Friday Fiends: A Couple of Real Boneheads

Our first Skull debuted in October 1940's Top Notch #9, a mastermind that framed police officer Kip Burland, causing Kip to become the Skull's arch-foe, Black Hood. Rudolph Wolk first appeared in April 1965's Sarge Steel #3, yet a later published case involved Wolk's first chronological appearance as the Smiling Skull vs World War II hero, Judomaster.

The golden age Skull was part mastermind, part fighting dynamo as he took the initiative during battles to knock out his opponent when his gadgetry failed to work properly. Often successfully.

Nazi Germany's Smiling Skull was also proficient in a form of martial arts combat, desiring to match his skill level against the best that America and (in a later appearance) ally Imperial Japan's finest warriors.

Suffice it to say, vanity led to Skull's doom when he  hadobtained a brain control device from the criminal genius, the Abominable Schemer (it wasn't just the schemes, the name itself was very repugnant) and then sent him o a trap. The Schemer found his way out, and left the Skull in a virtual reality from which there was not escape. Yet was this the ultimate finality for the Skull? He seemingly perished back in the 1940's, replaced by a son in Jackpot Comics #6. Either the son adopted his father's features in the 1960's, or papa Skull escaped death's thralls. And found a neat cave HQ.

For the Smiling Skull, it was his vane attempt to obtain a duplicate of his prized silver luger from Sarge Steel and ended of bringing Steel to his secret camp. This led to Skull's downfall (in his own cave!) as his dreams of reigniting his belowed Reich were thwarted and his hostages were freed.

Two Skulls, both devious tacticians framing officers of the law (the Hood and Sarge), retaining their youthful vigor and fighting prowess from two decades after their criminal careers commenced. And both were UG-LEE!

Action-Heroes or Mighty Crusaders?

Which of the following "BIG FIVE" on these two teams would you take in a head-to head? You would think it would be the Crusaders, since they actually worked together (unlike the "Action-Heroes who never shared so much as ONE silver age adventure together!). Yet with all the intra-hero quarreling over at Mighty during this period of time, at least the Charlton crew knew how to keep a healthy distance other than at photo shoots.

Just love seeing the Captain shake his 60's mod groove hips!

Notice the self-deprecating manner of Charlton's ad "...and they're not half bad!" So they are also not half-good? On the opposite end of the spectrum, Migthy's ad reflects over-confidence in their product: "You asked for it...". Seems like both kinda missed the mark on engendering interest in their product. Probably why they are a novelty not legends.

Team-Up Tuesdays: More on our Obscure Teams!

Let's once more revist two grovy gangs of good guys from the mid-60's, which we had discussed earlier, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents and the Sentational Sentinels of Justice. First the highflying Helio and Raven:

Both men wore special gear that allows them to fly. While Helio was all around good guy Rick Strong, natural born leader of the Sentinels, Raven was one time con artist Craig Lawson, who finds the Agents' heroic ways rubbing of on him.

Meanwhile, a pair of mentally powered rogues were waiting in the wings (no pun intended) to frustrate our noble teams, Menthor and Mind-Bender.

Due to the device he wore, Menthor (John Janus) eventually turned good, first while wearing it and later it influenced him full time. Mind Bender (identity unknown) apparently never had a compulsion towards the welfare of his fellow man, either before or after his accident.

Helio soon clashed with Mind-Bender after this mad man brainwashed Brute. During the course of a lengthy battle, gravity got the better of Bender leading to a gruesome demise for the arch villain.

Menthor however met his ultimate fate valiantly warning his allies of a death trap, showing his heroic spirit.

Years later, he apparently returned via a residual mental presence housed inside his helmet, now worn by a mysterious new heroine as Menthor.

While Helio's further adventures, if he had any, were left unchronicled, Raven returned years later alongside his T.H.U.N.D.E.R. compatriots to battle an early 80's alien invasion then return to relative anonymity. Next week we will touch on the fascinating connection of these teams to our publishers!

