In 1939, Marvel Comics #1 introduced The Human Torch and Namor the
Sub-Mariner, marking the beginning of the Timely era of comics. With the
creation of Captain America a short while later, there formed a trifecta of
three mighty super heroes who would storm Nazi-occupied Europe and take the
fight to the Axis. The trio of Cap, Torch, and Namor would remain the most
popular Timely heroes for the rest of the decade, rivaled only by the mystery
men in other publishers' titles. I've talked a little about those three, as
well as Joe Simon's Fiery Mask character, in my previous columns. Today, the
spotlight falls on some of the lesser characters who co-starred in books like
Marvel Mystery Comics, Mystic Comics, and Daring. These characters all had fan bases
of their own however, and some would even be revived in the silver age,
although sometimes in name only.
Also appearing in the fateful publication of Marvel Comics #1 was the
Angel, a powerless and maskless costumed defender of the home front. Created by
Paul Gustavon in 1939 and originally envisioned as a pulp character, the Angel
was born Thomas Halloway, the son of a prison warden who learns various tricks
and trades from the inmates in his father's stead. Angel waged a one man campaign
against the foreign saboteur known as the Cat's Paw. He is sometimes aided in
his fight by the Mystic Cape of Mercury, that allows him flight, but he would
more often ride into battle on his signature motorcycle. Gustavon's Angel is
the link between the coming age of super-powered heroes and the mystery men of
the past. The Angel is a pulp character at heart and filled that niche quite
nicely, remaining Timely's most popular character outside of the the Big Three
(Cap, Torch, Namor).
A lesser known heroine of Marvel/Timely's Golden Age is Claire Voyant, the
original Black Widow. Her tie to the silver age iteration of the character,
Natasha Romanov is in name alone. This Black Widow was a "spiritual
medium" who would communicate with the dead and even encounter Satan
himself in her adventures. She made a whopping five appearances in the Golden
Age, all written and drawn by George Kapitan and Harry Sahle. The first of
which was in 1940's Mystic Comics #4, where the narration warns the reader of
"the strangest, most terrifying character in action picture
magazines!" She is Timely's ultimate femme fatale, and her appearance that
of the classic "bad girl" archetype. In her first appearance, she
puts a curse on an unsuspecting family at the Devil's request, and is gunned
down by the family's sole survivor. After her subsequent journey into Hell and
back, she is granted a spider themed costume and an even more frightening set
of supernatural gifts. Another leftover from the pulp and horror mags that
Martin Goodman loved so much in his early years as a publisher, she never made
as big an impact on the Timely readership as her bombastic opening narration
promised.
Prior to the Fantastic Four, Stan Lee's most popular superhero creation is
The Destroyer, whose adventures he penned with artist Jack Binder. I may be
erroneously giving Binder the art credit here, as he and several others
including Alex Schomberg all have a claim to the character's earliest episodes.
The Destroyer is Keen Marlowe, a journalist trapped behind enemy lines in Nazi
Germany. He is placed in a concentration camp and given a mysterious formula by
a fellow prisoner that, like Captain America, gives him peak human physical
prowess. This story appeared in 1941's Mystic Comics #6, at a time when concentration
camps were known of but the scope of the Holocaust had yet to be revealed in
full. Nonetheless, it's an interesting origin story in retrospect, as his time
in the camp, along with the ghoulish skull-themed costume he would later don,
makes him out to be a grittier version of the sparkling and shining Captain
America. Also like Cap, The Destroyer fought the Nazis on their own turf from
the beginning, reinforcing the Timely heroes’ status as freedom fighters on the
front line. Like The Angel, he's one of the more popular characters outside of
the trifecta, starring in over one hundred of his own adventures throughout the
forties.
Not to be confused with the Quality Comics character of the same name, Miss
America was one of the most prominent female superheroes since William
Marston's Wonder Woman had struck a vein in 1940. Created by Otto Binder and Al
Gabrielle, and featuring a cover by female artist Pauline Loth, she first
appeared in 1943's Marvel Mystery Comics #49. By this time, the Timely universe
of characters was rolling along quite well, but most of the female characters
like Blonde Phantom and Venus had faded in favor of career woman characters
like Millie the Model. As a matter of fact, not long after this the entire
superhero bubble would burst. Miss America would star in her own spin off
series entitled Miss America Comics the very next year (1944), but the
superhero strips within were soon relegated to back-up features in favor of
romance stories and other genres. Madeline Joyce was a socially aware teenage
girl who wanted to help the Allies in any way possible and received an array of
super powers from an experimental device that belonged to her wealthy father's
scientist friend. Armed with super strength and a patriotically themed costume,
she would fight alongside heroes like The Whizzer and Captain America in the
All-Winners Squad, a team book akin to the Invaders, but with a larger roster
and a wider variety of threats to face.
Last but not least, we have Marvel Boy, a character who would exist in
several iterations even within the Golden Age and be revived in the Atlas era.
The original Marvel Boy debuted in Daring Mystery Comics #6 in 1940. A lad with
the powers of Hercules who dons a costume and joins the fight against tyranny.
He was a Simon and Kirby creation, but never really took off, only appearing in
two stories. Bob Oksner took a crack at revising the characters origin and
playing up his role as a demigod of sorts, but again the strip never exploded
onto the scene the way Torch and Namor did. I mention him here because I feel
Marvel Boy is a sort of predecessor to Lee and Kirby's Thor in the Silver Age.
The Golden Age Marvel Boy represents the ever-present link between superheroes
and mythology. The character and named would later has cosmic connotations, as
his powers and adventures would later be more science fiction and space-travel
based. Despite his namesake, Marvel Boy was never the poster child for Timely,
but more likely an attempt to cash in on the good name of Fawcett Comic's
Captain Marvel and make a side buck off of confused potential readers.
These are just a few examples, and in the cases of Miss America and The
Destroyer, the more popular ones. Next time, I plan to reveal some more obscure
characters from the Golden Age, including my favorite oddball hero Marvex the
Super Robot, and get into some Timely Bullpen politics. Bet you thought making
comic books was all fun and games?
What is its place in the greater Halloween countdown scheme you ask? It is the only documentary on the list and it isn't necessarily scary nor horrific. What is interesting to me however, is that it is the only documentary that I know of that addresses the phenomena of Fairy belief as it exists today in areas such as Cape Breton, Ireland, and Scotland. 
Welcome to yet another Halloween Countdown post, I'm your host and purveyor of the putrid, Eerie Evan. While this isn't exactly what you'd call a scary movie, it is certainly among the more unique offerings in recent years, and for those of you looking for a healthy dose of gallows humor with your autumnal film watching this season, look no more than this film directed by Eli Craig, appropriated titled Tucker & Dale VS Evil.
You know my fellow fiends, there is nothing quite as unnerving as a good haunted house story. Perhaps because there is such an unsettling quality about a home being violated so blatantly by supernatural elements. We would like to think of our homes as places of rest and retreat from the world, beyond the reproach of spirits or salesman for that matter. This, coupled with themes of loss and despondency is what makes The Changeling one of the most frightening movies I've ever seen. 
