#12 May 2003
Cover
Contents
Black Terror
Doll Man
Blue
Beetle
Magno
and Davey
Cat-Man
Airboy
Crimebuster
Kaänga
Letters/Cover
Gallery
Back Cover
Click here
to go back to the Library.
-Doll Man and Crimebuster scans by
me.
-Doll Man is from the collection
of Scott Nichols.
-Black Terror scans by Bill Nolan.
-Blue Beetle scans by Marble River.
-Magno and Davey scans by Unknown,
donated by Richard Croxton.
-Cat-Man and Airboy scans by Mark
Stratton.
-Kaänga scans by Unknown. |
Hello and welcome to the twelveth BIG issue of
Spotlight Comics!!! Here you'll get a "5th week" dose of Golden Age goodness!
This month we spotlight the "Big Guns" of Nedor, Quality, Fox, Ace, Holyoke,
Hillman, Lev Gleason, and Fiction House. Enjoy!
Cover by: Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin
with coloring by Steve Rogers
|
Black Terror and Tim
-Story
taken from Exciting Comics #66
Better Publications, Inc. March 1949
-Writer- Unknown
-Artists- Jerry
Robinson and Mort Meskin
-A.K.A.- Bob Benton
and Tim Roland
-Known Powers- Black
Terror: Strength, invulnerability Tim: None
-Other information-
An accident during an experiment with formic ether vapors gave pharmacist,
Bob Benton, superhuman strength and invulnerability which he used to fight
crime and espionage as the Black Terror! Not much about Bob's personal
life was ever given but it was generally known that he, in some way, knew
the Black Terror. His degree of strength varied but for some reason he
could always be knocked out by a blow to the head.
Tim Roland was a delivery
boy for Bob Benton who somehow discovered Bob's other life and became the
Kid Terror (as far as I know though that name was only used in Exciting
Comics #69). Tim had no powers of his own, thus slightly easier to beat
than Black Terror. Though he played second fiddle to Black Terror for most
of his career, Tim got to take center stage in Exciting #69 (reprinted
in Pure Excitement Comics 24).
-Known Appearances-
America's Best Comics 1-31; Black Terror 1-27; Exciting Comics 9-69 |
Doll Man
-Story
taken from Doll Man #43
Comic Magazines Inc. December 1952
-Writer- Unknown
-Penciler- Art
Gates
-Inker- Art Gates
-A.K.A.- Darrel Dane
-Known Powers- Can
shrink to "doll size" and retain normal strength.
-Other information-
Darrell Dane was a chemist who discoverd a liquid that could shrink a human
being to only six inches tall. His girlfriend, Martha Roberts, the daughter
of Darrell's colleague Dr. Roberts, was threatened by gangsters, and Darrell
took the formula and used his height to defeat the criminals. Later assisted
by Doll Girl (Martha), he continued to fight crime using various modes
of transportation including, at one point, a Dollplane.
-Known Appearances-
Doll Man 1-47; Feature Comics 27-139 (Doll Girl first appeared in Feature
77, but was then absent until 1951) |
|
|
Blue Beetle
-Story
taken from Blue Beetle #9
Fox Publications Inc. October 1941
-Writer- Unknown
-Penciler- Ramona
Patenaude
-Inker- Ramona
Patenaude
-A.K.A.- Dan Garret
-Known Powers- Flight(?)
and strength (varied)
-Other information-
Officer Dan Garret, bored of police work, became the costumed crime fighter,
Blue Beetle! When Dan was shot in the line of duty, a friend, Dr. Franz,
gave Dan the experimental drug, Vitamin 2X! Dan rapidly healed, & by
taking the wonder drug, gained super powers! (As time went on writers seemed
to forget about Vitamin 2X & Beetle gained & lost various powers.)
-Known Appearances-
All-Top Comics 4, 8-13; Big-3 Comics 1-7; Blue Beetle 1-60; Mystery Men
Comics 1-31; Phantom Lady 13; Real Hit Comics 1; Tegra, Jungle Empress
1; Zago, Jungle Prince 1; Zoot Comics 13 |
Magno and Davey
-Story
taken from Four Favorites Comics #16
Ace Books Inc. November 1944
-Writer- Unknown
-Penciler- Louis
Ferstadt(?)