The Henpeckers

Picking up on a theme a couple weeks ago regarding our pals Thunderbolt and the Web, reference was made as to their "significant others" making their lives miserable. All sad sack Web wanted to do was remain a hero, all poor Thunderbolt wanted to do was remain aloof. Which had the stronger will? Definitely the John Raymond who stuck to his guns by keeping his alter ego, not like Peter Cannon who caved in. Which had it better? Pete had the solace of domestic bliss when he did as he was told, while all Johnny got was a bag of potatoes to peel as penance. Rice was Pete's starch of choice, actually.

Their carrot topped domestics, Tabu and Rose, obviously had differing opinions on our blonde bombshells' choice of wardrope. One found matching clothes, the other found it more useful as more kindling.

This often led to some rough times for our pairs of pairs.

I would take Rose any day of the week over Tabu. She could well have thrown a wicked right hook, while he telegraphs his punches too much.

Our carrot tops' styles of pouting was also quite different, yet both of them led to personal torment for our color-splashed gladiators.

If only Rose had practiced the old Asian mantra "I can do it I must do it I will do it" like Pete and Tabu practiced in their old lamasery, she may have just persuaded John to foresake his crime fighting ways.

Steeler Sundays: Ladies Loving Lips of Steel

After a hard day in the trenches, our metallic marvels mesmerize merry maidens (say that 5 times fast). And boy do they have a way with the fairer sex, starting with the unattainable gal with the underlying tension.

Lest we forget, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Our brave jocks haven't let that fact escape them, as they mix business with pleasure quite often.

Was it their suave charisma, their steely determination, their rock solid grasp of the male condition? Maybe it was the authors of these tesosterone heavy tales, Joe Gill and Robert Kanigher, two prolific writers who had their hands in multiple publisher's works. Certainly the creator of the fabled Merman and Birdman, suitors of a legendary Amazing Amazon, like Kaningher knows a thing or two about moxy? Certainly Gill's extensive credentials in writing a plathera of ladies knows how to get their juices flowing? Somewhere, the Steelers are still having their day in the sun with a lass in each arm. Ladies beware!

Friday Fiends: Superhero Assassins for Hire

This week's Friday Fiends were first introduced in Mighty Crusaders #1 (November 1965) and Captain Atom #87 (August 1967). Without further ado, here are a pair of techno-hitmen in their brief silver age debuts..

The Eraser was the explanation behind the disappearance in 1947 of the Original Shield.

The Image (drawn by Jim Aparo) was an adversary of the heroine, Nightshade, when he kidnapped her alter ego, Eve Eden in a gambit to blackmail her father, a U.S. senator.

There was no explanation as to how the Eraser acquired his fantastic technology. Eraser used a metalorion gun to turn his foe into an iron statue, remaining such for decades before his revival. Image apparently acquired his tech from his foreign government, which involved teleportation through mirrors. The Image's gambit was less successful than Eraser's for he was promptly defeated by Eve's "darker side". Eraser himself employed similar dimension traveling technology that allowed him, as had the Image, to cause prey to vanish from sight and from reality.

Nevertheless both baddies ended up in something akin to comic limbo, literally and figuratively, for several decades. While they were pawns sent by powerful organizations (American gangs in the Eraser's case and the aforementioned foreign power in the Image's case) to styme two American patriots to weaken the defenses of the country, it was the Shield and the Senator's heroic offspring that exiled them from Earth. But never fear for they would return in the 1980's.

. The Eraser was the first to reappear, as an adversary of the Fox and a pawn of the Brain Emperor who had freed him from limbo. He then founded the Riot Squad. The Image also found freedom from his own personal purgatory thanks to the other dimensional villain Brainiac. Both hired guns quickly joined entourages of evil which ultimately proved doomed to failure. Although the Eraser appeared again in the 21st Century, the Image apparently got out of the bad biz for good.

