Showing posts with label alex ross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alex ross. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

He's Amazing, Man!

He first appeared in the premiere issue of his own title, Amazing-Man Comics #5*.
John Aman was an orphan baby taken to a hidden monastery in Tibet by a secret society of monks.
There, the Council of Seven raised and trained him to be "the Ultimate Human", a perfect combination of physical development and mental ability.
They also gave him the chemically-induced ability to teleport thru a cloud of green mist.
This proved to be handy when a Council member, The Great Question, went renegade and set up his own cult and began plotting world domination.
The Council sent Aman into the outside world to prevent The Great Question from wreaking havoc.
Of course, when he appeared in public in his rather-skimpy outfit with an "A" on it, the tabloid press dubbed him "Amazing-Man".
During his short (less than three-year) run, he also helped against spies and saboteurs before Centaur Publications went out of business due to wartime paper shortages in late 1942.

Trivia note: Amazing-Man was one of the first creations of writer/artist Bill Everett.
Everett also created Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, Hydro-Man, and The Fin. (He had a penchant for aquatic characters)

Amazing-Man has returned in several incarnations since then...
Malibu Comics incorporated him (along with most of the other Centaur Publications heroes) into The Protectors series, which ran for a couple of years in the 1990s.
DC Comics introduced a similarly-named, though otherwise unrelated hero into The Justice Society of America's 1940s stories in All-Star Squadron and Young All-Stars (His secret identity is "Will Everett", named after Bill Everett.)
Dynamite Entertainment revived him in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, where he's been a background character up to this point. But since his nemesis, The Great Question, has been shown to be one of the conspiracy of The Supremacy, it's only a matter of time before John Aman takes a hand in matters!
And, Marvel Comics has put John Aman himself into a series inspired by his 1940s series, The Immortal Iron Fist!

Of course, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Amazing-Man as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, including his FIRST cover appearances and two of his best covers on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
But that's not all!
His unique cover logo is included in our Comic Cover LogoWear line, where the best of Golden Age cover lettering ends up on your chest or bookbag!
Plus, he'll soon be part of our Icons of the Golden Age of Comics series!
Pretty good for a guy who was cancelled in the mid-1940s, eh?

*No, that's not a mistake. Issues 1-4 of the comic had been titled Motion Picture Funnies Weekly.
When it didn't sell well, the publisher simply introduced a new character
and retitled the comic, but kept the numbering.
Otherwise, he'd have to pay for a new 2nd class mailing permit for a new publication.
1940s publishers were nothing if not thrifty!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Icons of the Golden Age of Comics: The SkyMan

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is both introducing a NEW line of Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collectibles, Icons of the Golden Age of Comics, AND thanking our kool kustomers and blogwatchers for their unswerving support!

We're posting the newest link only here on this blog to a special storefront to enable those who click on it to buy items at discount from today until July 20th!
Save up to 50% per item on this patriotic pummler...
The SkyMan Icon
PLUS: Each Monday, we'll be listing one or two MORE Icons ALSO at discount for a week before being offered to the general public at regular prices!
(We show the normal prices next to the item titles on these special pages)

Perfect for streetwear, beachwear and / or conventionwear!

And don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, and Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon to see him in action!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Return of SuperPowers Sunday!

For the next few Sundays, we're going to present the nifty updated designs of the Project SuperPowers characters by Alex Ross along with links to a couple of Squidoo pages of background info and links about the series and characters...
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers
(featuring characters who've been cover-featured)
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers Strikes Again!
(featuring the other characters)

In addition, you can find Atomic Kommie Comics™ kool kollectibles emblazoned with the ORIGINAL 1940s classic cover art featuring these characters...
American Crusader
American Eagle
Captain Courageous
The Face aka Mr Face
The Flag
The Green Lama
Flash / Lash Lightning
Marvelo
Mr Raven can be found at 4 Favorites
(he never had a solo cover appearance)
The SkyMan
Super-American
The Sword
Unknown Soldier aka Soldier Unknown
at
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!

