The introduction of new characters still remembered today was fairly slow in the early Golden Age, but between Superman and Batman's success, we're starting to get them at a more furious pace. But not all new characters are created equal...
From The Spectre! by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey, More Fun Comics #52 (February 1940)
The biggest star born on this month was without a doubt Jim Corrigan, the Spectre, a cop killed in the line of duty who is sent back to Earth to avenge the victims of violent crimes with almost limitless power and imagination for violent ends. But this is a slow-burner, folks. The reason I used the splash panel as the panel of choice is because the comic may show us the character's origin, but it doesn't actually show him in action! He walks into a wall as Corrigan's ghost and... to be continued.
From "Batman Meets Professor Hugo Strange" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and Sheldon Moldoff, Detective Comics #36 (February 1940)
Over in Batman's adventures, he faces a villain who would come back to plague him frequently without actually becoming one of his best known foes - Professor Hugo Strange. And for an evil psychologist, he sure is PHYSICAL. Batman whips him good by the end of the story.
From King Standish: "The Terror of the Underworld" by John B. Wentworth and William Smith, Flash Comics #3 (March 1940)
Flash Comics already has Flash, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder and Whip, and now it adds the King to its pages! Who? This sometimes masked master of disguise got a half-page entry in Who's Who. Geez, guys. What do they teach you in school these days? He may not be as well remembered as others, but he did run for a while and his son became a member of the 2000s' Justice Society of America as King Chimera. Flash Comics is really turning into the proto-DC Comics' character engine, isn't it?
The biggest star born on this month was without a doubt Jim Corrigan, the Spectre, a cop killed in the line of duty who is sent back to Earth to avenge the victims of violent crimes with almost limitless power and imagination for violent ends. But this is a slow-burner, folks. The reason I used the splash panel as the panel of choice is because the comic may show us the character's origin, but it doesn't actually show him in action! He walks into a wall as Corrigan's ghost and... to be continued.
Over in Batman's adventures, he faces a villain who would come back to plague him frequently without actually becoming one of his best known foes - Professor Hugo Strange. And for an evil psychologist, he sure is PHYSICAL. Batman whips him good by the end of the story.
From King Standish: "The Terror of the Underworld" by John B. Wentworth and William Smith, Flash Comics #3 (March 1940)
Flash Comics already has Flash, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder and Whip, and now it adds the King to its pages! Who? This sometimes masked master of disguise got a half-page entry in Who's Who. Geez, guys. What do they teach you in school these days? He may not be as well remembered as others, but he did run for a while and his son became a member of the 2000s' Justice Society of America as King Chimera. Flash Comics is really turning into the proto-DC Comics' character engine, isn't it?
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