that you'll shy away from potentially good storylines & other creative ideas because you won't want to rock the boat and "disappoint" somebody. You are the one putting the effort into it, so the only question you should be focusing on is "Is this the best work I'm capable of producing?"
YES! That's what I'm going to do
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I think the 1950s character Captain Flash has a lot of potential. Following him, I'd go with the Black Owl , the Owl, and Nedor's Grim Reaper.
Centaur's Amazing Man with his adversary the Great Question has loads of potential, if the company had just lasted a few more years.
Thank you man, I looked into "Black Owl" and I may use him.
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I read DC is putting them together as the Crusaders. They did this with Impact. It flopped because people want more than the name of the the old characters they want "their" old characters
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I couldn't get into DC's Red Circle heroes mainly because of all this talk by JMS how excited he was to be working with the real characters, and their purity, etc and they turned around and basically re-did their Impact books only with them being in continuity. AND JMS was only around for the opening mini-series. I felt like the company basically lied to me from day one concerning the characters. As such, I wasn't going to support the project.
Then factor in that the characters, especially as they were done, didn't add a thing to the company that they didn't already have and squandered. Once you lose the context of the Shield being one of the earliest heroes and being the first to use the flag as a motif and take away that he was a self-made hero and ace of the FBI and turn him into a generic soldier-turned-into-a-hero (which all make him into more of a Captain America clone and more generic), he could have been a revamp of Minute Man, or Commander Steel or a modern day Ultra-Man. What was the company's gain?
Sadly, what this will probably communicate to Archie is that their superheroes don't sell.
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I couldn't get into DC's Red Circle heroes mainly because of all this talk by JMS how excited he was to be working with the real characters, and their purity, etc and they turned around and basically re-did their Impact books only with them being in continuity. AND JMS was only around for the opening mini-series. I felt like the company basically lied to me from day one concerning the characters. As such, I wasn't going to support the project.
It's getting to the point that when I hear JMS' name, I immediately start thinking "how long will he actually work on this?" The guy seems incapable of finishing what he starts, and yet he keeps getting jobs.
Then factor in that the characters, especially as they were done, didn't add a thing to the company that they didn't already have and squandered. Once you lose the context of the Shield being one of the earliest heroes and being the first to use the flag as a motif and take away that he was a self-made hero and ace of the FBI and turn him into a generic soldier-turned-into-a-hero (which all make him into more of a Captain America clone and more generic), he could have been a revamp of Minute Man, or Commander Steel or a modern day Ultra-Man. What was the company's gain?
That's an excellent point, especially in regards to The Shield. Maybe one of these days, somebody that actually cares about the character will produce some stories that do justice to Comics' first Patriotic Hero.
Sadly, what this will probably communicate to Archie is that their superheroes don't sell.
That's because Archie Comics does one thing well, "Archie Comics", and apparently doesn't care about The Shield & friends. With the stable of characters they have, there's no reason they shouldn't be "Number Three" when it comes to superheroes. Unfortunately, they simply don't care about superhero comics and allow the characters to get mishandled at almost every turn.
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I think the 1950s character Captain Flash has a lot of potential. Following him, I'd go with the Black Owl , the Owl, and Nedor's Grim Reaper.
Centaur's Amazing Man with his adversary the Great Question has loads of potential, if the company had just lasted a few more years.
Thank you man, I looked into "Black Owl" and I may use him.
He's got a rich history. There were two Black Owls. The first was Doug Danville who originally went by the name of K the Unknown and then the Black Owl. When he decided to enlist, he passed the identity on to Walt Walters, a friend who had recently discovered that his twin sons were Yank & Doodle. He became the Black Owl in part to secretly watch over his sons. I don't know if it was ever revealed that people ever knew that a switch had been made. Not as young as the first Black Owl, he briefly retired after he got shot, deciding being a superhero was a young man's game. But, he was convinced by his sons (they had shared their identities some time earlier) to resume the mantle though he was still a bit out of shape. I don't know if it was ever revealed to Doug Danville during the War as he didn't return to take the role back over after the War (and you'd think Walters would offer it back to him after he got shot). The second Black Owl was a bit of technological genius and to aid in his new role, he created a flying owl ship, which bears a certain resemblance to Ted Kord's Bug and is thus a strong resemblance to Watchmen's Nite Owl II's flying owl ship.