And don't forget to buy the Project SuperPowers comics including Black Terror, Death Defying 'Devil, Masquerade, and Project SuperPowers Volume 2!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Icon of the Golden Age of Comics: The Face

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is both introducing a NEW line of Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collectibles, Icons of the Golden Age of Comics, AND thanking our kool kustomers and blogwatchers for their unswerving support!

We're posting the newest link only here on this blog to a special storefront to enable those who click on it to buy items at discount from today until July 13th!
Save up to 50% per item on this horrible hero ...
The Face Icon
PLUS: Each Monday, we'll be listing one or two MORE Icons ALSO at discount for a week before being offered to the general public at regular prices!
(We show the normal prices next to the item titles on these special pages)

Perfect for streetwear, beachwear and / or conventionwear!

And don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, to see him in action as Mr. Face!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

SuperPowers Sunday

For the next few Sundays, we're going to present the updated designs of the Project SuperPowers characters by Alex Ross along with links to a couple of Squidoo pages of background info and links about the series and characters...
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers
(featuring characters who've been cover-featured)
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers Strikes Again!
(featuring the other characters)

In addition, you can find Atomic Kommie Comics™ kool kollectibles emblazoned with the ORIGINAL 1940s classic cover art featuring these characters...
Captain Future
Cat-Man (now Man-Cat) & Kitten
Dynamic Man
Fighting Yank
The Flame
HydroMan (now called Hydro)
Major Victory
The Owl
Silver Streak
StrongMan
The Target & Targeteers
at
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!
(unfortunately, The Woman in Red was never cover-featured, so there's no goodies featuring her...yet!)

And don't forget to buy the Project SuperPowers comics including Black Terror, Death Defying 'Devil, Masquerade, and Project SuperPowers Volume 2!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Salute The Fighting Yank on the 4th!

Our story starts in June of 1941...and in 1775.
At a critical point of the American Revolution, George Washington himself entrusted messenger Bruce Carter with vital information.
Carter was captured, tortured, and killed by the British, taking his military secrets to the grave, and vowing to return when danger threatened the Colonies.
Flash-forward to 1941, Cabot's great-great-grandson Bruce Cabot III, a rich idler obsessed with history sees patterns forming that will lead to the USA soon becoming involved in the World War raging in Europe and Asia! But what to do? He's only one man, albeit an extremely rich layabout!
The ghost of his ancestor appears and leads him to a trunk in the attic of the Cabot estate, where Cabot III discovers his ancestor's personal effects, including his cape!
Donning the cloak, Cabot III is granted amazing powers including super-strength and limited invulnerability. (He can't be killed, but he can be stunned.)
Wanting to disguise himself, Cabot rummages thru the attic and dons a tricorn hat, breeches, buckled shoes, a domino mask, and a shirt which he sews an American flag decal to!
Thus garbed, the newly-christened Fighting Yank takes on local saboteurs for "unnamed foreign powers" until December 1941, at which point, the "unnamed" spies became German and Japanese operatives!
In a twist, besides giving Cabot III his powers, the Revolutionary War ghost pops up to warn or advise his decendant about danger, and even occasionally transport the Fighting Yank garb to the non-costumed (and thus helpless) Carter III, who apparently didn't wear it under his street clothes like most superheroes!
Fighting Yank fought the Good Fight, first in Startling Comics, then his own title and the anthology America's Best Comics, until 1949, when superheroes gave way to an explosion of horror, crime, and Western comics.
He was revived in 2001, when Alan Moore brought him back, but quickly killed him off, so he could introduce a NEW Fighting Yank; Bruce Cabot III's daughter, while Carter III took over his ancestor's role of ghostly aide to the present Fighting Yank!
In 2007, Alex Ross revived the Fighting Yank as the lynchpin for the new Project SuperPowers line of comics which incorporates numerous characters from defunct comic companies into a cohesive universe!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have also revived Fighting Yank, taking the best of his classic 1940s cover art (including his first and last appearances), and emblazoning it on t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, 12-month calendar, and other kool kollectibles in our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line!
If you want REAL fireworks on the 4th, check out The Fighting Yank!

