Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers Strikes Again!

...here are a dozen Golden Age comic book covers featuring at least two (or more) heroes and heroines on EACH one!
Click HERE or on the calendar to see all 12 covers!

V-Man
American Eagle
The Eagle & Buddy
American Crusader
Captain V
Man of War
The Flag
Super-American
U.S. Jones
Major Victory
The Conqeror
Yankee Doodle Jones!
Click HERE or on the calendar to see all 12 covers!

Click HERE or on the calendar to see all 12 covers!

When ornithologist Claude Stevens was brutally murdered by criminals with an unbreakable alibi, his son Drake decided to avenge him by becoming a masked vigilante.
Using a jet-pack of his own design along with wing-shaped balloons for maneuverability and lift, Drake created an appropriately bird-themed secret identity as Air-Man to work outside the law on behalf of justice!
Air-Man caught the murderers, and decided to continue battling evil wherever he found it in the pages of Keen Detective Funnies and Detective Eye Comics!
Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He first appeared in the premiere issue of his own title, Amazing-Man Comics #5*.
John Aman was an orphan baby taken to a hidden monastery in Tibet by a secret society of monks.
There, the Council of Seven raised and trained him to be "the Ultimate Human", a perfect combination of physical development and mental ability.
They also gave him the chemically-induced ability to teleport thru a cloud of green mist.
This proved to be handy when a Council member, The Great Question, went renegade and set up his own cult and began plotting world domination.
The Council sent Aman into the outside world to prevent The Great Question from wreaking havoc.
Of course, when he appeared in public in his rather-skimpy outfit with an "A" on it, the tabloid press dubbed him "Amazing-Man".
During his short (less than three-year) run, he also helped against spies and saboteurs before Centaur Publications went out of business due to wartime paper shortages in late 1942.

Trivia note: Amazing-Man was one of the first creations of writer/artist Bill Everett.
Everett also created Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, Hydro-Man, and The Fin. (He had a penchant for aquatic characters)

Amazing-Man has returned in several incarnations since then...
Malibu Comics incorporated him (along with most of the other Centaur Publications heroes) into The Protectors series, which ran for a couple of years in the 1990s.
DC Comics introduced a similarly-named, though otherwise-unrelated hero into The Justice Society of America's 1940s stories in All-Star Squadron and Young All-Stars (His secret identity is "Will Everett", named after Bill Everett.)
Dynamite Entertainment revived him in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, where he's been a background character up to this point. But since his nemesis, The Great Question, has been shown to be one of the conspiracy of The Supremacy, it's only a matter of time before John Aman takes a hand in matters!
And, Marvel Comics has put John Aman himself (but not as Amazing-Man) into The Immortal Iron Fist a comic inspired by his 1940s series!

Of course, we at Atomic Kommie Comics have revived Amazing-Man as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics line, including his FIRST cover appearances and two of his best covers on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
But that's not all!
His unique cover logo is included in our Comic Cover LogoWear line, where the best of Golden Age cover lettering ends up on your chest or bookbag!
Plus, he'll soon be part of our Icons of the Golden Age of Comics series!
Pretty good for a guy who was cancelled in the mid-1940s, eh?

Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

*No, that's not a mistake. Issues 1-4 of the comic had been titled Motion Picture Funnies Weekly.
When it didn't sell well, the publisher simply introduced a new character and retitled the comic, but kept the numbering.
Otherwise, he'd have to pay for a new 2nd class mailing permit for a new publication.
1940s publishers were nothing if not thrifty!

There's an interesting sub-genre of superheroes, known as the "inspired-bys".
These are characters who are inspired by other characters to take up the mask and seek justice.

Usually they're family members who take up the same identity as their predecessor (The Phantom, Black Canary, Silk Spectre of The Watchmen, The Black Hood, HourMan, etc.)

