MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 044

A full hand of Better (Nedor/Standard/Pines) Comics characters for ye.

Captain Future:

When young Dr Andrew Bryant finds himself fired from his job as a... research physicist? electrical engineer?... at the Pacific Electrical Corporation he responds like any rational person would: by working day and night in in a desperate bid to finish his research in the time he has left, until his tired brain thinks its way into an industrial accident. Luckily for Bryant he lives in a super-hero universe, so when he crosses gamma and infra-red rays and blows up his laboratory he is not gruesomely killed but instead filled with super-energies.

Dubbing himself Captain Future (because he represents the future state of humanity, natch) and donning a pretty minimal costume, Bryant sets out to mete out fist-based justice on the world using a suite of super powers including: mind reading, remote viewing, the ability to both hear and broadcast radio, flight, enhanced strength, energy blasts and a magnetic forcefield that repels bullets but is ineffective against cowardly blows to the head. Sometimes his powers run out or are used up and he has to scurry off and blast himself with radiation again, which makes him one of the earlier super-heroes to have that kind of narratively-interesting power limitation. Plus he is occasionally vulnerable to high levels of electricity or other energy disrupting his powers in a kryptonite kind of way - he's just a "my powers don't work on this specific material" away from the Limiting Your Super Powered Character trifecta! (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

Mystico:

When scientist Dr Slade needs to test his Vita-Ray device to see if it really can resurrect the dead like he thinks it can, does he start out on easy mode with a selection of freshly deceased lab mice like some sort of rule-following nerd? He does not! Instead, he gets ahold of a 2000-year-old mummy, perhaps the most dead guy available, and turns the power up as high as it can go. And it works! The mummy is restored to life! And also his flailing causes a power feedback that results in an explosion that kills everyone involved... maybe the lab mice would have been a good starting point after all.

The one person to survive the lab explosion is the newly-resurrected mummy, who turns out to have a wide array of magical powers - lucky for the narrative that Slade grabbed the wizard mummy and not some minor aristocrat's 3rd Dynasty failson or an unlucky desiccated tomb robber. Dubbing himself Mystico, the formerly-ancient Egyptian fast-tracks his assimilation to future society with some new clothes and a top-of-the-line car.

In a fortuitous turn of events for the local authorities, Mystico also adopts a set of conventional American values and immediately sets his vast powers to the task of rooting out crime. I suppose that if you're an ancient and powerful wizard suddenly thrust into a strange world your options boil down to overthrowing the status quo (super-villain), maintaining the status quo (super-hero) or keeping your head down and living a quiet life (boring comic book). (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

Dr X:

At first glance, Dr X slots neatly into the category of "scientist super-villains who headline their own comics serial" alongside such luminaries as Dr Doom and Landor, Maker of Monsters. After all, he's a creepy looking rodent-man whose primary field of study is seeing just how many dangerous alien worlds he can send his niece Cynthia's astral form to without really briefing her on what she's getting into first, or indeed without a clear idea of exactly what happens to someone if their astral form is eaten by an alien dinosaur.

But no, Dr X is a good guy! He tries his hardest to keep Cynthia and her boyfriend Bob Stone from getting eaten by those dinosaurs (after metaphorically delivering them to them on a platter, sure, but the thought is there), and even staves off an invasion of Earth by the Moon! Truly we must all learn not to judge a book by its sinister cover.

That said, is it reasonable that Alan Moore made him a weird creepy murderer in the pages of Terra Incognito? Completely! (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

the Masked Rider: 

The Masked Rider is really Bronc Randall, cowboy and ex-rodeo performer, who returns home after two years to find small-town Western injustice running rampant and decides to do something about it by donning a small cloth mask and otherwise changing nothing about his fairly distinctive look. And it works! The Masked Rider then goes on to dispense justice for another dozen issues or so. 

(is the Masked Raider another Western comic that fooled me into thinking it was set in the Old West until several issues in when someone rocked up in a truck? Indeed it is)

This is actually Better Publications' second Masked Rider, appearing one month after the one we have already encountered if I have my dates right. Plus, there was a bit of text fiction featuring a third Masked Rider in Best Comics the previous year. Did someone at the company have a thing for the name or is the Masked Rider just one of the most generic Western hero monikers? (Startling Comics 001, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 024

Buncha fresh heroes here!