-Inker- Louis
Ferstadt(?)
-A.K.A.- Unknown and
Davey Landis
-Known Powers- Various
magnet powers, Davey draws his powers from Magno via his suit.
-Known Appearances-
Four Favorites 1-26; Super-Mystery Comics vol.1 no.1-vol.5 no.5 |
|
|
Cat-Man
-Story
taken from Cat-Man Comics #32
Continental Magazines Inc. August 1946
-Writer- Unknown
-Penciler- Max
Elkans
-Inker- Max Elkans
-A.K.A.- David Merrywether
and Katie Conn
-Known Powers- All
the powers of the cat family.
-Other information-
His parents and sister murded by bandits in the jungles of Burma, David
was raised by a tiger and gradually aquired the skills of the cat family
including 9 lives. Returning to America, David saw the rampant crime, and
decided to fight it as a privite detective, later a soldier, and as Cat-Man!
After her uncle tried to kill Merrywether and ended up meeting his own
fate, young Katie Conn was taken in by David as his ward and became the
Kitten.
-Known Appearances-
Cat-Man Comics 1-32; Crash Comics Adventures 4-5 |
Airboy
-Story
taken from Airboy Comics vol.8 no.4
Hillman Periodicals Inc. May, 1951
-Writer- Unknown
(GCD down.)
-Penciler- Unknown
(GCD down.)
-Inker- Unknown
(GCD down.)
-A.K.A.- Davy Nelson
-Known Powers- None.
-Other information-
Padre Martier, a monk in Capistrano, CA, had a vision about building the
perfect plane. To fund this project, Martier turned to a less than respectable
man named Sessler who wanted the monastery's land. With the help of an
orphan named, Davy Nelson (who later found his father), Martier built his
plane which was sabotaged by Sessler. Sessler then built a casino on the
monastery while Davy built another plane, Birdie, in secret. Soon after
the youth bombed the casino as Airboy.
During WWII, Davey encountered the
head of Hitler's "Air Maiden Squadron," Valkyrie, who sees the horrors
of Nazi Germany and joins Airboy. The two went on to have many adventures
over the years.
-Known Appearances-
Air Fighters/Airboy Comics vol.1 no.1-vol.10 no.4 |
|
|
Crimebuster
-Story
taken from Boy Comics #47
Lev Gleason Publications Inc. August 1949
-Writer- Charles
Biro
-Penciler- Al
Borth
-Inker- Al Borth
-A.K.A.- Chuck Chandler
-Known Powers- None.
-Other information-
Learning his father had been killed by the Nazi Iron Jaw, Chuck Chandler
sets off around the world to find him wearing his school hockey uniform
and cape. This would be his Crimebuster uniform until 1950 when a girl
would refuse to be seen with him in his ridiculous costume. From then on
he dropped the cape and kept only the sweater with blue dress pants. CB
also kept a pet monkey, Squeeks, who saved his life more than once!
-Known Appearances-
Boy Comics 3-119; Text stories in Daredevil Comics and Silver Streak Comics
21 |
Kaänga
-Story
taken from Jungle Comics #1
Glen-Kel Publishing Co. Inc. January 1940
-Writer- Unknown
-Penciler- Alex
Blum
-Inker- Alex
Blum
-Known Appearances-
Jungle Comics 1-163; Kaänga 1-20; Rangers Comics 13; Sheena, Queen
of the Jungle 13 |
|
Spotlight Comics #12. Published
by Golden Years Publications, May 2003. All original material presented
here and site design is property of The Golden Years and is not to be represented
without permission from the site owner. All represented material, comics,
covers, etc. is believed to be in the public domain and reprinted for historical
purposes. If you wish you may use stories on your own site as long as you
give me or the original scanner credit. I would appreciate it however if
you would let me know before representing a story. Biographical information
pulled from The Grand Comics Database, AC's Golden Age Hero and Heroine
Directory, Pure Excitement Comics, and Jess Nevins' Golden Age Hero Directory. |