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I would love to see someone write a good conclusion the the Amazing Man vs Question saga
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I would love to see someone write a good conclusion the the Amazing Man vs Question saga
There won't be a conclusion but I do plan to touch on it when I actually get to the start of America's involvement in the War with my Liberty Company fanfic. Right now, I'm in 1941 in Africa, setting up the Jungle heroes. I see the Great Question as one of the bigger bad guys but his tendency to operate behind the scenes limits his direct involvement a little bit.
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I think the 1950s character Captain Flash has a lot of potential. Following him, I'd go with the Black Owl , the Owl, and Nedor's Grim Reaper.
Centaur's Amazing Man with his adversary the Great Question has loads of potential, if the company had just lasted a few more years.
Thank you man, I looked into "Black Owl" and I may use him.
He's got a rich history. There were two Black Owls. The first was Doug Danville who originally went by the name of K the Unknown and then the Black Owl. When he decided to enlist, he passed the identity on to Walt Walters, a friend who had recently discovered that his twin sons were Yank & Doodle. He became the Black Owl in part to secretly watch over his sons. I don't know if it was ever revealed that people ever knew that a switch had been made. Not as young as the first Black Owl, he briefly retired after he got shot, deciding being a superhero was a young man's game. But, he was convinced by his sons (they had shared their identities some time earlier) to resume the mantle though he was still a bit out of shape. I don't know if it was ever revealed to Doug Danville during the War as he didn't return to take the role back over after the War (and you'd think Walters would offer it back to him after he got shot). The second Black Owl was a bit of technological genius and to aid in his new role, he created a flying owl ship, which bears a certain resemblance to Ted Kord's Bug and is thus a strong resemblance to Watchmen's Nite Owl II's flying owl ship.
I prefer Dell's Owlman -- Batman with a beak. ;D
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I read DC is putting them together as the Crusaders. They did this with Impact. It flopped because people want more than the name of the the old characters they want "their" old characters
They missed the boat to do continuing legacy characters, like they have done with The JSA (and to a smaller extent The Freedom Fighters).
I like the 1960's "Red Circle" revival becuase it was a direct continuation of the 1960's continuity,and elements of the 1940's continuity.
Even the IMPACT! like suffered without the connection to the past- although they set up a new "past" set in the 1950's & 1960's, it wasn't the "Real One".
Why didn't the just use some of the unused Quality of Fawcett heroes - it's because they wanted well known characters they could revamp for the present day. (!) They should have started with just one character to begin with - THE SHEILD.
Maybe sale would have been better if it wasn't for the 2 features $3.99 format.
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Blue Circle - Len Stafford was a young inventor who decided to use the fortune he inherited from his father to fight crime as the Blue Circle. He arranged a pardon for seven reformed "past masters in crime" - in exchange, they agreed to assemble whenever he asked as the Blue Circle Council. The Blue Circle Council provided advice to the Blue Circle and offered more direct assistance if necessary.
(https://i.imgur.com/OIkt6dH.jpg)
Commando Ranger - Commando Ranger was many things before the war. He was a scientist-explorer who fought the plague in the Congo, an Olympic boxer able to k.o. a heavy weight champion, a mysterious ace pilot, a sole survivor of a ship sunk by pirates in China seas, and climber of Mount Everest. While in Tibet, he studied for two years under the Great Lama in Tibet, mastering "the secret of mind's dominion over matter." However after hearing the cries of the enslaved, Commando Ranger was sent by the lamas back into the world. So with the agreement both of FDR and Churchill, he put on a mask and costume to fight the Nazis and free the countries occupied by Germany as the masked Commando Ranger.