Son of the Gods: 

Dr John Thesson, big tall archaeologist and 1940s arch-skeptic, has the misfortune to find himself on an expedition to Crete with true believer Professor Craig who can't stop running his mouth about how great Theseus was and how he totally existed and maybe Thesson and Craig can find Theseus' mystic Ring of Poseidon if they look hard enough. It is a very annoying expedition for Thesson.

Just kidding: this is a comic book and Professor Craig is completely right - it's John "We're Scientists" Thesson who has to get with the picture.

The expedition is rich with incident: on the way there the duo ore attacked by a wild boar and Thesson kills it...

... and then once they start the dig in earnest it is plagued by sabotage that is eventually traced back to their host Procostous and his manservant Cercion. This is the point at which the back of Professor Craig's head blows clean off and he starts talking about how Thesson is the reincarnation of Theseus and is reliving his famed Six Labours (he actually does half: Periphetes the Club Bearer and Sinis the Tree Bender appear only as recounted myths and Sciron is not mentioned at all. And to be honest Cercion = Cercyon is a bit flimsy. It's lucky for Professor Craig that he turns out to be correct. Again).

Surprising nobody, Thesson does indeed find the Ring of Poseidon after one last sabotage attempt that leaves Procrustous dead. This is enough for the local mystery cult to acclaim him the Reincarnation of Theseus and he vows to use the powers granted by the ring (super strength and a degree of invulnerability, mostly) to battle crime and injustice. I initially hoped that Theseus would have fun mythology-inspired adventures like the MLJ Hercules but no, it's all super-scientists and fascists - not even a hint of poor neglected Sciron and his giant turtle.

(later issues cast Thesson as a mere descendant of Theseus but whether this is because reincarnation was a but too mystical or due to simple sloppy record keeping I cannot say)

(the Minotaur only appears as one of Professor Craig's stories but I just wanted to highlight the rare bull-bodied version here) (Exciting Comics 002, 1940)

the Masked Rider:

Geologist Jim Sanford becomes the Masked Rider in order to catch crooks (including the Specter) operating a covert gold min under the Diamond D Ranch without them knowing he was onto them with specific geological knowledge. Unlike most of his peers, he has no trouble hanging up his mask once the job is done. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940)

the Sphinx:

The Sphinx is a tuxedo-clad, domino-masked vigilante (real name Ellsworth Forrester!), a perhaps over represented group in early comics but generally a solid one (I initially forgot the name of the Scarab from Terra Obscura and thought that he was this guy - imagine my confusion). The main difference between the Sphinx and his peers like the Clock or the Mouthpiece or Just n' Right is that the Sphinx is loosely affiliated with the police rather than being hunted by them.

The other main difference is the fact that the Sphinx is one of the few suit-and-mask heroes with legitimate super powers, specifically super strength and at least partial invulnerability.

Why is he called the Sphinx? As far as I can tell it's just because he's mysterious. (Exciting Comics 002, 1940)

UPDATE - the Golden Knight:

The Golden Knight stops off on his way to the Crusades to do a mission for Kara the Magician, who gifts him a magic ring that emits light in order to help him overcome the many dangers along the way and then a magic cloak of protection once he gets back - it's a very Dungeons & Dragons style quest, honestly.

The Golden Knight also takes a dip in a magic lake that triples his strength, which is handy for a warrior type. Does this strength persist? No idea. (Fantastic Comics 003, 1940)

 A couple of issues later, the Golden Knight meets the love of his life, Alice. Alice fell down a well as a child and was raised by (and eventually made queen of) a race of winged people in an underground city. Alice rules - in her first proper appearance she stabs two people to death which is way, way more than your typical female Golden Age adventurer. (Fantastic Comics 005, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 585: THE SPECTER

(Exciting Comics 002, 1940) 

The Specter is actually Harmon, foreman of the Diamond D Ranch, who dresses up like the ghost of a KKK member and kills people with a fanged ring to simulate rattlesnake bites. It's never explicitly stated but he seems to be trying to drive away the owners of the ranch so that he can take full control of a secret gold mine that only he knows about. Or maybe he's just killing off anyone who gets too nosy? He doesn't seem to be doing a fake haunting, despite his outfit... it's all pretty ambiguous.

Harmon/the Specter may be okay at being a sneaky murderer but he's a terrible secret gold mine owner. The US Treasury Department gets suspicious of all this new gold hitting the market and sends geologist/masked vigilante Jim Sanford, aka the Masked Rider, to check things out, and while you might be able to have a secret gold mine under the noses of a bunch of ranchers, you just try to do that with a geologist sniffing around. Once he shows up the Specter is quickly laid to rest.