Sometimes, as in this case, they're inspired by an unrelated hero who just happened to be published by the same company!
The best-known example is WildCat, inspired by the Golden Age Green Lantern to become a crimefighter.
The Avenger had a similar origin.
When his brother is taken hostage by Communist spies who wanted his prototype StarJet aircraft, inventor Roger Wright is inspired by remembering stories of the Original Ghost Rider to take up a masked identity to rescue his captive sibling!
Proclaiming himself "an Avenger against the evils of Communism", Roger dons a red costume in defiance (Communists were often described as "the Red Menace" because their flags were predominiantly red) and uses his StarJet to attempt a rescue.
Unfortunately, his brother, who had attempted to escape, was already dead! The Commies were dealing, of course, in bad faith!
Roger captured the spies, and declaring "No man can be complacent while such as you are bent on enslaving all Mankind", began a one-man war against Communists everywhere!

The war lasted only four issues.

The Avenger, like Nature Boy and several other mid-1950s heroes came along just before the audience was ready for the return of superheroes, who had all but disappeared from comics in 1949!

It wasn't until an updated version of The Flash appeared in Showcase #4 (a year after the last issue of The Avenger) that the Silver Age of Comics, and the resulting explosion of superhero books that continues to this day, got going!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HEREor on the art!

NOTE: There was a different Avenger in pulps (co created by the men who wrote Doc Savage and The Shadow) which predated this character!
THAT hero is currently appearing in both comics from DC and prose stories from Moonstone!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

We covered The Owl on our other Project SuperPowers page, but there was another hero (actually two of them in the same costume) based on the wise bird of legend.
The first Black Owl debuted in Prize Comics #1 as K the Unknown, but became Black Owl in #2. He didn't get a cover appearance until Prize Comics #7, which also featured the comic book intros of pulp hero Green Lama and literary character Monster of Frankenstein!
Now stop me if you've heard this one...
Bored millionare playboy Doug Danville decides to battle cowardly, superstitious criminals as a fearsome creature of the night.
Utilizing his personal fortune, he creates a masked identity with various non-lethal armaments and takes on the criminal element for several years.
Sounds like a whole slew of heroes of the period, eh?
But there's a twist, folks!
When World War II breaks out, he enlists in the Army!
(Most heroes remained on the Home Front battling spies and saboteurs.)
Realizing it would be best for the city he protects if The Black Owl was still believed to be fighting crime, Doug passes on his costume and equipment in Prize Comics #34 to another man...
The second Black Owl was Walt Walters, father of a pair of patriotic teen superheroes, Yank & Doodle whom Doug Danville had teamed up with on several occasions, most notably Prize Comics #24, when they, Green Lama and several other characters, took on the Monster of Frankenstein!
Once Dad became a superhero, the kids became his sidekicks, but remained Yank & Doodle, instead of renaming themselves something avian to match their father's motif!
(Luckily, their color schemes matched!)
When Walt is shot and wounded in Prize Comics #64, he retires from active crimefighting, serving as a non-costumed assistant to Yank & Doodle until their series is cancelled several months later.
Note: we never learn what became of Doug Danville after he entered the Army...
Alex Ross has now incorporated both Black Owls (and Yank & Doodle) into Project SuperPowers, with one of the BOs somehow becoming a living black hole!
Choose from several designs (including the FIRST cover appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Like the Phantom Lady, he's been thru several different incarnations at various publishers, and this particular version IS public domain, but to avoid trademark hassles, Alex Ross decided to rename him "Big Blue". (Personally I would've chosen "Cyan Scarab" or somesuch...)

One of the most popular concepts in crime fiction of the 30s-40s was a policeman who felt too constrained by the letter of the law and decided to take up a masked identity to "serve justice rather than the law"!
Every rank from beat officers (The Guardian) to police commissioners (The Whisperer) donned a mask (and usually a skintight outfit) to fight criminals in their off-duty hours.
One of the longest-lasting was Officer Dan Garret aka The Blue Beetle.

Garret had good reason to be disillusioned about the power of law and order.
His late father was a police officer killed by a criminal who evaded prosecution even after Dan himself joined the force.
Seeing the fiend once again go free due to an unbreakable (though false) alibi, Officer Garret took matters into his own hands.
Donning a mask, fedora and business suit (ala The Green Hornet), Dan adopted the Blue Beetle identity to harass the felon and force him to to commit a crime in front of witnesses, including Garret's reporter girlfriend and her photographer!
It worked, and undeniable retribution was finally delivered to the killer!
In the next issue, after saving scientist Dr Franz, from racketeers, the grateful chemist gave Garret a suit of bulletproof chainmail, as well as a supply of an experimental vitamin, 2-X, to enhance his strength and reflexes!
Combined with a pair of lethal .45 automatics, that chainmail and "power pills" made the "upgraded" Blue Beetle a formidable foe indeed!