(https://i.imgur.com/aiM1C5R.jpg)
The Dart - A vigilante of Ancient Republic Rome, Caius Martius was given by the gods the power of flight so that he might fight for the rights of the average citizen. One day, he took on an evil sorcerer and was trapped in a block of stone. Later, he emerged in the modern era from the stone to find himself in an American museum. He takes a new last name, "Wheeler," and begins fighting crime in modern society with his new sidekick, Ace, the Amazing Boy, who joins Dart after witnessing a horrifying drive-by shooting which kills his parents.
(https://i.imgur.com/tuUuZgY.jpg)
Dr. Synthe - Dr. Synthe was an enormous energy-based alien from Mo, a planet located a million light years from Earth. Like the rest of his species, he had an ability to create and destroy any object by manipulating electrons. While traveling through the solar system, he crash-landed in Long Island, NY. Or, to be more specific, he crash-landed straight through the boat that belonged to Ray Rogers. The young man hoped to sell the boat in order to raise money to save his terminally ill girlfriend, Betty Jordan. Dr. Synthe tried to ask Ray what planet he was on, only to realize that his form terrified the young man, so he transformed himself into a human. Upon learning of Ray's plight, he used his powers to heal her. And, because he was a good natured being, Dr. Synthe decided to reward his new friends by giving them anything they desired. Unfortunately, they got them into trouble with the law enforcement, which took the dim view of a young couple suddenly getting goods they could not possibly afford. Luckily for them, Dr. Synthe arrived just in time to prove that their story wasn't as crazy as it sounded.
Although he could have recreated his spaceship any time he wished, Dr. Synthe decided to stay behind and stop crimes and anything else that might threaten his new friends and (by extension) the planet they lived on.
Dr. Synthe wasn't particularly violent and was usually prepared to believe the best about everyone. He tried his best to follow Earth laws and customs, but, because he was an alien, he inevitably made mistakes and failed to fully think through the consequences of his actions. As an energy being, he had no concept of death (he merely found the war "boring"), but he understood enough to protect his friends from harm.
(https://i.imgur.com/9kONtrZ.jpg)
Duke of Darkness - The Duke of Darkness was Paddy Sullivan, a police officer from an unnamed American city. When he was killed in the line of duty, Danny discovered that he continued to exist as an "Earth-bound spirit." He decided to continue fighting crime as the Duke of Darkness.
(https://i.imgur.com/vJEGVOb.jpg)
Fantomah - Fantomah, the "Mystery Woman of the Jungle," is a mysterious goddess-like being who protects the jungles of Africa. She has vast magical power, to the point of being practically omnipotent, and can transform herself into a frightening blue phantom/skeleton creature as well as a floating skull with blonde hair.
(https://i.imgur.com/szjchUt.jpg)
The Flame - When Gary was a baby, his father, Charteris Preston, worked as a missionary in China. The elder Preston was washed away in a flood but managed to save baby Gary by placing him in a basket. The basket was washed downstream to Tibet, where Gary was rescued by a group of lamas. They raised Gary in the lamasery, where they trained him in their mystical ways.
Gary obtained the ability to control fire and heat. He can raise his own body temperature to the point where he can burst into flames or melt bullets. He can control and direct any flame in his presence. He can also teleport from place to place by appearing inside of any fire source, no matter how small. The Flame's one weakness is water, which can severely weaken him. In order to provide fire whenever he needs it, the Flame carries a small, pistol-sized flame thrower.
(https://i.imgur.com/Zok2v3l.jpg)
The Ghost - George Chance, the Ghost, knows real magic, learning it when he was raised in India as the adopted son of an immortal yogi teacher.
(https://i.imgur.com/TnUl4lI.jpg)
Green Mask - The second Green Mask was Johnny Green, an American teenager. He was the son of Walter Green who, according to his back story, fought crime as the Green Mask until he joined the US Army. Unlike his heroic father, Johnny was meek, awkward, and generally dorky. Since Walter Green's secret identity became public at some point, Johnny got teased quite a lot, something which he tried his best to ignore. In his debut story, Johnny was referred to as "a motherless son." Ever since his father joined the army, he's been living on his own in a rented room above the exclusive Miramar Club, scraping by on his father's savings and the kindness of the club's owner, Punchy.
