Sideline Sundays: Two Swell Duos of the 1800's

MLJ's Blaine Whitney aka the Wizard wasn't the first incarnation of this persona. He was preceded by several generations of Whitneys... two in particular from the time of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. It is the latter we focus on today as the first of our pair of dynamic duos during the roaring 1800's, along with sidekick Tommy the 1st Super-Boy!

In this initial outing, Blaine is consulted by the upper crust of American society including President Madison and assumes and alias to board a ship bound for war. And of his first meeting with Tommy, as well as the then Wizard's scientific genius, creating a sophisticated (for its time) glider that aided his cross country journey. This issue laid further ground work on a heroic legacy. Novel for its time and a concept that would return.

A contemporary of Blaines (a few decades removed) over at Charlton was weapons dealer Clay Boone, a master of said armaments that donned a domino mask and shiny costume to become Gunmaster, accompanied eventually by Bob Tellub, who was inspired by his name and his mentor into reversing the last name and become Bullet...his sidekick!

In the following pictures we see Clay and Bob in action, one of their state of the art weapons that seemed ahead of its day (because it was!), Clay's civilian identity and then the subsequent result of his arms-dealer ways as he tracks down a murderer, with the hero being a local!

And so concludes our prelude to the sideline careers of two modern day heroes who would take over these champion's strips, the 1940's Wizard and the 1960's Judomaster (operating himself in the 1940's), heirs to "mastery" of their own form of fighting fiendish foes fearlessly!