The Beetle's adventures began in Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics #1 (though he didn't make the cover until #7) and ran thru all 31 issues.
He gained his own title The Blue Beetle, which published 60 issues between 1939 and 1950 and also appeared in every issue of Big 3 Comics, an anthology title featuring the most popular characters from Fox's various titles!
Blue Beetle was popular enough to be the only Fox Comics character to warrant both a newspaper strip and a dramatic radio series, both of which were, regrettably, short-lived. (The newspaper comic strip featured art by a young Jack Kirby!)
In the mid 1950s, another publisher did a reprint series which proved so successful that they published a reworked new version of the Beetle that ran into the 1960s, was revived again in the 1980s and runs on-and-off to this day. (In each of these revivals, the Beetle has a new secret identity and powers.)
But Dan Garret, the original Beetle, hadn't been seen since the mid '50s, until Alex Ross revived him in the acclaimed Project SuperPowers series!

Choose from several designs (including Sparky's FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles i by clicking on the cover!

In the 1940s, comic books were the equivalent of videogames today.
Everybody started publishing them, even the staid Saturday Evening Post!
Their comics line was Novelty Press, and to create the lead character, they commissioned young up-and-coming writer/artist Joe Simon.
Simon came up with the concepts, plots, and character designs and produced the first issue of Blue Bolt Comics.
But, by the second issue, his workload between this and other projects was so overwhelming, that to stay on deadline (Yes, there was a time when comics artists actually MET deadlines!), he partnered with another young up-and-comer, Jacob Kurtzburg.
You know him as...Jack Kirby!
(In the '60s Kirby would, with Stan Lee, co-create The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor...basically 95% of Marvel Comics' Silver Age line-up, almost all of whom are still going strong today!
Yeah, THAT Jack Kirby!)
Thus, the legendary Golden Age team of Simon & Kirby was born!

As to the character himself...he was a football star who was struck by lightning (twice), recovered, flew his private plane to get help, crashed it so hard that it fell thru to the center of the Earth where the inhabitants of an advanced civilization used radiation to save and improve him, was given a costume and weapon, and sent to battle the local super-villain, The Green Sorceress.
And that was just the origin story!
Then things really got busy!

It took a year for Blue to both fall in love with, and finally defeat, Greenie.
Then realizing World War II was under way, he went to the surface to battle the Axis.
Simon & Kirby moved on to create other, even higher-profile, projects (Captain America, Newsboy Legion, Young Romance, etc.) but Blue Bolt Comics chugged on, surviving until the early 50s, when, after changing from a superhero to horror title (and retiring it's title character), it was laid to rest as a result of a public outcry against comics.

Choose from several designs (including his FIRST & FINAL appearances) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's now a member of The Inheritors team!
Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Captain Battle Junior is now a member of The Inheritors team.
Choose from several designs on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

A plethora of patriotic super-heroes POW! THWOCK! and BIFF!ed their way into the pages of Golden Age comic books, usually clad in red, white, and blue garb.
A number of them were either assisted by an embodiment of an element of "American Spirit" (like Fighting Yank) or were themselves the actual embodiment of a "Spirit of Freedom", like Uncle Sam!
Captain Courageous was one of the latter.
He had no secret identity, and tended to appear when brave Americans were in perilous situations requiring almost divine intervention, disappearing after the threat was disposed of.
His powers were never clearly defined, and seemed almost limitless, including flight, super-strength and limited invulnerabilty, although he could be captured or knocked-out as the plot required.
(In addition, his costume went thru a number of variations in design and color, which could be attributed to different people perceiving him differently, but was more likely just mistakes by the variety of artists who drew and colored him!)

The Captain debuted in Banner Comics #3 and took over the title as of #6.
(There was no #7, so maybe renaming the book for him wasn't the best possible move.)
Instead he moved into the anthology Four Favorites from #5 on to #29, when the comic dropped superheroes in favor of humor features.