On the day Johnny turned 15, Michael "Slug" O'Banion, a former Prohibition-era Chicago crime boss, decided to come out of retirement and move in on Johnny's neighborhood. When Slug's goons failed to intimidate Punchy into letting them use the Miramar Club for their criminal enterprises, they tried to shoot him. Luckily for him, Johhny was coming back from walking his dog, Curly. Curly attacked one of the goons, preventing him from making a killing shot. The enraged gangster turned his ire on Curly, seemingly killing him. This was when the enraged Johnny suddenly transformed into a super-powered, grown man calling himself "The Green Mask."
The stories were inconsistent about the relationship between The Green Mask and Johnny Green. In early stories, Johnny Green "blacks out" while he is Green Mask, not remembering what he did while in super-powered form. In some later stories, Johnny Green perceives his adventures as the Green Mask as dreams and thus remains oblivious to his dual nature. In others, he is aware of it and tries his best to facilitate the transformation when Green Mask is needed.
(https://i.imgur.com/JhiIPz1.jpg)
The Heap - Baron Eric von Emmelman was a German flying ace under the command of the Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofenshot) who was shot down on October 12, 1918, while fighting in World War I. He crashed in a mystical Polish swamp called Wausau, near the small town of Rodz, and was thrown from his plane. With a beautiful wife, and a newborn baby, the Baron had told his friends that he had everything to live for, and as he lay in the swamp, mortally wounded, he simply refused to die. Mother Nature came to his aid, and decided to save him from death, to transform the Baron into her champion against evil. Over 20 odd years, Eric's body merged with the "dreary vegetation" of Wausau to make him a massive humanoid plant that was forced to drain animals of blood in order to get oxygen. He targeted birds, dogs and livestock, but he usually did not attack men, unless they were evil.
(https://i.imgur.com/f7geZkc.jpg)
Hydroman - Harry Thurston, a young chemical engineer, accidentally compounded a formula to convert human flesh and blood into water. A huge container of this remarkable solution was spilled and splashed over Bob Blake, Harry's friend, causing him to disintegrate and become a pool of water on the laboratory floor! Promptly, an antidote was concocted, and with the aid of this, Bob regained his natural form. He then discovered that he could control this phenomenal change merely by the power of thought.
(https://i.imgur.com/5TtUzVe.jpg)
The Hyper - Don-Vin a.k.a. Hyper the Phenomenal was a young scientist under the employ of the United States government. He was allied with the Winifred, codenamed Agent 2Y, who served as an undercover operative of the U.S. Secret Service. The beautiful Dolores, while being an enemy, was enamored with Hyper, and attempts to recruit him into her villainous gang which also included Ashknif and Boris. He was able to repel & attract metal (e.g., deflection of bullets) by means of his magno-hydro gauntlets, and utilized the gloves in keeping steel walls from crushing Agent 2Y. His chest was protected by a plastron comprised of bulletproof fabric. Hyper's characteristic neogas helmet had a built-in radio and, although heavy, somehow enabled him artificial flight.
(https://i.imgur.com/ODB8oax.jpg)
Iron Skull - The Iron Skull was originally a soldier who was gravely injured during World War II (which, in this timeline, was fought partially on American soil well into the 1950s). He was brought to Chicago, where Dr. Watson, a surgeon at "Chicago Hospital," worked to replace his flesh and bones with metallic components. The resulting cyborg was super-strong, resistant to bullets and capable of limited telepathy. His new face was missing a nose, giving him a skull-like appearance.
By the year 1960, the Second World War wound down and reconstruction began. This year also saw a rise of rampant crime that the police struggled to contain. The cyborg decided to use his abilities to fight crime in Chicago as the Iron Skull.
In Amazing-Man Comics #9, the story jumped forward to 1970, when America was once again threatened with war. The spies working for an unnamed country "spread terror throughout United States," forcing the Iron Skull to intercede. Two issues later, in 1971, war broke out in Europe and spy activities intensified.