And don't forget Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival on the stands!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Icon of the Golden Age of Comics: Monster of Frankenstein

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is both introducing a NEW line of Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collectibles, Icons of the Golden Age of Comics, AND thanking our kool kustomers and blogwatchers for their unswerving support!

We're posting the newest link only here on this blog to a special storefront to enable those who click on it to buy items at discount from today until July 6th!
Save up to 50% per item on this titan of terror ...
Monster of Frankenstein Icon
PLUS: Each Monday, we'll be listing one or two MORE Icons ALSO at discount for a week before being offered to the general public at regular prices!
(We show the normal prices next to the item titles on these special pages)

Perfect for streetwear, beachwear and / or conventionwear!

And don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, to see his genetic successors, The F-Troop, in action! ;-)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Beware the Black Owl (both of them!)

We already covered The Owl here, but there was another hero (actually two of them in the same costume) based on the wise bird of legend.
The first Black Owl debuted in Prize Comics #1 as K the Unknown, but became Black Owl in #2. He didn't get a cover appearance until Prize Comics #7, which also featured the comic book intros of pulp hero Green Lama and literary character Monster of Frankenstein!
Now stop me if you've heard this one...
Bored millionare playboy Doug Danville decides to battle cowardly, superstitious criminals as a fearsome creature of the night.
Utilizing his personal fortune, he creates a masked identity with various non-lethal armaments and takes on the criminal element for several years.
Sounds like a whole slew of heroes of the period, eh?
But there's a twist, folks!
When World War II breaks out, he enlists in the Army!
(Most heroes remained on the Home Front battling spies and saboteurs.)
Realizing it would be best for the city he protects if The Black Owl was still believed to be fighting crime, Doug passes on his costume and equipment in Prize Comics #34 to another man...
The second Black Owl was Walt Walters, father of a pair of patriotic teen superheroes, Yank & Doodle whom Doug Danville had teamed up with on several occasions, most notably Prize Comics #24, when they, Green Lama and several other characters, took on the Monster of Frankenstein!
Once Dad became a superhero, the kids became his sidekicks, but remained Yank & Doodle, instead of renaming themselves something avian to match their father's motif!
(Luckily, their color schemes matched!)
When Walt is shot and wounded in Prize Comics #64, he retires from active crimefighting, serving as a non-costumed assistant to Yank & Doodle until their series is cancelled several months later.
Note: we never learn what became of Doug Danville after he entered the Army...

Alex Ross has now incorporated both Black Owls (and Yank & Doodle) into his Project SuperPowers Golden Age revival series, with one of the BOs somehow becoming a living black hole!

While we won't go that far, Atomic Kommie Comics™ has incorporated both Black Owls into our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, even giving them their own section featuring the first cover appearance as well as the best cover art for each Black Owl on t-shirts, mugs and other goodies!

So, whether it's The Owl or The Black Owl, we have something on WHOOOever (sorry, couldn't resist) holds your interest!

And buy Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival series on the market!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

OTHER Patriotic SuperHeroes (& SuperHeroines)

With all the tzimmis over the Return of Steve Rogers as Captain America (and who didn't know that was coming?), you might want to have a look at the other star-spangled heroes introduced during the Golden Age of comic books!

You did know Captain America was not the first superhero to wrap himself in the "colors that never run", didn't you?
The very first flag-wearing hero was Archie (then MLJ) Comics' The Shield who predated Cap by over a year!
Then, between 1940 and 1945, dozens of stars & stripes-wearing heroes (and heroines) flew, leaped, punched, kicked, and flipped thru the four-color newsprint world of comic books!
(Technically, Superman wore red, YELLOW, and blue, so he wasn't visually a flag-waving hero.
But Wonder Woman's Amazon garb was meant to show alliance with America's values and beliefs!)