As you might have guessed, Alex Ross has included him in the assortment of characters revived in the new Project SuperPowers universe, this time as part of the "Super-MysteryMen" team made up of other characters from his original publisher, Ace Comics!
Check out several images of him on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking on the cover!

"CatMan, na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na...
CatMan, na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na...
CatMan, na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na...
CatMan, na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na...
Catman...
Catman...
Catman..."
Holy Nutrasweet! No more 2-liter Classic Coke with a package of Double-Stuff Oreos at 3am!
Strangely, he was briefly called "Cat" in Project SuperPowers. Now BOTH Marvel & DC have villains called Cat-Man or Catman and Marvel has "The Cat" (who's now Tigra, but still called "The Cat" in flashbacks) so why the name change?
But now, he's "Man-Cat"!
And Kitten is one of The Inheritors!
Choose from several designs on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

2200 years ago, Caius Martius was an ancient Roman superhero known as The Dart, using his cape as a glider to swoop down, or "dart", at his opponents.
Unfortunately, one of them, Marius, was a sorcerer who managed to entomb the hero in a boulder for over 2,000 years.
Managing to finally extricate himself from the boulder, which had been transported to an American museum, Caius entered the then-present day world of 1940, where the first thing he saw upon leaving the museum was a drive-by shooting of a teen boy's parents!
"Darting" down, Caius transported the traumatized boy to safety, then struck a bargain with him.
The kid, Ace Barlow, would teach him of the amazing world of the "future", and Caius would train the kid in use of ancient weapons, martial arts, and how to "dart", in order to track down the killers of the lad's parents!
Three months of training (and one page) later, the newly-outfitted team of The Dart & Ace, the Amazing Boy found and captured the gang who had done the heinous deed!
Caius, now much more familiar with the "future" of 1940, took the name Caius Wheeler, and became an antiques dealer to make money for the duo's living and operating expenses as they battled present-day evil with ancient weapons.

All this in one eight-page story in Weird Comics #5!
From that appearance to #20 (the final issue of the title in 1942), The Dart was the book's lead feature, usually taking the cover slot as well.

But since then, nothing...until 2008, when Alex Ross included the duo among the plethora of Golden Age superheroes revived in Project SuperPowers! (In fact, Ace is now one of the teen-hero group known as The Inheritors!)

Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

The actual title of the strip was "The Eye Sees..." and no origin was ever given to the character, but the implication was that The Eye was an extradimensional or extraterrestrial entity, not a human ghost or reincarnated spirit like The Spectre or Captain Trumph, as he (it) didn't really understand human behavior, but was obsessed with the concept of justice, working hand in...whatever...with private eye Jack Barrister in dispensing it.
Like The Spectre, The Eye had near-infinite abilities including being able to warp and alter time and space, although he (it) usually limited him (it)self to generating heat rays or a searchlight beam, grow or shrink, fly, and teleport just about anywhere.

He (it) appeared in every issue of Keen Detective Comics from #16 onward to the end of the run, sometimes as the cover feature.
Then, he (it) was given his own title, Detective Eye Comics, for two issues, ironically featuring fellow hero Air Man on the first cover and Jack Barrister (without The Eye) on the second!
Check him out (before he checks you out) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Initially called "Doctor Strange", scientist Hugo Strange became a superhero in Thrilling Comics #1 by ingesting a substance he created called Alosun, obtained by distilling the atoms of the Sun, which gave him super-strength and near-invulnerability.
He couldn't actually fly, but could leap great distances like the Hulk and the Golden Age Superman.
Like his inspiration, pulp hero Doc Savage, he initially wore a standard business suit, which would become shredded during the course of that issue's adventure,
But within several months, this outfit became dark jodhpurs, riding boots, and a red safari shirt, which quickly became a faster-to-draw red t-shirt.
Again, like Doc Savage, he didn't have a secret identity, so there was no need for a mask, but Doc Strange did have an unusually-large pompadour to give him obvious visual distinction.
When kid sidekicks became a trend, Doc introduced Mike, who wore a similar outfit. Reports conflict as to whether Mike received Alsoun or not, and since the Thrilling Comics I've scanned are all slabbed, I have no way of confirming if Mike was super-powered or not.
While he never received his own title, Doc not only ran in Thrilling Comics, but as one of the features in the anthology America's Best Comics , where the covers showed him interacting with other Nedor Comics heroes like The Black Terror and Fighting Yank. (Though inside, the heroes all had separate strips and didn't work together!)
Doc retained the Thrilling Comics cover spot for most of his run, only losing it for two months to the patriotic American Crusader, before regaining it until #60, when a jungle heroine named Princess Pantha replaced him. (Ironically, his final cover on issue #59 showed him rescuing a jungle girl, but not, as reported, Princess Pantha!). Doc stayed as a backup until #65, when he disappeared.

