Some of those reeeeal obscure guys today.
Craig Carter:
Archaeologist Craig Carter wants to give up all the stuffy academia and become a crime fighter, and since he lives in a comic book universe, the very day he tells his girlfriend about this objectively bad decision he receives a magical ring in the mail from an old colleague whose life he had saved. This ring grants its wearer the ability to summon the gods of antiquity to aid them - in Carter's two adventures he summons Zeus, Mercury, Thor and Pluto, plus he gets Zeus to summon Pegasus for him, so presumably a whole world of magical beasts was also at his fingertips. Carter's second adventure ends with Pluto deciding not to return to the ring, which presumably would have set him up as a long-term antagonist. Alas this was not to be, as his second appearance was also his final appearance.
The ring is also hilariously sensitive with regards to its touch-activation, as seen here when a simple hand-pat causes Zeus to blow up the club. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)
Detecto:
Jack Strand is a radio scientist who has invented Detecto, a "wonder beam" that has "four unlimited powers": the ability to send and receive short wave radio, an engine killing effect, a force field and the ability to paralyze living things. As in a few other cases that we have encountered, the line between Detecto as a beam and Detecto as a kind of ambient energy field is a bit blurry, but whatever it is, Strand installs a transmitter in his car, making it into what is essentially a magical object. Would he be better off with a more portable version of Detecto, particularly as at least one of the powers, the radio, is commonly possessed by many cars already? Maybe. Am I sad that this was the only story about Detecto? Certainly, particularly as this was very much a tale of highway-based crime and I would love to see Detecto go up against someone in an airplane or maybe a building. (Wham Comics 001, 1940)
Blue Fire:
Blue Fire is actually scientist Jack Knapp, who acquired his powers through the ever-popular method of an unexpected explosion in his chemistry laboratory. Please note also that he was about to drink an unspecified formula just before this explosion occurred - is it the same as the explosive chemical that gave him his powers or was he about to unlock an entirely different suite of abilities?
Blue Fire takes his name from the halo of blue flames that surrounds him when his powers are active, Contrary to this external signifier, however, he does not have any kind of heat or flame based abilities but rather is an intangibility guy. This is by far the best thing about Blue Fire, by the way, and not just because of the name/power fakeout but because Blue Fire creator Louis Glanzman has effortlessly answered all of the nitpicky questions about intangibility (why can they still breathe? why don't they fall through the floor? why can they pick things up?) by establishing that Jack Knapp is effectively the opposite of ooblek: he functions as if tangible until enough force is exerted by or on his body, so that he can pick up a book but that same book will pass right through him if thrown. It's very neat and tidy!*
Blue Fire has to drink some of the chemical created in the initial explosion to activate his powers, after which he has them for two whole hours. This is an interesting twist to the whole question of a secret identity, lying somewhere between the Hulk's "uncontrollable change for an indeterminate amount of time and the usual Archie Andrews-style running around in different hats that Superman and co. get up to. I'm surprised that I can't think of another character with this kind of life-complicating power setup. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)
*I am of course immediately imagining horror scenarios in which Blue Fire cannot breathe in a high wind or a high pressure atmosphere, where he jumps down from a small platform and then falls to the centre of the Earth, etc
Solarman:
Solarman and his mentor, the bat-eared Quino, are aliens from the enlightened planet Saturn who have been observing Earth for some time. Quino is so depressed over the crime and evil that is rampant on our planet that he almost heat-rays the entire thing before his Saturnian enlightenment kicks in and he reconsiders. Instead, the two hit upon a plan wherein Solarman will be blasted to Earth to fight crimes that the two have spotted via their viscopes and x-rayscopes.
Though Solarman is said to have "many powers" by Quino, the only one he displays while on his sole recorded mission to Earth is some moderate super strength. Still, this is more than enough to beat up gangster Al Ravoni's entire suite of henchmen and bring the fugitive himself to justice. Hopefully this kind of thing is enough to satisfy Quino's righteous bloodlust. (Wham Comics 002, 1940)
No comments:
Post a Comment