In that virtuous vein, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ want to tell you about a plethora of patriotic pummelers at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ in our Flag-Draped Heroes line of kool kollectibles!
We're talking about
American Crusader
American Eagle (now Burning Eagle)
Captain Battle & Captain Battle Jr
Captain Courageous
Captain V (illustrated above)
The Conqueror
The Eagle & Buddy
The Flag
Major Victory
Man of War
Miss Victory
Stars & Stripes
Super-American
Unknown Soldier (now Soldier Unknown)
U.S. Jones
V-Man
Yank & Doodle
Yankee Doodle Jones & Johnny Reb
on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other goodies!
(We'll be doing individual Hero(ine) Histories of each of them over the summer. Watch for them!)
Most, if not all of them have recently been revived in the new series Project SuperPowers and it's spin-off titles. (Pick them up at your local comic book store TODAY!)

So fly the flag (or The Flag himself) this 4th of July with Flag-Draped Heroes ONLY at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!

Monday, June 22, 2009

SALE: Icons of the Golden Age of Comics

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Atomic Kommie Comics™ is both introducing a NEW line of Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collectibles, Icons of the Golden Age of Comics, AND thanking our kool kustomers and blogwatchers for their unswerving support!

We're posting the links only here on this blog to special storefronts to enable those who click on it to buy items at discount from today until July 1st!

PLUS: Each week (on Monday), we'll be listing one or two MORE Icons ALSO at discount for a week before being offered to the general public at regular prices!
(We show the normal prices next to the item titles on these special pages)
First up, save up to 25% per item on a trio of terrific titans...
Black Terror Icon
DareDevil (& Claw) Icon
Miss Masque Icon
Perfect for streetwear, beachwear and / or conventionwear!

And don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, Death Defying 'Devil, Black Terror and Masquerade & Erik Larsen's Next Issue Project and Savage Dragon featuring NEW tales of these classic heroes! ;-)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Power Nelson the FutureMan

In the year 1982, with the world exhausted by the second and third World Wars (you remember them, don't you?), civilization has been conquered by Emperor Seng I who rules the planet from a palatial palace in New-New York.
Gene West is chosen by a resistance group composed of scientists to be the test subject for a special experiment which gives him super strength and invulnerability.
Armed with these powers and his knowledge of history and future technology, he is sent back thru time to the 1940s where he fights as Power Nelson, the FutureMan to keep Seng I from rising to power, wearing an eye patch when in civilian guise to disguise his secret identity. (Hey, if eyeglasses worked for Clark Kent...)

Created in 1940, before America entered World War II, Power Nelson the FutureMan was the cover feature for the brand-new comic book Prize Comics.
Interestingly, in the series' "future" of the 1980s, America won both world wars, but was so drained of resources and manpower that Seng I easily took control!

Though he only appeared on the first six issues' covers, Power Nelson's strip ran until #23, then disappeared, his (and the world's) final fate unknown...

Until 2008.

Alex Ross revived him in Project SuperPowers as present-day (2008-9) President West, the apparently-ruthless ruler of an oppressive United States. (Ross also revived Golden Age android hero Dynamic Man as a ruthless industrialist! See a theme?)
Whether President West is the Gene West who went back to the 1940s or a parallel-universe version is yet to be disclosed. (Time-travel paradoxes! Ain't they FUN?)
In addition, President West is apparently in league with Emperor Seng II (Yes II, not I!) who may be either Seng's offspring or someone who usurped power and took the name.
(Seng, and other Golden Age arch-villains, as well as President West and Dynamic Man form The Supremacy, which secretly controls the Earth's major governments!)
And West reappears, in costume as The FutureMan aka President Power in Project SuperPowers Vol 2!
Offhand, I'll bet things didn't go quite as planned for Power Nelson in the "untold tales" after Prize Comics #23...

With Gene West taking a major role in Project SuperPowers (and the fortuitous purchase of a near-complete Prize Comics run) we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have also decided to revive "Earth's Last Hope" as part of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line of kool kollectibles!
So, check him out, before he disappears into a time loop or alternate universe, or something!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Coming of...Captain Future (both of them)!

