MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 002

Still lotsa super-heroes to add.

the Marksman: 

Single appearance hero trained by his father to be completely accurate with thrown or projectile weapons. Uses the alias John Courage. Throws a spear through a guy's head one time. (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941)

Miraco the Great:

Circus magician with real powers. His one adventure involved running a sex pest gorilla trainer out of the circus. (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941)

Super Ann:

A young woman who was given super strength by a weird old cave-dwelling alien man as a child. She's very charming! I particularly like how straightforward her crimefighting is - most of the time she just walks up and punches a fool, as someone who grew up with super strength might. This does leave her vulnerable to sneaky attacks, but lucky for her her fellow hero Mighty Man has decided to follow her around and keep her out of trouble. (Amazing-Man Comics 024, 1941)

And speaking of Mighty Man...

Mighty Man Update:

When Mighty Man debuted he was just a 12 foot tall guy, then in Amazing-Man Comics 012 a scientist performed an operation on him that allowed him to change his size at will (and then promptly got himself murdered, natch). At first he could merely grow and shrink but pretty quickly he developed more refined shapechanging abilities, including changing his appearance and, most upsettingly, changing the size of individual parts of his body. By the time he began shadowing Super Ann, Mighty Man was just as likely to be a weird little gremlin with one huge arm, or, as in the panel above, a big ear in order to freak out a goon or Nazi. Unpleasant!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 476: THE SEWER RAT

(Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941)

The Sewer Rat is actually Major Strabo, who says that he just wanted to graft off the government by selling military supplies to foreign governments but actually just ran a gang that, like, robbed museums and held up nightclubs and so forth. Aside from his rad name is notable for being the only foe of minor Centaur hero the Marksman.

NOTES - FEBRUARY 2024

Good reactions by the people in this crowd to Amazing-Man passing through in his Green Mist form - people usually treat it as if he's invisible but this is much more satisfying. (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940) 

Origins:

The Shark is not just the son of Father Neptune, he's part of a long line of father/ son Neptunes and Sharks! I was right in my belief that the Shark was more interesting than most ocean dwelling super-heroes! (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)

I Don't Get It Dept:

The names on this poster are either character in the story (Dr Hypno, Lana the lion tamer) or jokes (Governor Graft, Senator Filchit, Mayor M.I. Blue), but Ivan Coe is not the former and I can't figure out any way he's the latter. It's a puzzle! (Amazing-Man Comics 019, 1941)

Attacking Hitler:

Amazing-Man participates in the grand old tradition of political commentary in comics (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

Fate of Atlantis:

Adventurer Reef Kinkaid encounters a fairly standard version of Atlantis (or Atlantia) stuck in a little bubble under an island and still somehow managing to thrive for 9000+ years. (Amazing-Man Comics 022, 1941)

Gruesome:

Real gruesome death perpetrated by one-off hero the Marksman (Amazing-Man Comics 023, 1941)

Famous Names:

Hobo Harper encounters this evil guy who loves "fancy murders" and is trying to gain control of a travelling carnival - Tony Blair (Amazing-Man Comics 025, 1941)

Giant guy on the right lives in the Tennessee woods eating wild boar and ends up falling off a mountain while tussling with DA Tom Kerry. Jim Davis is the name. (Big Shot Comics 002, 1940)

Cops Shoot:

Captain Courageous is accused of being a spy (literally by one guy yelling "he's a spy!") and these cops attempt to execute him. Twice! (Banner Comics 003, 1941)

Now, the Blue Beetle did just rob a restaurant in order to get in good with a gang, but that's still not a good reason for this cop to attempt to murder him. (Big 3 006, 1941)

Canada:

Always have to note when a comic makes a stop in a specific rather than generic location in Canada, even when it's not actually Canadian for another eight years or so. This time it's Captain Courageous showing up to help these wacky pacifist fishermen drive off a Nazi invasion. (Banner Comics 004, 1941)