Kirby, Ditko and a pair of Joes bring you the Captains: Adam & Strong

When mentioning classic artists, consideration has to be made for Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Their mark over at a Marvelous early 1960's comic book publisher sparked the start of an era. However, two other publishers attempted to harness their magic slightly earlier enlisting a pair of Joes (Simon and Gill, respectively) to create a pair of energy powered soldiers. Despite their creators' skill, neither caught on and even when revived years later, failed to capture the imagination with their original publishers.

Joe Gill and Steve Ditko had been enlisted by Archie Comics under their Adenture Series (successor to MLJ and precursor to Mighty) in 1959 to create Lancelot Strong, who as an infant had been experimented on by his father Malcolm to access the untapped potential in all humans. As a result, he was able to absorb energy and then emit it into a bio-electrical force, as well as great strength and flight.

Charlton employed the talent of Joe Gill and Steve Ditko in 1960 to create their first super hero. Captain Atom was originally Captain Adam (later N. Christopher), who through a tragic accident while trapped on an experimental rocket was "atomized" and later reconstituted, harnessing atomic energy he could project, also gaining great strength and flight.

Yes, both faced strange aliens early in their career, not surprising considering the American public's fascination for space travel during this period of time. Using innate, almost instinctual, mastery over fundamental forces, allowing them to soundly defeat such threat within the span 8 or 9 pages. Another typical Silver Age trend.

Lancelot had himself faced tragedy an an infant orphan, and was adopted by a loving farm couple who raised him as their own (hmmm). As a young man, he was enlisted into the military under the rank of private. Captain Adam, having a non-descript adolescence apparently, fast tracked his military career, and when first we meet him he is already a captain. Adam adopted a new career as the military's not-so-secret weapon, whereas Lancelot kept his double identity a secret for a time. When they were each revived years, both were Captains.

For Captain Atom, the reason he was placed on the shelf until the mid-60's was the departure of Ditko. For the Shield, it was legal troubles due to some similarities with a certain Man of Steel (no not him or him ).

During his mid-60's revival over at Charlton, Captain Atom was one of their headliners, while the Shield was replaced by a modern-day version of the original Shield. As such, it took a couple more decades for Lancelot to regain his own featured title and then he lost it...once more thanks to a Man of Steel (yes .that one).

Both Captains displayed incredible adaptability to various climates while controlling these fundamental force of nature.This enabled their bodies to be virtually invulnerable, except when plot lines deemed that unnecessary.

Over the course of their careers, they were befriended by a pair of general (General Eiling fo Captain Atom and General Smith for Captain Strong) that aided them both as solo agents and alongside other non-commissioned costumed agents. Eventually, both succumbed to that most deadly of enemies for a superhero, sagging sales figures.

We'll touch on more parallels between these two in a later post. And of a pair of shadowy females that entered their lives during times of need.

Team-Up Tuesdays: Ageless Androids

Last Thursday we were introduced to the forgotten team, the Sensation Sentinels (of Justice, according to Helio when he first named them) and the classic team, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves). And the three graments of power worn by their members created by deceased scientists Doctor Emil Jennings and Professor Jones Kolotov. Let's pause for a moment to consider two extremely resilient androids involved with these teams: Noman and Titan:

Noman was the creation of Professor Anthony Dunn, an aging scientist who discovered the key to immortality in a strong android body that absorbed his brainwaves. He soon joined T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and wore one of the garments of power, a cloak that granted him invisiblity.

 

Titan was the creation of the mysterious Mind Bender, a renegade telepathic scientist whose true identity was never revealed. Titan first appeared opposing the Sentinels and displaying a remarkable level of self-awareness programmed into his strong android body.

These two androids would not, as it turned out, be alone among their kind. Their creators foresaw the need to create multiple bodies to house brain patterns that lost their human form. This proved essential as they were both, well, accident-prone? Or rather, disaster-prone.