Created and written by legendary sci-fi writer Edmond Hamilton, Captain Future I was a futuristic Doc Savage-type pulp hero with an entourage of aides including robot Grag, shape-changing android Otho, and Simon Wright the Living Brain.
An "ultimate-human" type hero with Olympic-level physical abiilties and genius-level mind, the Moon-based Cap, aka Curt Newton, battled evil all over the universe, first in his own title, and later in the sci-fi anthology pulp Startling Stories.
Strangely, when his publisher put him into comics, Cap was rechristened "Major Mars", even though he was still Curt Newton, and the other characters remained the same!
That publisher then created an entirely NEW comic book hero and assigned HIM the "Captain Future" name!
Captain Future II was present-day (1940s) scientist Andrew Bryant who exposed himself to a combo of gamma and infrared radiation which granted him super-strength, flight, and energy-emitting powers! (instead of frying him like bacon, which is what would happen if it were you or me!)
In a unique twist, if he over-extended his powers, Cap would have to return to his lab and "recharge" himself!

This version is the one revived by Alex Ross in Project SuperPowers.
Interesting graphic note: in Alex Ross' redesign, Captain Future II now wears a reversed Project SuperPowers logo "S" on his chest instead of the original lightning bolt which looks exactly like the SHAZAM! Captain Marvel's!

Check both of them (including Cap I's FIRST pulp and comic appearances, AND Cap II's FIRST appearance) out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking here!

Coming in August...The Classic Captain Future 12-Month Calendar for 2010!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Beware...The Owl!

"I'm not a Batman rip-off...and get off my flying Owl-Mobile!"

Comics in the 1940s were noted for, among other things, a tendency to see what worked, then take elements from it, mix it with a few other things and see if that new version would sell!

Sometimes the recombination sold better than the original!
For example: Batman's still going strong as a multi-media phenomenon, but most of his "inspirations", including The Shadow and Zorro, are marginal pop culture characters today (though, in the past, both had periods when they eclipsed Batman)!
On the other hand, The Owl was one of those who, while interesting, didn't quite hit the heights.

Nick Terry, a police detective who felt the law was too easily manipulated by racketeers and gangsters (and their lawyers) decided that operating outside the law on behalf of justice would be the way to go!
(Any number of Golden Age heroes, including The Whisperer, Black Hood, Guardian, and DareDevil, had the same concept of one who upholds the law having to indulge in extra-legal methods to achieve true justice.)
He became a Caped Creature of the Night to battle criminals (like Batman, The Shadow, and The Sandman, among others.)
Nick also used a plethora of themed weapons and gimmicks (including an Owl-Mobile, and Owl-Light) not unlike Bat-you-know-who and Green Arrow. (Although since he wasn't a millionaire like most of the aforementioned characters, it's never explained how Nick affords all this stuff!)
His nosy reporter girlfriend (Can you say "Lois Lane" or "Vicki Vale" boys and girls?) eventually discovers his dual identity and forces him (ala Captain America's Bucky) to make her his similarly-costumed sidekick, Owl-Girl! (think HawkGirl, but with hyphenation!)
One of his unique features (he did have a couple, don't get snarky) was that he wore a full-face cowl with sight-enhancing lenses, predating a similar style later worn by Spider-Man!
And, he does have a very distinctive look! You won't mistake him for anyone else!

The Owl didn't have his own title.
Instead, he was the cover-feature of Dell's Crackajack Funnies for over a year before being downgraded to the back of the book in Popular Comics for another year before being cancelled.

But, that's not the end of the story...

In the 1960s, with the pop-culture success of Marvel Comics and the Batman tv series, superheroes were in vogue again!
Curiously, while Marvel, DC, and Archie revived their Golden Age characters, other publishers with old heroes chose to do new characters instead...with one exception!
Gold Key now owned the Dell super-heroes, and though they did several short-lived new characters, they did revive their Golden Age character most similar to Batman.
Guess who?
The Owl finally got his own comic!
And because they felt it should be as much like the tv Batman as possible, Gold Key camped it up beyond belief...
It only lasted two issues.
And except for a cameo appearance, The Owl fluttered into oblivion...

But that's still not the end of the story...