But you can't keep a good hero down.
In the 1990s, Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing) revived Doc as one of the Terra Obscura heroes in his Tom Strong series. (He had already used Doc as the visual template for the Tom Strong character.)
Working off the Earth-One/Earth-Two alternate-Earth concept made popular at DC Comics, Alan remade Doc Strange into Tom Strange (changing his name from "Hugo Strange" to "Thomas Hugo Strange" and making him into a Golden Age variation of Tom Strong!)
The concept proved popular enough that a spin-off book entitled Terra Obscura, starring Tom Strange and his new crime-fighting companion/wife, Princess Pantha (who had replaced Doc in Thrilling Comics!) ran for 12 issues!
Doc has also appeared in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers series, though simply called "Doc", to avoid confusion (and potential trademark conflict) with Marvel's Doctor Strange.

The Doctor is in, and he's ready for action!
Choose from several designs including his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

They never explained the name-change...
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's mutated into Burning Eagle!
And his sidekick, Buddy, is now a member of The Inheritors.
Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Flag-Draped Heroes" section!

The 1939-1940 Worlds Fair in New York City was a BIG event whose influence was felt throughout pop culture, in particular, fantastic fiction;
The first science fiction convention (NyCon 1) was held on the fairgrounds!
Charlie Chan caught a murderer in the Worlds Fair-themed Murder Over New York!
Doc Savage fought "The Worlds Fair Goblin" in the pages of his pulp magazine!
DC Comics launched a book called Worlds Fair Comics. (After the Fair closed, it was retitled Worlds Best Comics, then Worlds Finest Comics)
This tied-in with "Superman Day" at the Fair, featuring the first actor to play Superman in costume, Ray Middleton!
And a super-hero was created specifically to protect the Fair and fairgoers!

Appearing in Amazing Mystery Funnies, The Fantom of the Fair was dedicated to defending those who walked the grounds of the exhibition, battling evil within it's boundaries.
The covers and stories incorporated elements and locales of the Fair.
While the Fantom's real name and the reason he fought crime were never revealed, readers did learn a number of things about him during his two-year run:
He had above-normal strength and agility, plus the ability to hypnotize people and alter their memories.
He operated out of the labyrinth of service tunnels under the fairgrounds, which enabled him to travel unseen, and had a secret headquarters within them (inspired by similar elements of the Phantom of the Opera.)
His face was never revealed. When he wore civilian clothes, his visage was obscured by a fedora.

Despite changing his name to FantoMan, and expanding his operations to the whole of NYC, the character's series ended a couple of months after the Fair closed.

Choose from several designs on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

One of the few Golden Age teen heroes both with his own comic book and not an established hero's sidekick, Golden Lad had a five-issue run in 1946-47 featuring art by comic art legends Jerry Robinson (who created Batman's foe, The Joker) and Mort Meskin!

High-school student Tommy Preston discovered an ancient Aztec artifact, the Heart of Gold in his grandfather's antique shop. (wonder if grandpop handled some of Indiana Jones' transactions...)
The Heart of Gold had been empowered by "the blood of a thousand martyred Aztecs" to grant power to anyone who fought for justice.
Holding the artifact and saying its name, Tommy was transformed into Golden Lad, with the abilities of flight, super strength, and size-changing.

Trivia: unlike the Golden Age Captain Marvel, who changed from a kid into an adult hero when he said "SHAZAM!", Tommy still looks like his teenage self as Golden Lad, just in green tights, yet no one who knows him as Tommy recognizes him when he's Golden Lad! Go figure!

