Charlton Meets MLJ Week: Dancing Duet

Looks like Acrobat is schooling Mr. J on jamming to an old groove! Mr. J is doing his best Bill Cosby-steps, apparently.

Friday Fiends: The Tumbler vs the Acrobat

Usually, superheroes face very weak rogues, physically speaking that is. Often they face brain rather than brawn, Perhaps it's easier to engage the reader in a story involving a battle of wits. However, when portrayed by a solid artist, a physical confrontation can be just as engaging. Then mix in a villain that also has a head firmly planted on a solid physique, and you can provide a real challenge.

Our two baddies today show their athletic prowess, going toe-to-toe with Judomaster and the Web. The Acrobat was a Japanese assassin sent by his Imperial masters during the height of World War II to finish Judomaster for  his personal  and national honour

The motifications of the Web's foe is much simpler, he's greedy. In the course of their first confrontation, he instantly gains contempt for the hero and taunts him for a rematch.

Neither hero faired well in the initial confrontation, Never fear! For their steely determination prompted them to pursue these limber larcenists even if it meant getting a little wet! Despite this, our twin terrors were determined that their rematch afford them vicious victories. Keep reading!


Incredible! Even in the 60's, the Tumbler was telling his Facebook buddies to keep track of their Web alerts while surfing the net! Anyways, the short-lived careers of  these Friday Fiends were squashed by some superior adversaries. Probably why we never saw a Acrobat and the Tumbler strip. 

Colorful Crusaders of World War II

The Shield was introduced in Pep Comics #1 in 1940, while his counterpart was introduced in 1965 yet existing fictionally in the 1940's. One was G-Man Joe Higgins, an aspiring scientist seeking to avenge the death of his father and discovering a process that gave him super-strength and an invulnerable costume. The other was G.I Rip Jagger, an aspiring ninja seeking to avenge his comrades whom he saw die and discovering a secret society of ninjas on a Pacific Island, gaining super-human skills and a special costume. While looking like walking posters for America and Japan, their costumes gained their color scheme due to a special chemical process (in the Shield's case) and the style-sense of the ninja society (in the Judomaster's case). Both picked up kids sidekicks, Dusty and Tiger.

Due to sabotage on the part of an adversary,  Shield lost his powers for the duration of the war yet continued to fight against evil agents from overseas, while Judomaster himself had to struggle to overcome a handicap of his own imposed on him by a foe, blindness. Both persisted in their heroic careers, thanks to proddings from the boys' own courage.

They faced rogues galleries which challenged their physical dexterity.  The Hun, the Strangler and the Fang plagued Shield; while the Smiling Skull, the Acrobat, and Mountain Storm. None matched the heroes in battle!

 

Each also had other assisting them. For Judomaster, it was Sensei, Bushiri, and his beloved Suzikawa. For the Shield, it was the Wizard, Steel Sterling, Hangman, Black Hood, Captain Flag, Sgt Boyle and Shield's wife Ellie.

Both of our red-haired heroes found themselves lost in time during the 40's, arriving in the 1980's to find individuals clad like them. Both obviously had different reactions given how they were reintroduced into the modern age. Each man stands as a paragon of power in comics.