Recently, The Owl was one of the many Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ revived by Alex Ross in his acclaimed Project SuperPowers series.
Up to this point, Nick Terry's alter-ego been a peripheral character, but the covers for the second Project SuperPowers mini-series indicate he's about to become a major player in the plotline!
So, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ felt the time had come to expand our line of Owl collectibles.
(The fact we had just purchased a large comics collection including a near-complete run of Crackajack Funnies had nothing to do with it, we swear!)
Have a look at the half-dozen classic covers we've emblazoned on items from t-shirts to blank sketchbooks, to mugs and many other goodies.
And pick up Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age of Comics revival on the stands today!
(You thought we were gonna do a "Whooo..whooo" joke of some kind?)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Kevin Smith's Green Hornet to be comic mini-series

As all us fanboys (and fangirls) know, before Seth Rogan's version of The Green Hornet was "green-lighted" (ahem), fan-turned-pro Kevin Smith was scheduled to write and direct a new film adaptation of the multi-media character.
Now, Dynamite Entertainment, who successfully revived classic characters Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Buck Rogers, and the 1940s heroes we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ classify as the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, are also doing The Green Hornet, with one of the projects being a comic book mini-series of the un-produced script for the Kevin Smith film project!
Interestingly, he seems to have adapted several elements from the tv series including the domino mask (rather than the lower-face mask of the comics and radio show ad art or the full-face mask of the serials) and use of a "stinger" weapon, as well as the NOW Comics' female Kato! (and of course, having Alex Ross do the costume designs and cover art doesn't hurt!)

One request to the powers-that-be at Dynamite...
Kevin Smith has become notorious for his problems meeting deadlines on his comic book projects.
Hopefully, the fact that he's already worked out the plot and probably most of the script of the movie will enable him to produce the mini-series in a far more timely manner than his other oft-delayed work.
At any rate, please don't schedule publishing the mini until at least 3/4 of the script is in-house!

More on this as it develops...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

MORE Dare Devil for your ducats!

A couple of months ago, we mentioned we would be expanding our selection of Classic Dare Devil collectibles in our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ section.
Well, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ kept our word...

Three more of DareDevil's koolest Golden Age cover appearances, digitally-restored and remastered, are now available for your perusal (and purchasing, of course) on mugs, shirts and other goodies!

Don't forget to buy Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, Death-Defying 'Devil and Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon!
We wanna keep Bart Hill (and maybe even the Little Wise Guys) around for a while!


Note: for Free Comic Book Day 2009 on May 2nd, Image Comics is offering Savage Dragon #148, featuring Dare Devil (called "Dynamic DareDevil") for FREE!

Friday, February 20, 2009

DareDevil aka Death-Defying 'Devil aka Dynamic DareDevil

Silver Streak Comics was unique in two respects;
1) It wasn't named after it's lead character, like Flash Comics or Blue Bolt Comics.
(In fact, the hero known as The Silver Streak didn't even come along until issue #3, and then he was just a backup strip!)
2) The lead character was a villain!
And what a villain he was!
The Claw was the first great villain of the Golden Age!
He was a, literally, inhuman scientific genius with powers of size-changing, hypnotism, and numerous other abilities depending on the needs of the story! (In the Golden Age, these things tended to be a little, well, loose.)
In his first few appearances he was barely defeated by various international secret agents who would stumble upon his various operations, but The Claw himself would always escape to plot again!
While the foul fiend dominated the front of the book, several heroes made their debuts in backup features, among them a mute fellow in a weird half-yellow / half-blue costume who used a boomerang!

Created in Silver Streak #6 by writer / artist Jack Binder, brother of noted pulp sci-fi writers Otto & Earl Binder, this DareDevil was Bart Hill, rendered speechless as a boy when he witnessed the murder of his father!
The silent lad learned how to use a boomerang, and, when he became an adult, adopted a costume in order to avenge himself against evil in it's various forms. Not a bad origin tale, overall.