Professor Dunn, through his Noman host, had a long and distinguished career serving with his fellow Agents, from November 1965 until November 1968 in all new stories. In 1983, he returned alongside his compatriots. Meanwhile, Mind Bender's plan to upload the minds of Helio and Mentalia of the Sentinels in Titan's two remaining bodies led to his and his creation's doom. Neither were seen again (nor were his foes).

Next week, we'll get back on track as we investigate the other members of these silver age teams and their actual connections to our publishers (and characters) of choice here at CvsMMLJ.

A Tale of 2 Columns: the Modest & the Proud

An examination of the letter pages in Charlton and Mighty Comics displays rather remarkable displays of outrageous boastfulness and persistent self-deprication.  Consider Mighty's approach:

Now, let's investigate the opposite approach from their competitor Charlton:

Actually of the two, Charlton was more successful in the silver age with more published books, particularly in the mid-60's. The self-promotion of Mighty was indicative of their Marvelous competitor, whereas Charlton seemed to express their envy of the same publisher while denagrading hemselves. Neither approach seemed to take as by 1968 they were both already distant memories to the comic devouring youth of the day.

Steeler Sundays: Iron Curtain Defensive Schemes

This week, Steeler Sundays lays it all out for those aspring athletes in our audience on the critical smack down that a good defense leads to a winning offense. There are various techniques a professional can employ for maximum effectiveness. While style points are garnered from a skillful technique, ultimately success is the goal of a true Steeler.

One must know the chinks in an enemy's game plan for when the game is on the line. First off, intercepting a pass and then proceeding to cram it down the other guy's throat. Known as "Bam Zing Kazeeng" or a standard Interception maneuver.

At times, the other team is more aggresssive in their play calling. To counteract this, launch a forward lateral motion, diving towards one's opponent in an imposing manner. Known as "Kapow...Kpow...Kap" or the Bull rush maneuver.

The other side may eventually gain the upper hand. If so, a particularly effective technique is a crouching position, raising one's arms up to catch your opponent off guard. Known as "Pinngg Bam" or the Swim Move.

Finally, if you find your teammate in the midst of a panic attack thinking that he's "not that good", try out this timeless little gem sure to work.

Known as the "Gum-Drop" maneuver, or simply "Slurp", this is sure to elicit plenty of "kum ba ya" in the locker room. Provided your teammate doesn't get indigestion. Like steeling, er, stealing candy from a baby!

This PSA has been brought to you by the Steelers, Sterling and Sarge.

Friday Fiends: Mr. Stark, Meet the Iron men ... Arm and Fist

Never was it more apparent that the novelty of Ironman was catching fire throughout comicdom of the 1960's than today's pair of Friday Fiends.

Iron-Fist was a run-of-the-mill crook with a flair for technology he couldn't control. In other words, his genius outraced his common sense. Enter the Web, who fearlessly will always confront any ill-tempered individual (save his wife during one of her mood swings), regardless of their armaments.

During this tale, Web tried to corral his flying foe who's jet boots ran amok, only to get knocked out himself while the dastardly dufus ran off to regroup and recoup. And perhaps, just perhaps, come up with a felonious scheme to merit his steep investment in high-tech lifestyle?

Iron-Arm however was a product of a more serious brand of criminal, the hired goon, in this instance hired out to dispatch Captain Atom. With a gimmick including super strong mechanical arm attachments, Iron-Arms proved to be more than just a henchman but a real nasty piece of work.  And they had quite a go of it the first time they locked horns.

In the end, each Iron man faced defeat by different means. For Iron-Arms, it was simply that his powerpack was overexerted when facing the atomic avenger, leading to this one-trick pony konking out for good. For Iron-Fist, it was due to the shamefulness of having an adversary pollycoddle to his wife... seriously that is what happened back in the silver age days of Mighty Comics ... causing the rogue to rethink his own priorities! Neither proved a fitting tribute to the enduring legacy of their Marvelous inspiration!