Appearing ONLY in his own title's five-issue run and nowhere else, he hadn't been revived since his last issue in 1946 until Alex Ross brought him back in Project SuperPowers as a member of The Inheritors!

If you're looking for a kool affordable Golden Age comic collectible for your pop-culture-fan loved one, you can't go wrong with a Golden Lad goodie (unless you happen to find the Heart of Gold in an antique shop)!

Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Pre-dating the frozen vegetable spokesman by over a decade, a radically-different, costumed, Green Giant appeared in (what else?) Green Giant Comics #1 (and only) in 1940!
The emerald hero was secretly Brent Wood, who beat Marvel's Henry Pym to developing a size-changing serum which enabled him to grow to between 15-150 feet (depending on who illustrated the story)!
(Mind you, this story background information is second-hand, as the comic book we photographed and digitally-remastered was "slabbed" in lucite, so we were unable to read the stories. If anyone could verify or correct us, please do so.)
Less than a dozen copies of this incredibly-rare comic, which was distributed only in the New York City area, valued at several thousand dollars each, are thought to still exist!

Check out his FIRST (and ONLY) appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's now a member of the Super-MysteryMen team!
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Magno is now a member of the Super-MysteryMen team, and Davey is one of The Inheritors!
Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's now a member of the Big Shots team!
Check out his FIRST cover appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

NO relation to the Republic movie serial hero or the several Marvel Comics characters who've taken the name.
But he WAS first...
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Solo Heroes & Villains" section!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Solo Heroes & Villains" section!

Once more, we journey to Tibet, birthplace of literally hundreds of superheroes from the Golden Age of Pulps and Comics to the present including The Shadow, The Green Lama, and Doctor Strange.
Lamasaries in pulps and comics did a thriving business in training Westerners who crashed on, stumbled into, or sought out their mountaintop locales to receive physical and / or mental training which they then used to fight evil back in their homelands.
(Oddly enough, very few Asian characters bothered to go to the Himalayas to learn mystic or martial arts! But I digress...)

A rich, but disillusioned, American who had spent over two decades living in Tibet, seeking enlightenment from the monks, learned the lamas' secrets of "ultimate control of their mental processes."
Returning to the USA, he took a new civilian identity, "Phil Anson", and began a war on crime as Phantasmo! (We never learned his original name or why he was so disenchanted with his previous life.)

Like The Spectre, Phantasmo was actually an astral projection who could take solid form when separated from his "host" body.
His abilities included super-strength, flight, near-invulnerabilty, and penchant for growing / shrinking tricks.
Also like The Spectre, Phantasmo wore just shorts, boots and a cape. (astral bodies apparently don't get cold.) Unlike The Spectre, who wore green, Phantasmo wore yellow with gold highlights. This had the unfortunate side-effect of making him look like he wasn't wearing anything at all if the Magenta printing plate got screwed up, which happened from time to time!

While his astral form ran around doing heroic feats, his human form was unconscious and helpless. Phil hired Whizzer McGee, a bellhop at the hotel Anson lived in, to guard his body while it was "unoccupied".

Debuting in The Funnies #45, Phantasmo was the first superhero character from Dell Comics, who had previously done reprints of newspaper strips like Dick Tracy.
From his premiere, Phantasmo was the cover feature of The Funnies until #57, when he shared the cover with up-and-coming superstar Captain Midnight, who forced him off the cover as of the next issue!
"The Master of the World" remained as a backup feature until #63, when The Funnies became a funny animal book and Captain Midnight got his own title.
Phantasmo literally disappeared for several decades, until revived (in flashbacks) in Project SuperPowers!
We suspect he'll be showing up in the present-day storyline, in due course.

Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the art!