Jack Cole, who later would create Plastic Man, took over the strip in the next issue, tossing out everything except the boomerang and the name Bart Hill, creating the first comic book retcon!
He also modified the costume, making the yellow sections bright red.
Cole then decided that his revamped hero would make the perfect ongoing counterpoint to The Claw, so as of Silver Streak #7, he pitted the two against each other in an ongoing battle that lasted five issues, which ended with The Claw finally being captured!
At that point, DareDevil was given his own title, DareDevil Comics, with the greatest real-life villain of all as his first opponent--Adolf Hitler! With the aid of other heroes, including The Silver Streak, DD managed to stalemate Der Fuehrer.

Cole went on to other projects, and writer / artist Charles Biro took over the strip.
Biro gave Bart an entirely new origin, having the orphaned kid raised by Australian Aborigines and trained by them to use boomerangs!
Bart Hill settled down to a typical life of an acrobatic superhero whose new secret identity of a policeman enabled him to serve the law by day, and justice by night...until the Little Wise Guys came along in #13!
Jocko, Peewee, Scarecrow, and Meatball were a kid gang whom Officer Hill encountered while on patrol. Sensing they were inherently good kids gone wrong, he took them under his wing, guiding them into more socially-acceptible activities, like spying on saboteurs.
It was like having a whole team of Robins or Buckys (sans costumes) to help in his ongoing war against evil!
During one of their adventures against a rival gang, Meatball was killed.
A rival gang member, Curly, feeing guilty about Meatball's demise (though he didn't cause it) reformed, and joined the Little Wise Guys.

The kids gradually took over the book as DareDevil went from lead hero to mentor / advisor to occasional guest-star, disappearing altogether as of #80.
DareDevil Comics continued until #134 in September 1954. Ironically, it was the same month Showcase #4, featuring The Flash started the Silver Age of Comics!
Talk about "missed it by that much!"

Though the character missed the Silver Age, his influence was felt throughout it.
Marvel's Matt Murdock became an acrobatic hero with the same name.
Charlton's acrobatic ThunderBolt wore a very similar costume in tribute to the Golden Age character.

And now, the original hero has returned in not one, but two different incarnations:
The Death-Defying 'Devil in Alex Ross' ongoing Project SuperPowers series and his own self-titled mini-series which restores the original mute aspect of his character.
and
Dynamic DareDevil, guest-starring in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon series

PLUS: we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have digitally-restored and remastered several of DareDevil's koolest Golden Age covers , including his very first cover appearance, on an assortment of pop-culture collectibles in our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line!
And, we'll be adding several more in the next month or so!

Don't forget to buy Project SuperPowers, Death-Defying 'Devil and Savage Dragon!
We wanna keep Bart Hill (and maybe even the Little Wise Guys) around for a while!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A Lost Heroine of the Golden Age--Miss Masque

Debuting in Exciting Comics #51, Miss Masque was another of the line of rich socialites-turned-masked crimefighters in the Golden Age which included The Shadow, The Batman, and The Green Hornet!
Diana Adams had no superpowers or abilities, just her keen deductive mind and a pair of .45 automatics. And, unlike her male contemporaries, she didn't have a sidekick or aides!
Clad in bright red cape, mini-dress, gloves, and slouch hat, she pursued criminals and saboteurs thru several issues of Exciting Comics, appearing on the cover only once (#53) during her run, before transferring over to America's Best Comics, where she teamed up (on the covers) with other heroes, most notably The Black Terror, even though they didn't appear together inside the comic! (They all had seperate strips!)
Also, she seemed to lose parts of her wardrobe when she changed homes, as her fedora disappeared along with the midriff of her costume (see below), making her predate the trailer-trash look of Britney Spears by decades!
(Maybe it was her summer ensemble!)
When superheroes faded away after the end of World War II, so did Miss Masque.
Since the 1990s, she's been revived by several publishers, most notably, by writer Alan Moore of Watchmen fame in DC Comics' America's Best Comics imprint (ironic, eh?), and artist Alex Ross in Dynamite Entertainment's Project SuperPowers series as well as a mini-series under her new code-name of Masquerade!
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have also "revived" Miss Masque / Masquerade by digitally-restoring and remastering several of her best Golden Age cover appearances (including her first) on a line of t-shirts, mugs, and even calendars as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line of kool kollectibles!