In Amazing-Man Comics #14, the Iron Skull set up operations in New York City. The next issue, he developed a mental link with the D.A. of New York. The D.A. used that ability to alert the Iron Skull of any crime in progress.
(https://i.imgur.com/OBSB2xO.jpg)
Jupiter - Jupiter was a master magician from the planet which shares his name who came to combat evil on Earth, especially in the form of his arch-foe, Racko. He was allied with ace reporter Jim Johnson, who he would immediately come to aid whenever Johnson called for help.
Jupiter's powers included teleportation, flight, invisibility, healing others, creating objects from thin air, transforming living creatures into other creatures, and much more thanks to his magic.
(https://i.imgur.com/mGLxpsZ.jpg)
Lightning - Robert Morgan was the American student of an ancient Egyptian mystic called The Old Man of the Pyramids. (How they met is unknown, possibly the Old man raised him after his parents died.) He schooled Morgan in "all the ancient and modern sciences" and gave him the "Amulet of Annihilation, the weapon of the forces of right" which he tied around his right arm.
The Amulet grants him powers including super-strength, super-speed, flight, the ability to generate electricity and radiate
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A very interesting article Mr EM - I particularly liked the look of The Ghost, Panther Woman and the Roman Caius Martius.
It made me realise that nearly all superheroes are set in the present time. It would be great to see some superheroes from the Middle Ages, let's say, or a Tudor superhero or ancient China, the Wild West and so on.
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A very interesting article Mr EM - I particularly liked the look of The Ghost, Panther Woman and the Roman Caius Martius.
It made me realise that nearly all superheroes are set in the present time. It would be great to see some superheroes from the Middle Ages, let's say, or a Tudor superhero or ancient China, the Wild West and so on.
Thanks!
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Depnding on your definition of superhero, there were lots of historical and western heroes in non-American comics. The vast majority were what I would term masked mystery men. So, allowing that MMM are part of the pantheon of superheroes, have a look at our Spanish section for El Guerrero Del Antifaz - secret i/d, mask; El Coyote, yet another Zorro type hero and really well drawn; Mascara Verde, one of many variations on the Guerrero del Antifaz theme; El Hombre de La Estrella, with that great costume device, a hood just like The Hood sports ;D; Don Z; El Gavilan, cheaper version of El Coyote. Many more.
British weeklies had a few also, Spring Heeled Jackson;
Need to re-charge this tablet. Back with some more later.
Right, on my pc now. There was another historical spring heeled hero, this one was Jack Manson who sported a glowing fright mask and was Springheeled Jack. This was in The Victor.
Desperately trying to remember the winged hero from Victor? Set in Roman? times. I can't find my notes on him.
France had Masque Rouge, the adventures of the masked expert swordsman, who was a woman.
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I'm Going to have to respond to this in detail when I have more time.
I have in my 'I should really get off my butt and do that' file, the idea of identifying all the Golden Age characters who went PD and whose names and characteristics were re-purposed during the Silver Age and in many cases that's going on to the present day. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Roy Thomas had an encyclopedic knowledge of Golden Age and earlier characters, and weren't slow to use them. For Marvel, Daredevil and Captain Marvel are the obvious ones,[And Thor] but there are many more. Black Cat. I will stop now!
For DC there are also many, one that comes to mind is Black Orchid. I believe there are at least two Golden Age Black Orchid characters.
The origin for the Heap character is Theodore Sturgeon's story IT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It!_(short_story)
This is the origin of all plant based monster stories.
So, Man-thing, Swamp-thing and possibly Solomon Grundy.
I have to wonder if the name, the Heap wasn't an influence in calling a character the Hulk.
Cheers!
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Although one of the Kirby Monsters was called The Hulk before Ol' Greenskin--uh, Greyskin--came along.
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Although one of the Kirby Monsters was called The Hulk before Ol' Greenskin--uh, Greyskin--came along.
The Heap was also referred to as a
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And then there was the Skywald Heap