Cosmic Crusaders of Cancelled Comic Creators

Mercury Man and Mister Midnight. Neither were actually assimilated into their respective publishers despite their dual appearances. Both adventures for the duo were published in anthology (of sorts) publications, Merc in Space Adventures #44 and 45, and Midnight in Mighty Crusaders #2 and Galaxia Magazine #2. In 1962 when Mercury Man debuted, the cold war was at its height and fear of nuclear war prompted the creation of several such powered individuals. Midnight's tales were published in 1983 during a period when peaceful detente led to the resolution of this conflict, resulting in a cooler and calmer type of gladiator.

Each had super-strength, lightspeed flight, and density control among the various abilities. Merc was sole survivor from the actual planet Mercury, using his scientific knowledge to attempt to prevent what destroyed his world. Midnight was sent from a future era to prevent some unspecified disaster(s), sent by Captain Cosmos against the Warrior of Omri. One white skinned, at least in Mercury Man's chemically altered form, the other in all black, with no indication if his shadow-like skin was his actual form. One was preachy and the other solitude. Yet both were derivative of other more successful concepts (think Captain Atom, who already appeared in the self-same Space Adventures 11 issues prior to Merc and would return later for a brief but successful run... and think DC's Obsidian who looked similar yet played off his mystique in a much more distinct way). And that's all he wrote...