She was a woman ahead of her time...but her time has finally come!

PS: Pick up the Project SuperPowers and Masquerade comics!
They're the best Golden Age revival books out there!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Alex Ross+Barack Obama=SuperShirt!

Take super-star artist Alex Ross.
Add super-politican Barack Obama.
What do you get?
Officially, it's called Obama: Time for a Change.
In reality, it's the coolest Presidential campaign shirt in history!
Buy It! NOW!
Wear it proudly!
'Nuff said.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

"So, what's your super-power?" "I can turn into water..."

Comic book scientists are incredibly clumsy.
They spill or ingest chemical concoctions that would kill any ordinary human, but always end up granting them amazing powers!
Such is the case of Harry Thurston, who developed a chemical that would convert any matter it touched to water.
And, of course, he spilled it on himself, turning his arm to liquid. Thankfully, labmate Bob Blake used another chemical to revert Harry's arm.
Deciding to take things a step further, Bob Blake then had himself injected with the chemical, making his whole body turn to water and using his force of will to control the level of transformation from human to liquid and back to human.
Like most scientists who gain weird powers, he becomes a costumed hero to fight enemy agents and crooks. Strangely, he strapped a .45 automatic to his belt when he first dons his costume, but never used it! (Whatever happened to Harry Thurston, who had the good sense not to inject himself with dangerous chemcals?)
With his ability to both become and control water, HydroMan was a remarkably-effective crimefighter, as long as he avoided sub-zero temperatures which would freeze him solid (his Achilles heel!)
HydroMan never had his own comic, but he was the cover feature for the first year or so of Reg'lar Fellas Heroic Comics. It is from this series that Atomic Kommie Comics™ has created a new line of kool kollectibles for our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ series, including his 1st appearance, and his 1st issue with partner RainBow Boy!
Note: HydroMan was created by Bill Everett, who later went on to create some other water-based heroes for Timely/Marvel including The Fin and some little-known guy called Namor, The Sub-Mariner.
Oh, him you've heard of...

Alex Ross has revived HydroMan in Project SuperPowers, teaming him with PyroMan on the upcoming cover for issue #4!
Oddly, he's renamed Hydroman "Hydro", even though the only extant Hydro-Man in comics is a seldom-used Marvel villain! (It's not unusual for characters at different companies to have the same name, especially if one's a hero, and the other's a villain. Example: The Sandman...a villain at Marvel, and several different heroes at DC!) But I digress...

Pick up Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival on the stands today, and have a look at our retro-styled goodies at Atomic Kommie Comics™ (And when is Dyanmite going to do their own Alex Ross art-based line of Project SuperPowers collectibles? I'll be among the first to get 'em when they come out!)

PyroMan--the Shocking Superhero!

Despite his name, PyroMan is not a fire-based hero! (That ability is possessed by The Flame, in the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ lineup.)
Wrongly-convicted and sent to the electric chair, Dick Martin somehow survived electrocution and gained electricity-based powers which he then used to escape and bring the real criminals to justice to prove his innocence!
He then donned a costume and fought crime and saboteurs by using his electromagnetic powers to fly, deflect bullets, and zap baddies!
Atomic Kommie Comics™ has launched a line of kool kollectibles for the Electric Enigma (catchy, eh?) with four of the best covers from his run in Startling Comics, where he alternated with The Fighting Yank on the cover! Among the digitally-restore and remastered covers are his 1st appearance and the classic Alex Schomberg cover at left.
Alex Ross' Project Superpowers is featuring him and Hydro (aka HydroMan) together on the cover of their 4th issue, to create a pseudo-Human Torch/Sub-Mariner theme. I suppose water and electricity go together as well as water and fire do...
Pick up Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival on the stands today, and have a look at our retro-styled goodies at Atomic Kommie Comics™
Tune in tomorrow, when we cover the other half of #4's cover duo--HydroMan (er, "Hydro")!