He's a man from centuries in the future who traveled thru time to the 1980s to use advanced technology to fight against a tyrant who has conquered the world!
(He was published in the 1940s, so the 1980s WERE a generation in the future to the readers!)
In the current Project SuperPowers series, he stayed after America was freed, and, in his secret identity of "Gene West", became President of the U.S.A.!
Trivia: He's the ONLY hero who wears an eyepatch in his secret identity, but doesn't in his costumed, but non-masked alter-ego! (The one-eyed look works just as well as eyeglasses to disguise him, apparently!)
Now he's back in action as The FutureMan, but on the side of The Supremacy, a group who secretly control the various governments of the world!
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check out his FIRST (and ONLY) appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Cal Martin and Doris Dalton were scientists who used their jet-packs as RocketMan and Rocket Girl almost on a whim, and found they enjoyed crimefighting, so they kept at it for several years!
They appeared in the back pages of the entire run of Scoop Comics, but never made the cover spot!
When Scoop was cancelled, they moved to Punch Comics where Rocket Girl finally got a solo cover, but RocketMan never did!
When their publisher went out of business, another company picked up the rights but re-named them Zip-Jets, since the abandoned "RocketMan" trademark had been taken over by Republic Pictures for their otherwise unrelated leather-jacketed flying serial hero!
Two issues of Zip-Jet, reprinting their Scoop & Punch stories came out before their new publisher also went kaput!
The duo made a final appearance in a one-shot titled Atomic Comics, but whether it was new or reprinted material is unknown, since the issue we scanned for our kool kollectibles was slabbed! ;-(
Choose from several designs, including their final Golden Age appearance, on shirts, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Why does he wear red-and-yellow when his name is "Silver Streak"?
Because the "grey" color used to show "silver" in Golden Age comics was considered too drab for a lead character!
(Thankfully, by the Silver Age, "silver" tended to be shown as white with light blue highlights. Otherwise the Silver Surfer might have looked really dull!)
Note: the logo on the first few issues of Silver Streak Comics was printed with metallic silver ink!
He first appeared on the inside of Silver Streak Comics #3 (and in little vignettes on the covers of #3 & #4), but didn't make the main cover until #5.
Curiously, his uniform on the first cover was colored differently than the red-and-gold he's usually seen wearing. (But then, the SCARLET Witch was GREEN in her first couple of X-Men cover appearances!)
NEWS: Besides being a supporting character in Project SuperPowers, Silver Streak also appears in Erik Larsen's Next Issue Project #2: Silver Streak Comics #24, and Savage Dragon #141!
Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Besides being a supporting character in Project SuperPowers, SkyMan will also be appearing in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #141! And, he's now a member of the Big Shots team!
Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

In the 1940s, superheroes were the primary genre in both comic books and pulp magazines.
The skies and streets of pop fiction were filled with people in capes, cowls, leotards, or some combination thereof.
And, of course, a superhero had to have a super-power or gimmick that would set him (or her) apart from the crowd.
Sky Wizard had all that...and more...
1) He's "the Master of Space"! Catchy, eh?
2) He's a scientific genius! (Funky weaponry and modes of transport a speciality!)
3) He can't make up his mind about what costume to wear!
He wore a different costume in each of his four cover appearances!
No fashion victim he!
(And you thought Janet Van Dyne-Pym & Henry Pym had bulging wardrobes!)
4) He appeared in Miracle Comics! ("...and if it's a good comic, it's a Miracle! Thank you! We'll be here thru Sunday! Try the veal...")
With a name like that, you know we had to find a spot for him, and his book, in our kitchy lineup!
Choose from several designs (including his FIRST appearance) on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

One of a number of comics anti-heroes who at times helped humanity and other times opposed it (best typified by Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner), The Sorceress of Zoom was the immortal ruler of an other-dimensional city which popped into our universe from time to time.
The Sorceress (she never had any other name) was not evil, but simply thought humanity was inferior and should be ruled by her as were the creatures she created to populate Zoom after all the original inhabitants, except her, died!
When two average everyday people named Tom and Janice inadvertently became involved in her affairs, her attitude slowly shifted from arrogant superiority to arrogant benevolence as she decided not to rule the Earth, but help against the greater threat of the real-life Axis.
Credited to the nom-de-plume "Sandra Swift", The Sorceress' adventures were drawn (and probably written) by Don Rico, a prolific creator of the '40s and early '50s with credits at almost every comics company including Timely (later Marvel).
She had her own feature in Weird Comics for it's entire 20-issue run, but only made the cover once, on issue #4.
While she hasn't appeared in the Project SuperPowers Universe as of yet, it seems inevitable that Alex Ross won't let a character with such potential go un-utilized for long!
Check out her FIRST (and ONLY) cover appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Since cold weather currently is currently playing havoc with most of the U.S., I thought it appropriate to present the "coolest" hero of the Golden Age: Sub-Zero Man!
Debuting along with Blue Bolt in Blue Bolt Comics #1, Sub-Zero (as he was usually referred to) was actually a Venusian astronaut!
His spaceship hit an asteroid composed of frozen gases that froze the crew solid. Uncontroled, it crashed on Earth near Salt Lake City.
Somehow, the un-named Venusian survived the freezing phenomenon that killed his crewmates, but left him in an icy condition that enabled him to freeze anything he touched, or even stared at! (Ice-Vision?)
By using his atomic pistol on himself, he was able to "thaw" out for brief periods, which grew longer as the series progressed.
Realizing he was marooned, he decided to help fight evil, which had become non-existent on Venus, a planet where everyone was of the highest moral character!

