They're just these guys, you know?
the Solar Legion:
The Solar Legion is the brainchild of Adam Starr, a 23rd Century man about whom very little is ever revealed. Emerging from a concealed base on Io, he sets out to rid the Solar System of the scourge of space piracy via the most direct route possible: blowing up all of the space pirates.
Starr's exploits have their intended effects: 1. many pirates are blown up and 2. the authorities are convinced of the need for an interplanetary peacekeeping force, aka the Solar Legion, with Starr as the head.
Despite his new position of authority, the remaining four Solar Legion stories feature Adam Starr as a solo operator, hunting down pirates and settling factional disputes with his ray gun and two-fisted attitude. (Crash Comics Adventures 001, 1940)
the Cat Man:
The Cat Man is David Merrywether, who is orphaned in India after his father William brings his entire family along on a scientific expedition to collect butterflies and they run afoul of a hostile tribe (no word on whether William did something to draw their ire or if they were universally hostile to intruders - in either case the question of just why he would have his wife and two young children along on such a dangerous endeavour remains unaddressed). David, the only survivor, ends up being adopted by a tiger and spends his youth with her in an expository caption.
(I really appreciate this "yadda yadda yadda" version of the Raised by Animals origin story. You've heard it all before, folks: he lived among the tigers and now he has tiger powers. He's back in civilization because he saved a tiger's life and that tiger's mother owed him a favour. Now let's get to the costumed antics!)
Cat-Man has all of the expected cat-related superpowers - enhanced dexterity, strength, speed and jumping ability - plus a few less common ones like the ability to speak to tigers and the ability to fall any distance and land on his feet without harm. He also has a cat's enhanced night vision, which takes the form of literal beams of light that emit from his eyes. Fun!
Cat Man's most striking power is that of having nine lives, bestowed on him by his adoptive tiger mama when he saved her cub. The problem with the "multiple lives" superpower has always been that it's not interesting if it's not used, with the result being that after two 1940 appearances Cat Man is down to seven lives. Surely this cannot be sustained going forward.
Speaking of going forward, we will be hearing more out of Cat Man, one of the minor successes of the Golden Age. Changes are afoot once he has his own title in 1941, starting with a revisions to his much-derided original costume (personally, I like this costume. It very much feels like the sort of thing that someone who had spent their youth alone in a jungle might put together). See you then! (Crash Comics Adventures 004, 1940)
Tornado Tom:
Like the word-box says: Tornado Tom is just some guy who was sucked up by a tornado one day and when he came down again he was inhumanly strong, fast and durable. He also had amnesia, so even though he shares the name Tom Kenny with the famous voice actor of such characters as Spongebob Squarepants, he himself did not know that.
Tornado Tom's origin is never really explored and the two hints we get about the nature of his powers are a bit contradictory:
Possible Mystical Origin: in Cyclone Comics 002, Tom battles some thugs in a stuffy apartment and is drained of vitality by the lack of fresh breezes. In a moment of desperation he calls out to Boreas, "God of Wind" and is revived and re-energized by a gust of air that blasts through the window. Talking points: was it a mystic tornado sent by the gods? Is Tom Kenny a descendant of Boreas or another Greco-Roman figure?
Possible Biological Origin: In Cyclone Comics 005* Tornado Tom's blood is asserted to have miraculous healing properties, possibly as a result of his being some sort of mutant or mutate. Talking points: was it a radioactive tornado?
This is all ultimately clutching at straws because Tornado Tom is a classic Golden Age cypher, much as I would like to know otherwise. (Cyclone Comics 001, 1940)
* his blood is reportedly transfused into a dying man in Cyclone Comics 004 but that issue is currently unavailable.
Mister Q:
Your typical master of disguise style hero, with a manservant named Ying and a dog named Satan. I quite like Mister Q because I'm pretty sure that his name is derived from the idea of wartime Q-Ships, ie, warships disguised as harmless merchant vessels. It's a neat name for a disguise-based crimefighter! (Cyclone Comics 001, 1940)
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