Created by Bill Everett (HydroMan, Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, Amazing-Man, Conqueror), his first cover appearance was Blue Bolt Comics #4 (shown above) where Everett's propensity for aquatic action was put on display yet again!
Though he only appeared on the cover a couple of times, he was one of the steadiest back-up features in Blue Bolt Comics' long run.
He never got back to Venus!
He's cameoed in Project SuperPowers, and hopefully, we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future!
After all, Earth is now his only home...

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's now a member of the Super-MysteryMen team!
Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

He's a member of the Super-MysteryMen!
Check out several images of him on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Flag-Draped Heroes" section!

Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Flag-Draped Heroes" section!

Check out his FIRST appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

Appearing in the back of the first issue of Target Comics in 1940, he was an ancient robot buried in a South American mountain for centuries, then discovered by a team of American archeologists and geologists!
Identifying himself to them as "Manowar", the robot explained (in English) that he was created by the now-extinct civilization of Utopia and deliberately left buried until reactivated in a time of world-wide strife!
(World War II had already started, though America had not yet entered the conflict.)
Manowar was meant to be a peacekeeper, ending conflicts thru his amazing abilities including super-strength, invulnerability, and optical energy beams with the impact of cannon shells!
After ending a local conflict (and gaining the name "White Streak" from the scientists, he traveled with the Americans back to the USA,
He figured out how to disguse himself as human, and taking the name "Dan Sanders", Manowar joined the FBI (who apparently weren't big on background checks in those days.) and, using their information resources, battled spies and saboteurs who were trying to harm the still-pacifistic USA!

From the second issue until the introduction of Target & the Targeteers in #10, Manowar was the cover feature.
After that, he went back to being a backup feature until America entered the war after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941. The idea of a pacifist at such a time didn't seem viable, so the strip was dropped in favor of more aggressively-oriented characters.

Trivia: White Streak was created by Carl Burgos, who seemed to specialize in creating robot / android heroes including Iron Skull, the Silver Age Captain Marvel (who said "Split" and sent various body parts off to operate independently), and, most famously, the Golden Age Human Torch!

Welcome him back!
A good man (or robot) is hard to find! ;-)

Wonder Man I made only ONE appearance before the publishers of a certain mild-mannered reporter/superhero sued, claiming he was TOO similar to you-know-who!
A judge agreed, the character "retired", never to be seen again (until now) and Wonder Comics was retitled WonderWorld Comics!
Check out his FIRST (and ONLY) appearance on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!

WonderMan III (note the one-word name) lasted several years and will be appearing in Savage Dragon #141.
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!
You may ask: "Where's Wonder Man II"? Well, I haven't been able to find ANY cover appearances of him! If you know of one, please email me at AtomicKommieComics(at)gmail.com and sub "@" for "(at)".

Check them out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover for the "Flag-Draped Heroes" section!

Yeah, I know Marvel has both a heroic and villainous YellowJacket (FanBoy confession: Henry Pym is my all-time favorite character!) and I'm sure there have been other YJs at other companies, but couldn't they call him "Yellow-Jacket" or "YellowJack" or somesuch? A superhero named "Jack" just doesn't strike terror into the hearts of evil-doers... (and besides, isn't "Jack" a member of DC's villainous Royal Flush Gang?)
Check him out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking HERE or on the cover!